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This episode of Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out! starts with flashbacks of several of the most recent events, with additional narration. This may the first episode of this season to start without a relevant scenario or plot-based scene, which doesn’t bode well. Padding the episode with flashbacks or plot summaries is a big indicator that it’ll be a less eventful one, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, for this episode, that’s exactly the case.

After the last episode ended with Sakurai calling Yanagi by her first name, this one started with Uzaki and Sakurai arguing about it. The café owner and Asai explain to Yanagi that Uzaki and Sakurai’s relationship is so innocent, they aren’t even using each other's first names. Rather, the café owner was explaining this while Asai just slid in from the side. Considering Asai wasn’t on the schedule to work, her father has the same thought most viewers must be thinking: How did she hear about this and know to be here at the most opportune moment? He imagines her listening from afar with a set of headphones. Honestly, knowing Asai, that’s pretty believable at this point.

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A Fortuitous Slip of the Tongue

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Sakurai tries to convince Uzaki to feel better, but she won’t let it go unless they call each other by their first names all day. He’s embarrassed because being on a first-name basis makes it feel like they’re really close friends. Buddy, you two are far past being “close friends.” She gives him an earful that he needs to think more before he speaks. He backtracks and apologizes, saying they are close, she does all kinds of things for him, and they hang out a ton. She asks for him to call her by her first name from now on, but he’s still hesitant. She gets mad and threatens to lose her temper with the way he’s treating her. She wonders why she’s the only one that he won’t call by her first name, even though he calls all of his friends and even her family members he’s met by their first names.

It’s a real blow to Uzaki’s self-confidence that he doesn’t consider her a close enough friend to call her by her first name. He admits that her name is the only one giving him a hard time, and he lets it slip that it must be because she’s special to him. As soon as he realizes what he just said, their cheeks go red and they become flustered, wondering why he said it. With her confidence restored, she decides to leave it at that. Yanagi thinks about how she’ll need to lend a hand to help them out and just like that, Yanagi joins team “let’s get the two protagonists together.”

Yanagi returns home and mentions to her mother that she met Sakurai. She asks if Ms. Tsuki knew that Uzaki had feelings for Sakurai, to which she answers that she did. She then thinks about how it seems Sakurai has taken a liking to Yanagi and wonders what kinds of things he’s said to her. As the narrator mentions, Ms. Tsuki believes that Sakurai and Uzaki are in a “special” relationship. She then thinks that maybe Yanagi and Uzaki could end up in a shared relationship with Sakurai. She forbids Yanagi from seeing Sakurai without her and Yanagi nonchalantly agrees, not sure why her mother seems so insistent about it.

The Gym Helps a Troubled Mind, Supposedly

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Fuji hears the noise and comes from another room. He wonders where Yanagi went on a Sunday, and she hurts his feelings by deciding not to bring him into the loop since it’d just start a fuss. Kiri comes into the room, visibly stressed from studying and refills his cup of tea. Kiri just hates studying for finals and not being able to take part in physical club activities, but the others egg him on to study. Kiri asks his father for a favor and Fuji gives in, desperate for some attention and love after being brushed off by Yanagi.

Kiri visits the gym since his dad gave him a free pass and agreed to keep it a secret. Kiri’s a member of the swim club at school. With no other younger people around the gym, Kiri feels especially confident. As he goes for heavier weights than the older gym members can handle, they’re all impressed.

He then goes to the bench press, continuing to impress the older people, but sees another gym person lifting something five times as heavy as him. He decides to go for a run on the treadmill and work out away from that stronger gym member. He impresses some older people with his speed, but then he sees an older person running on a higher speed setting than him, and he kicks the treadmill speed up even faster. It’s too fast for him, and he slides right off.

A New Challenger Approaches

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Sakurai visits the pool at the gym, running into Fuji on his way in. Fuji confirms he can use the pool and suggests that he use the advanced lane, which has slightly different rules than the casual lanes. Fuji sees the look on his face and assumes that Sakurai must have girl trouble again. Little does he know.

Kiri goes to the pool to swim in the advanced lane and sees Sakurai, assuming that Sakurai can’t be that great since he’s visiting a gym for older people. Sakurai’s swim skills impress the older clientele and Kiri is pissed about being overshadowed. Meanwhile, Sakurai is still focused on what he said to Uzaki about her being special and decides to swim so fast that he can’t think about anything else.

After swimming, Kiri visits the locker room to prepare to leave and thinks about how he got passed by Sakurai twice. He tries to justify his lack of athleticism by having gotten rusty from studying for the exams. He gets a look at Sakurai’s physique as he passes him in the bathroom and the majestic sight is enough to leave him in a slump for the rest of the day.

At home, Yanagi and Uzaki see Kiri’s depressed demeanor and decide to make something for him to brighten his mood. Fuji comes in and starts asking Kiri about his time at the gym, but it only makes Kiri feel worse. Thus, this episode of Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out! ends with Kiri’s internal struggle about his absolute failure at the gym, which most viewers probably couldn’t care less about. This was a pretty weak episode, especially compared to others from this season. It was interesting to have an episode focused mostly on the Uzaki family members, especially on Kiri, who hasn’t gotten any focus up to now. Still, he’s one of the less interesting members of that family and the episode was sorely lacking in humor or plot development.

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