Episode 11

Introduction
At school in the morning, Hidenori suddenly goes ‘Papapipupepopa’. Tadakuni is confused, but Yoshitake instantly responds with another equally nonsensical string of sounds. Tadakuni asks them what’s going on, but they ignore him and engage in a steady dialogue of nothing but strange noises.

Pretending to get it, Tadakuni laughs and goes ‘P-Popin!’. The others ask him what on earth he’s saying, and he is embarrassed and dismayed.

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

High School Boys and Fathers
Hidenori and his father are in a children’s park after dark. He gets ready to throw a baseball, and his father holds a golf club in preparation. He smashes his son’s throw head-on and sends it flying back, almost hitting Hidenori in the face. Exasperated, Hidenori tells him not to swing so hard and asks him why he’s using a golf club anyway.

He asks his dad to play catch instead, but Mr. Tabata seems to prefer the idea of golf. When his son points out it isn’t golf, he pauses and stares at him, before looking at the night sky. He says that although it didn’t look like it, he wanted to be a pilot as a kid. Hidenori says it’s completely unrelated to the game they’re playing, and his father says that if he played catch with his son, what was left of his childhood dream would probably die.

Hidenori asks him to cut it out. Mr. Tabata then offers to roll up his jacket to use as a ball, but Hidenori’s had enough of that joke. Later, the two are tossing the baseball among themselves. Addressing his son as ‘Glasses’, Hidenori’s father asks him what his ambition is. He responds that he wants to go overseas and help others. After a pause, his father sneers at him and tauntingly asks if a guy like him was capable of all that. Hidenori once again asks him to stop saying things like that.

Yūsuke then approaches the two. They greet him, and he says the house is locked. He asks them for the key. They stare at him without saying anything for a while, and Hidenori says that if they had the key, they wouldn’t be in the park. Mr. Tabata adds that their mother was on a trip, and wouldn’t be home for three days. Silence ensues.

Transition scene: (Appears after the following intermission) Mr. Tabata breaks open a window of the house using his golf club. He announces the show’s name, finishing with a flourish.

Intermission
A notice says “Dad calls Hidenori ‘Glasses’, but Yūsuke wears glasses too” followed by “New characters show up this late in the game! But as usual, you don’t have to remember them!”. Yoshitake starts the sponsor announcement, but gets carried away and starts singing in the middle of it. Hidenori cuts in and finishes it.

High School Boys and the Literary Girl 4
A girl from Central High is walking while looking at her phone. She walks on to the riverbank and takes a seat. Shortly after, Hidenori shows up and sits down somewhat close to her, reading something. The girl feels awkward, and wonders why he’s sitting so close. He doesn’t look in her direction, and her anxiety quickly increases. She wonders if she should talk to him.

She considers opening with a casual line about the weather, but worries that being polite would be weird, and stays silent and uncomfortable. At this point, Hidenori notices her, and is mildly startled. He realizes that he’d been too engrossed in his manga and ended up sitting too close to a girl.

He considers this bad. He doesn’t want her to think he’s into her, which is exactly what she’s thinking at that moment. She then tells herself it’s no problem, and that she should say something normal. She steels her nerves and prepares to say something.

Hidenori is concerned that it might be too cold to get up and leave at that point, and it might hurt her feelings. Accepting that there’s no other choice, he considers saying something. A short silence ensues… and Hidenori snaps to his feet, asking the viewer(s) if they really thought he’d say that. He says he doesn’t care about things like that anymore, and turns around and storms off.

The girl is in shock, and wonders why he’s left so abruptly. A bit dejected by his apathy, she is sitting with her head buried in her arms, when someone touches her shoulder. She turns around in surprise, only to see Yassan glaring angrily at her. Recognizing her, she nervously asks her why she’s angry.

Transition scene: The girl runs away from the bank in confusion as Yassan chases her. Yelling, she announces the show’s name.

High School Boys and Conflict
Hidenori is in the park late at evening, and is running around looking for Yoshitake. Suddenly, a sharp stick whizzes by him and hits the ground, and he realizes Yoshitake’s targeting him. He suddenly hears footsteps and sees someone with a cap walking by. Recognizing him as Karasawa, he runs up and asks him if he’s seen Yoshitake.

