Summary
Yori encourages her friend Momo to speak to her long-time crush, Watanabe. He's a kind guy who wouldn't just brush her off when they haven't even spoken before. Momo agrees, although she wishes that she could understand someone's heart better before risking failure.
Valentine's Day is approaching, so the girls head to the chocolate shop to observe what they put out so far. They overlook premade candy but Momo considers making something so that it will be more special. Yori agrees when they spot a classmate Momo strongly dislikes. She makes a remark that forces Yori to shush her and move her elsewhere into the shop, and Momo sees something from the brand Ishikawa Sweets called Intention Candy. She isn't convinced by it's claims to read ones heart, but charmed by the concept she decides to buy them anyway.
That evening Momo watches television while waiting for dinner, and because she's hungry she pops one of the candies into her mouth. She's surprised by its sour-sweet taste and her brother -Tsuyoshi- makes fun of her, saying she'll become fat for eating too much before dinner. He walks away and Momo is confused when she hears "Momo-nee has a nice figure, it'd be a shame if she got fat", which flusters her and she demands an explanation. Tsuyoshi expresses confusion and insists he didn't say anything, so she repeats what she heard, leading to a fight until their mom stops them. She scolds them for misbehaving, but as she walks away Momo hears "They must be close to fight like that. I'm at my happiest when I spend time with my family."
Realizing the candy works, Momo eats another one at school and eagerly listens in on her classmates inner-thoughts; someone expressing their hatred of gym class, someone's admiration for someone else, and someone who dislikes the Teacher. Later, she comes across Watanabe in the hallway with some strawberry milk and because she likes it too, she uses this to strike up conversation after eating another candy. She's shocked when she hears his thoughts, in which he expresses delight that she spoke to him, since she never did before. He also thinks she is really cute, but he can't say this openly. He takes off as she practically has a meltdown on the spot while Yori joins her. She's about to tell Yori about what happened, but she realizes that if she told Yori the truth about the candy word might get out, then others would want it too. She also acknowledges that she can't respond to Watanabe's feelings so openly, or else he will become suspicious.
With that, Momo focuses on trying to work up the courage to continue expressing herself to Watanabe, such as smiling to him when he walks by. She remembers how she couldn't before, thinking he would call her gross, and now that she understands that she had nothing to fear she's become much happier. She waits until after school to return to their classroom noticing Watanabe is still there. She claims for forget something and eats another candy, just in time to hear him think about how he would like to ask her to walk home with him. Momo is relieved when he proceeds to work up the nerve to do so, and she excitedly accepts.
The next day at school, Momo chats about what happened to her classmates after they approach her for more information, having seen them together. They ask if they are dating and Momo tells them that they aren't, then they wonder who made the first move, since Watanabe isn't very social. Yori listens to Momo continue bragging, until she spots the girl from the other day -Iwamoto- and harshly remarks that unlike someone she doesn't follow him around. The other girls begin to make fun of Iwamoto and in her hurry to leave she trips, the pack of chocolate she wanted to give Watanabe falls out of her bag. The others teasing turns into cruel mockery when Momo decides to put the final nail in the coffin by declaring that she and Watanabe will be going out on Valentines Day.
As they prepare to leave, Yori confronts Momo for not telling her that they became close recently. She's bothered but insists it's fine before taking off, and Momo eats another candy to see how she really feels. To her alarm, Yori thinks about how annoying Momo is. She's always complaining, and her company wears her out. Knowing this, Momo feels saddened the next day when she returns to school. She had no way of knowing what Yori truly thought about her before, and when she comes up to suggest they team up for volleyball during gym class, she struggles to focus. She feigns illness to leave early and returns to class, where she discovers a note with DIE written on it, and a box cutter thrust through her desk.
Momo is frightened as some other girls come by, wanting to check on her. They appear shocked and wonder who would have done such a thing, and instantly Momo points fingers at Iwamoto. But after what happened with Yori she eats another candy just to make sure nobody else is being deceptive. When she accidentally bumps into one of the girls who seemed worried about her, her thoughts threatening Momo and calling her ugly startle her. Another girl offers to take her to the infirmary, but she rejects after hearing her think that Momo deserved it, and another girl thinks about how much she dislikes Momo and would like to make her cry. Momo begins to despair and sinks to the floor, and the girls ask if she is okay while she realizes that they are faking it; they're happy by her misfortune.
