Heartwarming / Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro

Volumes 1-6 / Season 1

Episode 1

• Nagatoro and Senpai's relationship begins when her clique accidentally gets a hold of his amateur manga, which gets them exhilarated at how melodramatic and full of Wish-Fulfillment it is. The thing is, while Nagatoro doesn't laugh any less than her friends, and even stays to tease him about it, it is implied that she is not lying when she claims to feel sorry for Senpai being lonely, and that she laughs at Senpai's heroic fantasies not because they are inappropriate, but rather because she finds them utterly adorable.
• When Nagatoro accidentally sends Senpai rolling into a water pit, she is so mortified that she gives him her first sincere apology. Even if it is brief, as she immediately tries to defuse the situation by teasing him a bit more, it serves to actually draw a genuine response by Senpai: he recalls the bullying he suffered as a child, and after musing he is accustomed to endure abuse (and, impliedly, after deciding that she isn't quite like his bullies), states he doesn't find her so bad and asks her name in order to be acquitances rather than pushing her away. Nagatoro's sweet smiles through the scene only make it better.
  • Throughout this, Senpai thinks to himself that, being accustomed to shut himself in to endure the bullying, he couldn't even remember his bullies' faces when they left after tormenting him. When he opens his eyes, however, the first thing he sees is Nagatoro's bright, smiling face, as unlike his childhood bullies, she was right there waiting for what he had to say.
  • Nagatoro playfully finger-writing the last kanji of her surname in his chest. The moment is warm enough to that when she wishes them to get along, it's clear she means it.

Episode 2

• The double date shows that even though there is no shortage of socially successful boys attracted to Nagatoro, Senpai is the only one she is happy to be with.
  • The same instance shows subtlely one of the reasons why Nagatoro likes Senpai. He might be insecure and awkward, but unlike the pretentious guys from the date, he doesn't try to look tougher or cooler than he actually is. He is her type because he is so genuine.

Episode 3

• The rain interlude. They again embarrass each other when Senpai becomes an Accidental Pervert in a misjudge, but in spite of it, he drops all the silliness and turns to her again when she screams due to a strong gust of wind. Then Nagatoro invites him to dry up in her nearby house, even though it's obvious the idea of having the boy at home seriously embarrasses her at first.
  • Seeing that Senpai is much more experienced with video games and will only curbstomp her in a fair match, Nagatoro starts teasing him in order to distract him, at one point even downright stomping on his back to hinder his play. However, the last shot in the montage has both of them playing normally with all the looks of being having a great time.
  • Senpai admitted he had fun hanging in Nagatoro's house, with her suggesting to repeat it someday.
• Nagatoro suddenly turns serious when Gamo's insults on Senpai turn too ugly, and the same can be said for Senpai deciding to act in order to de-escalate it and not have Nagatoro get in a fight for him.
  • Although it should be noted that Gamo was mostly trying to get a reaction from Nagatoro. And from that moment on she is rather enthusiastic about Nagatoro's and Senpai's relationship.
  • His clarification that he's not going out with Nagatoro backfires, as it only offends her while giving her friends more reasons to laugh, but just before they do, Gamo and Yoshi are genuinely disappointed that he took that route. While sad, it implies that, despite all their jokes about Nagatoro's supposed boyfriend being a pushover, they didn't actually believe it, and were rather expecting Senpai to finally get dangerous for her sake.
• Afterwards, Nagatoro decides to train Senpai in manzai comedy in order to improve his social skills so he will stand up to similar situations.
  • At one point, her teasing about his hair goes overboard and leaves Senpai on the verge of crying again. However, instead of making her laugh even more as in their first encounter, this time it only makes Nagatoro equally upset, showing how close they have become since. The moment doesn't end on a low note either, as she makes Senpai finally muster the strength to react assertively as she wanted.
  • Nagatoro being a good sport about Senpai accidentally touching her chest while doing the tsukkomi backhand she taught him (only with a bit of perfunctory teasing at the end).

