A Fun Profession
A man is writing kanji on a chalkboard. Apparently, it means "On a great road, sheep are lost at the forks." He asks what this means, and then explains it: The forks are forks in the road, in case you were imagining those cartoons where predatory animals wear a bib and hold up silverware when they're hoping to get some prey. Big roads have lots of forks, and let sheep escape without you noticing. The idea is that it's easy to get lost on the road of life, so it's best to have goals to work towards, and career paths to follow. (Kaorin is busy gazing at Sakaki.) Tomo asks the man, Kimura-sensei, why he became a teacher. His answer: "'CAUSE I LIKE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS, THAT'S WHY!"
o/` West-min-ster Chimes... Some-thing that rhymes... o/`
After class, Tomo asks what was up with him. Yomi wonders how he could be so blunt. A group of male students rush to his defense, having been moved by his honesty. Osaka figures it could be a problem if there are others. Tomo feels that the one they know about is enough of a problem as is. Yomi is surprised there hasn't been any trouble yet. Tomo speculates that the school might be covering it up. Osaka interprets it as a suspense story, but Yomi doesn't think that's it. Chiyo gets their attention and tells them next hour is swimming, and that they should change so they won't be late.
In the changing room, three extras are leaving with their school swimsuits on. (I get the concept behind the attraction, but to me... it's a one-piece swimsuit, and it's not particularly pretty, to boot. I suppose there's something to the high contrast between skin and suit, but... eh.) Chiyo recounts to the others that she'd had Kurosawa specially order it. (I wonder what the people who make those thought when they got the sizes. "Who is this suit for? A 10-year-old?") Tomo is already wearing hers under her uniform. Yomi considers that very grade school. Osaka notices Sakaki as she passes, and is surprised, saying there's an "American" among them. Tomo comes over and looks, agreeing with that assessment, finding it hard to believe Sakaki was in middle school a year ago. Sakaki blushes. Osaka examines Tomo, and classifies her as Japanese. Tomo freaks briefly before saying that she is, but it's difficult for her to accept. (Sakaki takes this opportunity to go somewhere else.) Osaka says there's nothing wrong with it. Tomo asks for an assessment of Yomi. Osaka's response? Hawaii. Yomi says it's part of America.
For those of you who are just scratching your head, having thought, "...Aren't they all Japanese...?" Well, basically, they just had part of a discussion of bust size without you realizing it.
Yomi goes on to split it into three groups: Sakaki's group, which... is there anybody else in her group? Next, Kaorin and Chihiro's. (They entered and got changed without us noticing! Chihiro is just putting her right strap on her shoulder.) Osaka wonders if that's the category where she and Tomo are. Yomi decides that they're in Chiyo's group. Tomo is a bit angry at having her bust compared to a 10-year-old's, for some reason. ;) (I think she would get more favorable results in the classification system used by Hiyori in the Lucky Star manga vol. 4: it uses 6 categories, from "Absent" to "Giant". Tomo would probably fall into "Minimal" or "Small", I guess...? Being a literal American, myself, and a guy, to boot, I may be gauging it wrong.) Chiyo asks what it is. Osaka tells her, "Let's work real hard." Yomi think it's possible that Chiyo will only stay in that group for a couple more years. Osaka isn't liking this news. Kaorin thinks it's even possible that Chiyo could end up like Sakaki. This doesn't go over well. Chiyo doesn't understand. Osaka and Tomo feel betrayed, and it's only speculation. They distress Chiyo by calling her a traitor. Yomi tells them they're leaving them behind.
Yomi, Sakaki, Kaorin, and Chihiro leave... and run into Kimura, who asks how it went. We get a first-person perspective of his Male Gaze. Yomi asks how what went. Kimura dings a lot... then, after an awkward pause, walks off as if pulled by a mysterious force. Yomi asks what that was. Sakaki figures he was mimicking a bell. Yomi isn't sure if it was supposed to mean (SUB) they passed or (DUB) got the right answer on a game show, or what.
Pool, Pool, Pool
Tomo places a foot on a diving block. She says play hard, study hard, and that there's nothing like going in the pool after studying, but Yomi point out that Tomo hasn't studied. Tomo says that has nothing to do with it.
Chiyo flips her towel onto the fence. It has Neko Coneco (Nekoko Neko?) on it. It catches Sakaki's attention, and she hangs her towel beside it so the smaller yellow cat looks like it's looking at the Neco Coneco.
