Episodes like this are what it means to be a Fumetsu– well, I’m not sure what. Not a “fan”, to be sure. A viewer I suppose. You just have to accept that it’s going to bewilder and flummox you a fair amount of the time. It’s part of the deal. I know nothing about Ooima-sensei but based on this series you’d have to guess she’s a pretty odd person. It didn’t manifest so much with Koe no Katachi (just occasionally) but on some level you think Fumetsu might more accurately reflect her nature as a writer.
Mizuha, where do I even start. I guess I give her credit for being self-aware enough to realize she’s a creepy stalker. But if you don’t stop being one, that credit only goes so far. Yuki is in an interesting position here, as he’s kind of in-love with both Mizuha and Fushi in different ways. Fushi still doesn’t truly grasp Mizuha’s threat level, but he does realize she’s a time-wasting annoyance. He finally agrees to go on a date with her, on the condition that he gets to be by himself afterwards. Never let it be said Fushi isn’t a true romantic.
Of course Fushi has good reasons for this, above and beyond steering the hell clear of the yandere. He has business to attend to – Mimori and the whole Nokker problem. This is compounded when Bon tells him Mimori now wants him to back off, and even more by Satoru’s unwillingness to assist. Fushi actually roughs mini-Black up a little, which seems pretty out of character. But then so do the several times he bursts out laughing, even though each situation was absurd enough to warrant it. Nokker-Mimori mentions “that person” will be happy if she and he “play” again, but no one seems sure who that person is.
It does suck to be Fushi. These evolved Nokkers feel pain in the same way humans do, which means Fushi feels it when it inflicts it on them. He’s surrounded by friends but where the Nokkers go more alone than he’s ever been, with Beholder checked out. He has a full-blown yandere smothering him (again). He has the unutterably annoying Tonari nattering away at him nonstop. He should just embrace his inner boya and go be a happy fool with Yuki, but sadly for him he’s too responsible a being to do that.
