Considering we're just about halfway through the series, I think the plot is finally starting to advance at a fairly good pace. We not only got a decent and in-depth background on the relationships between Chihaya, Arata and Taichi, but also what led to Chihaya enjoying karuta so much. Not to mention we now have Chihaya with an official karuta club and new friends, all of whom are training to compete in the Tokyo competition in order to go to nationals. Speaking of which, it looks like we have a bit of a time jump and we see several groups of teenagers - all part of different karuta clubs for different schools - whispering about Chihaya. Of course, she's oblivious to all of the talk and is busy doing her stretches; all while wearing a hakama. This causes quite the buzz around the tournament since it's uncommon for people to wear hakama during tournaments, except for the competitions to see who becomes the new Meiji and Queen. Taichi approaches her and asks if she's doing alright, but she seems exceptionally excited about the whole thing. She excitedly tells Taichi that everyone in the whole building is a fan of karuta. She even goes so far as to say they're all bonkers for karuta, but Taichi tells her not to go that far because she might offend someone. The two head down the hallway to a classroom where Kanade is getting Nishida and Komano dressed in their hakama, much to Nishida's protests.
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