Kurosawa-sensei has everyone line up. Once she's determined that everyone's here, Kimura wants them to go to the gym for basketball... except that it would be better if they were wet... Kurosawa starts to ask something, but Kimura gets the idea of having them take a little dip first and then play basketball. Kurosawa nixes that idea, so Kimura suggests volleyball. (Early sighting of Kagura!) Osaka asks about water polo. Kimura is dubious about that idea. Where would that leave him? Kurosawa asks about his class. Well, he got Gotoh-sensei to sub for him. Kurosawa is disturbed that he went that far, but reluctantly allows him to stay and observe, just asking him to be quiet. He understands; after all, it's only the first day of swimming. Kurosawa is even more disturbed that he plans to keep coming.
The girls exercise, led by Chihiro. Then they do some stretching. Yomi notices that Osaka's not getting very far, and asks if that's her limit. Seems so. Yomi points out that she's pretty stiff, and demonstrates how you're supposed to be able to stretch. Osaka, upon seeing this, says something about an octopus. Tomo squishes part of Yomi's back, and says she's flexible because of her fat. This earns her a "DOUBLE CHOP!" Yomi yells at her not to be rude. Tomo says it's the truth, but Yomi denies it, and goes after her. Tomo says she made a jiggling noise. Kurosawa calls at them to get back to stretching.
Kimura tells Kurosawa about his leaky water pipes. He says that the rubber packing is likely brittle and dry, which happens when it gets old. Then he turns to Nyamo. "Have you grown brittle and dry?" She yells at him to get out.
Now he's beyond the gate, with Kurosawa shutting and locking the gate, and telling him to go back to his class; she's in charge of P.E.. Kimura proposes a trade, which Kurosawa declines. Kimura reaches through the gate, but it's no good. Kurosawa tells everyone to continue with class. Kimura collapses, crying. He just wanted to be at the pool! (I thought he wanted to see teenage breasts bouncing around in their fabric packaging...? I suppose he couldn't come out and say that...) Yomi points out that he's crying, and Tomo sees it, too, sort of amazed.
The episode dividers feature the yellow cat-thing, and Chiyo.
Ribbon
Kurosawa has everyone get into the water. Tomo and Chiyo jump in, but while Tomo resurfaces and stays there, Chiyo sinks slowly. She makes it to a ladder, with help from Sakaki. She thanks her. Yomi guesses she can't swim. Chiyo can sort of doggy paddle, actually. (It's just diving that's not a good idea yet.) This gives Osaka a thought: if dogs dog paddle, what do cats do? Tomo figures that would be kitty paddling. The thought blisses Sakaki out. Osaka extrapolates that to Chiyo-chan paddling. Tomo gets it. Osaka goes on to say that Yomi would use a Yomi stroke, because she practices kanji in the pool. Tomo asks if she's that desperate to get good grades. Yomi calls her a moron. Tomo asks if she wants to study that badly. Kurosawa tels them to keep it down. Kimura is still watching from the fence. Yukari passes cheerfully behind him, singing a pool song.
Kurosawa holds Chiyo's hands as Chiyo practices kicking. Osaka approaches her and asks for a trick to getting faster at freestyle. Kurosawa starts with posture and timing, but then Osaka first wants to learn how to float; she keeps sinking. (Looks like we have a kanaduchi here!) Tomo calls that not being able to swim. But Osaka says she can swim; it's just a matter of staying afloat. Tomo asks why that is; after all, people are lighter than water, so you should be able to float just naturally. (She does that thing where you take water into your hands, then squeeze it out, spraying it above water.) Osaka thinks that if that's true, people wouldn't drown. Tomo says that people who drown float. Osaka then decides she has to be a dead body. She takes a breath and puts her head underwater. Yep, kanaduchi. Chiyo brings her head up. Osaka comes up for air. Chiyo asks what's wrong. Osaka thinks she's mastering the secret of floating. Chiyo thinks that's amazing, and asks for the secret. Osaka starts to say, but Yukari, now in a bikini, jumps right into the middle of the group! This washes Chiyo away, at least. Yukari pops up to say your body learns while it's drowning. Problem is, Chiyo and Osaka are sinking. Kurosawa goes under, and comes up with Chiyo. Sakaki has Osaka.
