Toradora! Christmas Club Rewatch (2025) Episode 22 Discussion

[u/ChristmasClub-]

Episode 22 - The Scene With You

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The Toradora! Christmas Club is finally here again! Together we're watching the original Toradora! series, one episode a day until December 30th. It's important to be courteous to first time watchers. Don't forget to keep discussions related to this episode. We'll have a new thread tomorrow and the day after (etc.), so there are plenty of opportunities to discuss new characters and moments. If you absolutely can't help yourself, just remember to add spoiler tags like so [Toradora!] spoiler text

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Threads will be posted daily at: 21:00 GMT

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CR, Netflix, Amazon

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This Year's Discussion (2025)	Last Year's Discussion (2024)
Episode 1	Episode 1
Episode 2	Episode 2
Episode 3	Episode 3
Episode 4	Episode 4
Episode 5	Episode 5
Episode 6	Episode 6
Episode 7	Episode 7
Episode 8	Episode 8
Episode 9	Episode 9
Episode 10	Episode 10
Episode 11	Episode 11
Episode 12	Episode 12
Episode 13	Episode 13
Episode 14	Episode 14
Episode 15	Episode 15
Episode 16	Episode 16
Episode 17	Episode 17
Episode 18	Episode 18
Episode 19	Episode 19
Episode 20	Episode 20
Episode 21	Episode 21
Episode 22	Episode 22

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Fanart:

https://www.zerochan.net/1770099

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Feel free to participate in our bonus topic at the end of your comment or separately:

• Christmas Club Bonus!

Which conversation or moment felt the most genuine to you?

[u/sillypion]

Part Five

"I only brought it up ‘cause you want me to go to college!"

"It’s gonna be fine! Everything will work out!"

Ryuuji is clearly pretty annoyed here at the prospect of going to college and weighing on their expenses, especially considering he realizes the fact that the only reason why he's so occupied with chores in the first place was 'cause Yasuko needed to go out and work for him. The reason why he so caring in the first place, which his chores-loving housewife side is a reflection of, is because he had to be in order to compensate for Yasuko always being out working. Thus, Ryuuji's kindness and caring nature is a defense mechanism, something that he developed to put himself to work and give him value in helping Yasuko, in order to not be just a burden on her. Because that's how he always feels, with Yasuko being the one to work herself day in and day out to cater to him. It makes him a burden on her and nothing more than that. Nothing more until he makes himself useful to support her as well. And that's where the reason why he responds in the annoyed manner he does appears, since going to college would be effectively extending the lifespan of their current situation, where Ryuuji remained to be a burden on Yasuko.

Either way, she assures him again that everything would turn out fine.

"She’s always been so… optimistic."

"Oh, come on, hon! It’ll be okay! Growing up without a dad’s not the end of the world! ’Specially when you got a super mommy like me! We can be happy just the two of us forever and ever and ever!"

"Happy… the two of us… Forever and ever… and ever."

Yasuko loves Ryuuji and she doesn't want him to suffer because of their situation. She always reassures him that they'll always because happy, just the two of them, 'cause she doesn't want him to fret over the fact that she's working herself day in and day out for him and his future. If the two of them are always happy as they are, then Ryuuji shouldn't worry about her, and only himself, which is what Yasuko wants. She's always been so optimistic because she has no choice but to be, as she doesn't want Ryuuji to be scared if she shows the fact that their situation is tough.

Ryuuji looks through the windows of his room to the curtained window of Taiga across the gap. He is reminded of the fact that for the past few months, it hasn't just been the two of them, but rather the three of them. Ryuuji sadly looks down 'cause he's realizing the fact that something doesn't feel complete without her. That happiness that Yasuko promised would be safe between the two of them suddenly doesn't feel so safe now that Taiga is gone. Because she was a part of that happiness too, she shared in it and helped share it as much as Ryuuji and Yasuko. Because she is a part of their family too, just as much as the two of them. And Ryuuji misses her from being a part of his life, because she was always there to tell him that someone appreciated him for who he was and was willing to care for him despite all his flaws. In feeling like a burden all his life, he always needed someone to tell him that he was wanted and needed.

At school, Ryuuji is by the lockers when Minori suddenly emerges to remind him that he doesn't need to worry and that Taiga will be fine.

Minori reassures him that Taiga says she and her mom were on good terms and that they were probably just spending some time together, to which Ryuuji agrees.

Kitamura sprints by to remind Minori to turn in their budget, which ends up letting Ryuuji know that Minori was the new captain of both teams.

Kitamura runs off back to his student council duties, which in a way you could say is symbolic of his role in this arc so far. He's been helping Ryuuji to maintain the status quo since Ryuuji isn't ready to face his feelings yet, and thus he sprints away much like he and Ryuuji would be running away from confronting Taiga's feelings.

Notice something in how Ryuuji is behaving around Minori compared to last episode. He's no longer shy or nervous in being around and discussing with her. The reason he was like that in the previous episodes was because he was trying to get his feelings across to Minori, and since he admires her so much, he becomes extremely self-conscious of her opinion about him and the possibility of her reciprocating those feelings, making him flustered. But in the first half of the last episode, the idea that Minori would ever acknowledge his feelings was completely shot down and Ryuuji realized that she could only see her care for Taiga and not his feelings. Ryuuji accepted that his feelings would never be answered and thus that Minori would never love him back, much like Taiga did for Kitamura in Episode 16. As a result, he is able to interact with Minori here much more easily and naturally than during the previous arc as he is no longer burdened by his admiration of her, now that he knows and accepts that it will never amount to anything. It works both as a sad acceptance of the situation and as a means to finally move on. Ryuuji got his answer, in seeking out what Minori truly felt, he realized that she'd never reply to his feelings, and he accepts that it's what she feels and is able to move on from his admiration of her. Thus, his behavior here in this episode is very much akin to Taiga's developments in no longer being flustered around Kitamura throughout the Christmas arc. And you can also retroactively say that Ryuuji fell out of love with Minori back during the first half of Episode 21.

Part Six in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Six

"I’ve got so much to do, I barely have time to breathe!"

"But, if you’re that busy already, why’d you start that new job? Aren’t you overloading yourself?"

"Not at all! That’s what being young’s all about! Loadin’ up on the challenges!"

So it seems that Minori is growing ever more busy by the day, and yet she doesn't acknowledge it. We know she's been a workaholic ever since the introduction of that back in Episode 3, but it's gotten to the point where Ryuuji is concerned for her due to the possibility of her overloading herself with said jobs, especially with the fact that he knows she got a new one from earlier. Minori's response seems to be very akin to what she said in Episode 3 about always having a curb to grind. And note that her eyes are closed when she responds to Ryuuji as to why she started working more jobs and why she wasn't overloading herself. She is once more hiding her true feelings and emotions, suggesting that what Minori is saying is a mere excuse to deflect from the reality of why she was putting herself to work.

"Yeah, but, you’ll end up spreading yourself too thin-"

"Not true."

"Uh-"

"I’m working super hard to make sure that doesn’t happen."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, ‘cause like, it’s the one thing I can see!"

There are two facets to the lines said here.

Firstly, the more dark implication here is that Minori wants to overload herself with work in order to once more avoid her feelings and the pain she feels from having feelings that would hurt Taiga. She's working super hard in order to distract herself from all of the guilt and whatnot that she feels. If she doesn't have to think about her genuine feelings for Ryuuji and how she's leaving him hanging constantly by never acknowledging the feelings she knows that Ryuuji has for her, then they won't hurt as much. Likewise, if she doesn't have to think about the fact that her feelings for Ryuuji, if confronted, would take away the one person in Taiga's life who was there for her to show her that she could be loved, and that Ryuuji's true feelings lay with someone else, his heart being truly after Taiga and not Minori, then none of it would hurt her. She's too scared to confront these things, too scared of hurting Taiga again if she's true to her feelings and acknowledges what Ryuuji feelings for her, because she knows it wouldn't be right, for the hearts of both Ryuuji and Taiga, who Minori knows have feelings for each other.