Episode 4

• When Nagatoro catches Gamo and Yoshi trying to force Senpai to touch their breasts, she immediately scares them away with her jealous mode, and can only sit down and somberly ask him if he really did. However, after learning he didn't, Nagatoro immediately lights up and her first reaction is to repeat the tease with herself... which backfires when it causes Senpai to grope her real breast by accident. Although she does end up beating him for the incident (admittedly only hitting him with a soft bean bun), the fact that she still stays and has lunch with him stoically despite the two incidents shows how she doesn't really resent him for even his worst Accidental Pervert moments.
• After hearing about his insecurity regarding his talents, Nagatoro proposes Senpai voice some praise for each other to cheer him up. Being a teenager, the first thing Senpai can admire about Nagatoro is how beautiful and sexy she is, which of course he cannot say without being teased to death, so he reaches farther and praises her hair, her athleticism, and the spinning kick she did when they first met. Nagatoro initially laughs at his ideas, but when Senpai describes the last one, sounding like he remembered quite well that day, she is so moved that can only thank him in embarrassment.
  • Nagatoro's turn to extol Senpai's qualities, which in this case amount to the funny reactions she evokes in him. Although it might be easy to miss, this means the things Nagatoro likes the most about Senpai are him hanging out with her and being the kind of boy she likes.
• Later into the episode, Nagatoro makes Senpai draw her while posing on a couch she brought. The moment is initially spent in their typical teasing, but they take so much time that Nagatoro ends up falling asleep on the couch. As if her peaceful visage and her sweet, dreaming smile were not adorable enough (or just the fact that she feels so comfortable around him as to fall asleep easily), Senpai decides to draw her that way and captures her so well that Nagatoro sincerely admired it, even although he didn't think it was good enough.

Episode 5

• Nagatoro opens the episode trying to bother Senpai as always, but this time he treats her coldly and abandons her for Gamo and Yoshi at their malicious suggestion, leaving Nagatoro utterly horrified... until she wakes up and finds out it was just a nightmare, as she was taking a nap in the room while Senpai drew. The real Senpai, far from doing such things, had even covered her with a blanket to keep her warm. Although Nagatoro had woken up in a bad mood, she can only blush at this and thank him in her typical way.
  • He's similarly flustered when she asks him about it, implying he was expecting to be awfully teased, yet willing to take it anyways.
• Later Nagatoro suggests giving Senpai the haircut he was talking about getting, as she is accustomed to doing it to her brother. Senpai is naturally startled at first, but when he actually pictures Nagatoro doing it, the scene pleases him so much (and let's not forget that a girl giving a boy a haircut has romantic undertones, especially in Japanese pop culture) that it later gives him the strength to fight off Gamo and Yoshi, who had performed an elaborate trap to do it on her place and shave him bald.
  • Nagatoro doing it just as well as Senpai had imagined, leaving them both blushing again a bit.
• While waiting in an ice cream shop's queue under the summer heat, Senpai notices that two older guys are ogling Nagatoro's bra through her sweaty shirt. Becoming suddenly angry at the thought, Senpai shields her with his body, looking so serious that the pervs just give up without more trouble. Although it's not shown, it's likely they assumed he was her boyfriend and would take no prisoners in the task of protecting her.
  • Senpai and Nagatoro spend so much time in the queue that she looks about to faint from the heat, so he immediately becomes serious again, pulls her out, and forfeits their place to go get cold water to revive her, even although she had previously terrified him with her obsession to get the shop's special shaved ice.
  • In gratitude for the previous example, Nagatoro gets them cheaper ice cream from a convenience store, an idea of his that she had originally shot down in favor of her option. She even tries playfully to feed him with her spoon for an even more intimate flavor.
• After Nagatoro asks Senpai for his number to keep in touch during the summer, the ever-insecure Senpai mutters it will just be boring to her. However, Nagatoro is so excited about having his number that she gets distracted getting it in her phone and then replies with absent-minded sincerity that it will absolutely not be like he says. He is so touched that cannot even talk.

Episode 6

• Senpai falls asleep while drawing and has a dream in an Eastern RPG-like High Fantasy world, similar to his manga, where Nagatoro is his partner, including a cute (and quite revealing) scene where she gives him a peck on the cheek. It's later shown the dream was caused by what he was drawing, which turns out to be Nagatoro in a Cat Girl attire similar to her character in the fighting videogame they were playing at her house in Episode 3.
  • Predictably, the real Nagatoro ends up having a peek into his inner world by finding the sketchbook where he had drawn her. Although she is briefly embarrassed at learning Senpai fantasizes about her like that, she ultimately smirks and quickly runs to him to tease him with the discovery, even stating she will keep the sketchbook for herself.
    • The manga had more emphasis on her running and her overjoyed face, to the point of dedicating one full page to a single panel of her running with said face.
• Senpai admits to Nagatoro over the phone that summer beach trips are not as bad as he thought, all with a smile and while the shot focuses on his sketchbook, where it turns out he did a great drawing of Nagatoro having fun that day.
  • It's implied Senpai used to dislike the beach not only for being unsporty and a bad swimmer but also because, being a loner, he didn't have any friends to go with - which now he has, in spite of all the teasing he has to take.
  • Note also the progression. The first time Senpai did a drawing of Nagatoro, it was under her pressure and the result satisfied none of them, while the second, although more comfortable, was still found insufficiently good by him. This time, however, he draws her of his own volition (without having her posing, in fact) and now he seems to be content with the result. Clearly, hanging out with Nagatoro and her friends is making wonders for Senpai's confidence, not only as a person but also as an artist.

