History Heartwarming / NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular

* In Chapter 149 Tomoko makes a genuine attempt at being a helpful senpai to Shizuku. She tries to give her advice on making friends, tells her that it's good she knows a lot of boys and opens up about her own previous lack of popularity. She makes an effort to hang out with Shizuku and help her practice for an upcoming sports meet and even attempts to comfort the girl in the same way Megumi did for her. And all of this at no immediate material benefit for herself, she's simply doing it because it's the right thing to do. She's a now far cry from the awkward, self-interested loner she started as.

* Chapter 149 has two:

** A second one is when Tomoko admits to Shizuku that she never had any high school friends (Yuu, who goes to another school, not being counted here), not until the fateful Kyoto Trip where she got grouped with Yuri and Masaki, and how things had changed immensely for her social life since that point.

* On a meta level, the cover and promotional art for Volume 12 is this for long-time readers of the series. The cover features a very happy Megumi Imae with an awkwardly blushing Tomoko, while the promo art has Tomoko and Yuri casually sitting together.

* Chapter 102 had Tomoko and Tomoki watch ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' together while their mom was out. We not only get an adorable flashback from when they did the same as children, but we get Tomoko actually acting like a normal older sister and taking a walk with him.

* Chapter 170 finally contains the much anticipated meeting between Yuu and Asuka after a number of chapters showing Asuka being jealous of Yuu's closeness to Tomoko. However instead of confrontation the two manage to get along fairly well. They decide to have a talk after leaving Tomoko's house in which both are reassured of their importance to Tomoko and more importantly Asuka promises to help Yuu, who's constantly doubting her own intelligence and feeling like she'd just drag Tomoko down, get into Aoyama University with them.

* In episode 12, Tomoko tries a new tactic of trying to get the students to talk about her by doing stuff the same way the StudentCouncilPresident does. However, her first attempt fails miserably, when she squishes a roach in the class, and the students are disgusted by it rather than proud of her. She then tries to approach the president and talk to her casually, but a gust of wind provides Tomoko with a panty shot of the president, embarrassing her to the point of running away before she could utter a word. Two students then approach from the other side of the walkway, and ask the president who that girl running away was. She tells them a little about Tomoko, saying she's a cute girl who she'll need to keep an eye on.

* In episode 12, Tomoko tries a new tactic of trying to get the students to talk about her by doing stuff the same way the StudentCouncilPresident does. However, her first attempt fails miserably, when she squishes a roach in the class, and the students are disgusted by it rather than proud of her. She then tries to approach the president and talk to her casually, but a gust of wind provides Tomoko with a PantyShot of the president, embarrassing her to the point of running away before she could utter a word. Two students then approach from the other side of the walkway, and ask the president who that girl running away was. She tells them a little about Tomoko, saying she's a cute girl who she'll need to keep an eye on.

* Her dad, finding her sleeping in a [[spoiler: compromising scene, gently puts her in bed, without waking her up, and tidies up her room.]]

* Episode 6 of the anime has Tomoko trying and failing as only she can to get someone to go watch fireworks with her. Finally, at the end of the episode, she just goes to a desolate roof she used to hang out on...only to discover some middle school boys were planning on hanging out there. Tomoko is about to leave, but then timidly asks if she can stay and hang out with them. The boys say they don't really mind so she stays to see the fireworks...[[spoiler: and to peep into the rooms of the next door love hotel, which is what the boys came there to do]]. Something about the boys calling her "Onee-sama" is heartwarming, as she bonds with them [[spoiler: over being Peeping Toms]]

** At the end of the episode, we get [[BookEnds another scene like the first scene]], where Tomoko is looking at the definition of an Unpopular Girl again... except this time [[spoiler: she ends up laughing at the term and says it doesn't matter]], one can interpret this as her finally finding confidence in herself.
* Chapter 57: [[spoiler: Tomoko and Komiyama haven't noticed, but Yuu and the readers saw something...]]

* Chapter 62: [[spoiler: Tomoko's joy after learning how to ride a bike.]]
* Chapter 68 had Tomoko have a pretty good day at school. In fact, all her inner monologue about how feudal era girls could have spent their time (watching [[YaoiFangirl lords get it on with each other]]) led her to a passing grade on a pop quiz.

* [[spoiler: In the final chapter of the spin-off, Yuu talks about how her daily life with Tomoko and Komiyama is precious to her and that she wants it to continue forever. In the last panel, after the three of them started to see each other again in Watamote, we see Yuu's happiness in being together with her friends again.]]
* Chapter 97 sees Tomoko eating lunch alone in the cafeteria when some of the popular kids, including her casual acquaintance Nemo, sit with her. When the conversation dies Tomoko tries thinking of something and resorts to talking about anime which leads to the students talking about how one of the members of the class wanted to be a voice actress. [[spoiler:When Okada remembers that Nemo wants to go to a liberal arts college she puts two and two together. Tomoko realizes how uncomfortable this is making Nemo and instead jumps in to say that it was actually her who put that but that she wasn't serious about it saving Nemo from having her secret exposed. She also manages to get through the entire lunch with the popular kids, including talking to a boy, without incident as the group seems to have fun hanging out with her.]]
* Chapter 98, Where [[spoiler: Yoshida, despite denying that she and Tomoko are friends, gets wet protecting Tomoko from the rain.]]

