We have to go deeper... Let's see if I've got all this straight. Hazuki is literally inside a sketchbook that is connected to Shimao's subconscious which in turn is connected to the afterlife. If he dwells too much on the past, he can't leave, which means he dies. While in this world, he has to get both Shimao's ghost and Rokka to realize that moving on is not a betrayal of their relationship. And he has three episodes to do it. It's crazy how just when the pieces were starting to come together the sketchbook world dumps another round of implications on us, most of which I don't think will make sense until we're at the end. However, I can make some guesses based off of what we do know. The sketchbook world being Shimao's dream landscape is nothing new, but within the last few episodes it's been established that Hazuki can affect the landscape as well, at least in terms of how it affects him personally (ex: the Thumbelina suitors from a few episodes ago). This episode takes it bit further by having his memories manifest. The idea of being trapped in the past has been prevalent throughout the show, but this is the first time it's been presented as deadly. Not-Rokka warns Hazuki that if he "dwells too much," he'll never leave. That sounds a lot like a certain ghost. To be fair though, it sounds a lot like Rokka as well. As her relationship with Hazuki progresses, she second-guesses herself at every turn. When she breaks down over the flower arrangements, she says, "I don't know which one of them it is." She's seeing Shimao in Hazuki (which was inevitable, since that's what's literally happening), but I think she has a choice to make as well; is she going to fall apart at every reminder of him for the rest of her life? There's also the matter of Shimao's final words. "Will you eat my bones" is..confusing to me, but with the context of Shimao throwing them away and Rokka finding them and keeping them does seem to point towards her going through with it. As I've mentioned before, Not-Rokka seems to know a fair bit about what's been going on recently and as soon as Rokka's thoughts turn back to Shimao, Not-Rokka goes back to Thumbelina form as well. I think Rokka's subconscious is tied up in all this as well, whether Shimao realizes it or not. And now the show turns to Hazuki. What is he going to do about this? One of the most interesting scenes in this episode was when Hazuki went past memory or even the strange world of the sketchbook and was walking after Rokka on a red line suspended in space. It's easy to intrept the red line as something similar to the "red string of fate," and I like this interpretation because rather than connecting them, it's a balancing act. All Hazuki can do at the moment is attempt to close the distance. In this view, Shimao is basically cheating; he doesn't have to deal with the "balancing act" of a relationship, nor does he have to rush to catch up. By just existing, he has an edge. This does speak a lot to Hazuki's declaration earlier that he should "step aside," but I think Hazuki's out-of-body experience is giving him the maturity he needed. I've been a Shimao apologist for most of this show, but in this episode I agree with Hazuki and the decision that he makes. He's right, Rokka's indecision doesn't have any bearing on whether he should give up or not. Shimao wanting Rokka to be free is not the same as letting her be. While the question "who's the main character" is still up in the air, at the moment I think it's going to be Hazuki. Whatever answer he finds at the end of this journey through Shimao's self-inflicted purgatory it'll likely be the final say. Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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