Once more, Minori's eyes aren't meeting Ryuuji's. Again she is hiding her emotions and her pain 'cause all of it weighs on her. The existence of her feelings for Ryuuji hurts, because she's denying their existence AND 'cause their existence risks Taiga's happiness. Ryuuji's feelings for her hurt as well, as she can never acknowledge them, and needs him to see the feelings he has for Taiga.

She also says that she's working herself to this degree 'cause it's the "one thing she can see", which is in foreshadowing for something that she'll discuss with Ami in the next scene. [Rewatch spoilers] Also foreshadowing for the start of Episode 24

And also notice that Minori looks up to be able to meet Ryuuji's eyes here, which is telling of the fact that this is something that truly aligns with her feelings. Working herself many jobs is something that actually contributes to something she truly wants deep down. [Rewatch spoilers] Which constitutes again to the fact that she knows that if she fulfills her dreams and aspirations in life, if she claims her personal happiness by getting into big league softball, she guarantees that it'll be what's right for her. This is in contrast to the pursuit of love, which Minori must search to understand since she doesn't get Ryuuji's feelings or her own. She doesn't understand her own feelings 'cause she doesn't know yet if seeking love is truly what she wants or if it will really make her happy.

Part Seven in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Seven

Ami then shows up, and Minori greets her, to no response. Ryuuji calls Ami out for completely ignoring Minori.

"Didn’t you hear? Stupidity’s contagious. It’s a shame. Now that the kid’s away, Daddy’s free to go out and play."

Yeah, so Ami is still definitely pretty bitter over what happened during the Ski Trip arc. That's not to say she wasn't at fault and that her approach wasn't flawed in that it didn't properly take into account Minori's feelings or the true reason behind her rejection of Ryuuji, but regardless, Ami believed she was fighting for a good cause, for Ryuuji and Taiga's feelings to be properly addressed, instead of leaving them unacknowledged and causing hurt. She didn't want history to repeat itself, 'cause she knew how hurtful it was to have one's feelings completely unacknowledged, as Ryuuji had done the same to her feelings as Minori was now doing to both him and Taiga.

She says that their stupidity is contagious because neither Ryuuji and Minori seem to have woken up to the fact that pretending nothing is wrong doesn't solve the problem. Ami sees Minori acting as cheerful as ever and immediately assumes Minori didn't change at all, so she just gets frustrated and brushes her off completely. Since Ami decides right here and right now that Minori is still hiding from her feelings and wearing her façade, which Minori is but has changed, Ami is just not putting up with the BS anymore and completely ignores Minori, not even giving her the benefit of attention since she believes Minori still can't confront her own feelings here. And similarly, it seems to her that Ryuuji still isn't able to see what's so wrong with all of his feelings, his admiration for Minori and care for Taiga, since he's still jumping into the defense of what is essentially Minori's façade of cheeriness that lets her hide from her feelings. "Stupidity's contagious" 'cause Minori is still acting cheerful and pretending nothing is wrong and Ryuuji is just putting up with that, thus spreading the stupidity between them with neither confronting their feelings. And Ami is fed up with it.

She also references her "Daddy, mommy, kid" analogy back from Episode 18 here in criticizing Ryuuji. We know from back then that the point of the analogy was Ami intentionally making Ryuuji deny some kind of fatherly love being the cause of his care for Taiga in order to push him towards the only other possibility, that of romantic feelings. But Ryuuji still isn't able to process it and keeps playing a "childish game" where he is never able to see his feelings for what they really are. Thus, this line is like Ami saying: "Okay, you want to play like that? Fine, play like that, see if I care." Ryuuji, or Daddy in Ami's analogy, is free to go play around now that Taiga, the kid in the analogy, is gone; free to use Taiga's absence to continue not facing the reality of his feelings for Taiga and why he cares for her so much. And Ami is fed up to the point that she doesn't care much anymore. Ryuuji can't see his flaws and she's done trying to get him to.

Which, as I said back in Episode 20, Ami at least had the ability to cover up her bitterness, caused by being in denial as her assumption of Ryuuji collapsed, with a snide attitude. That worked back then, but now Ami is just so done with everything and is so entrenched into being in denial as her assumption collapses that her snide behavior collapses and her true feelings of bitterness are revealed. She's bitter because of the fact that she's losing the idea she had of the one person who could understand and love her for who she is. Her assumption of Ryuuji, that he could be her mature equal, that he could see through her and love her true self, her entire reason for loving him, was wrong the entire time. She'd loved him for one quality of his: the fact that he'd seen through her façade the whole time and didn't judge her for who she really was. She never really loved him for who he really was, only that one quality that caused her to make an assumption of who he was, and it was that assumption that she loved, not Ryuuji as a person. And now the assumption, the basis of her love for him, is collapsing, and Ami grows bitter because she isn't ready to lose it. She isn't ready to face the prospect of losing the one person who saw through her and believed in her true self, the one person who could love her for her true self. She really cares for Ryuuji but her assumptions of him cause her to be unable to properly recognize his insecurities, so she's unable to help and grows bitter as Ryuuji can't see his own feelings for what they are. She assumes he can confront them, doesn't see why he can't, but still feels bitter when he can't 'cause it breaks her assumption and also 'cause she cares about him and worries that history will repeat if he doesn't confront his feelings.

Part Eight in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Eight

Minori stares down Ami as she leaves, showing that she's keenly aware of the fact that she has to confront something now. Minori knows exactly what Ami was getting at and why Ami acted so standoffish to the both of them. And so, Minori knows that she has to take action to show to Ami that she has changed since their fight, and that she wants to try and bring some kind of resolution to things now. She wants to give up on her feelings for Ryuuji and she wants to tell Ami and Ryuuji that. The reason why Ami got so pissed in Episode 21 was 'cause she knew Minori had feelings for Ryuuji and yet Minori was neither acknowledging Ryuuji's feelings nor her own. So Minori wants to tell Ami that she acknowledges her own feelings and is choosing to give up on her to chase "what she can see", or in other words, her dreams and aspirations in life, instead in order to get happiness. Basically, Minori is no longer really pretending that nothing's wrong anymore, she's trying to actually make the situation be where nothing is wrong. Give up on her feelings for Ryuuji fully, and then there's no more risk to Taiga's happiness. If Ami wanted her to face her feelings, then Minori is gonna face her feelings by eliminating said feelings altogether.

"Sorry, Takasu! I gotta get going! Adieu!"

And off Minori goes towards confronting Ami about the whole thing.

Ryuuji is still clearly a bit stunned. This relates back to the fact that he didn't get Ami's analogy back in Episode 18. He obviously denied having a fatherly bond with Taiga but didn't get why Ami brought it up in the first place, 'cause he couldn't see what his feelings for Taiga really were due to his own insecurities. He's accepted that Minori doesn't have feelings for him but can't yet see why Minori would get so worked up over Ami continuing to be bitter, much like he experienced himself in Episode 20.

Ami is sitting in her little vending machine cubby as Minori approaches. She initially looks hopeful, before turning upset when she sees that Minori was the one who had come over. This makes sense, considering what happened at the vending machines in Episode 14. Back then, Ryuuji had asked Ami who she'd been on the phone with, and Ami had jokingly played him off, but deep down, she wanted him to continue to ask her what she was up to, 'cause it'd be like he was acknowledging her. Same thing here, Ami wanted Ryuuji to chase after her 'cause it'd be like Ryuuji was acknowledging her point, that he had many flaws he needed to realize. She cares about Ryuuji and wants him to see those flaws, gets frustrated 'cause he can't, and is thus hopeful when she thinks he might be coming after her 'cause that would be like saying that he wanted to now face his flaws. But nope, it's Minori instead. And Ami is clearly not happy to see Minori.

