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Kimagure Orange Road episode 21
Kyousuke in a Pinch! A Storm is the Hills' Sweet Whisper.
It is summertime; the flowers are blooming; butterflies are flying around them. Jingoro wakes up and is shocked to find himself flying over the landscape. Back at the tennis camp, Kurumi is sitting, reading, and beckoning with her finger. She's bringing Jingoro here. Manami comes up and berates her for using her power. Kurumi's just doing this cause she's bored. Manami is finally able to stop her, which sends Jingoro dropping to a nearby mountain. At the tennis court, everyone is bored watching the senior high and college students play. What's worse, they've been ordered to watch in order to learn. Komatsu and Hatta try to escape, but are caught by the teacher. Kyousuke, however, manages to escape by himself and finds a peaceful lake to play at. At the lake, Kyousuke is skipping stones and counting the skips to pass the time. He counts seven on one. A girl comes up behind him and says it was eight; ``I've never gotten more than four.'' She's got long dark hair, and is wearing a yellow straw hat. She looks somewhat like Madoka, but is wearing glasses. They disagree over the number of skips until she says, ``It doesn't really matter if it's seven or eight.'' Then, a wind comes and blows her hat into the lake. This reminds Kyousuke of the time he first met Madoka when the wind blew her hat off, he caught it, and they disagreed over the number of steps. Kyousuke heads into the pond to get the hat, but the girl tells him not to bother. She introduces herself as Oda Kumiko. ``You're a neat guy. Are you by yourself? I am. Let's spend the day together.'' She asks if he has a girlfriend, and when he doesn't say yes (but then doesn't say no) takes his arm, and they go off. Kyousuke doesn't notice that Madoka is watching from behind a tree and saw the whole thing. Komatsu and Hatta are following Madoka back to the tennis camp. They tell her about seeing Kyousuke with this new girl; they're going to tell everyone. She turns around with a determined expression and tells them, ``I don't like people who gossip.'' Getting her point after a bit, the two promise not to say anything about it. Kyousuke and Kumiko are playing in the mountain fields. They sit down and she puts a flower in her hair. ``Let's go to that mountain,'' she says pointing to a tall one in the distance. She teases Kyousuke about being scared to go. Then she adds, ``I am,'' and runs off toward it. At camp, Hikaru comes up to the three and asks if they know where ``Darling'' is. Madoka doesn't say she does, and Komatsu says he hasn't seen him. Hatta comes out, ``I can't stand it anymore. I've got to...'' Referring to not gossiping about Kyousuke. Komatsu tells him, ``If you can't stand it, go to the bathroom.'' So he heads off. Kyousuke and Kumiko are running through the mountain fields of flowers. She falls down and he ends up falling on top of her. He apologizes, but she holds him and says it's ok. He bends closer and the wind from a coming thunderstorm blows around them. Kyousuke notices a tear on her face. ``What kind of person is this girl? I'm confused... Is that the first raindrop or...'' Then it begins to rain in earnest. Back in the cabin, Madoka is standing on the porch with her saxophone. Inside, Kurumi, Manami, Komatsu, Hatta, Hikaru and Yuusaku are taking shelter from the thunderstorm. Kurumi finally succeeds in bringing Jingoro there. Manami berates her this saying, ``I told you not to bring him in your suitcase.'' Hikaru is wondering what has happened to her Darling. Everyone but her then takes shelter under the table from a close lighting strike. She runs out to look for Kyousuke. Yuusaku and Madoka run after her. He tells her not to go, that Kyousuke will be back. Madoka tells her, ``Don't worry about a guy like him. He'll have taken cover someplace. It's too dangerous, if you go now, you'll make everyone worried. We'll go look for him after the storm.'' Kyousuke and Kumiko are at her cabin. Their clothes are drying by the fire, so both are dressed only in their underwear. He's staring out the window. She approaches, asking, ``are you a coward? What's wrong?'' He apologizes, he can't. ``Look at me,'' she says. ``Aren't I beautiful?'' ``You are, but... that's not the point.'' She doesn't mind, but he still thinks it's wrong for junior high students to do this. He's quite embarrassed and thinks to himself that he really wanted to say something else, but couldn't bring himself to. She continues, ``I'm always thinking of it. It's ok,'' and she steps over the fire toward him. She begs him, ``please.'' While this is happening, Madoka is on the porch in the rain pouring out her heart through her saxophone. As she plays, the rain lessens and then stops. Hikaru comes out and says she's going to look for Darling. Madoka says she'll go with her. The whole gang is out on the hillside looking for Kyousuke. Madoka finds a handkerchief, but doesn't tell anyone. Rather, she suggests that they split up to search better, ``I'll look over this way.'' She heads off in the direction she found, and the rest of the group head off in different directions In her cabin, she's Kumiko is embarrassed and crying. Kyousuke is next to her holding her shirt. ``It's dry now, why don't you put it on.'' When she doesn't, he's confused and goes to stand by the window. Looking out the window he is shocked to see Madoka coming toward the cabin. Madoka walks into the cabin and gets a shock seeing Kumiko in her underwear. She finds Kyousuke hiding behind the drying clothes. When she looks to make sure it's him, he responds with a lame ``Hi.'' Madoka then walks out the door and begins to run off. Kyousuke runs after her, wanting to fix things up. She stops, turns around, looks at him, and gives him a deadly slap. Her eyes quivering full of emotion show this has hurt her almost as much as him. Madoka turns around to leave and Kumiko comes out and begs her to wait. ``Nothing happened between us. Nothing! We were merely getting out of the rain. Really! I'm sorry. I asked him to be with me. I didn't mind anything that happened to me then.'' She surprises Kyousuke and Madoka by breaking into tears and continuing, ``I'm going to have an operation next week. I don't know how successful it's going to be.'' Madoka comes over and puts her jacket around Kumiko's shoulders, saying gently, ``you could catch cold.'' Kumiko smiles at her, surprised at this kindness. Kyousuke thinks that she's actually rather brave. Later, they're all beside the lake, launching little floating lanterns. Kyousuke looks at Kumiko and thinks how this all came about from her being scared of the operation. Madoka wishes Kumiko luck, and tells her, ``we'll do this again together next year.'' Kyousuke realizes, ``That's why she was so desperate. That time back there, it wasn't a raindrop. It was her tears.'' Komatsu and Hatta come up and congratulate Kyousuke on his success with Kumiko. They want to know what happened, ``I saw you two hugging each other yesterday.'' They tell him that Madoka saw them hugging too, ``But she said to keep it quiet. We aren't telling anyone.'' Kyousuke is surprised that Madoka knew everything, but didn't stop them. Kyousuke and Madoka are sitting together back at Abcb. They've received a postcard from Kumiko. ``How are you doing? My operation was successful. I am writing this letter on my bed.'' The scene shifts to her, happily writing it on her hospital bed. She looks out the window and sees a couple of birds fly by the window. Up in the mountains, the flowers are still in bloom, and the butterflies are still visiting them. Kyousuke narrates, ``Kyousuke Kasuga: this was the experience of my 15th summer.''
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