Momo runs out of the room and passes by Yori, who was on her way to see her. By now everyone is beginning to scare Momo; this miracle has become a nightmare.
Just then, Momo bumps into Watanabe. Hearing his worried thoughts calms her down and she becomes anxious when he mentions that he wanted to tell her something. He asks Momo if she told everyone they were going out, leading her to recall the other day. In his thoughts she hears him express displeasure for not realizing she was kind of cringy; something he never noticed before because he just thought of her as a cute, normal girl. He also thinks she was cold because she didn't speak to him when they left together the other day.
Momo desperately tries to explain how she wasn't trying to be this way, and she yells out that he said he liked her. It then dons on her that he never actually said that, he thought it. Watanabe gets confused and she panics as his friend comes by insisting they leave her.
Momo sadly removes the candy from her mouth and discards it. Like this, she can't truly be happy now aware of the ugly truth.
Momo cries when Iwamoto approaches her and offers to help her to the infirmary. Momo is surprised by this and shyly thanks her as Iwamoto hands her school uniform over, which she hasn't been able to change into yet. They sit together and make conversation, with Momo dying with curiosity as to why Iwamoto would be so kind to her. Iwamoto claims it isn't anything special, because its not like what everyone says about her is wrong. She offers to go and let the teachers know that Momo will be resting over their next class, and Momo begins to feel bad over how she treats Iwamoto. They never actually spoke before this moment because she never gave her a chance, but she seems really nice.
It's then Yori calls her. Momo becomes upset as she expresses concern for her well-being, and Momo tells her off for lying to her. She cries and tells Yori that she knows how she really feels about her, and how she never saw her as a friend. Yori doesn't deny this, but she decides to explain herself by saying that she cares about Momo earnestly. But she hates how secretive she is around her. She won't tell her things first, even though she's always been by her side, supported her, and put her first. Anytime good things happen to Momo she doesn't tell her, and it made her feel lonely. She considers Momo a dear friend, she can't understand why she acts this way.
As Momo continues to cry, she wonders if Yori can truly be trusted. She spots the true intention candy and momentarily considers eating one to find out, but she puts it away, realizing that she wants to trust her. She recalls many memories they shared and comes to the decision that she doesn't need it to be happy, as long as Yori remains by her side. Their conversation ends after Momo tells Yori she's coming, but when she gets up she finds Iwamoto returning. She asks Momo where she was going, and Momo begins to notice she's acting strange. Iwamoto complains that someone like Momo can be loved by a guy she likes and a good friend, and it's not fair.
Iwamoto takes out a skipping rope and wraps it around the terrified Momo's neck, holding the handles in her hands. It's because of Momo everyone makes fun of her all the time. It isn't nice for her to do these things. Iwamoto begins to yank on the rope as she tells her that she shouldn't be quick to believe in the words of others.
Tropes
- All of the Other Reindeer: Iwamoto, who relatively seems like a normal girl. But everyone thinks she is a creepy stalker because she keeps to herself and has a crush on Watanabe. She suggests that it was Momo's bullying that convinced the others that Loners Are Freaks.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Momo was dumped and now she knows that she isn't as loved as she thought she was. But she learned that Iwamoto isn't a bad person and was able to make up with Yori, so she feels better about herself and will start anew. Unfortunately, Iwamoto isn't going to let her off easy.
- Crush Blush
- The Fake Cutie: Momo is very cute and innocent looking, but she picks on Iwamoto just because she had a crush on Watanabe too. Her classmates all see it, which is why they pretend to like her.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: At first the true intention candies were the best thing in Momo's life. But then she found out what everyone actually thought about her, and she accidentally let slip something that Watanabe didn't tell her.
- This also bites her at the end when she decides not to eat one as a sign of trusting Yori, which left her defenseless against Iwamoto because it didn't occur to her that she couldn't be trusted.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Valentines Day.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: It's not really clear if Iwamoto was planning this all along, or if she was just pushed into it because of Momo's cruelty.
- Shout-Out: Ishikawa Sweets is a reference on the author of Screaming Lessons, Emi Ishikawa.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Yori came to see Momo this way lately.
