Episode 10

Introduction
The main trio are bumping around a volleyball in the school grounds at sunset. Tadakuni brings up the ‘Witches of the East’ they had talked about earlier, and tells the others it was actually the name of the women’s volleyball team in the Tokyo Olympics. Hidenori responds that it wasn’t that interesting. Switching track, Tadakuni says that he hasn’t been featured in the show at all of late.

He wonders why that’s so, despite him hanging out with the others every day. To his concern, Hidenori and Yoshitake are of the opinion that he’s being cut out deliberately. Hidenori says that even though the show’s about their day-to-day lives, they’re only focusing on the interesting bits. Yoshitake adds that Tadakuni’s a bit too normal.

Tadakuni says he didn’t know that it worked that way, just as Yoshitake fumbles and the ball rolls away. After a pause, Tadakuni says that he wishes he gets added in this episode.

Opening Theme Song
“Shiny Tale” – by Mix Speakers Inc.

High School Boys and Limits
Hidenori is browsing the magazines at a supermarket. He casts a glance at the toilet door, and sees that someone’s still in there. Having been waiting for quite some time, he grows agitated, and worries that he’s going to crap his pants. He wonders who’s in there and is frustrated with the guy for hogging the stall. The culprit is briefly shown to be Mitsuo.

Clutching his stomach, Hidenori realizes he has to find another spot. He walks out and down the street with difficulty. He sees to his despair that it’s a residential area, with no public restrooms in sight. He knows there’s a shopping center ahead, but worries that it’s too large for him to find the toilet quickly. In dire straits now, Hidenori even contemplates doing it outside, but there are too many people around.

Suddenly, a life-saving thought hits him – he could go do the park. He shuffles agonizingly to the park, and comes within viewing distance of his goal. However, he sees something else in the corner of his eye that turns everything awry – the Literary Girl is sitting close by, with her back to him.

With his face contorted in pain and anguish, Hidenori turns around and lurches away.

Intermission
A notice says “Does Tadakuni the protagonist actually show up this week?” followed by “Observe carefully and find out…! But it’s not that important”.

Yoshitake yells loudly that the show is brought to the viewers by the following sponsors. Hidenori cheers affirmatively.

High School Boys and Consequences
Back at the supermarket, Mitsuo finishes his business and reaches for some paper, but finds to his horror that the toilet paper rack is empty. At a dead end, he fishes out a notebook and rips off a page for a substitute. He then leaves the store clutching his head in despair. Later, as he’s walking down a street, he unwittingly slips on a banana peel and falls. His head ends up hitting the edge of the sidewalk and he rolls around in agony.

Now even more upset, he heads to a ramen shop for a meal. He gets his ramen bowl and takes the pepper shaker. However, just as he shakes it, the cap falls off into his bowl, along with a mountain of pepper.

After leaving the shop, he is walking across the bridge over the river. Suddenly, he notices something floating in the water. To his shock, he sees that it’s a box with a cat inside. Without any hesitation, he throws his coat aside and jumps into the water. He swims and grabs the box, and makes it to the bank safely. On taking a closer look at the box, though, he sees that it’s only a stuffed cat. He angrily flings the box to the ground and curses his luck, wondering whether he’s in a manga or something.

The next day, Mitsuo is walking to school cautiously. A couple of streets away, a schoolgirl is running with a piece of toast in her mouth, worried that she’s late for school. Unknown to each other, their paths are due to intersect at the next corner. Mitsuo reaches the corner just as the girl does from the other side, but something strikes him and he bends to tie his shoelaces (despite not having any).

The girl passes by, and Mitsuo smiles triumphantly.

Transition scene: Not looking where he’s going, Mitsuo ends up stepping in dog doo. He announces the show’s name.

High School Boys and Winter
Hidenori and Yoshitake are just leaving school. Hidenori, who isn’t wearing his coat, casts a sidelong glance at his friend. Yoshitake asks him what it is, but he shrugs him off. Near the school gate, they see Motoharu, who tells them he heard that Mitsuo had jumped into the river again. Yoshitake wonders out loud how he could pull it off in the winter. Hidenori looks around, sees all the students in the vicinity wearing their winter jackets, and appears uncomfortable. He then tells Yoshitake he has something to do, so he’d catch up with him later.

On the riverbank, the Literary Girl is standing in her winter uniform and staring at the water. Suddenly, Hidenori appears behind her and she senses his presence. She turns around with an intense expression, but he’s vanished. Slightly surprised, she looks around and notices a large paper sheet near her that’s been held down by a rock.

Nervously, she picks it up and reads it. It’s a message from Hidenori saying “Please return my jacket”. Having expected something else altogether, Yassan is disappointed.

High School Boys and Running
The Literary Girl is walking down a street, when Takahiro comes out from a store and sees her. Addressing her as ‘Yassan’, he asks her if she was shopping. The two start walking together, and he strikes up a conversation about a classmate of theirs, when she stops on seeing someone cross a little ahead of them. It’s Hidenori, and he’s seen Yassan as well. As he stares at her, she gasps in shock.

