From last time, Yoko came to Yu’s place as she really wants her to join Dream Monkeys ice hockey team. Will Yu take the bait?
It’s obvious that Yoko showed up at her house after Yu didn’t answer her calls. I knew eventually that she will come to her to get what the answer she wants from Yu. As expected, her grandmother let her in thinking Yoko is Yu’s friend and let her in. Yep, it went as you would expect. Yu gave a really cold reception to Yoko.
As expected, Yoko compliments her grandmother and mentions that the manager of Snow White was her teammate. She asks Yu why she quit. It becomes obvious, but not too surprising that she wants to start a new life as a normal high schooler. Yoko even mentions the ice hockey team at Nikko, Dream Monkeys.
Of course, Yoko left her business card and a pen behind. It’s obvious that she wants to lure Yu to the arena. After all, she knows that Yu doesn’t really hate ice hockey with all the awards and trophies she has showing.
Meanwhile, Manaka and her friends are excited about being part of the team. Yes, they even picked their own numbers. Kind of giving me flashbacks of Pokémon Sword and Shield where you can pick a number for your jersey. Thankfully, none of the girls picked meme numbers like 69, 420, and 666. Besides, as Nao and Ayaka finds out, some numbers are already taken. Nao really wanted 18 for some reason, but it’s taken. She settled for 88. Of course, the other girls don’t reveal their numbers until later.
Of course, while eating lunch, they see Yu. They wonder if they are seeing things as someone that famous wouldn’t be attending their school. After school, they went to the hockey equipment store to get the real hockey equipment they will be using on the field. As expected, the shop keeper knows Yoko apparently and says some funny things.
Either way, the girls finally receive their uniforms. We know Nao’s number already, but we learn the others. Kaoruko is 15 since it sounds like strawberry in Japanese. Riko picked 24 based on her school number in elementary school. Ayaka picked 10 as the sum of her birthday. Manaka obviously picked number one since she wants to be the leader. It’s surprising that number is not taken.
Eventually, Yu is in her room as her grandmother found a pen from Yoko that she left behind. She wants Yu to give Yoko some doughnuts since she seemed to like them. It’s obvious that Yoko left it behind, so Yu finds her way to that arena.
Of course, Yoko has her assistant to pretend to lead her to the rink. Sure, Yu wants him to give the bag to Yoko, but he refuses. Of course, there is a hockey stick conveniently left near the locker. It’s amazing how Yoko planned this out elaborately as Yu becomes nostalgic over playing ice hockey on her former team. When she went into the rink, she saw Manaka skating and she eventually greets her. Of course, Manaka wants Yu to skate with her.
Yu becomes aloof and doesn’t seem interested, but Manaka pushes her to do it when Yoko shows up. She issues a challenge to shoot pucks into the goal. If one of them gets blocked, Yu will join the team. Manaka seems enthusiastic as she decides to become the goalie.
In the end, Yu managed to hit 4 goals, but missed on the last try as Manaka somehow blocks it. It’s obvious what this means, right? Yu is going to join. While she denies that she enjoyed it, it’s obvious that she is from that smile. Still, I have a feeling that Manaka and Yu might become a good pairing, probably a lot closer than Suzune and Rena.
Classic “Ice Princess X Genki” pairing seeds planted. Good stuff as usual.
Not too surprising at all, but I think this pairing will be good. Should be interesting to see how their first real game turns out next time.