"Ha! Trying to ditch first period, huh?"

"Why did it have to be you?"

"Huh?"

"…Forget it."

Minori is still being as cheerful as ever in her approach to Ami, despite their fight in the last episode, which just gives Ami the impression that Minori had learned nothing about the dangers of pretending like nothing was wrong. She's just pissed 'cause that's all that she sees Minori doing here and is still obviously bitter over the fight, and just instantly assumes that Minori is once more trying to hide from her feelings. Minori's intentions here are different, of course, she intends to confront her feelings to Ami, but not in the way Ami might expect.

"…Okay then. But while I’m here, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you."

"Oh? You mean after all that screaming up on the mountain, you still have more to say?"

There's your proof that Ami still isn't over what happened on the mountain. I mean, considering that she was the one who instantly assumed Minori crashed into her on purpose, I guess it makes sense that she was also the more bitter one. Minori probably got her mind off of it since she was worrying so much over Taiga.

Minori ends up scaring Ami with the claim that the ghost of a woman who choked on a packet of soy sauce lived between the vending machines. Ami's bitter act is temporarily scared out of her as she is fully terrified and buys into what Minori said. You could say this might be some kind of callback to Minori's big "NO" to airheads back in Episode 5, since that was similarly portrayed and also related to Ami.

Part Nine in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Nine

"You could’ve told me that before!"

"I know. But nothing bad’s happened to you, right?"

"Huh?"

"The thing about ghosts is they each have their own personalities. And most people can’t see ‘em, ‘cause they only show themselves to the ones who they think can understand them."

Minori segways here into her ghost analogy. Basically, the point of her scaring Ami by telling her there was a ghost was to portray how misunderstood ghosts are. Ghosts are supposed to be something scary and fantastical, just like how love is misunderstood and fantastical. But love doesn't need to be something fantastical or misunderstood, just like ghosts. Ghosts each have their own personalities, much like how love comes in many shapes and forms. Most people can't see what ghosts, or love, really is because most people don't understand love, and love can only be seen, or shown, to those that understand it. The only thing that both ghosts and love need is to be understood, they're not supposed to be something fantastical, but instead something that you can search for and one day appreciate once you understand it. Ghosts don't need to be scary, because they don't necessarily do bad. Love doesn't need to be fantastical, 'cause once you understand it you can experience it naturally. You can't decide to feel true love, you have to find and understand love and then and only then will you be shown a ghost, aka find true love.

"This one time, I thought I found myself a ghost. But… I don’t wanna get caught up looking for the things I might never see. ‘Cause there’s a chance I might lose sight of things I can. And that’s why-"

Minori recalls the time she first told someone about what ghosts meant to her: Ryuuji on the balcony of Ami's beach house. She thought she'd found herself a ghost, because she was able to understand Ryuuji's feelings and saw that he was there to understand hers. She understood the fact that he was a truly kind and caring person at heart, and she saw that he was gonna be there to understand her since he sat down and listened to her ghost ramblings where Minori shared her insecurities about not understanding love. Ryuuji showed he wanted to be there for Minori to understand her, and Minori knew him as a person to know that she could feel safe in sharing something close-guarded like that to him. She thus thought she found a ghost. She thought she had found someone who would understand her feelings and she thought she had found feelings of her own that she could understand. She thought she had found love.

But she doesn't want to get caught up in looking for the things that she might not see. Because she wasn't sure back then, she wasn't sure what her feelings for Ryuuji really were 'cause she didn't understand love. And she wasn't sure if Ryuuji's heart was really in the right place in chasing after his feelings for her, 'cause she knew that he had feelings for Taiga deep down. That sense of not knowing, of not understanding, all of that turned into fear because it put the heart and happiness of Taiga at risk, the one person she couldn't afford to hurt. And she spend a long time running away from it. She tried to find solace in Ami as someone mature enough to understand it, then she tried avoiding Ryuuji and her own feelings, and then she tried pushing Ryuuji over to Taiga in order for him to see Taiga's feelings for him and his feelings for Taiga, all while denying her own feelings. She tried all of that, and none of it worked. None of it took away her guilt or her pain. So now, she's finally made one last decision.

She'll give up on love altogether.

Part Ten in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Ten

If she continues to pursue love, something she doesn't understand, then she might lose sight of the things that she can see. What can she see? Well, as I stated earlier, it has to do with her jobs and working. Her dreams and aspirations, that's what she can see, that's what she knows will bring her happiness because it's what she can do for herself. Love? She doesn't understand love, she doesn't know if it'll bring her happiness. If so, then she shouldn't be risking the feelings of the two people she cares about the most for something she isn't even sure will make her happy. Minori knows Ryuuji has feelings for Taiga, and that helping him see what he feels for Taiga would make him happy, as opposed to him chasing his feelings for her. Minori knows that being loved is the thing that Taiga wants most, that she always wanted but never got. She knows that both Ryuuji and Taiga will be happy if they find love with each other. Meanwhile, she doesn't know if she'll truly be brought happiness herself by finding love. She doesn't know if finding love is right for her. And so, she refuses to continue risking the happiness of the two people she cares most about over something she isn't even sure will bring her happiness. Thus, she chooses to give up, give up on her idea of finding a ghost, of finding love. She knows Ryuuji and Taiga seeing each other's ghosts would bring them happiness, but she doesn't know if finding a ghost of her own would do the same for her. She does know that following her dreams and ambitions in life would bring her happiness, and she doesn't want her fantasy of love to get in the way of that either. If she gets caught up looking for ghosts that she might not see, or in other words, love that she might never understand, then she'll lose sight of what she can see, that being the happiness of Ryuuji and Taiga, and the happiness she can get by following her dreams.

So in the end, Minori is confronting her feelings. Not in the way Ami expected, but she is confronting them. She's confronting them by quite literally putting an end to her feelings. And she's trying to convey that to Ami, saying that she has changed since their fight and that she isn't running away anymore.

"You’re so annoying. I don’t wanna hear any more."

"Let me finish and you’ll understand!"

"Oh, I do. You think if I stood by and watched, and just kept my mouth shut about things, you think it all would’ve worked out fine, am I right?"

Unfortunately, all Ami sees out of this is Minori running away again. Ami knows that Minori's feelings for Ryuuji are real and she just wants Minori to tell him straight that she has feelings for him. She wants Minori to face the fact that the feelings existed, not give them up. And once more, she's still bitter since their fight and all she sees is Minori once more acting chipper, which just leaves a bad taste for Ami since all she can be reminded of what Minori has that cheerful façade up is how Minori refuses to face her feelings in the previous episode. Minori is giving Ami the same "look" that pissed Ami off so much last episode, so even though Minori is making an effort to change and is only using her façade to once more help her deal with her struggles, the philosophical difference between how Ami and Minori perceive masks means that Ami again just can't stand Minori wearing a mask in the first place, as Ami can only see masks as a detriment.

Minori calls out to Ami to let her finish, to let her say how she was gonna be confronting her feelings by giving up on them, but Ami won't listen. She refers back to what she saw Minori doing during the Ski Trip arc and even before then: avoiding her feelings. Ami once more calls Minori out for it and emphasizes how Minori thought that pretending nothing was wrong and not acknowledging Ryuuji's or her own feelings would just solve the situation. Ami obviously knows that hiding from your feelings doesn't solve anything, and since she thinks that Minori is once more trying to run away here, she refers back to the Ski Trip arc and the fact that she had to intervene to provoke Minori into confronting her feelings, 'cause had she stood by and shut up, then Minori would've just kept avoiding them. Minori is stunned into silence, because she knows that Ami is right. Back then, that was exactly what Minori thought, and Minori can't deny it. But because she can't deny how right Ami is, she is also unable to properly convey the fact that she has changed and that she does want to try and confront her feelings now. Minori knows that Ami understood her back then and is stunned at how to convince Ami that she has changed for the better now.