The figure slowly reaches for his cap and says no, then whips it off to reveal none other than Yoshitake underneath. Hidenori gasps in shock and Yoshitake swipes at his head, but he avoids it and kicks back. Yoshitake jumps back into the bushes to escape. Cursing, Hidenori realizes he needs to get moving and starts running towards some stairs.

However, just as he prepares to descend, a hand emerges from the nearby thicket and grabs his ankle. He stumbles, but deftly uses one hand to somersault back upright. He calls out to his friend to come out so that they could finally settle this. Yoshitake emerges, holding his coat, and the two glare at each other, before calling each other’s names and charging forward.

Just as they near one another, Yoshitake feints to distract Hidenori and throws his coat at him, blocking his vision. He yells in triumph and runs past. Hidenori swears in frustration, and the can he was guarding is punted high by Yoshitake – revealing that the conflict was nothing but a Kick the Can game.

Transition scene: A still of the two getting ready to play again. They angrily say the show’s title.

High School Boys and Kick the Can
Hidenori, Yoshitake and Mitsuo are in the park at sunset. Mitsuo is interested in getting to play Kick the Can with them, and agrees to be ‘it’. The others add that the rules disallow hitting below the belt and poking in the eyes, and he is perplexed that violence is allowed. Hidenori puts down the ‘can’, and Mitsuo is shocked to see that it’s prized Gunpla model – the first one he finished in 4th grade.

The others say ‘go’ and run away, and Mitsuo yells at them to stop, cursing them. He asks them what was the point of playing like this, but they have vanished. Mitsuo turns around and notices a figure in a cap walking by. Realizing it’s Karasawa, he runs over and asks if he’s seen either of the two. However, it’s just Yoshitake using the same trick as earlier, which shocks Mitsuo. Yoshitake punches him hard in the gut, and starts running away.

However, Mitsuo recovers and grabs him around the waist, bringing him down. Seeing the can unguarded, Hidenori rushes in, but Mitsuo throws a marble which hits him in the forehead and he falls. Getting up, Hidenori praises his skills. Suddenly, something almost grazes Mitsuo’s face and he turns around in alarm. From a point high above them, Motoharu is firing marbles with a slingshot.

Exasperated, Mitsuo tells him to stop it and flings a marble sharply back, which hits Motoharu in the stomach and causes him to fall over the edge. Hidenori makes another rush for the can, and Mitsuo jumps on to him and pins him down. Suddenly, he notices a capped individual walking by, and runs up asking Karasawa to help him out.

Unfortunately for him, it’s just Yoshitake again, who punches him and calls him an idiot for getting duped twice in a row. Hidenori then kicks the model hard, and it splinters into pieces, causing Mitsuo to yell in anguish. In tears, he asks them how they could be so cruel. Hidenori then presents him another box.

He wishes Mitsuo a happy birthday. The others tell him they pooled money to get him a model, but then found out he already had that make. That’s why they destroyed the old one. Smiling among the tears, Mitsuo happily accepts the gift and thanks them. Looking down at the box, though, his expression turns stark. He realizes it’s a fake.

Transition scene: A smiling Mitsuo dumps his gift in a trash can. He says the show’s name.

High School Boys and Chit-chat
Takahiro is at the park and sitting next to a friend of his. He asks his friend what it meant to be ‘cute’. The friend asks him to explain clearly, and he says he’s talking about the elements of girls’ personalities that make them appear cute. As an example, he asks if a gluttonous girl is cute.

His friend says that isn’t cute at all. He says that eating more than others isn’t an appealing trait, and says it needs to be reworded. He suggests ‘a girl who can’t help but eat’, and Takahiro likes the sound of it. The friend then narrates an incident that occurred before the recent cultural festival. His class had to work late into the night on one occasion. Suddenly, ‘Girl A’, his classmate who was known to be well-mannered and talented, started crying.

When everyone asked her what had happened, she said in deep discomfort that she was so hungry she couldn’t move. Takahiro agrees that that was way more cute, and his friend describes it as an instance of a girl who tried to hide the fact that she ate more than others, but was found out in the end. At this point, Takahiro wants to discuss the topic some more. He asks his friend what he thought of ‘a girl who couldn’t be honest’. The friend once again takes issue with the phrasing.