Kurosawa asks what happened to her class. Yukari made it into a study hall. Kurosawa says she shouldn't do that, but Yukari doesn't care; it made them happy. But moving past that, she wants to race: it'll be the Steak Cup Relay! She asks why their pay is the same, when Kurosawa gets to be at the pool instead of stuck in a classroom. Kurosawa points out the kinds of teachers they are. Yukari says she quits being the kind she is to be the kind Kurosawa is. Kurosawa tells her not to be absurd. Kimura pops up, startling Kurosawa into letting go of Chiyo. He suggests that English/Language and Classical Literature be held in the pool. (Chiyo struggles again.) Kurosawa asks how they got in. Yukari used an extra key. Kurosawa asks about that. She got it from Nyamo's drawer. Nyamo goes after her for getting into her drawer. Kimura proposes bikinis as the mandatory school swimsuit for girls. (His face is kicked in the struggle.) Yukari brings up that Nyamo borrowed her coat for a date with Sakurai-sempai. Nyamo points out that that was back in high school, but Yukari says it's accrued interest. (Chiyo bobs up in front of Sakaki and Osaka. Osaka is impressed, but Sakaki is distressed.)
Just the Two of Them
Chiyo dries her face off. Sakaki asks if she's okay; she is, and she thanks Sakaki for the repeated help. Osaka thinks Chiyo was amazing. Chiyo asks why she says that. (Sakaki notices that the way Chiyo hung her towel back up puts the Neco Coneco lower.) Osaks says Chiyo mastered the secret already. Chiyo asks if she really thinks so. (Sakaki approaches her own towel...) Osaka says she's really something... (...and adjusts it...) ...but asks why she's still alive. (...to compensate for Chiyo's repositioning of her towel.) Chiyo doesn't understand.
The two teachers are on the starting blocks, each with a group of students cheering for them. One such student calls her "Nyamo". This would be the first time that a student does so. (Kimura has been exiled to the outside again, but he gets a frontal view of everyone facing the water on the far end, so he's about as well-positioned as you can get if you're not into looking at backsides that much. And considering that he's not necessarily exclusive about the whole "high school girl" thing, maybe he's also enjoying the view of the ones currently on the blocks? I mean, in vol. 1, September part 2 of the manga, pg. 106, "On the Prowl", he asked to go have a drink after work with the two... and when Kurosawa declined, he said something about "the bitterness of defeat".) Chiyo announces the race. Tomo, Yomi, and Osaka appear to be on Nyamo's side, while Kagura, Sakaki, Chihiro, and Kaorin appear to be on Yukari's side... though Sakaki doesn't appear to be doing any cheering. I wonder if she was reminded of that race with Tomo back in episode 1, where she was challenged to a race that she didn't particularly want to participate in, but she did it anyway. Chiyo starts the race. Nyamo dives smoothly into the water, while Yukari does a belly flop. Chihiro observes that it must have hurt. Nyamo has a definite lead. Yomi observes that she's fast. Tomo says "That's our Nyamo!" Nyamo is on her way back. Yukari attempts to interfere by sticking her foot into Nyamo's lane, but Nyamo swims past easily, and Yukari causes a cramp in her leg. (Yeah, excellent strategy: do something that requires that you stay still in the water, and which doesn't seem to hinder the the other side all that much, and which may cause cramps. Even for a cheat, that's lame.) Yukari hollers about the cramp, and Nyamo stops to look.
She attempts to work with Yukari's cramp, while Yukari complains about the pain. Nyamo points it out she brought it on herself.
The girls have taken to sitting in wait. Chiyo announces that they'll be starting the race again, but with the teachers as the anchors, now. (In other words, the last member of a relay team. Think of Miyuki, if you're familiar with that one scene.)
Nyamo says she should've left Yukari there. Yukari makes the wise move of telling the one who's going to determine how painful her recovery will be that she's too soft when it comes to going in for the win, and telling her that's her problem with men. Nyamo does something that hurts.
First up on the blocks: Tomo and Chihiro. Chiyo starts the race. The two jump in. Chihiro is a few lengths ahead. Osaka observes that Tomo has a lot of energy, but Chiyo notes that she's "all splash and no speed". There's a nice view of Kagura jumping in. Then more cheering. Then a shot from underwater of Kaorin swimming. The teachers cheer: "Go for the gold!" "Go for the steak!" I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine who said what. Yomi backstrokes. An extra reaches the block, where Chiyo is waiting with a kickboard. The girls are now along the side of the pool instead of on the far end. Yomi yells at Osaka, asking what she's doing. Osaka, too, has a kickboard, and she's hung up on the lane boundary. Now a top view of Sakaki reaching the far end, turning around, going underwater, and heading back. The teachers are ready on the blocks. Yukari requests that they play fair this time. Nyamo points out who's saying that. Sakaki reaches the block, so Yukari confidently leaps in again. However, she didn't count on her cramp kicking in in mid-jump. She bobs up a few seconds after landing. Osaka has figured out how the lanes work, and passes back. The girls look on with concern. Sakaki's looking back from the block with Blank White Eyes. Nyamo jumps in, leaving us with a sparkly view of the splash and Chiyo in voiceover. "Team Miss Kurosawa wins the race..."
