“Sometimes, it feels like I don’t really have any options either.”
CHAIN-LINK EVENT
WARNING: this Event is part of an Event Chain! You've lost all control over your own actions and must now sit back while
someone else takes the wheel. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and hope that you did things right before taking the plunge!
Returning from their fruitless search for Noriko, Sensei and Ami join Ayane, Maya and Sana at their table. Ayane asks him if he notices something different about Sana, but he only notices her missing gas mask. Ayane chastises him for not noticing her change in hair style or her more mature outfit, but he doesn’t tend to notice changes in her hair unless she shows her second eye and he didn’t wanted to point out her outfit so she doesn’t get embarrassed about an outfit she wouldn’t wear voluntarily. Sana meekly agrees with the last statement, so Ayane begs him to compliment her so her development won’t regress, but when he gives her a simple compliment, she gets embarrassed and starts to panic, leaving Sensei confused on how he should deal with this situation.
When Maya chimes in, he focuses on her and asks if complimenting her would increase the chance of seeing her wearing costumes, but she doesn’t care about or even wants his compliments. Ami agrees with Maya not needing compliments due to her self-confidence, something she envies and also makes her feel a bit weird when she confidently praises Ami. Noticing how supportive Maya is of Ami, the girls wonder if there’s a reason for this, but Maya doesn’t see why this is weird or worth pointing out, until Ami tells her that it’s annoying to be complimented by her because she’s jealous of her looks and attitude and can’t figure out if she means any of them. Ami finally drops the topic when Maya can’t follow her reasoning anymore.
Sensei, once the girls include him again, can’t tell if they were bonding or fighting just now, and Ami suggests to let Maya decide since he will agree with her anyway. Maya fails to see why he would take her side instead of Ami’s, but Ami claims that Maya is closer to Sensei than she lets on, ignores any of her claims, and drops the topic with a level of passive-aggressiveness they rarely see from her. Finding her behavior weird as well, Sensei asks Ami what her problem is, but she claims it’s just her being cranky due to lack of sleep. Ayane offers to let Geoffrey prepare a bed instead of dealing with the Irish Mafia, which makes Ami wonder why he’s still dealing with them.
Sensei is confused that no one finds this weird, but when he tries to question it, Maya silently signals to him to drop the topic, and, not wanting the situation to escalate again, follows throgh. While he stands in silence, his thoughts go back to Ami’s claim that he would side with Maya over her, making him wonder how accurate her claim is and if he would do so because of Maya’s knowledge of the reset. His thoughts are interrupted when he notices how much conversation he missed, soon getting called over by Rin to her table.