When Azuma asks Aoba whether Akane really does look like Wakaba, Aoba says, just as Ko did, that in her mind Wakaba is still in fifth grade. Ryuo loses in the semifinal at Koshien. One morning after the Takigawa soba restaurant opens, when Akane and Ko walk to the train station together, he accidentally takes her case of art supplies and goes to her school to return it, where he helps stop an exhibitionist by hitting him with a baseball. During practice, when Aoba makes a bad pun, Azuma tells her she and Ko are a lot alike. Akane meets Momiji at a park where they both are sketching and walks her home, where Aoba and her father formally meet Akane for the first time. After Aoba rescues Akane from being harassed by some boys, Akane recognizes her from Ko's description of the three Tsukishima sisters. Aoba later asks Ko why he didn't tell Akane about Wakaba, then admits that Akane is very like Wakaba beyond just appearance.