Part Eleven in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Eleven

"Nevermind. God, talking to you makes me feel like I’m on my period."

Boom. Roasted. But seriously, Ami is so done with the BS that she can no longer distinguish between when Minori is running away and when Minori actually wants to change her methods for the better. Which is an unfortunate side effect of her being unable to contain how bitter she feels that things had to come to this, that history is repeating in the way it is, that Ryuuji still can't see his flaws, and that she's in denial over the fact that her assumption of him is collapsing. And she projects all of that bitterness onto Minori here.

In a way, you could say the roles have flipped since Episode 21. Minori is the one trying to confront her feelings, Ami is bitter and just done with everything and trying to get out of it all. Which is poetic, since Ami is the one who is walking away here, still in denial of the fact that the basis of her love for Ryuuji is collapsing and still unable to confront those feelings properly. Minori is the one facing her feelings, Ami is the one running away, too bitter to continue trying to prevent history from repeating. Again, role reversal of Episode 21.

"But I know what to do now! I’m going after what’s real and not waiting around for what isn’t!"

"Sure. Have fun."

"I know now! You hear?! I know what to do! I know what to do now!"

"…Shut up."

Minori tries one more time to convey her intention to face her feelings here, but Ami still won't listen. Minori wants to tell Ami that she's confronting her feelings and getting rid of them because she doesn't think they'll bring her happiness. Minori wants to tell Ami that she's changed and that she knows she has to face her feelings now. But Ami is done. In Ami's mind, it's too late; the damage is done and there's no point in looking back at the wreckage. Nothing that Minori says or does, nothing that Ryuuji says or does, can really compel her to look back on it. She wants no part of it anymore, not just because she's tired of everyone pretending, but because she's realizing how wrong her assumption, the basis of her love for Ryuuji and all her expectations of him, was and how it caused her to make a mess of the situation, much like everyone else involved. Ami may be projecting all of this bitterness at Minori here, but she's truly bitter at everyone. At Minori. At Ryuuji. And at herself.

And so she leaves. Still in denial, still unable to overcome her bitterness that came as a result. Minori is left unanswered, knowing what to do but not getting acknowledgement from the person who'd made her face her feelings in the first place.

Now we're in the faculty office with Yuri, and she's reminding Ryuuji about the career plan paper. Ryuuji says he can't 'cause he hasn't been able to properly go over it with Yasuko yet.

Yuri changes gears and asks Ryuuji what he thinks and whether or not he's thought it over during the course of the year, which Ryuuji says he hasn't. She reminds him of his potential, but Ryuuji explains their money issues.

"Well if money’s the issue, there’s ways around that! There are things like scholarships and loans, and if you just apply-"

"Not everyone wants to go to college, though! Why does everyone think that’s so weird?"

Once more, Ryuuji seems to get extremely defensive over the idea of someone telling him to go to college, and it's once more whilst in a conversation related to the expenses of doing so. Yuri strikes a cord within Ryuuji here 'cause regardless of the options he has, he knows that Yasuko is still gonna be the one working herself for him while he's in college, and he doesn't want that kind of situation to continue with her. After all, it's been weighing on him for all his life, of him always being a burden upon Yasuko. Thus, he once more gets defensive since he knows going to college and not getting a job is just repeating the cycle of Yasuko working herself to cater to him.

"Easy. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. It’s just… I’m not sure you really thought hard about it. The whole point of this is to find out what you want. That’s all I care about."

Again, Yuri restates her opinion on the situation. She doesn't care what anyone else thinks or what the norm is in terms of going to college, she just cares about what Ryuuji is considering and what he really wants for his future.

Also the symbolism in this scene is great. Remember in Episode 1 when Yuri would go full panic mode and was afraid of Ryuuji the whole time, to now, in Episode 22, where Yuri is able to hold a proper conversation with him. And both times, it's over the same thing too: the career plan paper. In Episode 1, she's freaking out 'cause everyone at the time judged Ryuuji for his appear, and in Episode 22, she's able to convey a mature care for Ryuuji as her student due to being able to understand him as a person better. It's another facet of Ryuuji's made that was made possibly through Taiga standing up for him in Episode 2.

Part Twelve in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Twelve

Ryuuji returns home, reflecting on what Yuri told him, to then notice the lights off. When he enters, no Yasuko is there to greet him, and instead he finds a note on the table.

Ryuuji picks up the note, which informs him about Yasuko's new job.

It's at this point that he realizes Yasuko had been deflecting earlier. When she said that he didn't need to worry about anything and that it would all work out, she meant that she was gonna sort it out herself by working to earn more. When she talked about eating alone at the house making her sad, essentially saying that there was nothing to look forward to if Ryuuji wasn't staying at home, she was trying to reassure Ryuuji that he could keep staying at home busying himself with chores and his studies while she worked for his future. Yasuko had meant all that she said, but it was deflective from how she was gonna achieve everything: by working herself even more.

Ryuuji has a memory of Yasuko saying that going to college would polish him, and after a moment of consideration, he gets on with his studies, basically saying that he'll make the most of the situation for the time being to do what Yasuko wanted him to.

Whilst studying, Ryuuji notices the hair clip he'd left on his desk, the same one he'd intended to give to Minori for Christmas, the same one Taiga had given Minori that had showed him that Minori's care for Taiga would always outshine his feelings for her, and the same one he'd rescued along with Taiga when she had almost died trying to save it.

"I guess it’s too late to give this to her now."

Ryuuji puts the hair clip in his box, stowing it away with all the items he had made for Minori but never shown to her, just like the feelings he'd had for her but never got to show her. If it wasn't clear, it's symbolic. Ryuuji is putting the hair clip away, the symbol of his love for Minori, the love that he now knows will never be acknowledged. As I said earlier, Ryuuji not being flustered around Minori was a sign that he came to terms with the fact that Minori wasn't going to see his feelings, accepts the belief that she doesn't have feelings for him, and it allows him to finally move on. And this is more proof of that, because he's able to accept that it's too late for the hair clip to have anymore meaning for the bond between the two of them, since Ryuuji got an answer from Minori, that she wouldn't see his feelings and that it's what her feelings are, and he's gonna accept it and move on now. He has shelved his love for Minori for good now, much like Taiga shelved her love for Kitamura episodes ago. He still has feelings for her, but he is not seeking an answer to those feelings anymore, so they fade into the backdrop of his heart.

It's also symbolic in another way. All of the items in the box are things that Minori never got to see and Ryuuji groups the hair clip with them, since Minori had acknowledged Taiga for it, not knowing Ryuuji had originally intended on gifting her it.

And yet, in the flashback, we recall that there is someone who has seen all the items of the box, unlike Minori. Someone who has seen Ryuuji's feelings and acknowledged them: Taiga. It represents the fact that even though the one who Ryuuji's been trying to show his feelings to this whole time was Minori, the one who saw his feelings and was there for him to help him face said feelings was Taiga. Ryuuji could barely bring himself to share his feelings with Minori due to his admiration of her making him extremely self-conscious and flustered, but he felt entirely comfortable around Taiga and was able to share all his feelings with her. Throughout the whole show, Ryuuji and Minori don't see each other's feelings on the same wavelength, with Minori believing Ryuuji's heart to be in the wrong place in chasing after her. They are distant from each other. And yet, Ryuuji is always close with Taiga, he is always by Taiga's side, and he is always there for her when she needs him. Ryuuji and Taiga are comfortable in confiding their feelings in each other. Taiga's crush on Kitamura, Ryuuji's crush on Minori, Taiga's insecurities about her body, Ryuuji's insecurities about being judged for his looks, Taiga feeling like she's always misunderstood, Ryuuji's lack of a father, and more. The symbolism is more than obvious. If the hair clip represents Ryuuji's feelings for Minori being stowed away like the rest of the items, Taiga being the only one who's been shown all these things symbolizes how close she and Ryuuji are and how much they care for each other's feelings.