Episode 7

• A Meaningful Background Event happens when Nagatoro and Senpai beat Gamo and Yoshi in their bet for his freedom in the summer festival. Although Gamo is initially annoyed at losing, especially due to Yoshi accepting a bribe, she can be seen actually grinning at seeing Nagatoro so happy for having Senpai back. Chances are that the entire stunt of capturing Senpai was not meant to torment them (well, at least not only that), but to lure Nagatoro to the festival and ensure she passed some funny quality time with Senpai.
• Just the fact that both Senpai and Nagatoro think alike about how they should go to the summer festival and that he should just invite her if she doesn't bring it up first. Both of them being at least a bit embarrassed about it only makes it cuter.
  • They think alike again when their walk around the festival starts looking like a date. At this point, naturally, Senpai is flustered, while Nagatoro looks delighted in turn, and seemingly not only for the tease.
  • After joining the line to go watch the fireworks, Nagatoro and Senpai find it too slow, so he proposes a secret watching place he knows from his childhood. However, at that point, Nagatoro gets accidentally separated from him by the mass of people, and they can only call desperately to each other from the growing distance... until Senpai manages to reach her hand, with the soundtrack suddenly soaring, and pulls her out to him, getting them both momentarily moved and finally free to go to his place. Silly as it might sound, the scene and all of its elements combined end up making the moment simply magical.
  • Nagatoro and Senpai finally watch the fireworks together at the summer festival, even if it is accompanied by the usual mix of teasing and accidental awkwardness for both.
  • Senpai is unable to help himself from wanting to see Nagatoro wearing a yukata in the next festival with him (which is matched by her excited reaction to his proposal to do it the next year). He can only imagine Nagatoro and him in a couple-ish pose when she jokes about the two wearing matching yukata.
• When Senpai notices two guys are making Nagatoro and her friends uncomfortable, he musters up enough courage to step out of his comfort zone and approach to help her, requesting to Nagatoro that they leave. Although the guys just laugh at him, Nagatoro is so overjoyed with the intervention that she instantly leaves with him, looking the happiest she has been up in the series to that point.
  • Gamo of all people greets Senpai with a sincere smile, and throughout the entire scene, she refrains from teasing him as usual, clearly trying to reassure him and see what he has to offer instead. Then, when Nagatoro leaves, Gamo again gives a small, approving smile herself for his bravery before joining them in their getaway.
  • Nagatoro is still smiling warmly to Senpai while they walk home, at least until it's time to tease, and even Yoshi, the least thoughtful of Senpai's usual tormenters, looks appreciative of him. He won over the entire gang that day with his show of courage.
  • Senpai also gets to befriend Sakura here, and it turns out she remembers him from the first episode as that senpai who drew manga. This time she doesn't make any ill commentary about his work until Nagatoro claims he draws hentai, implying Sakura didn't actually find it laughable and only said so back then to get on the bandwagon.
  • Even when buying into Nagatoro's joke, Sakura doesn't seem really upset that Senpai supposedly draws pervy things, rather even blushing herself a bit while imagining it, while the other girls and Senpai himself don't react unusually either. Compare this to the first episode, where they ruthlessly laughed at him for a mushy yet relatively wholesome fantasy, leaving him crushed afterward.
  • The half-tender, half-impish smile Nagatoro dedicates to Senpai to close the episode. Her expression says so many things at once about her feelings for Senpai that it is just adorable.

Episode 8

• While teasing Senpai by saying that he would end up becoming her Ex-Senpai if he failed his exams, he absentmindedly says aloud that he wouldn't mind it as long as he was together with her. Nagatoro, per datum, is at a loss for words and blushes deeply (just as he does).
• Aside from being rather hilarious, Nagatoro contently singing "creep, creep, creep" while walking alone through the school implies that, at the end of the day, she simply cannot get Senpai out of her head.
• Nagatoro's whim of riding Senpai piggyback on their walk home has a sad ending, as he accidentally ends up grabbing her butt while trying not to drop her, which makes Nagatoro run away looking uncharacteristically flustered. Senpai gets confused by this and thus spends the night hoping for her to message him, visibly fearing that he made Nagatoro truly angry and possibly dented their relationship. However, she eventually calls him, yet she isn't serious or resentful, but as cheerful as always, and just thanks him for having obliged in her previous shenanigans.
  • Her next prank, a teasing call from the bathtub, backfires even more spectacularly when Nagatoro accidentally turns it into a video call, showing some of her naked body to Senpai. Senpai composes his best apology, now completely mortified, but unlike the earlier instance, Nagatoro assures awkwardly that it isn't his fault and tries to make it pass as a small deal, despite both being beet-red embarrassed.
  • Even before the interruption, Nagatoro shows a bit more of her caring side, becoming momentarily concerned when she heard Senpai falling hard off his chair due to the shock of the tease.