Hidenori says nothing, and shuffles off around a corner. Takahiro asks her what’s going on, but she just throws her bag into his hands and races off. As she skids around the corner, Hidenori sees her coming after him and starts running in alarm, dropping his bag in the process. He is completely bewildered and wonders why he’s being chased. Seeing her gaining on him, though, he yells and picks up the pace.

He yells asking her why she’s running behind him, but gets no answer. The two run across several streets and eventually reach the road along the riverbank. By now, they are exhausted, and Hidenori weakly runs on to the bridge. He eventually tires out and stumbles to a halt, just as Yassan overtakes him. The two pant heavily and try to regain their breath.

Yassan then walks over and grabs a frightened Hidenori by the collar. She frantically shouts at him that the guy she’d been walking with was just a classmate, and it wasn’t what he thought it was. Confused and tearful, Hidenori asks her what she’s talking about.

Transition scene: Hidenori faints and Yassan, shocked, lets him fall. She says the show’s name in an alarmed voice.

High School Boys and Mochi Soup
At home, Hidenori prepares some mochi soup and sits down in front of the TV. As he swallows, his eyes widen and he starts gasping, for the mochi’s stuck in his throat. His bowl falls from his hands and he writhes on the floor in agony. A warning message on screen reads “Please eat mochi carefully and in small portions”. Hidenori is in a fix, because it’s New Year’s and his family is away on vacation, so there’s nobody to help him. He desperately prays for Yoshitake to save him.

Right at that moment, in Yoshitake’s house, he too gets mochi in his throat and falls down. The warning message shows up again. Yoshitake begs someone to help him, and calls out to Tadakuni. Again, as if activated by a code word, the same thing happens at Tadakuni’s house – he ends up choking on mochi. However, his sister instantly comes to his rescue by punching him so hard in the stomach that he spits it out. The warning message now says “This might seem annoying, but please eat mochi carefully in small portions”.

Transition scene: Yoshitake, on the floor, spits his mochi skyward as a result of his sister stamping his stomach. With a gasp, he hoarsely announces the show’s name.

High School Boys and the Ground
Tadakuni’s younger sister is running to school on a winter morning, when she steps in a puddle, slips and falls face flat. She looks up, disgruntled, and sees Hidenori a little ahead of her, who sees her at the same time. She mentally tells him not to come over, and that she could get up on her own. Hidenori, however, is walking towards her already, smirking at her situation. He fails to notice his surroundings, though, and slips in another puddle close to her.

Tadakuni’s sister gasps, and he falls spectacularly and turns red-faced. As he props himself up on his arms, she gets up and walks past him to his dismay. Ahead of him, Mitsuo turns around and sees him. He begins walking towards him.

Hidenori, looking at him, thinks to himself that he can manage and that Mitsuo needn’t help. Undisturbed, Mitsuo keeps walking. Hidenori again inwardly tells him to keep away, but he remains unfazed. Now agitated, he wonders why Mitsuo can’t take the hint. As if on cue, Mitsuo ends up slipping and crashing next to him. He also appears embarrassed.

Seeing the hapless duo, Tadakuni’s sister walks back in exasperation to help them. For the second time, though, she slips and falls face down near them. The three of them cut sorry figures on the sidewalk as others walk around them.

High School Boys and Bikes
On the way home, Yoshitake and Motoharu stop at a vending machine to get some drinks. As Yoshitake takes his, he tells his friend that there were many purse-snatching incidents in that area of late. Motoharu takes out his wallet to get a drink, when it suddenly vanishes from his hand. Turning around, the two see a masked figure on a bicycle riding away with the wallet.

They yell indignantly at the criminal to stop, and run after him. Takahiro is sitting on a bench and reading, when he hears them shouting. Looking up, he is startled to see Motoharu grabbing his bicycle. Motoharu gruffly tells him he wants to borrow it, and ignores Takahiro when he tells him to wait. He jumps on it and tries to move forward, but can only wobble in place before falling over.

Yoshitake is aghast that he doesn’t know how to ride a bike. He tells Motoharu there’s no other go, and that he’d steady the bike and give him a boost to get started. Motoharu is grateful, and they start off, but he has no balance and crashes immediately. Yoshitake chides an upset Motoharu and tells him to try again.

They start off once more, with the same result. After this, they repeat their efforts over and over – but to no avail. Evening passes well into sunset, and Motoharu is battered and bruised. As Yoshitake and Takahiro look on, he gets on the bike and finally manages to pedal a few feet without failing. He turns emotional and celebrates, with Yoshitake and even Takahiro joining in in happiness.

The three share an embrace, and Motoharu rides on against the backdrop of the sunset, with the two others running behind and cheering him on. As he cycles, he vaguely feels like he’s forgotten something, but is convinced it didn’t matter anymore.

Transition scene: Takahiro notes in alarm that Motoharu’s riding off on his bike. He slowly says the show’s name.

