Suzuka

While Suzuka is sitting in front of the shrine, it is revealed to us exactly how Kazuki dies. Eventually, Honoka finds her in front of her shrine, and sits down to talk to her. Honoka ends up yelling at Suzuka, because Suzuka refuses to accept Yamato, afraid to get in a relationship. Suzuka tells her that she doesn't know how it feels to lose a loved one, which Honoka counters by telling her that she doesn't know how it feels to have your loved one stolen from you. Eventually, Suzuka runs away, and Yamato comes to the shrine. Honoka, feeling defeated, tells Yamato where Suzuka is. When Yamato gets there, he argues with Suzuka a bit more, eventually forcing a kiss on her. Afterwards she slapped him several times.

Yamato works hard at track. Miyamoto and Yamato develop a plan to beat Arima. When Miki wonders what has gotten into Yamato lately, he replies that he has a goal now. Miki guesses it is because of Suzuka. Sakurai later calls Nana for advice about Yamato and what to do. Sakurai tells her that she thinks that Yamato and Suzuka like each other and that there is no place for her anymore. Nana comforts her, telling her to find someone else. Suzuka is increasingly bothered by Yamato's seriousness at track, and acts cold to him. Yamato confronts Suzuka about this, and she apologizes.

Although Yamato resolves to stay on track, he just can't seem to be able to catch the baton, repeatly dropping it. To help Yamato, Miki decides to take matters into her own hands and train Yamato. After many hours of practice, Yamato still fails to receive the baton properly, due to Suzuka occupying his thoughts the moment of receival. Eventually, Yamato reveals that his poor performance is due to his regret of lying to Suzuka. Miki offers to talk to Suzuka about it, but Yamato declines the offer, stating that he should stop making excuses and talk to her himself. Yamato tells the truth to Suzuka and reveals how valuable her friendship is to him. Suzuka later calls him to say she is not angry anymore and encourages him to work hard at track.

Yamato tries to figure out what to do now that Honoka has refused his birthday present for her. His friends suggest apologizing to her but Yamato is hesitant. Eventually he tries to call her and then heads over to Honoka's house, which results in one of those talks regarding the relationship. At home, Yamato receives a visit by the college girls who probe a bit on what just happened, while Suzuka overhears and tries to understand as well, but Yamato tells Suzuka his side of the story, and it wasn't what she expected.

After practice, Suzuka wants to share an umbrella with Yamato, but since Miki is there, she ends up lending one to him instead. The next day, Honoka introduces him to Shirakawa Nana, a pop idol who was her mentor. At karaoke, when Honoka goes to the bathroom to hide her embarrassment, Suzuka finds Yamato singing with a blond woman, and accuses Yamato of two timing Honoka. This is later cleared when Honoka and Miki arrive. Yamato doesn't want to sing, until Suzuka challenges him. They start to sing a duet, but Honoka looks nervous so he stops, to show loyalty to Honoka. Nana probes him afterwards and realizes that Yamato is not really being himself around Honoka, that he is just acting like a good boyfriend without really getting close to her. Yamato vows to try harder to be a good boyfriend.

While they sit stranded in Hiroshima, Suzuka asks Yamato about his relationship with Honoka. Yamato responds happily until Suzuka gets angry and stops him. When Yamato's father comes to pick them up, he refuses to let Suzuka stay by herself at a hotel, bringing her home with them. Suzuka meets Yamato's family. Wanting to impress Suzuka, Yamato asks her to stay another night and see the fireflies. She declines, and when Yamato gets upset at her coldness, she says he is incomprehensible, and being nice to the wrong person. After hearing Yamato on the phone with Honoka, Suzuka changes her mind, and decides to see the fireflies. When they arrive at the bridge, there are no fireflies in sight. Yamato reveals he went there to confess to someone before, with the same result. After being laughed at by Suzuka, he says he is prouder of the confession he made to her. She urges him to show his planned confession. He finds a firefly and puts it into a bellflower, causing the bellflower to glow. Suzuka is touched and accepts his confession. When he reacts seriously to this, she says she was only joking.

The Inter High competition arrives, and is being hosted at Hiroshima, Yamato's hometown. Suzuka is there to compete, while Yamato is only a cheerleader. Yamato is depressed by his failures with Suzuka and the track team. Yasunobu encourages Honoka to confess to Yamato, or else Suzuka will steal Yamato. Honoka comforts Yamato after practice. However, Miki has told Suzuka to do the same thing, so while Honoka is with Yamato, Suzuka shows up. Honoka panics and kisses Yamato, then walks away embarrassed. The next day, Suzuka gets third place in the tournament and lots of attention, which depresses Yamato even more. Honoka finds Yamato sulking alone and tries to kiss him again. He stops her, but when she starts crying about not being a couple, Yamato kisses her. Miki sees them.

The day of the tournament has arrived, and Yamato decides to skip it. Instead, he tries to get Yasunobu to go to a karaoke with him, but ends up getting lured to the site of the meet. There, he finds Suzuka getting picked on by a person from another school. He ends up revealing himself from his hiding place, and making himself enemies with Arima Emerson, the current fastest runner in the 100 meter. Will he be able to beat Emerson, even though he has missed practice for three consecutive days?

After two weeks of training, Yamato becomes accustomed to the practices, and officially beats Kenji, the scholarship student, in a time trial, running 100 meters in 10.98 seconds. Instead of being congratulated by Suzuka, she tells him that she despises him. In addition, he now has to carry on Miyamoto and Kinugasu (the track team captain)’s expectations. Later on, he finds out that Suzuka is going home to visit a Kazuki Tsuda, which troubles him for a while. When he finds a photo of Suzuka and another guy in Suzuka’s room, he runs after her without second thought.

After getting completely rejected, Yamato ends up going through depression, and is cured by the unlikely Yuuka, after revealing her past and her former “normal” self. Yamato decides that he definitely likes Suzuka, and will not give up after being rejected once. He decides to join the track team, and seeks Yasunobu’s advice. Unfortunately, Suzuka overhears their conversation, and does not think that Yamato will try hard in track, and will slow them down instead. After she leaves, Yasunobu suggests that he apologize, and that Yamato was a slacker his whole life, so being in the track team was not plausible. When Yamato goes into the track office to apologize, he ends up signing up for the track team

When Yamato finds Suzuka talking to Miyamoto, a person on the track team, he gets curious, but when he hears them talking about doing something together, he gets jealous. Eventually, when Yamato is caught listening in on their conversation, he realizes that Miyamoto was only asking Suzuka for help in asking Yamato onto the track team, due to his spectacular performance the day before. In addition to this good surprise, Yamato also discovers Suzuka’s feminine side during a lightning storm.

At last, Yamato starts attending the local school. During breaks, he realizes that he is pretty much alone, since Suzuka has track friends, and Yasunobu has his local friends. When least expecting it, he is approached by Honoka, who is revealed to be part of Yamato's past. He later accompanies Suzuka shopping, resulting in him getting sick. When he hears a knock on the door, with anticipation he expects Suzuka, only to find Yasunobu accompanied by, surprisingly, Honoka.

When Yamato meets Suzuka for the first time, he believes that it is "love at first sight." In this episode, Yamato moves to the Girl's Dormitory that his aunt runs, and meets both his aunt, as well as his cousin Miho. Just as he thinks that life in a spa would be wonderful, he meets two very strange college girls. One of the girls, Yuuka, immediately starts harassing him, and in an embarrassing situation, he realizes that Suzuka also lives in the dormitory.