* In chapter 112 Yuri [[spoiler:acknowledges Tomoko as a friend for the first time]] while they are making Valentine's Day chocolates.
* Yoshida of all people gets one in the second part of chapter 115 [[spoiler:when she drags hesitating Tomoko and makes her say proper farewell to the graduating StudentCouncilPresident.]] Also [[spoiler:said StudentCouncilPresident gives Tomoko a hug again]].
** While 115 ends on a TearJerker note with Tomoko getting emotional over [[spoiler:her parting with Megumi]], it's heartwarming in how it shows Yuri and Mako are there to give her support as they all walk home together. YouAreNotAlone anymore, Tomoko.

* The entirety of chapter 120 is heartwarming, as it shows how much progress Tomoko had made in socializing since the beginning of the story. The crowning moment of heartwarming, however, is the reveal why Yuri convinced Tomoko and Yoshida to go to the class farewell party: [[spoiler:as she didn't know whether they would end up in the same class during their final year of high school, she wanted to spend a bit more time with them.]] Eventually, as Yuri leaves before the rest of the class goes to a karaoke bar for afterparty [[spoiler:Mako, then Yoshida, and finally Tomoko join her. The chapter ends with Yuri [[FriendshipMoment asking the three of them to hang out together a bit longer]].]]
* Yuri's [[NotSoStoic joy]] in chapter 122 when she finds out [[spoiler:Mako, Tomoko and Yoshida will be in the same class as her during their third year of high school]].

* Tomoko showing that she cares about Yuri in chapter 127, as she tries her hardest to spare Yuri (and herself) the embarrassment of being called out during a show with audience participation. [[spoiler:While she ends up bringing the very thing she was trying to avoid upon Yuri and herself, Yuri does appreciate her efforts in the end.]]

* Chapter 129 ends with [[spoiler:Hina and Akane making up, and Akane deciding to support Hina's dream to become a voice actress]].

* Just about all of chapter 130 qualifies. [[spoiler:Yuri finally getting to spend some quality time with Tomoko who goes out of her way to get her a souvenier and pick a ride she can handle. Rena, Yoshida's delinquent friend who previously said how dumb the entire thing was, getting Yoshida a stuffed rabbit that she wanted to make up for their earlier fight. Asuka offering her snack to Tomoko and her pure joy when Tomoko offers her one of her keychains in return. Ogino practically echoes the reader at the end when she acknowledges that it's nice to see that Tomoko's made more friends.]]
* The second part of chapter 130 follows from its first part. [[spoiler:Notably Hina's attempt to clear the air with Yuri and acknowledging that she actually does consider Tomoko her friend, Ucchi showing up next to Tomoko during the fireworks and practically calling her beautiful to her face and the now large group watching the fireworks together and each admitting to themselves that despite the ups and downs of the day that they had fun together.]]

* In chapter 136 Yuri reads a manga which Tomoko recommended to Mako, and which both Mako and Masaki found very moving. Yuri is not moved by the manga at all, which makes her think that she's different from her friends, that she doesn't understand them and that they don't understand her. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that Tomoko already figured out that Yuri would not like this particular manga, and brought her a better one. Yuri reacts to this with TearsOfJoy.]]
* The ending of chapter 138, when Tomoko realizes that she actually got attached to her new friends, and doesn't want to lose contact with them after graduating and become a loner again. [[spoiler:Also, she calls Yuri "Yuri-chan" for the first time.]]

* Chapter 144. Though it took some prodding from Hina, Tomoko runs after Yuri after the latter leaves their class, obviously upset. [[spoiler:Also Tomoko ''finally'' calls Yuri by her first name, while Yuri is also able to do the same for Tomoko.]]

* An omake from volume 14 of the manga, set during the events of chapter 140, has [[spoiler:Megumi Imae, now a student at Aoyama University, noticing Tomoko hanging out with Asuka and Ucchi. She seems relieved that Tomoko managed to make friends, and declares in her thoughts that she'll be waiting for Tomoko at the university.]]

* In chapter 186.2, Tomoko's movie idea winds up winning the vote for what the class will do for the cultural festival though Tomoko complains that it was only her group that voted for it. Looked at another way, though, Tomoko's friend group is now large enough that solely through them her idea was able to win. It also means that her votes came from people like Komiyama (her SitcomArchnemesis) or Akane, Nemo and Asuka voting ''against'' her long time friends like Kiyota.

* In general Nemo's friendship with Tomoko. While Nemo can be a bit of a troll at times she's also arguably one of Tomoko's most positive influences as she's often the first person to support or offer encouragement when she starts to doubt herself. Notably giving her the push she needed to present her movie idea to the class and setting up an entire rehearsal for Tomoko to practice her presentation.

* The cicada shells.
** Really, any scene between young Tomoko and Tomoki... which retroactively becomes a TearJerker considering their relationship now.

** At the end of the episode, we get [[BookEnds another scene like the first scene]], where Tomoko is looking at the definition of an Unpopular Girl again...except this time [[spoiler: she ends up laughing at the term and says it doesn't matter]], one can interpret this as her finally finding confidence in herself.

* Chapter 68 had Tomoko have a pretty good day at school. In fact, all her inner monologue about how feudal era girls could have spent their time (watching [[YaoiFangirl other lords get it on with each other]]) led her to a passing grade on a pop quiz.

* In chapter 132, Shizuku Hirasawa (whom Tomoko helped in a previous chapter with her entrance exam) sees Tomoko in a positive light, even calling her "Senpai". It may not seem like much, but considering where she, and the manga itself started out, it shows a real milestone in Tomoko's development, going from the creepy kohai no one talked with to someone somebody looked up to, with her own circle of friends, her own sphere of influence, and her own legacy. True, Tomoko is FAR different than her own Senpai, who has at this point in the story graduated, but it still shows all the growing that Tomoko has done; the student has indeed become the teacher.