Episode 9

• Nagatoro goofs around Senpai by goading him to light-spar in the vein of a boxing manga she recently read, but he typically stumbles in the process and accidentally clinches her, with its appropriate mutual embarrassment. He fears she might beat him to death in retaliation, but although she does turn serious, we cut then to Nagatoro happily telling the incident to her clique, delighted with how accidentally pervy the moment was.
  • Gamo proposes to have Senpai as their own sparring partner too, which Nagatoro tries to impede with all her resources, even getting ready to fight Gamo off to give Senpai time to run away. We can chalk it up to Nagatoro's usual jealousy towards her friends, but it's also likely she fears Gamo might be more than a bit rougher on Senpai than her, and is genuinely trying to spare Senpai some damage.
  • In the previous point, Nagatoro doesn't even look very sure that she can win, yet she is doing it nonetheless.
• Gamo accuses Senpai of being a shoshoku (Japanese slang for men lacking sex drive), so an offended Nagatoro sets to prove her wrong by trying to find some lewd material she believes he must surely have in that very room. The stash is real, only that it is well hidden in another room, and Nagatoro ultimately becomes distraught over not finding it, which entails both losing the bet to her rival and failing at upholding Senpai's honor from her point of view.
  • When Senpai sees Nagatoro becoming upset over not finding it, however, he decides not to let her lose even at the cost of any possible teasing. He quietly retrieves the item, a dirty manga named Paraíso Harem, and places it on a bookshelf while intentionally overacting in order for her to notice, leading Nagatoro to find it and leave her friends utterly defeated. The girl is so moved by the win that she has tears in her eyes when holding the book up, and then she excitedly teases Senpai while the latter plays along (unconvincingly) to the end.
• As if Senpai blushing while praising Nagatoro's earring wasn't adorable enough, her suggestion of piercing his ear and wearing matching earrings makes him blush further, even having an Imagine Spot of the two looking happy around each other with them.
• While going on a fake date with Sakura, which the girls stage in order to catch a stalker, she knowingly asks Senpai whether there is someone he would want to have a date with. He denies it, only flustered and without much conviction, and she gives him a sly look.
  • When she returns home with Senpai, Nagatoro teases him by insinuating he's a perv and not ready for dates yet. Senpai initially feels the tease, but after thinking a bit, he smiles with newfound aplomb and agrees. She is disconcerted by this but ultimately gives him a smile of complicity too with a bit more teasing.
• The whole episode is a showcase of how socially confident Senpai has become thanks to hanging out with Nagatoro and the company. At the series' beginning, he was a Nervous Wreck that could barely be in the same room as a group of unknown girls, and who ended up crying and unable to sleep after being teased by one of them. By this point, however, he recovers quickly from even their wildest antics and isn't afraid of speaking up whenever he disapproves and is even cool with voluntarily placing himself in embarrassing situations around them when he feels it's the right thing to do.

Episode 10

• Nagatoro offers to be Senpai's drawing model for the upcoming school festival, but he declines, and internally ponders that it is because it's difficult for him to focus while drawing someone face to face. His mental image is, of course, a callback to Nagatoro making a deliberately sweet face while posing for him in the first episode.
• While talking about their acts for the school festival, Sakura reveals she unexpectedly made up with the gaming club from the previous episode and is going to help them out.
  • Nagatoro also says they will help Senpai with his art exhibit in order to hype it up. One of her ideas is opening a Cat Girl cafe, which she demonstrates to Senpai by serving him tea with a catlike flirty tone, making him so red that her friends laugh. However, when Sakura suggests to make Senpai wear a maid uniform, Nagatoro quickly sides with him and shoots it down.
• The story turns sour when the Art Club President comes in, as she proceeds to berate Senpai for using the room to hang out with questionable students, as well as not taking art seriously, and finally threatens with disbanding the entire club. The girls are listening to this from the next room, where Gamo and Yoshi admit with bitter smiles that it's their fault, so when it seems the President has had the last word, Nagatoro bursts out followed by her friends to stand up for Senpai. She accuses the Prez of having neglected the club herself, which makes her logically unfit to judge how Senpai has done all this time, and states how hard Senpai has worked despite having been all alone, all with indignant resolution and while the soundtrack from Episode 7 makes its return. Her intervention actually makes the President stop a bit, and she ultimately decides to give Senpai a last chance.
  • Said chance demands Senpai enter the festival's art contest and beat the Prez at it, which he believes to be impossible, but Nagatoro takes his back and assures with a smile that they will absolutely win.
    • The manga has a further nuance in that the President says she understands (and implicitly agrees) what Nagatoro just said in his defense, but she can't just leave things be because the student council itself has warned her.