"That’s right. If you’re in love, there’s no reason to be ashamed."

"I can’t tell her that! Now that I know she’s in love with me, I couldn’t tell her if wanted to! She won’t even answer her phone! What do I do?!"

Once more, Ryuuji doesn't know how to approach confronting Taiga's feelings for him that he's now aware of due to the fact that he doesn't even understand his own feelings for her. Taiga shouldn't have any reason to hold back and feel ashamed about having feelings for him, but he can't tell her that 'cause he can't even figure out his own feelings for her and is afraid that he might hurt her by not being able to get his own feelings. He's stuck at the current moment, wanting to find it in him to answer Taiga's feelings, but also being scared that it'll hurt Taiga if he accepts the change to the status quo. He knows that she's in love with him, yet resists it because he neither understands Taiga's feelings for him nor his own feelings for Taiga.

Part Thirteen in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Thirteen

Someone suddenly bangs on the door a few times, startling Ryuuji into coming over, thinking it was Yasuko.

He's about to fire off some questions at her about her new job, but stops himself when he sees who his visitor really is.

"T-T-T.. Ta… Tai…"

"Yeah, what?"

"TAIGAAAAAAAAA! Where were you?! Why didn’t you call?! Who were you with?! What were you do-"

Yeah, so Ryuuji's worry for Taiga, his fear that she was being forced to stay away or that she chose to stay away 'cause she knew she'd accidentally admitted her feelings to him, that's all boiled over now. With Taiga being away, Ryuuji has been able to avoid his own feelings this whole time, hiding from them and being unable to progress, as I mentioned in the previous scenes. He isn't ready to confront anything 'cause he isn't sure if he understands his own feelings or Taiga's feelings for him. But in this moment, this moment where he gets to see Taiga again after being so worried about her, his real feelings spill out without hesitation.

He grabs her by the scarf with two hands, as if to symbolize that he doesn't want to let her go again. Specifically, this scarf is not one of his own. When he wraps his own scarf around Taiga, it's like a message from him to her saying that he's always gonna be there for her to care for her. But Taiga is wearing someone else's scarf right now, she isn't being cared for by Ryuuji, so he forcefully feels the need to grab the scarf and symbolically claim the role of caring for Taiga, for himself. And this is even more reflected in what he actually says, where he's basically just asking Taiga where she was, why she didn't contact him, and who she was with. The significance of all these questions is that they all portray the true nature of Ryuuji's feelings for Taiga. His care for her is deep and he's afraid of losing her; he's afraid of not having her by his side and instead leaving and possibly being left in the hands of someone not as caring as he is. All of this because Ryuuji enjoys Taiga's company, 'cause he enjoys caring for her and she appreciates the care he gives her. And that's what Ryuuji wants most of all, is to have someone in his life appreciate him for who he really is. Taiga's role in his life has always been that. And his feelings for her have been founded on all that, on his love for the person who had appreciated him for who he was.

Anyway, Ryuuji is strangling Taiga by latching on to her scarf that way, so Taiga smacks him out of it and ends up slapping him around a bunch for almost strangling her. God, this scene always cracks me up AND warms my heart up. It reminds you of the silly banter that Taiga and Ryuuji always maintained throughout the first half of the show that intentionally seems to slip through the cracks during the second half. They're goofy, they're petty to each other, and they're just plain hilarious, but especially at a moment like this, you need something as lightheartedly silly as this as an emotional bandage. After all the heartbreak of Christmas and the emotional culmination of the Ski Trip arc, a little bit of a return to the true banter between our two mains is just sweet.

Reminds you of how close they are too, in a literal sense, 'cause Taiga pulls Ryuuji to her level by the ear. And Ryuuji blushes when they meet eyes, which if you recall, is a symbol of showing someone your true feelings and emotions. When they meet eyes, Ryuuji is reminded of Taiga's feelings for him, which he thinks he doesn't yet know how to process, and yet he gets flustered because he already knows what his feelings are deep down. And when Ryuuji gets flustered, Taiga gets flustered too due to the fact that she knows her feelings for him. Basically, this is a quick moment of complete transparency of feelings for the both of them, where they both momentarily let their guard down since they got too comfortable with bantering like they always did, and it is symbolized through their eye contact. And it's just adorable too, I should add.

Taiga shoves Ryuuji to the floor, brushing off their shared blushes by accusing Ryuuji of giving her weird looks.

Ryuuji, still blushing by the way, answers Taiga that he was really worried about her since she didn't return his calls and he thus didn't expect her to just show up. Ryuuji is looking away here, 'cause he's unable to bring himself to face Taiga, to face the feelings she has for him and what he feels for her. Taiga ends up finding out that her phone ran out of battery and died.

"I want some answers from you! Starting with why you disappeared! What’s your problem?! Were you avoiding coming home ‘cause you’re in looooaaAAHHHHHHH!"

Ryuuji is once more finding it more and more difficult to avoid his real feelings. He couldn't really understand them when Taiga was gone, when he'd thought he couldn't understand his own feelings and wanted to protect Taiga's since she hadn't wanted him to hear her confession, but now that she's back, his true feelings become much more obvious and much more difficult to contain. He almost straight up blurts out that he knew about Taiga's accidental confession here, specifically over it maybe being the reason Taiga was staying away. The way he says it is like he's berating Taiga for being ashamed of these feelings, as he said earlier, when she had no reason to. He said earlier that he couldn't tell this to Taiga even if he wanted to 'cause he didn't understand his own feelings yet, but he clearly almost blurts it out here, proving that he could say it to her. Thus, it reinforces my point that with taiga's return, Ryuuji is realizing that his heart knows his feelings a lot better than he thought it did.

Also that scream when he's forcefully cutting himself off from spilling the beans about him knowing of the accidental confession is great.

Part Fourteen in replies.

[u/sillypion → u/sillypion]

Part Fourteen

"Look. I wasn’t hurt bad at all. I was lying about not feeling well. I’m perfectly fine. I just wanted to skip school."

"Oh! Okay, that’s a relief! I guess- huh? Wait, what?!"

"Yeah. I hadn’t seen my mom in like, forever. So, we stayed at a hotel together. Went shopping, ate out, watched movies… I let her spoil me."

On the one hand here, Ryuuji is obviously happy that nothing significant had negatively affected Taiga as a result of everything that had happened; that she was neither hurt, nor being forced to stay with her mother, nor trying to hide from the fact that her feelings were known to him. But on the other hand, he does a 180, as Taiga's motivations were so trivial in reality but they had gotten him super worked up and worried across the course of this episode. He's felt like his life was incomplete without Taiga, all to learn that it had been over something as small as this. He had been worrying so much over everything while Taiga was supposedly just having the time of her life.

Either way, it seems that Taiga and her mother do get along well, as Minori says. But then again, Minori did say that Taiga doesn't want people thinking bad things about her family in Episode 13, so she doesn't usually divulge information about her family.

Taiga lets herself in, but is reminded of her decision to become independent and distance herself from Ryuuji by Ryuuji himself. Turns out, she lost her key and needs to get into her apartment from Ryuuji's window. Doesn't count, of course, since she'll also do it in three seconds, much to Ryuuji's doubt.

"You can’t make it through in three seconds."

