It goes without saying that a series having a cast with a ton of great characters is mostly a good thing. It certainly is with Mairimashita! Iruma-kun. But there are downsides to be sure. The reality with Iruma-kun is there are folks we see little of for long stretches because there’s simply no room for them in the plot. Ali-san didn’t appear at all until a couple episodes back, for example. Ameri has been around in dribs and drabs this season, but basically AWOL. Like tectonic stress building up, though, if that’s not released in small doses it’s going to cause a big shake-up.

The occasion of her return to prominence is the Deviculum, a sort of exclusive cotillion for the creme de la creme of devi-society. That includes Azazel Henri of course, but this is the first time he’s been able to invite his daughter. She promised her first dance to him (we know how that’s going to go), and always wanted to attend. But the event falls on the evening she’d planned her long-awaited meetup with Iruma at last, and to say she’s been suffering from withdrawal would be an understatement. But Ameri is nothing if not diligent in her responsibilities, and this isn’t something she can blow off.

The Deviculum is more or less as one might expect. Ameri’s arrival is a bit of an event – this is her debutante ball, effectively. And as always, she’s proper and well aware of her position, and comports herself accordingly. But when one of the attending popinjays asks her to dance, the reality of the situation hits home. She had someone in mind for her first dance, and I don’t mean her father. Fortunately Iruma-kun does everything but ride in on a white horse (or whatever the devi-equivalent would be) just in the nick of time.

Of course Sullivan would be invited. I mean, he’s one of the big three. And if he wants to bring his adorable grandson, who’s going to stop him? Naturally the first thing Iru-bo gloms onto is the buffet – he’s consistent in that respect. When Opera points out that Ameri is present he manages to put his plate down long enough to start towards her, but Opera-san makes sure Iruma is aware that this is not just another day at school. And it’s not like Iruma needs an excuse to be a total chad – he rolls out of bed in chad pajamas and walks to school in chad shoes. Give him a setup like this and what chance does Ameri have?

So, basically, we get a season’s worth of AmerIruma goodness in about eight minutes. Talk about making up for lost time. It’s a pure kawaii overload with a healthy side of Iruma at his most dashing. So he doesn’t know how to dance – who cares? It’s just another excuse for Ameri to glomp him. The thing with this relationship is, it’s Iruma’s very innocence and earnestness that makes him such a chad to Ameri. He has no ulterior motive when he tells her she’s someone he wants to “get closer to” – it’s his honest assessment. To what extent he himself understands what he means, though, is somewhat hard to say.

Iruma and Clara are a good match, no question. They love each other, and she most definitely wants more than being best friends with him. But it’s just different with Ameri. Iruma doesn’t yet fully grasp why and what that means, but he knows it is. She even laments in this episode that she’s not a year younger, or he a year older. But in truth, the difference between them seems so much more than a year. He’s a formidable boy but so much still a child emotionally, and she has at least one foot in the world of adults already. Never mind physically – every time they’re together that’s obvious enough – Ameri is so much more mature in other ways, too.

But, she’s not an adult. Not yet. And her reaction to what Iruma says – which totally puts him on “tilt” – betrays both her own feelings and her lingering childlike qualities. It’s hard to know what to make of them as a pairing. It seems wrong on some level. But the degree of mutual attraction is very obvious. And a year – if that really is what it is – is no real age gap at all, even for hatchlings like them. Mairimashita! Iruma-kun isn’t really a romance, but that doesn’t mean romance doesn’t exist in it. And as harsh as it will be on Clara, when Iruma and Ameri are together it’s hard to argue against the inevitability of AmerIruma.

Su…ki…ma