Episode 11

• Just the fact that, despite how tense the situation in the previous episode was, the gang is in high spirits again, to the extent Nagatoro mocks the President's overbearing demand to make her friends laugh. Even then, they have accepted that Senpai is in this their fault, which they admit when he points it out.
  • After noting Nagatoro's chest size cannot compete with the Prez', Gamo and the other three girls start taunting her left and right about her body type, making not any less of a spectacle than whenever they tease Senpai. However, this time the latter has enough of it and suddenly intervenes to defend Nagatoro, working through his embarrassment to the state that she has her own charms and is not inferior to the President in any way. Nagatoro lights up so much that she barely gets embarrassed before celebrating in her friends' faces.
• Despite being his opponent in the competition, the President visits Senpai to give him artistic advice, being both a good sport about it and a proper art club leader herself. Even when her visit accidentally drives a wedge between Senpai and Nagatoro, making the latter run away on the belief the former just abandoned her for the Prez, the President immediately takes over the situation and tells Senpai to run after Nagatoro to sort it out between them before it's too late.
  • This is not only a sign of her maturity, moreover, if we take into account that the Prez was just lecturing Senpai about how "art is about love", and that the line she chooses to make Senpai pursue Nagatoro is "art is thus to pursue". Adding this to her expression while Senpai angsted momentarily, it's all but stated the President deduced the true relationship between Nagatoro and him and acted not just to spare Senpai from losing his model, but to help him save something much more important.
• Senpai evokes all the tender memories Nagatoro gave him while he runs after her, clearly exhausted yet unwilling to give up, and eventually catches up to her by the school's swimming pool. Although he is still short of words to fix things, with Nagatoro dismissing him over and over while clowning around the edge, Senpai finally reaches her, both metaphorically and literally, when he saves her from falling into the pool.
  • Nagatoro still asks him why he wants her to keep being his model, especially if he can only draw her in natural scenes, to which he only blurts out that it's because those are what's most attractive for him. A bout of mutual blushing later - in which Senpai even has an awkward, satisfied smile, as if he couldn't help but be content with himself for having had the guts to say it - Nagatoro reacts characteristically, calling him a creep and thrashing around, yet he still doesn't let her fall, which in turn makes them both fall into the water.
  • The next time we see them, they are peacefully sitting by the edge, still soaking wet, yet resuming their usual routine of Senpai being an Accidental Pervert and Nagatoro happily teasing him about it. This time she doesn't even take her mandatory moment of being offended before laughing; all possible ill feelings have been washed away.
    • In the manga she climbs a tree and he tries to catch her when she slips and falls, and she lands on top of him. He tells her he doesn't want to draw the President, he wants to draw her because she's the most stimulating person for him. That came out wrong, so she thrashes around in glee while straddling him, both blushing heavily. This seems to be played a bit more for laughs than the anime especially if the original term in Japanese is the same.
  • The final and cutest touch comes at the end of the episode when Senpai is drawing Nagatoro while walking home together. She asks again what's so artistically great about her usual self, and Senpai, who has stopped paying attention to the talk, retorts that it's due to how cute she is. The two instantly blush like crazy, after which Nagatoro can only play dumb, teasing him without mercy yet also obviously relishing in what he just said.

