Shuurei falls sick and we see a bunch of guys all becoming idiots trying to take care of her. At least we know that Shuurei is really popular. This episode is like a filler before the next story arc, but develops every character very nicely.

Shuurei has taken the imperial exams, but the results are not out yet, thus its a long anxious wait. Shuurei is getting more excitable too, and after chasing one of her wayward students, she falls into an ice-cold river, falling down with a cold. Of course, Seiran is the one to take care of her.

 Shuurei falling sick brings back memories of shuurei’s mom to both Seiran and Shouka. Of course, Shouka is all panicky, and basically trashes the kitchen trying to prepare ginger tea for Shuurei. Kouyuu and Shuuei arrive just in time to help prepare dinner,with Shouka chased away from the kitchen.

 Next is the arrival of Kijin, and Reishin. Reishin basically continues to act all sneaky, peeping in from the winder, until Shouka catches them. Shouka reprimands Reishin for trying to enter through the window, just as Kijin jumps through the window in one fine leap.

 Just then, the father of the student mentioned at the start, arrives searching for the son. Seems that he has gone missing up in the mountains. Kouyuu, Shuuei and Seiran quickly organizes to start a search. Reishin says something sarcastic to Kouyuu, and is reprimanded by Shouka. But everyone is surprised when Reishin seems pretty happy about it.

We then get a story of how Reishin is still afraid of approaching Seiran.  Because he chased Shouka away from the house last time, and fears he will be hated. It is revealed that all this while, he has been trying in his own ways to take care of Shouka too, though not quite succeeding. Reishin recounts a time when he met Shuurei’s mom, and he has always been practicing how to smile, hoping that Shuurei will smile back at him.

Last to arrive is the emperor, who takes good care of Shuurei. Except that to feed medicine to Shuurei, he does it mouth-to-mouth. Except that he fed her Shouka’s gingerless ginger tea, which ain’t quite edible.

Anyway, the boy’s finally found as well…

Final scene of Shuurei contemplating her relationship with the emperor, and deciding that it’s impossible for the two of them. We also see Shouka reflecting, and we find out that Shouka had met his wife on a job to assassinate her.  He ends up saying that love sickness is a disease that cannot be cured.

Thoughts

Very strong character development. At the same time, very good comedy involving a bunch of silly guys. Guys trying to act like Macho guys, putting up a facade, yet feeling a different way. tsk tsk.

One wonders why Shuurei feels that way towards  Ryuuki. If you link it to Shouka’s tale, is it a matter of a difference in class? or is there no link at all. Intriguing background stories to every character though, we shall see how things develop.