High School Boys and Cooking
Motoharu and his sister are stopping at a supermarket on the way home, and she asks him what he wants for dinner, as usual. He replies with ‘croquettes’, but she doesn’t like the idea because it’s too difficult. After a pause, she asks if he’d like anything else, but he just says ‘croquettes’ again. Annoyed, she punches him in the gut and tells him it’s hard to make, adding that he should do the cooking for once.

In their house at night, Mino stays true to her word and makes him cook. He sets down a plate of croquettes before her, and she seems dismissive of them, saying that they look burnt. She takes a bite and he asks her how it is, but she has to hide her face because it tastes way better than she expected. Mino realizes that it’s better than what she’s capable of, and suddenly asks Motoharu to make fried rice.

He doesn’t understand why, but gets to it anyway. Upon tasting the final product, his sister is again shocked by how good it is and immediately asks him to make katsudon. Motoharu is taken aback, but makes this as well, and Mino finds it so good she can’t stop eating it. Motoharu remarks that he takes Home Economics in school, but didn’t know if his cooking was any good. Mino is irritated that she’s been the one cooking all this while even though he was this good at it. She asks him to make a hamburger steak, and he silently complies.

She realizes her situation looks bad, being outdone by her little brother. Coming up with a plan, she sneaks up to the counter and grabs the spice bottles, and dumps a whole load of what looks like pepper into the cooking vessel when her brother isn’t looking. He eventually gives her the steak, and she bites into it, confident that she can criticize this. She reacts with a half-gasp.

Trembling in rage, she gets up and walks over to Motoharu, who becomes nervous. Punching him in the face, she asks him indignantly why his food tasted so inhumanly good. Motoharu thanks her.

High School Boys and School
In class, Hidenori is playing ‘Daruma-san’ (Red light, green light), but turns around to see Yoshitake reading a book and showing no interest. The classroom is empty, and Hidenori says he’s bored. He suggests playing catch, and Yoshitake agrees.

Near the school gates, Hidenori points out they have neither a ball nor gloves. His friend takes off his coat and rolls it up, before throwing it over. Hidenori catches and returns it, but the coat gets unfurled and falls to the ground. After a pause, they throw it back and forth without even rolling it up, but it easily falls to the ground. Yoshitake wonders why it isn’t flying straight.

Not missing a beat, Hidenori picks up his shoe and says they can try with that. He throws it without aiming, and it ends up high in the air, floating gently into the distance. Seeing this absurd spectacle, Yoshitake calls it surreal, and Hidenori agrees.

Later, the two are sitting on the steps near the school grounds, and Yoshitake says he’s bored. Hidenori agrees. After a pause, he says he didn’t think the school would have closed on its Founding Day.

Ending Theme Song
“Ohisama” – by Amesaki Annainin

Women Who Left a Scar
Main article: Chapter 67.1

In the park at evening, Yanagin approaches Karasawa and asks him how she could earn his forgiveness for earlier. Karasawa merely stares back grimly, ticking her off. She tells him that she fought ‘that crazy evil demon’ for his sake, even as Habara becomes tearful again.

Ikushima tells her to stop trying, and adds that Karasawa wouldn’t forgive her unless she did something extreme like showing him her panties. He says they didn’t have to go that far, but asks that she lets him do a Kinni*u Buster on her. Alarmed, Yanagin asks him if he wants her to die.

Later, at Habara's house, Ikushima and Habara are wearing tracksuits and looking up, extremely concerned. Karasawa is outside a window and holding Yanagin upside down by the legs. He jumps off and the two rush towards the ground, and Karasawa messes up the landing. He takes most of the impact, and Yanagin falls on him unscathed.

As the others look on in horror, Yanagin gets up and leaves him on the ground, bleeding heavily from the nose. They note that Karasawa too acts weirdly at times.

Outro
A notice on the screen says that the next episode features “High School Boys and Fathers” and other sketches. Tadakuni says that Hidenori’s dad finally makes an appearance. Like earlier, Yoshitake yells the sponsor announcement, and Hidenori cheers him.

A second on-screen message says “Tadakuni finally made it in! All he did was choke on mochi, though”.

End Screen
The end screen features a scaled down and repeated pattern of the grid from the previous episode, resulting in a 10x10 grid of Yoshitake. Below is the send-off message “See You Next Week”.

Trivia

 * Yassan (the Literary Girl) is referred to for the first time by name.
 * Differences between the manga and anime:
 * The end scenes of the following shorts are manga-only:
 * High School Boys and Winter
 * High School Boys and the Ground
 * High School Boys and Cooking
 * High School Boys and School
 * In ‘Running’, the chase scene is extended in the anime.
 * In ‘Bikes’, the anime version has an extended celebration and adds the others running behind Motoharu at the end.
 * Fake brands in the episode:
 * The brand of Hidenori’s TV is shown to be ‘Piera’ (a parody of Panasonic’s Viera).
 * Similarly, Yoshitake grabs a canned drink with the Sunrise logo. Motoharu and his sister are also shown shopping at ‘Sun Mart’, with the same logo.