Episode 12

• Gamo, Yoshi, and Sakura being sincerely in awe of Senpai's dedicated artwork make a nice contrast with the first episode, where they mocked him for his personal manga.
  • Senpai repeatedly claims the exhibit's theme is just a day in Nagatoro's life, but the latter sign it to be a lie and teases him, knowing better (from the previous episode) what really motivates Senpai to draw her. Of course, Gamo knows it too, and cannot resist making some "boyfriend perspective" jokes.
  • A jealous Nagatoro lights up when an embarrassed Senpai tries to decline the girls' help by saying that the exhibit is his and Nagatoro's business after all.
• Just how dedicated Gamo is throughout the entire episode, including not only giving them ideas but putting up an insanely elaborated (and hilarious) performance to attract visitors to Senpai's art exhibit. She might be the most sadistic of the four girls, but her sheer effort to make up for the misfortune they brought upon Senpai is absolutely laudable.
• It's brief, but Senpai gets suddenly jealous when a visitor says he would go out with Torocat, as well as when Nagatoro applies to the crowd the kind of jokes she otherwise reserves for him, are both surprisingly cute. Ironically, Nagatoro herself is wearing her jealous mode face throughout the act, which implies she's not exactly comfortable doing it to anyone other than Senpai either.
  • Gamo again proves to be a valuable Shipper on Deck when, noticing Nagatoro is also jealous at seeing female students admiring Senpai, tells her to grab Senpai and go have lunch together. Then, to Nagatoro's joy, it turns out Senpai himself had got the same idea despite all the attention he was receiving.
  • Nagatoro is still getting jealous of Senpai's newfound success with the opposite sex, but when Senpai states the compliments he received were all thanks to her modeling, she has to struggle to keep her fresh, teasing demeanor.
• Despite the Prez being his opponent in the competition for the art club's club, Senpai steps forward to defend her self-portrait from the Public Morals Committee, which was trying to retire it, even if the latter eventuality would have meant an easy victory for Senpai. This decision turns out to be not just a matter of principles, moreover, he then declares, within Nagatoro's delightful earshot, that the President's art gave him the strength to realize Nagatoro was the person he wanted to draw.
  • The clique then joins Senpai to help the President, with Nagatoro herself finding sincere reasons to defend her portrait. Honor's mention goes to Yoshi, who is typically terrified by all the solemnity, yet doesn't fail to show proof that there were people actually admiring the painting.
  • From there, President admits with a rare smile that Senpai earned her respect, and goes back on her plans to disband the club of her own volition. She also accepts the clique's idea that she must also receive punishment for losing the bet.
• Apparently sensing something while hanging out on the school grounds, Nagatoro goes back for Senpai to the art club room and finds him in a compromised situation, namely one with the President stripping her punitive bunny attire down in front of him. However, to prove that their reconciliation in the previous episode wasn't for nothing, this time Nagatoro doesn't get angry at Senpai, but instead jumps in his defense, assuming the President must be trying to seduce him.
  • Fortunately, it was all a twisted joke by the Prez, who then praises Senpai's paintings of Nagatoro and observes there's love in his art. The pair is left embarrassed, after which Nagatoro teases him while the Prez reflects smiling about how much has Senpai matured lately.
  • Senpai then finishes it by taking notes from the festival in Episode 7 and actively asking Nagatoro to go to the school's concert. The scene ends with the rest of the clique coming for the two before a happy Nagatoro drags Senpai away with them.
• The anime's stinger shows Senpai, with a little contented smile, drawing Nagatoro while she naps peacefully on their couch, in which she wakes up just enough time to smile too. Sometimes, words are simply not needed.
  • After all the teasing and debate of whether or not Nagatoro liked Senpai, the moment concludes with Nagatoro, satisfied with Senpai's drawing of her, giving him a kiss on the cheek for real. She then leaves the room, running cheerfully, not without dedicating her best teasing smile.
    • In the manga, this actually happens much earlier, as in the first volume, because there was no fakeout, to begin with. ^{Original entry text}After about eight chapters of teasing Senpai, Nagatoro confirms that she likes him for real by rewarding him for a beautiful portrait he did of her with a kiss on the cheek. This is also a major Throw the Dog a Bone for Senpai, who was agonizing over whether Nagatoro actually liked him or not.

Volumes 7-12 / Season 2

Episode 1

• The manga both Senpai and Nagatoro turn out to read, Love Slave, apparently stars an abusive senpai that finds himself blackmailed and abused by a shy kohai who finds the chance to unveil her inner twistedness. It doesn't sound too pleasant, but given the title and that it's still a shojo manga, it seems love can certainly blossom in the least likely situations.
• It's short, but although Nagatoro is enraged at Senpai accidentally grabbing her breasts, which leads her to send flying with a hip thrust, she still catches him gently, the heat of the moment cooled down when the meddling Yoshi bounces him back at her. She then invites him along for their dinner party with her usual cheery self.
• For a clique of punks that once laughed at him into utter psychological devastation, it's moving to see Gamo, Yoshi, and Sakura being now so pleasant and friendly to Senpai during the party, appointing him as the night's protagonist for his hard work during the festival and sharing their food combos with him.
  • Toward the end of this scene, Nagatoro makes a really dirty joke about a sushi combo she had just made to get a rise out of Senpai. Surprisingly, the other girls find this to be a bridge too far and become outraged, demanding she stop being gross while they're eating. Senpai, not enjoying seeing Naga get dogpiled like this, chooses not to react at all. He stoically gulps down the food dish and finds that it was actually delicious. Nagatoro is both flattered and relieved to see this and they share a moment of understanding.

Episode 2

• After some schoolmates mock Nagatoro's amateurish drawings, Senpai gets mad and defends "other people's hard work".