Their discussion carries on, and covers other traits such as being clumsy and silent. Each time, Takahiro’s friend offers his view on how that trait could be appealing in a certain situation. Amidst the chit-chat, a familiar figure is seen sitting a little distance away from the two and possibly overhearing it all.

At the end, Takahiro says they should tally their findings. The two agree that the cutest girl would be a student council president that everyone makes fun of. This startles Ringo, and she turns around, muttering that there’s no girl like that.

Transition scene: Ringo comes to the conclusion that the boys are referring to her, and is shown yelling at Takahiro’s friend. She says the show’s name.

High School Boys and Love Letters
Yoshitake arrives at school and opens his shoe locker to find a love letter inside. As he walks with it to class, he finds it highly weird that he’d be getting one in an all-boys school. A group including Motoharu forms around him and hear of it, and Yoshitake reads out the letter. The sender confesses their feelings for him and asks to meet him in the park at 5 PM.

A few of the others immediately see it as some guy playing Yoshitake for a fool. They agree it’s in poor taste, and decide to teach the culprit a lesson so that he’d never repeat this. They plan to gang up on him at the meeting place. Yoshitake agrees, riled up that someone’s trying to toy with his sentiments this way. The homeroom teacher, overhearing them, wonders why they don’t think it’s genuine and hopes that they won’t cause trouble.

After school, Yoshitake, Megane and three others head to the meeting spot. Yoshitake stands in the open, while the rest hide behind some bushes to surprise the target. One of them wonders if it could be a real love letter, and another points out there’s no way a girl would know where his locker is. At the appointed time, Yoshitake turns around to see a familiar figure.

It’s Mitsuo, who seems surprised at seeing him. Before he can come to terms with the scene, Yoshitake yells for the others to come out and attack, and they all jump out and rush him. Mitsuo has no idea what’s going on because he was only asked to come to the park, but he unflinchingly takes off his coat and prepares to take them all head-on.

Back in school, the real culprit is alone in the classroom. It is revealed to be Motoharu, who chickened out at facing the consequences and tricked Mitsuo into taking his place.

Transition scene: A still of the main trio. They announce the show’s name in unison.

High School Boys and Distance
A train arrives at a station and the overly self-conscious girl (OSCG) from earlier boards it. Shortly after, Takahiro’s friend innocuously stands next to her. Noticing him, she smiles devilishly, then walks away with a put-off expression. Seeing this, Takahiro’s friend is severely wounded and hangs his head. A narrator explains that in the world, boys tend to take it badly if girls move away from them like that.

The girl laughs at his despair. Later, while she’s seated, Takahiro takes a seat next to her. She gets up and moves away with a huff, and he too is badly struck. She repeats the treatment on a couple of others with the same effect, and is shown to be enjoying herself. At that moment, someone else pulls up next to her. It is none other than Yoshitake, who’s wearing a stern expression.

As usual, the OSCG turns and leaves. However, Yoshitake is unaffected and only appears to be considering something. The girl stands elsewhere, and is shocked to see him suddenly appear next to her again. A bit frustrated, she moves away to a seat, but he follows her again and sits right next to her, staring darkly ahead.

Now nervous, she glances at him and suspects that he might be into her. Reddening, she stares straight ahead, and a long silence ensues. Finally, unable to take it, she turns towards him to speak. However, just as she starts talking, Yoshitake gets up without a word and walks away. The OSCG gasps in horror at being given her own treatment.

High School Boys and Annoyances
Main article: Chapter 81

Hidenori and Yoshitake are walking to school, and Hidenori thinks that he’s known Yoshitake for a long time. He finds that some quirks of his friend just annoy him. He proceeds to mentally list these annoyances. For one, Yoshitake speaks without moving his lips much and his speech is sometimes unclear.

If they’re out buying food at the supermarket, Yoshitake takes too long to pick his items. In contrast, he finishes his food way too quickly. Hidenori acknowledges that something’s wrong with him for being annoyed by all this, but continues anyway, adding that he’s annoyed by Yoshitake rolling up his sleeves.

Yoshitake screams in horror upon seeing some dog droppings, and Hidenori notes that he’s annoyed by him over-reacting so much. He also dislikes his habit of saying things are ‘surreal’ too frequently. When he reprimands Hidenori for putting his trash in the wrong bin, Hidenori admits his mistake but thinks that his friend is too strict with the rules.

