Different methods are on full display here, from Hayama to Hachiman to Haruno to Yui to Yukino. This is one of the best episodes in the series. The writing is taut and the characters are in all-out war. Each one has their own conceived, well-designed plan, and all of them contradict one another.
First up is Hayama, who asks Hachiman to go on a double date with him and the two girls from last episode. Unsurprisingly, Hachiman refuses point blank. He has no idea what Hayama is up too, but a) it's on a day off, and b) being the quintessential third wheel for the most popular guy in school and the girls who fawn over him sounds like the opposite of fun. Hayama recruits Haruno to plead for him, and she tries to persuade Hachiman: "Doesn't a date with a girl you used to love sound romantic?!" No, Haruno, it does not. It sounds miserable and awful. But of course this interests her, so she bullies him into going.
This is precisely as fun as it sounded, with the girls belittling Hachiman every chance they get, and Iroha popping up and being foxy (eerily reminiscent of Haruno when we first met her, and just as false-seeming), but towards the end, Hayama's character takes a real dramatic upturn. He's just as smart as Hachiman is, just as intuitive; with Iroha, for example, "She shows everyone her cute side, because she just wants to be loved, so she hides her true self." The implication being that if we reveal ourselves fully to another, they would be disgusted and ashamed. But this is peanuts to the finale, when Hayama savagely roasts these two flakes with a cheerful smile, sticking up for the universally-despised loner. He uses Hachiman's own method to help him. He wants Hachiman to learn his own worth and stop taking the fall for everything in a twisted desire to help. It bothered him that Hachiman alienated his friends in order to help solve the Tobe dilemma, just as Hayama figured might happen, so he tried to mend it by summoning Yui and Yukino to witness his defense, but it fails, because Haruno intrudes and starts provoking her sister.
Yukino stalks off in wrath with Yui in tow, and Haruno, now bored, also leaves. This woman ruins everything she touches. If she has friends, we never see them or hear of them. Maybe that's why she spends all this time with highschoolers when she's supposed to be a college student. Angry himself at Hayama's intervention, Hachiman proclaims himself a lone wolf, such that "What happens to me is my business and nobody else's," words that probably sound as false to him as they do to us. He's lost his conviction. He tries again to convince the others to use his method to solve Iroha's request, but is turned down for the last time. Yukino decides to run, probably because Haruno provoked her. She'd easily beat Iroha, and presto, nobody loses, everybody wins.
Yui doesn't like that, intuiting the club will dissolve once Yukino wins, as she seems sure to. So she confides to Hachiman that she intends to run as well, beat Yukino in the race, and be a lackluster president, all for the sake of keeping the club together, because "the club has my one love," she concludes with happy tears in her eyes. Somehow I think she is not referring to the clubroom, but one dour person in particular who inhabits it. And Hachiman is not ignorant of her meaning either. But whereas last time, when Yui was about to confess to him and he deflected, now she deflects and runs off, leaving the three of them to their own devices.
Hachiman's self-sabotage method won't work in this situation, for the other two won't allow it, and he's unable to force them. He doesn't object to their solutions either, but is unwilling to throw his lot in with them. He still has reservations, probably because he doesn't want to see the club end any more than Yui does, though he's a lot less willing to be vocal about it. To be fair, he is on the verge of changing. Hayama's move made an impact - a real one - even if he only appeared to get angry about it and leave, which often happens when one encounters a personal argument that can't be refuted. Yui has already forgiven him, but Komachi and Yukino are still mad. In order to change, he has to start with them.
First up is Hayama, who asks Hachiman to go on a double date with him and the two girls from last episode. Unsurprisingly, Hachiman refuses point blank. He has no idea what Hayama is up too, but a) it's on a day off, and b) being the quintessential third wheel for the most popular guy in school and the girls who fawn over him sounds like the opposite of fun. Hayama recruits Haruno to plead for him, and she tries to persuade Hachiman: "Doesn't a date with a girl you used to love sound romantic?!" No, Haruno, it does not. It sounds miserable and awful. But of course this interests her, so she bullies him into going.
This is precisely as fun as it sounded, with the girls belittling Hachiman every chance they get, and Iroha popping up and being foxy (eerily reminiscent of Haruno when we first met her, and just as false-seeming), but towards the end, Hayama's character takes a real dramatic upturn. He's just as smart as Hachiman is, just as intuitive; with Iroha, for example, "She shows everyone her cute side, because she just wants to be loved, so she hides her true self." The implication being that if we reveal ourselves fully to another, they would be disgusted and ashamed. But this is peanuts to the finale, when Hayama savagely roasts these two flakes with a cheerful smile, sticking up for the universally-despised loner. He uses Hachiman's own method to help him. He wants Hachiman to learn his own worth and stop taking the fall for everything in a twisted desire to help. It bothered him that Hachiman alienated his friends in order to help solve the Tobe dilemma, just as Hayama figured might happen, so he tried to mend it by summoning Yui and Yukino to witness his defense, but it fails, because Haruno intrudes and starts provoking her sister.
Yukino stalks off in wrath with Yui in tow, and Haruno, now bored, also leaves. This woman ruins everything she touches. If she has friends, we never see them or hear of them. Maybe that's why she spends all this time with highschoolers when she's supposed to be a college student. Angry himself at Hayama's intervention, Hachiman proclaims himself a lone wolf, such that "What happens to me is my business and nobody else's," words that probably sound as false to him as they do to us. He's lost his conviction. He tries again to convince the others to use his method to solve Iroha's request, but is turned down for the last time. Yukino decides to run, probably because Haruno provoked her. She'd easily beat Iroha, and presto, nobody loses, everybody wins.
Yui doesn't like that, intuiting the club will dissolve once Yukino wins, as she seems sure to. So she confides to Hachiman that she intends to run as well, beat Yukino in the race, and be a lackluster president, all for the sake of keeping the club together, because "the club has my one love," she concludes with happy tears in her eyes. Somehow I think she is not referring to the clubroom, but one dour person in particular who inhabits it. And Hachiman is not ignorant of her meaning either. But whereas last time, when Yui was about to confess to him and he deflected, now she deflects and runs off, leaving the three of them to their own devices.
Hachiman's self-sabotage method won't work in this situation, for the other two won't allow it, and he's unable to force them. He doesn't object to their solutions either, but is unwilling to throw his lot in with them. He still has reservations, probably because he doesn't want to see the club end any more than Yui does, though he's a lot less willing to be vocal about it. To be fair, he is on the verge of changing. Hayama's move made an impact - a real one - even if he only appeared to get angry about it and leave, which often happens when one encounters a personal argument that can't be refuted. Yui has already forgiven him, but Komachi and Yukino are still mad. In order to change, he has to start with them.
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