Episode 3

• After finding Senpai hiding in a locker in her classroom, Nagatoro helps him sneak out without any of her friends noticing. She then privately admonishes him and makes it clear that what he did was actually creepy behavior. While normally this would be anything but heartwarming, this is a rare moment where Nagatoro drops the act entirely and establishes boundaries. From her interactions with other boys, we know that this is not a courtesy she would extend to anyone outside of her innermost circle. That's how deeply Nagatoro cares about Senpai; she wants to make sure he understands that she was uncomfortable.
• During the school marathon, Senpai sprains his ankle, Nagatoro decides to carry him for the rest of the race despite her smaller size, and when she hits the limit, the rest of the girls come to carry Senpai. Ridiculous or not, the extent those girls are willing to go for him is just moving.

Episode 5

• Chapter 66 / Episode 5 puts the debate of whether or not Nagatoro likes Senpai to bed for good; as half asleep from exhaustion and unable to discern his fever dream from reality, he refers to her as "Hayase"^*In Japanese culture, referring to someone by their first name with no honorifics is an incredibly intimate thing to do and is usually reserved for couples., causing her to blush harder than ever before trying to get him to wake up and call her that again. When he doesn't respond she keeps trying to tease his unconscious body about kissing him, yet drops her smug personality when she's really about to do it.
• Seeing Nagatoro duly taking care of her sick Senpai is cute enough, but the day eventually peaks into a moment where Senpai's fever dream eventually intermingles with Nagatoro's teasing, weaving a reality where they are married and she's taking care of her sick hubby. Although he barely knows what he is doing, Senpai happily complies with the dream, addressing Nagatoro by her first name without honorifics as Japanese husbands and wives do.
  • When Senpai falls asleep right after, Nagatoro is still so moved and intrigued by him using her name that she starts entertaining herself by teasing him even more tenderly, ultimately wondering if she could just kiss him now that he's sleeping.

Episode 6

• The exceedingly uncomfortable meeting about hanging out on Christmas Eve turns out to have been, at least partially, an attempt by the girls to entangle Senpai and Nagatoro. Although the potential couple ends up literally running away, the results seem satisfactory enough to them that Gamo at least praises Senpai for trying.
• Senpai and Nagatoro's search for privacy to exchange their gifts becomes a Trauma Conga Line with every new ordeal, which includes them walking into a naked Art Club President, then sighting Sakura making out with her own boyfriend, and finally coming to the roof, their last hope, only to find it turned into a make-out spot a la Season 1's festival, leaving the pair frozen. The humor fades when Nagatoro has enough of the zaniness and becomes visibly upset, perhaps considering just forgetting about the whole gift thing altogether, but this breaks Senpai's heart enough for him to be brave and just hand her gift right there, no matter how embarrassing the scenario might be. The delighted Nagatoro reciprocates, having a laugh upon finding that both of them had the same thought and gave each other scarves.
• After talking about going to the local shrine for New Year, Senpai is under the impression of having missed a chance for not asking Nagatoro to meet him there, but it turns out she went as far as taking a temporal job as a miko to surprise him, with a nice attire to round up things. He's so taken that can only blush, with her teasing him for his lack of words.
  • Senpai takes to heart his omikuji prediction that he must take the initiative in matters of love, so after Nagatoro and he get separated due to her job, which makes her ponder that things didn't go her way after all, he returns to her desk, shaking like a leaf (and making her shaking equally in anticipation) but finally mustering the courage to invite her to hang out after her shift is over. Although Senpai fears it might have sounded too stalker-ish to her, she later rushes to meet to him, apparently so moved that she barely sounds like herself.
  • Senpai is inevitably teased after he realizes he unknowingly took them to make a new year wish in a shrine dedicated to matchmaking, with Nagatoro jokingly wondering if it might mean he's getting ready to ask her out. However, he manages to verbalize his previous realization that, in a hypothetical case, he would take the initiative instead of leaving it to the gods, after which Nagatoro cheerfully encourages him to do his best (none of the two realized the implications). While making their wishes in the shrine, Senpai cannot help but notice how happy Nagatoro seems with everything.
  • Nagatoro drops a final bomb on Senpai by saying, coyly and with a dreamy stare, that her own wish was to become Senpai's wife. Although she obligatorily backtracks, claiming it to be a joke, everything in the scene is clear as day about how she, or rather they, actually feels.

Episode 8

• There is something subtlely cute in the way Nagatoro is shown comfortably hanging out in the art club room's couch, all lost in her phone, with her slippers off and leisurely eating chocolates. She is just naturally part of Senpai's life and vice versa.
  • The viewer is not the only to appreciate this, as her sight, which Nagatoro accuses him of contemplating too much (and she's right), leads Senpai to ask for her to model for him again.
• To Senpai's horror, Gamo scores a knockdown on Nagatoro when he unintentionally distracts the latter in their MMA sparring, but in spite of her usual snark, Gamo is later insistent about checking whether Nagatoro was hurt.
  • Senpai's request for Nagatoro to tutor him in judo for the upcoming tournament meets a tense expression, after which Nagatoro hurriedly heads to the dressing room, just like how she ran away from Gamo's Armor-Piercing Question about the topic earlier. He fears he might have upset her, but it turns out she just went to fetch him a judogi.
  • Their talk on the way back home turns sour when Nagatoro reveals, with some bitterness, that she stopped doing judo upon hitting a skill wall. However, Senpai doesn't let her go without assuring her how great the throw she scored against Gamo earlier was, to which she cannot help but grin.
• Senpai later declines the President's offer to tutor him in judo, stating that Nagatoro is already doing it. The gesture obviously delights Nagatoro, especially after she became angry at the President for her usual sexual antics, but it also brings an unusually bright smile from the President herself, who is implied to be content with their closeness.