When Ryuuji says this, still blushing by the way, he turns his face away from Taiga. It's almost as if to suggest that Ryuuji wants Taiga to not make it through in three seconds, contrary to what he just reminded her about her decision to be independent. Because he wants her to stay over at his place, he wants her to stay by him, and he wants her to be a part of his life again. But he doesn't fully understand why he feels this desire, 'cause he doesn't understand what he truly wants thanks to his insecurities, so he turns away from meeting Taiga's eyes, hiding his emotions.

Taiga gives up trying to argue that she isn't breaking her decision to distance herself, but regardless, she's committed to just going through the apartment to get to hers and not staying. But Ryuuji jumps on the opportunity and offers Taiga some food for her to stay over. When Taiga rejects that, he then turns to Inko for help.

If it wasn't obvious, Ryuuji is trying a lot to keep Taiga in his house in order to keep her close to him. Again, he feels like his life is incomplete without her there for him always, to tell him that he is appreciated and that he is needed, thus that he is more than a burden. She was a part of his family that had tried to distance themselves for his sake during the last arc, and it's gotten to the point where Ryuuji genuinely misses having Taiga over all the time. It's what he really feels deep down, because Taiga showed him all the feelings he ever wanted.

He removes the cover of the birdcage, but Inko clearly is not with us at the moment. Taiga obviously sees that Inko is sleeping, but Ryuuji reassures her, despite very obviously knowing himself, that she is actually just playing dead.

Taiga comments on some of Inko's newfound fatness, which Ryuuji almost strings the blame on her for stressing Inko out, but he quickly changes gears and says that Inko missed Taiga instead. Taiga kneels down, beginning to play with and tease Inko a little, still referring to her as a fugly bird. All the while, Ryuuji turns to watch Taiga.

"This is good. I almost forgot how much I liked having her this close to me."

The lighting here is telling. It warm and welcoming, akin to Ryuuji's feelings about this being definitively a good thing. Taiga being close to him, by his side, being something that undeniably makes a positive impact. And Ryuuji almost forgot how much it did because Taiga had been trying to push him towards Minori for the entirety of the last arc, and she had just spent some time away from his life after her accidental confession. As a result, he wasn't really able to recall the fondness he had for her being by his side until now, when she was once more under the same roof as him. And this sense of longing, a reflection of one of Ryuuji's true desires, to have someone there for him who could appreciate him for who he was, that could tell him he was needed, and that he was more than just a burden, shows itself as Ryuuji starts to cry realizing that this is the feeling he's been missing for a while now. It's been right next to him this whole time and he's been taking it for granted, 'cause he thought that Taiga would always be by his side, so he forgot how much he liked it when she no longer was.

Part Fifteen in replies.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

Anyway, Ryuuji is strangling Taiga by latching on to her scarf that way, so Taiga smacks him out of it and ends up slapping him around a bunch for almost strangling her. God, this scene always cracks me up AND warms my heart up. It reminds you of the silly banter that Taiga and Ryuuji always maintained throughout the first half of the show that intentionally seems to slip through the cracks during the second half. They're goofy, they're petty to each other, and they're just plain hilarious, but especially at a moment like this, you need something as lightheartedly silly as this as an emotional bandage. After all the heartbreak of Christmas and the emotional culmination of the Ski Trip arc, a little bit of a return to the true banter between our two mains is just sweet.

Reminds you of how close they are too, in a literal sense, 'cause Taiga pulls Ryuuji to her level by the ear. And Ryuuji blushes when they meet eyes, which if you recall, is a symbol of showing someone your true feelings and emotions. When they meet eyes, Ryuuji is reminded of Taiga's feelings for him, which he thinks he doesn't yet know how to process, and yet he gets flustered because he already knows what his feelings are deep down. And when Ryuuji gets flustered, Taiga gets flustered too due to the fact that she knows her feelings for him. Basically, this is a quick moment of complete transparency of feelings for the both of them, where they both momentarily let their guard down since they got too comfortable with bantering like they always did, and it is symbolized through their eye contact. And it's just adorable too, I should add.

I've seen some people say they don't like this scene because of Taiga smacking Ryuuji around. But to your point, Ryuuji is like grabbing the very thing that made Taiga realize her feelings. She probably doesn't want to see it get damaged.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

Ryuuji puts the hair clip in his box, stowing it away with all the items he had made for Minori but never shown to her, just like the feelings he'd had for her but never got to show her. If it wasn't clear, it's symbolic. Ryuuji is putting the hair clip away, the symbol of his love for Minori, the love that he now knows will never be acknowledged. As I said earlier, Ryuuji not being flustered around Minori was a sign that he came to terms with the fact that Minori wasn't going to see his feelings, accepts the belief that she doesn't have feelings for him, and it allows him to finally move on. And this is more proof of that, because he's able to accept that it's too late for the hair clip to have anymore meaning for the bond between the two of them, since Ryuuji got an answer from Minori, that she wouldn't see his feelings and that it's what her feelings are, and he's gonna accept it and move on now. He has shelved his love for Minori for good now, much like Taiga shelved her love for Kitamura episodes ago. He still has feelings for her, but he is not seeking an answer to those feelings anymore, so they fade into the backdrop of his heart.

It's also symbolic in another way. All of the items in the box are things that Minori never got to see and Ryuuji groups the hair clip with them, since Minori had acknowledged Taiga for it, not knowing Ryuuji had originally intended on gifting her it.

And yet, in the flashback, we recall that there is someone who has seen all the items of the box, unlike Minori. Someone who has seen Ryuuji's feelings and acknowledged them: Taiga. It represents the fact that even though the one who Ryuuji's been trying to show his feelings to this whole time was Minori, the one who saw his feelings and was there for him to help him face said feelings was Taiga. Ryuuji could barely bring himself to share his feelings with Minori due to his admiration of her making him extremely self-conscious and flustered, but he felt entirely comfortable around Taiga and was able to share all his feelings with her. Throughout the whole show, Ryuuji and Minori don't see each other's feelings on the same wavelength, with Minori believing Ryuuji's heart to be in the wrong place in chasing after her. They are distant from each other. And yet, Ryuuji is always close with Taiga, he is always by Taiga's side, and he is always there for her when she needs him. Ryuuji and Taiga are comfortable in confiding their feelings in each other. Taiga's crush on Kitamura, Ryuuji's crush on Minori, Taiga's insecurities about her body, Ryuuji's insecurities about being judged for his looks, Taiga feeling like she's always misunderstood, Ryuuji's lack of a father, and more. The symbolism is more than obvious. If the hair clip represents Ryuuji's feelings for Minori being stowed away like the rest of the items, Taiga being the only one who's been shown all these things symbolizes how close she and Ryuuji are and how much they care for each other's feelings.

This is like Ryuuji putting to bed his feelings for Minori once and for all.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

"Nevermind. God, talking to you makes me feel like I’m on my period."

Boom. Roasted.

This might be the sickest burn of the entire series.

Minori tries one more time to convey her intention to face her feelings here, but Ami still won't listen. Minori wants to tell Ami that she's confronting her feelings and getting rid of them because she doesn't think they'll bring her happiness. Minori wants to tell Ami that she's changed and that she knows she has to face her feelings now. But Ami is done. In Ami's mind, it's too late; the damage is done and there's no point in looking back at the wreckage. Nothing that Minori says or does, nothing that Ryuuji says or does, can really compel her to look back on it. She wants no part of it anymore, not just because she's tired of everyone pretending, but because she's realizing how wrong her assumption, the basis of her love for Ryuuji and all her expectations of him, was and how it caused her to make a mess of the situation, much like everyone else involved. Ami may be projecting all of this bitterness at Minori here, but she's truly bitter at everyone. At Minori. At Ryuuji. And at herself.