A Good Person?
At the shoe... cubbies... um... I guess that's as good a term for them as any; I'm familiar with cubbies, and these are like those, only for shoes, but anyway, I guess students are getting ready to leave. In the classroom, Chiyo packs her case. (Osaka's asleep.) Yomi notices one particular book, one on swimming, which Chiyo says she borrowed during lunch break. She's sure they'll win next time. (Yeah, maybe if Yukari plays fair the whole time and doesn't make problems for herself...) Yomi notes that Chiyo was on Team Yukari. Chiyo is sure Yukari will get her steak dinner next time. Yomi gives an unsure but mildly amused "Yeah..." Tomo figures she can try all she wants, but they'll win no matter what. Chiyo doesn't think Tomo's contribution warrants being worth listening to. Tomo figures it doesn't matter, as long as the team won, and starts mocking her team. Chiyo's getting really annoyed with this. Tomo says that even though it was "Steak Cup", she'll lower the ante by allowing her prize to be soft-serve ice cream. (The book's translated title is "Easy Way to Improve Your Swimming!") Tomo goes back to mocking. Yomi asks if they're in grade school.
In the offices, Yukari recline in her chair, and remarks that she doesn't know what got into her today. Kimura leaves, and he and Kurosawa exchange goodbyes. Nyamo prompts Yukari to go. Yukari asks where. Nyamo reminds her of what she herself called the race, and that she won. Yukari claims that she didn't mean the winner would get steak, but that the name was in honor of all the steak they'd eaten over the years, sort of like the Japan Cup. (They've eaten a lot of Japan?) Kurosawa is pretty sure the original intent was that the loser treat the winner. (Well, yeah. I'm sure she knows that if Yukari had won, Nyamo would have had to buy her dinner.) Yukari makes the concession that the next time they do that, the bet will be for real. Nyamo doesn't want to do it again.
Osaka, Chiyo, Yomi, and Tomo are sitting and leaning on a wooden fence and eating ice cream. (I wonder if any of them does a push-'n'-shove thing...) Osaka notices and points out Kimura. He's carrying a case and a white plastic bag. He walks to the side of the road, bends down, and reaches into the bushes. Yomi wonders what he's doing. He looks around. Chiyo thinks he looks like he's looking for something. Tomo wonders if he lost his wallet; Yomi wonders if it was a pet. Osaka has the idea that he's looking for the entrance.
In a more urban area, the girls go walking. Tomo thinks the way he was acting was suspicious, as though he buried something under the tree. Yomi wonders if she means money, but Tomo thinks it was a body. Chiyo trembles, asking if she's talking about murder. Yomi thinks, in light of this speculation, that the bag would contain the weapon. (Which... uh... wouldn't he have disposed of the weapon? Or at least tied the bag shut? I mean, maybe he could count on the idea that the more it's concealed, the more curious people are, but if a single glance could blow all that...) Osaka thinks it's a mystery. Chiyo points out that they don't know if it's true. Osaka cautions Chiyo to be careful, or she'll be buried. She says they should all be careful. Kimura passes them by. The three older girls notice, and Osaka says, "There goes the suspect now." Chiyo turns quickly and gasps. Kimura goes up to a man with a donation box, "Donations of Love". The man thanks him for his contribution, "as always". Tomo is surprised. Osaka says it was 10,000 yen! (Man, he's really going for that Piece of Heart, isn't he?)
He heads back, but stops when he sees the group. Chiyo's wary of him. Yomi asks about the "always" that the man said. Kimura considers his contributions his duty as a teacher. Osaka asks what's in his bag. He says they're empty cans, and points out that trash should be properly disposed of, and sorted. (I wonder if he'd think Monk was going too far...) He takes his leave. Chiyo remarks how he turned out to be a normal person after all. Yomi figures he's just easily misunderstood. Kimura muses from a couple of meters away, before he gets out of their hearing, how much he'd like to watch them changing. 'Uh, okay. It's called your inner voice. Ya gotta keep it inside.' Tomo questions the "misunderstood" characterization. Yomi doesn't want to think too hard about it. (What's to think about? He cares for the environment, donates to charity... and wants to see high school girls in states of undress. These things are not mutually exclusive.)
Next time: Episode 5!
