This is truly the first day of the rest of Chihayafuru.  And while I won’t go into detail, if I knew then what I know now this might be where I’d have stopped reading the manga (though I’d have called that crazy talk at the time).  My experience is my experience of course.  Even if I know it’s far from unique, you might respond to upcoming developments in a totally different way.  But for me, it’s a moment where I’m glad there’s only 3 episodes left this season (and for whatever reason, before it started I imagined we’d have hit this point earlier).

One constant running through Chihayafuru for me (a good constant, not the groundhog day kind of which this series has many) is Kana.  She’s always a wise and compassionate figure – someone I would call genuinely noble, as odd as it sounds to apply that term to a 17 year-old high school girl (and as much as she’d surely reject it).  Her sense of propriety drives me crazy at times like these – I just wish she’d blurt out the truth to Chihaya rather than gently trying to coax her in the right direction (“Think about why he does things like this”).  The simple fact is Chihaya just won’t get it.  But Kana is who she is, bless her heart – she knows what her place is (or thinks she does) and she’s not going to overstep it (unfortunately).

As Chihaya and Tsukuba line up at a Tokyo tournament (along with poor Retro-kun, still desperate to escape Class B), Taichi – who also entered it just in case- what? – readies himself to perform at the Takamatsu Cup at Omi Jingu.  Much to his surprise Arata is entered too – a little sheepish over his outburst after the meijin final, but still just as imperious as ever.  Arata remains the mountain Taichi must climb, in life and in karuta.  Arata is in in his head, no question about it, and just the sight of him is enough to kick Taichi’s bad habit of overthinking into hyperdrive.

Taichi and Arata aren’t the only ones who’ve stuck around Omi Jingu – Suou-san is back too, to arrange to have his trophy shipped home.  Naturally enough he’s intrigued to see these two facing off against each other – and he can see in both the easy familiarity and tension between them that they have a history.  Taichi flashes back to playing as Arata against Chihaya, while Arata floats in his watery karuta world.  In a moment of boldness Taichi asks Arata if – as he suspects – he’s said “something” to Chihaya.  And at the affirmative, after the next take he promptly sends Arata the Chihaya card.  He’s a Suginami member through and through – you send the card you most strongly want to take back.

As Suetsugu has a way of doing, she switches to a relatively drama-free match and lets the main event play out off-screen (and it never ceases to be annoying).  There’s not much to Chihaya vs. Sudou – we know who’s going to win that.  of course we know who’s going to win at Omi Jingu too, but there’s drama inherent in that situation anyway.  In point of fact the only real drama in Tokyo is supplied the by the Retro Class B final, where he’s once again denied a place in Class A and Yukari-san consoles him with the sad tale of the final card in the Hyakunin Isshu.  He’s a bit player, but Retro is a character with real pathos – as passionate a karuta player as you could want, but afflicted with the curse of being ordinary.

Maybe it’s a mercy that Taichi’s inevitable loss to Arata takes place off-screen, though it does feel like just one more indignity heaped on his character.  He’s grown frustrated enough at this point that he’s shedding tears in his sleep over it – but the Meijin is the only one who sees that.  It hardly seems possible but this is yet another crossroads for Taichi, who seems only to have journeys and never destinations.