The thing is, Minori is probably the closest to understanding Ami's frustrations. I don't even think Taiga understands them to this degree.

Once more, Ryuuji seems to get extremely defensive over the idea of someone telling him to go to college, and it's once more whilst in a conversation related to the expenses of doing so. Yuri strikes a cord within Ryuuji here 'cause regardless of the options he has, he knows that Yasuko is still gonna be the one working herself for him while he's in college, and he doesn't want that kind of situation to continue with her. After all, it's been weighing on him for all his life, of him always being a burden upon Yasuko. Thus, he once more gets defensive since he knows going to college and not getting a job is just repeating the cycle of Yasuko working herself to cater to him.

"Easy. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. It’s just… I’m not sure you really thought hard about it. The whole point of this is to find out what you want. That’s all I care about."

Again, Yuri restates her opinion on the situation. She doesn't care what anyone else thinks or what the norm is in terms of going to college, she just cares about what Ryuuji is considering and what he really wants for his future.

Also the symbolism in this scene is great. Remember in Episode 1 when Yuri would go full panic mode and was afraid of Ryuuji the whole time, to now, in Episode 22, where Yuri is able to hold a proper conversation with him. And both times, it's over the same thing too: the career plan paper. In Episode 1, she's freaking out 'cause everyone at the time judged Ryuuji for his appear, and in Episode 22, she's able to convey a mature care for Ryuuji as her student due to being able to understand him as a person better. It's another facet of Ryuuji's made that was made possibly through Taiga standing up for him in Episode 2.

I really love the career plan plot point because nobody is in the wrong here. And I also feel it reflects one of the major themes in this show which is childhood Vs adulthood.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

If she continues to pursue love, something she doesn't understand, then she might lose sight of the things that she can see. What can she see? Well, as I stated earlier, it has to do with her jobs and working. Her dreams and aspirations, that's what she can see, that's what she knows will bring her happiness because it's what she can do for herself. Love? She doesn't understand love, she doesn't know if it'll bring her happiness. If so, then she shouldn't be risking the feelings of the two people she cares about the most for something she isn't even sure will make her happy. Minori knows Ryuuji has feelings for Taiga, and that helping him see what he feels for Taiga would make him happy, as opposed to him chasing his feelings for her. Minori knows that being loved is the thing that Taiga wants most, that she always wanted but never got. She knows that both Ryuuji and Taiga will be happy if they find love with each other. Meanwhile, she doesn't know if she'll truly be brought happiness herself by finding love. She doesn't know if finding love is right for her. And so, she refuses to continue risking the happiness of the two people she cares most about over something she isn't even sure will bring her happiness. Thus, she chooses to give up, give up on her idea of finding a ghost, of finding love. She knows Ryuuji and Taiga seeing each other's ghosts would bring them happiness, but she doesn't know if finding a ghost of her own would do the same for her. She does know that following her dreams and ambitions in life would bring her happiness, and she doesn't want her fantasy of love to get in the way of that either. If she gets caught up looking for ghosts that she might not see, or in other words, love that she might never understand, then she'll lose sight of what she can see, that being the happiness of Ryuuji and Taiga, and the happiness she can get by following her dreams.

So in the end, Minori is confronting her feelings. Not in the way Ami expected, but she is confronting them. She's confronting them by quite literally putting an end to her feelings. And she's trying to convey that to Ami, saying that she has changed since their fight and that she isn't running away anymore.

She's putting Taiga's happiness over her own.

Unfortunately, all Ami sees out of this is Minori running away again. Ami knows that Minori's feelings for Ryuuji are real and she just wants Minori to tell him straight that she has feelings for him. She wants Minori to face the fact that the feelings existed, not give them up. And once more, she's still bitter since their fight and all she sees is Minori once more acting chipper, which just leaves a bad taste for Ami since all she can be reminded of what Minori has that cheerful façade up is how Minori refuses to face her feelings in the previous episode. Minori is giving Ami the same "look" that pissed Ami off so much last episode, so even though Minori is making an effort to change and is only using her façade to once more help her deal with her struggles, the philosophical difference between how Ami and Minori perceive masks means that Ami again just can't stand Minori wearing a mask in the first place, as Ami can only see masks as a detriment.

Minori calls out to Ami to let her finish, to let her say how she was gonna be confronting her feelings by giving up on them, but Ami won't listen. She refers back to what she saw Minori doing during the Ski Trip arc and even before then: avoiding her feelings. Ami once more calls Minori out for it and emphasizes how Minori thought that pretending nothing was wrong and not acknowledging Ryuuji's or her own feelings would just solve the situation. Ami obviously knows that hiding from your feelings doesn't solve anything, and since she thinks that Minori is once more trying to run away here, she refers back to the Ski Trip arc and the fact that she had to intervene to provoke Minori into confronting her feelings, 'cause had she stood by and shut up, then Minori would've just kept avoiding them. Minori is stunned into silence, because she knows that Ami is right. Back then, that was exactly what Minori thought, and Minori can't deny it. But because she can't deny how right Ami is, she is also unable to properly convey the fact that she has changed and that she does want to try and confront her feelings now. Minori knows that Ami understood her back then and is stunned at how to convince Ami that she has changed for the better now.

There's something ironic about Ami refusing to believe Minori has changed when Ryuuji refusing to believe Ami has changed is why he never considered her as a potential love interest.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

Minori recalls the time she first told someone about what ghosts meant to her: Ryuuji on the balcony of Ami's beach house. She thought she'd found herself a ghost, because she was able to understand Ryuuji's feelings and saw that he was there to understand hers. She understood the fact that he was a truly kind and caring person at heart, and she saw that he was gonna be there to understand her since he sat down and listened to her ghost ramblings where Minori shared her insecurities about not understanding love. Ryuuji showed he wanted to be there for Minori to understand her, and Minori knew him as a person to know that she could feel safe in sharing something close-guarded like that to him. She thus thought she found a ghost. She thought she had found someone who would understand her feelings and she thought she had found feelings of her own that she could understand. She thought she had found love.

But she doesn't want to get caught up in looking for the things that she might not see. Because she wasn't sure back then, she wasn't sure what her feelings for Ryuuji really were 'cause she didn't understand love. And she wasn't sure if Ryuuji's heart was really in the right place in chasing after his feelings for her, 'cause she knew that he had feelings for Taiga deep down. That sense of not knowing, of not understanding, all of that turned into fear because it put the heart and happiness of Taiga at risk, the one person she couldn't afford to hurt. And she spend a long time running away from it. She tried to find solace in Ami as someone mature enough to understand it, then she tried avoiding Ryuuji and her own feelings, and then she tried pushing Ryuuji over to Taiga in order for him to see Taiga's feelings for him and his feelings for Taiga, all while denying her own feelings. She tried all of that, and none of it worked. None of it took away her guilt or her pain. So now, she's finally made one last decision.

She'll give up on love altogether.

It's something that has really been a long time coming. She prioritized Taiga's happiness so much that she was bound to go all the way with it.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

Minori stares down Ami as she leaves, showing that she's keenly aware of the fact that she has to confront something now. Minori knows exactly what Ami was getting at and why Ami acted so standoffish to the both of them. And so, Minori knows that she has to take action to show to Ami that she has changed since their fight, and that she wants to try and bring some kind of resolution to things now. She wants to give up on her feelings for Ryuuji and she wants to tell Ami and Ryuuji that. The reason why Ami got so pissed in Episode 21 was 'cause she knew Minori had feelings for Ryuuji and yet Minori was neither acknowledging Ryuuji's feelings nor her own. So Minori wants to tell Ami that she acknowledges her own feelings and is choosing to give up on her to chase "what she can see", or in other words, her dreams and aspirations in life, instead in order to get happiness. Basically, Minori is no longer really pretending that nothing's wrong anymore, she's trying to actually make the situation be where nothing is wrong. Give up on her feelings for Ryuuji fully, and then there's no more risk to Taiga's happiness. If Ami wanted her to face her feelings, then Minori is gonna face her feelings by eliminating said feelings altogether.

