Seeing as how Chihaya needs two more members for her karuta club to be recognized as an official club, I'm not surprised that this episode centered around her trying to recruit another member. What I wasn't expecting was that she'd pick one of the most introverted people in the entire school. The first thing we see is Chihaya and Taichi practicing karuta, as always. I mean, what else would we be seeing? As usual, Chihaya beats Taichi's ass at the game, which frustrates Taichi. Kanade is amazed by Chihaya's skill but is shocked to see Chihaya suddenly collapse after the game. Taichi reassures her that Chihaya is fine and that she's just sleeping. He then quietly comments on how Chihaya relies too much on her speed, so every game takes a lot out of her. Kanade is confused, so he explains that having speed in a game of karuta is one of the best attributes a karuta player can have because it's also linked with their instinct. Taichi then internally wishes that he was a better player so that he could give Chihaya more of a challenge when playing. He then thinks about Arata and how if he was there, Chihaya could potentially be even better at karuta. He quickly disregards the thought and smiles at Chihaya, who is still sleeping, and thinks about how he's okay with losing if it's Chihaya he loses to. Suddenly, Chihaya wakes up and jumps to her feet, shouting that she needs to recruit more members. Taichi shouts after her, asking who she's going to try and recruit now and she tells him not to worry because she's going to be recruiting Tsutomu Komano, the second smartest person in their class after Taichi.
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