Perhaps the most intriguing part of this ep, IMO is the opening shower scene. Monochromatic fanservice aside, Kei is clearly trying to wash away her guilt from the cell phone accident. Yet, she surprises me when she pulls what is probably the cruelest trick so far in the series. Just how does she feel about tricking Miyako and Hirono like that anyway? Even when her relationship with Hirono is progressing with him offering to spend more time with her due to their injuries, she still looks very unsure about her methods.
At least Miyako has taken a step away from the yandere direction, even though she isn't prominent here.
ChihiroxRenji once again climaxes with one of her offers, nothing really noteworthy IMO. The novel's symbolism is insightful as usual.
The real highlight of their arc is Himura's underhanded tactics here. He says he tried to wake her several times, but doesn't show any surprise when Renji wakes her with a single word. It's pretty clear from the way he obstructs Chihiro's rememberance of Renji and saying "it might be too late already" that he doesn't approve and now he's finally proactively stopping the relationship. At least that's my take on what transpired.
Is it just me or is the artistry of this series getting better and better? It was already a fairly deep and well done work, but damn...
Kei's mouth repeating the same 2 frames while delivering a line kinda detracts from it though...animation might actually be getting worse.