While searching the school's Gardening Club's garden for flowers on Iku's advice, Rentarou gets a ZING!! from the Gardening Club's president and Iku's classmate, Yamame Yasashiki, who asks Rentarou to help her out in exchange for flowers. Briefly taken aback by the live butterflies in her hair, Rentarou agrees to help Yamame with her gardening work.
As the two take care of the plants in the gardens (even the weeds), Rentarou takes note of various insects and animals on Yamame's shoulders. Yamame then explains that she had trouble making friends growing up due to her unusual size, but was able to make use of her large build by helping protect plants and animals. Their conversation is interrupted by the vice principal crawling through with burning moxa, which triggers Yamame's fear of fire.
After several more hours working the fields, Rentarou expresses how unusually fulfilling the experience was despite his original intentions, and Yamame agrees to let Rentarou have as many flowers as he wants. Before he can start collecting flowers, however, the vice principal returns with her hair on fire, with her thrashing sending flames every which way. Rentarou intervenes to protect Yamame from the fire, who is so touched by his actions that she confesses to him.
Shocked by her actions, she tries to apologize, but Rentarou assures her that he accepts her confession, explaining that nature wouldn't frown on her for liking a boy with 13 other girlfriends, because many other species engage in poly-amorous relationships.
Tropes:
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: When a box appears asking if Yamame is a Laputian robot, Rentarou breaks the box into pieces and discards it.
- Shout-Out: After seeing how much animals love Yamame, Rentarou wonders whether they're in Nausicaä, with a box asking if she's a Laputian robot.
- At the end, when Yamame gets the idea that Rentarou's a representative of all living things, and therefore she's been caring for him all along, Rentarou rejects it, saying "This isn't like the story of 'The Crane's Return of a Favor
'."
- At the end, when Yamame gets the idea that Rentarou's a representative of all living things, and therefore she's been caring for him all along, Rentarou rejects it, saying "This isn't like the story of 'The Crane's Return of a Favor