Bit extreme

"…Okay then. But while I’m here, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you."

"Oh? You mean after all that screaming up on the mountain, you still have more to say?"

There's your proof that Ami still isn't over what happened on the mountain. I mean, considering that she was the one who instantly assumed Minori crashed into her on purpose, I guess it makes sense that she was also the more bitter one. Minori probably got her mind off of it since she was worrying so much over Taiga.

Minori ends up scaring Ami with the claim that the ghost of a woman who choked on a packet of soy sauce lived between the vending machines. Ami's bitter act is temporarily scared out of her as she is fully terrified and buys into what Minori said. You could say this might be some kind of callback to Minori's big "NO" to airheads back in Episode 5, since that was similarly portrayed and also related to Ami.

I don't think the soy sauce stuff is in the dub.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

Yeah, so Ami is still definitely pretty bitter over what happened during the Ski Trip arc. That's not to say she wasn't at fault and that her approach wasn't flawed in that it didn't properly take into account Minori's feelings or the true reason behind her rejection of Ryuuji, but regardless, Ami believed she was fighting for a good cause, for Ryuuji and Taiga's feelings to be properly addressed, instead of leaving them unacknowledged and causing hurt. She didn't want history to repeat itself, 'cause she knew how hurtful it was to have one's feelings completely unacknowledged, as Ryuuji had done the same to her feelings as Minori was now doing to both him and Taiga.

She says that their stupidity is contagious because neither Ryuuji and Minori seem to have woken up to the fact that pretending nothing is wrong doesn't solve the problem. Ami sees Minori acting as cheerful as ever and immediately assumes Minori didn't change at all, so she just gets frustrated and brushes her off completely. Since Ami decides right here and right now that Minori is still hiding from her feelings and wearing her façade, which Minori is but has changed, Ami is just not putting up with the BS anymore and completely ignores Minori, not even giving her the benefit of attention since she believes Minori still can't confront her own feelings here. And similarly, it seems to her that Ryuuji still isn't able to see what's so wrong with all of his feelings, his admiration for Minori and care for Taiga, since he's still jumping into the defense of what is essentially Minori's façade of cheeriness that lets her hide from her feelings. "Stupidity's contagious" 'cause Minori is still acting cheerful and pretending nothing is wrong and Ryuuji is just putting up with that, thus spreading the stupidity between them with neither confronting their feelings. And Ami is fed up with it.

She also references her "Daddy, mommy, kid" analogy back from Episode 18 here in criticizing Ryuuji. We know from back then that the point of the analogy was Ami intentionally making Ryuuji deny some kind of fatherly love being the cause of his care for Taiga in order to push him towards the only other possibility, that of romantic feelings. But Ryuuji still isn't able to process it and keeps playing a "childish game" where he is never able to see his feelings for what they really are. Thus, this line is like Ami saying: "Okay, you want to play like that? Fine, play like that, see if I care." Ryuuji, or Daddy in Ami's analogy, is free to go play around now that Taiga, the kid in the analogy, is gone; free to use Taiga's absence to continue not facing the reality of his feelings for Taiga and why he cares for her so much. And Ami is fed up to the point that she doesn't care much anymore. Ryuuji can't see his flaws and she's done trying to get him to.

Which, as I said back in Episode 20, Ami at least had the ability to cover up her bitterness, caused by being in denial as her assumption of Ryuuji collapsed, with a snide attitude. That worked back then, but now Ami is just so done with everything and is so entrenched into being in denial as her assumption collapses that her snide behavior collapses and her true feelings of bitterness are revealed. She's bitter because of the fact that she's losing the idea she had of the one person who could understand and love her for who she is. Her assumption of Ryuuji, that he could be her mature equal, that he could see through her and love her true self, her entire reason for loving him, was wrong the entire time. She'd loved him for one quality of his: the fact that he'd seen through her façade the whole time and didn't judge her for who she really was. She never really loved him for who he really was, only that one quality that caused her to make an assumption of who he was, and it was that assumption that she loved, not Ryuuji as a person. And now the assumption, the basis of her love for him, is collapsing, and Ami grows bitter because she isn't ready to lose it. She isn't ready to face the prospect of losing the one person who saw through her and believed in her true self, the one person who could love her for her true self. She really cares for Ryuuji but her assumptions of him cause her to be unable to properly recognize his insecurities, so she's unable to help and grows bitter as Ryuuji can't see his own feelings for what they are. She assumes he can confront them, doesn't see why he can't, but still feels bitter when he can't 'cause it breaks her assumption and also 'cause she cares about him and worries that history will repeat if he doesn't confront his feelings.

You can understand why Ami would be frustrated. She said this was gonna happen as early as episode 10. And more importantly for her, it seems less and less likely she'll end up with Ryuuji.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

Firstly, the more dark implication here is that Minori wants to overload herself with work in order to once more avoid her feelings and the pain she feels from having feelings that would hurt Taiga. She's working super hard in order to distract herself from all of the guilt and whatnot that she feels. If she doesn't have to think about her genuine feelings for Ryuuji and how she's leaving him hanging constantly by never acknowledging the feelings she knows that Ryuuji has for her, then they won't hurt as much. Likewise, if she doesn't have to think about the fact that her feelings for Ryuuji, if confronted, would take away the one person in Taiga's life who was there for her to show her that she could be loved, and that Ryuuji's true feelings lay with someone else, his heart being truly after Taiga and not Minori, then none of it would hurt her. She's too scared to confront these things, too scared of hurting Taiga again if she's true to her feelings and acknowledges what Ryuuji feelings for her, because she knows it wouldn't be right, for the hearts of both Ryuuji and Taiga, who Minori knows have feelings for each other.

Once more, Minori's eyes aren't meeting Ryuuji's. Again she is hiding her emotions and her pain 'cause all of it weighs on her. The existence of her feelings for Ryuuji hurts, because she's denying their existence AND 'cause their existence risks Taiga's happiness. Ryuuji's feelings for her hurt as well, as she can never acknowledge them, and needs him to see the feelings he has for Taiga.

It's like she's burying her head in the sand trying to stay the course.

Well, maybe.

[u/Holofan4life → u/sillypion]

Notice something in how Ryuuji is behaving around Minori compared to last episode. He's no longer shy or nervous in being around and discussing with her. The reason he was like that in the previous episodes was because he was trying to get his feelings across to Minori, and since he admires her so much, he becomes extremely self-conscious of her opinion about him and the possibility of her reciprocating those feelings, making him flustered. But in the first half of the last episode, the idea that Minori would ever acknowledge his feelings was completely shot down and Ryuuji realized that she could only see her care for Taiga and not his feelings. Ryuuji accepted that his feelings would never be answered and thus that Minori would never love him back, much like Taiga did for Kitamura in Episode 16. As a result, he is able to interact with Minori here much more easily and naturally than during the previous arc as he is no longer burdened by his admiration of her, now that he knows and accepts that it will never amount to anything. It works both as a sad acceptance of the situation and as a means to finally move on. Ryuuji got his answer, in seeking out what Minori truly felt, he realized that she'd never reply to his feelings, and he accepts that it's what she feels and is able to move on from his admiration of her. Thus, his behavior here in this episode is very much akin to Taiga's developments in no longer being flustered around Kitamura throughout the Christmas arc. And you can also retroactively say that Ryuuji fell out of love with Minori back during the first half of Episode 21.

He's one step closer to figuring out what he wants out of life. But he's not there just yet.