Episode 9

• Nagatoro is sullen enough for having to fight Orihara in the judo tournament that not even Senpai approaching cheers her up, and she ultimately laughs it off and announces she will simply forfeit the match. At that moment, however, Senpai calls her on it for not resembling the Nagatoro he knows, and when she rebukes him angrily, he dares to speak further and say how great he thinks she is. This does work, instantly knocking Nagatoro into her personal enamored expression, after which she quickly teases him by kissing him if he steals a win.
• During his first match, Senpai is manhandled by a much bigger and tougher opponent, Sasai, who eventually pins him under kesa gatame. However, while understandably crushed under him, Senpai eventually comes to remember Nagatoro's angst, which leads him to recall his training with her and, vowing not to see her with the same expression again, score a flawless escape, much to Nagatoro's happiness. Senpai immediately goes for his own kesa, during which Nagatoro, who had been poorly pretending to be apathetic at his predicament, cannot help but break loudly cheering for him, which gives him the strength to hold down the stronger Sasai. Even if Sasai manages to cancel the pin and Senpai loses by points, the latter ultimately does so well against such a superior opponent that even the latter congratulates him.
  • Being really into the match, Gamo and Yoshi are initially snarking every time Senpai is rag-dolled, but when he starts successfully fighting back, they light up and go all for him like Nagatoro herself goes to do. By the end of the match, even Sakura, who had been way focused on Sasai being hot, seems disappointed with Senpai not having scored the win.
• A quiet but meaningful lapse happens when Senpai spots Nagatoro tying her hair up for her own match, during which she meets his fascinated gaze and smiles warmly at him. Poor Senpai is just lovestruck, while Nagatoro gives him a magnificent Grin of Audacity in response until Gamo knowingly closes the moment by teasing her about how motivated she suddenly look.
• The match between Nagatoro and Orihara is predictably tough, but it becomes even tougher when the entire crowd of the event, save for Senpai, his friends, and the girls, starts shouting for the resident champion material to finish Hayase. Then Senpai starts cheering for Nagatoro, which actually seems to stun the entire hall into silence for a few moments. He becomes embarrassed when some assume he must be her boyfriend, but continues shouting her name, giving Nagatoro her second love power-up of the day and driving her to fight back with full force.
• Orihara, being possibly the most straightforwardly nicest and kindest girl in the entire series (having popped up much earlier to offer Senpai some vital assistance) and despite being Nagatoro's Unknown Rival, is nothing but happy to see her again, having known her since childhood.
• On the way back home after the tournament, Nagatoro reverses their previous bet and wants Senpai to kiss her once she beats her opponent. The embarrassed Senpai doesn't believe it, but she says she's not toying with him.

Later manga chapters

Later chapters

• Nagatoro regains her passion for competitive judo and decides to join the judo club in her second year to match wits and skills with her opponent from the tournament again.
• After Nagatoro joins the judo club, Orihara's generous and forthcoming with judo advice and is just giddy when she learns about Nagatoro and Senpai, calling her "a real maiden" and urging her to be honest with herself.
  • Gamo also joins the judo club, seemingly to keep an eye on Nagatoro, and it's she who tells the other girl about Nagatoro and Senpai and joins her in egging Nagatoro on.
• The President's younger cousin calls Nagatoro the "goddess" who "changed [Senpai's] world" after a Bait-and-Switch of her being a new romantic rival, and tells Senpai to just date Nagatoro for real already. Then the President herself shows up and tells Senpai to follow his heart. And he does ask Nagatoro out.
• After much wait and anticipation from both Senpai's side and Nagatoro's friends, both Senpai and Nagatoro finally come to terms with their relationship and confess to each other. No jokes, no take backs, both let it all out in the open. Senpai thanking Nagatoro for changing his life, the latter being moved to tears by his words, and Nagatoro thanking him for driving her to do better and ask him to take responsibility for it. Both of them walk at the beach, holding each other's hand, officially a couple.
  • Next chapter, Nagatoro's friends and Senpai's both wholeheartedly congratulate the pair, as if to say "Finally".

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