Houtarou for the win, giving Mayaka the crucial ingredient in the cooking contest, landing the Classics Club plenty of publicity. But out of personal victory, comes the (hopefully) final straw leading the club to investigate the mysteriously “borrowed” items across campus, the latest being what was to be the Classics Club’s ladle, replaced with a note promising its return. Maybe solving such a public mystery will get the club publicity for their anthology.
The cooking contest had more suspense than I anticipated, and I was hanging on the outcome. Watching from the edge of my seat as Mayaka was in a frenzy to try and finish strong for the club after missing the first ten minutes of her round was exhilarating. Then to see Oreki throw out the 7 minute save, the product of a few lucky trades no less, was amazing. Probably the first time Hyouka has gotten me this excited outside of an unsolved mystery. Although I’m not surprised Chitanda was such a skilled cook, when she was sitting in the second chair, that’s where I considered most of the potential for the Classics Club to be in the cooking contest. But Mayaka surprised me a bit, pulling off something so random using so few odd ingredients was very interesting.
The anthologies still haven’t moved enough and the publicity doesn’t seem to be spreading through Kanya Fest as much as Satoshi would’ve hoped. Like I said earlier, solving a high-profile mystery like the “Jumonji” thefts might give them the spotlight to move more anthologies. I also wonder if “Jumonji” is supposed to be a reference to the story about a magic board game (had a movie with Robin Williams) and is more kanji wordplay. Or I’m completely off and will be happily surprised when Oreki blows my mind with the true meaning.
Finally, maybe now Chiyu will stop being a distraction to the action in following Accel World now that she can just tag along and stop complaining about Haru and Taku playing (…pipe dream?). But despite her eagerness to kick butt and take names, Lime Bell’s power is even more special than Chiyu could’ve imagined. She’s one of only 3 healers in the history of Accel World, highly sought after and valued players. The only other remaining healer is now a king of a legion of his/her own. With a little defensive boosting, she could become an invaluable asset in Nega Nebulous, which could help overcome what they lack in numbers. And perhaps alleviate some of the falling on his own ass that Haru seems so keen on.
Along with a newly donned Burst Linker, the group also sees a new crop of freshmen enter the school as they move up into the same class. Though at first it seemed as if there were no Burst Linkers in the bunch, Taku’s kendo opponent seems to show beyond ordinary speed and responsiveness, but even then, Haru found no sign of another Linker on the school’s network. Now, pardon me for poking holes, but is it such a stretch that they’d be using the Global Net to avoid being easily spotted? If I walked into a network with 4 Burst Linkers already present, I wouldn’t broadcast the presence of a new guy either. That or find a way to keep my avatar from appearing on the fight list.
Haru and Taku are also on the line for the territory fights in the coming week while Kuro-sempai is away on a class trip. If they can make use of Lime Bell’s healing ability, they’ll do fine, but then again, it may not be the best thing to reveal such a key power before she’s had a chance to get some experience in the mechanics of the Accel World. I foresee at least one kidnapping attempt, maybe a concerted effort to simply keep the healer out of Nega Nebulous. I wouldn’t put it past Chiyo to consider leaving Accel World, but then she’ll commit to stick with Taku and Haru in her hopes of returning to how it was when they were kids.