While watching a movie with him and Mitsuo, Yoshitake starts crying while a sad scene was on. This emotional response annoys Hidenori, and he is annoyed even more when Mitsuo fails to realize what was sad about the movie.

He gets annoyed by Yoshitake’s style of sitting in a chair. The same goes for his habits of leaving his phone around and stuffing change into his pocket. When Yoshitake asks him what their next class is, Hidenori feels annoyed because he could have looked it up without asking. He gets that his friend is just making small talk, though.

Yoshitake’s idea of sticking pencils up his nostrils to evoke a reaction annoys him. He is annoyed that he can’t handle carbonated drinks, and that he goes to the bathroom a lot. It also annoys him that Yoshitake prepares a copy of his notes for him whenever he’s absent.

Similarly, Hidenori is ticked off that Yoshitake brings over canned coffee every time he visits Hidenori’s house. Also, on once losing his bike keys, Yoshitake immediately started searching for them without a word and retrieved them. Hidenori’s voice trails off as he notes that it annoyed him.

The two have reached school, and Hidenori sighs and looks at his friend walking ahead of him, smiling softly. Suddenly, Yoshitake stops and Hidenori does as well. Turning around, Yoshitake reveals that he’s stuck two pencils up his nose again. Enraged, Hidenori snaps, hating his habit of repeating the same joke over and over.

Ending Theme Song
“Ohisama” – by Amesaki Annainin

Battle Royale
Main article: Chapter 81.1

The trio are walking back home, when Yanagin tells the others she wondered who the strongest was in their group. Ikushima is immediately interested, and is eager to find out immediately. As the two drop their bags, Habara is worried and tells them there’s no need to fight, and that it didn’t matter who the strongest was.

The others are already warming up, and respond that the ‘monster’ is probably afraid of losing. Habara sighs. Ikushima then asks what the rules are, and Habara almost innocently asks why they needed rules if they were going all out.

Yanagin and Ikushima yelp. Having gained some experience with fighting in a martial arts environment, they were accustomed to rule-based fights that ensured minimal injury. They realize, however, that Habara had something completely different in mind, and tremble at the menacing aura she has.

Quickly, they try to calm her down by saying it was all a joke. Habara relaxes and laughs, but the two notice that she nonchalantly throws away a large rock she was holding behind her.

Outro
A message says that the next episode features the sketch “High School Boys and…” among others. Tadakuni says that it’s the final episode. This time, Hidenori begins the sponsor announcement and starts singing in the middle, and Yoshitake cuts in and concludes it.

A second notice says “Parting, setting off and deep emotion… we want the last episode to be like that” and follows up self-mockingly with “Can you do that? A person like you?.

End Screen
The end screen is a singular, large and zoomed in panel of Yoshitake. Below is the send-off message “Do watch us Next Time too”.

Characters
In order of appearance:
 * Hidenori
 * Tadakuni
 * Yoshitake
 * Hidenori's Father
 * Yūsuke
 * The Overly Self-conscious Girl
 * Yassan
 * Mitsuo
 * Motoharu
 * Takahiro
 * Takahiro's friend
 * Ringo
 * Unnamed Class 2-A students
 * Homeroom teacher
 * Megane
 * Habara
 * Ikushima
 * Yanagin

Trivia

 * Differences between the manga and anime:
 * The end scenes of the following shorts are manga-only:
 * High School Boys and Distance
 * High School Boys and Annoyances – in which Yoshitake notes his own annoyances.
 * In 'Conflict', the manga shows Hidenori and Yoshitake tussle before Yoshitake gets past him. This is omitted from the anime.
 * In ‘Annoyances’, the two boys are shown walking to school in the anime, and elsewhere in the manga.
 * Fake brands in the episode:
 * In 'Literary Girl 4', the same Ganigani Magazine edition as in Episode 8 makes a reappearance in Hidenori's hands.Hidenori with Ganigani.png
 * Sunrise drink 2.png Sunrise drink from the previous episode reappears in 'Conflict', its full name now revealed as 'Sunrise Nine'.
 * In the HSGF short, Ikushima and Habara are reading ‘DK magazine’, the same edition as the one Yoshitake was reading in Episode 8.