Will You Be My Valentine?
Sawako certainly has grown a lot since the last time she was animated on-screen, but her self-confidence issues still manifest themselves from time to time. It cannot be denied though that she’s shown a lot of spine and courage as the first season winded down, and I suspect that for this episode, it stems from things much more than the lack of self-confidence but also her abject lack of social skills. For a story about someone who’s experiencing a lot of things for the first time in her life, these Valentine things are part of that list.
The biggest part of course would be with Shota. It’s pretty obvious that this is the first time she ends up wanting to give something special to someone equally as special, yet at the same time she has to handle feelings she’s never experienced. Furthermore is Shota’s reputation for turning down lots of girls and not really accepting any romantic approaches. It’s easy for us viewers and their friends to say that he’s being so obvious with his feelings for the world to see, but for Sawako she simply cannot pick up on the signs she really has no idea of. Part of season one, and yes of the early parts of the manga, was Sawako trying to figure out things she has never felt or experienced before. This growing feeling in her heart is no exception.
Watching this episode, I think it really confirmed my initial impression in the manga that a big part of her reluctance to give him the chocolate isn’t just because she can’t figure out what to do with these feelings, but because of Ume’s words that “he doesn’t accept that kind of chocolate”. She does, perhaps, have this belief that she doesn’t know the exact reason why she’s giving him chocolate, and doesn’t want to alienate Shota by giving him that kind of chocolate when she herself is unsure of her own reasons. Again, it’s so easy to say that she should give them because he will accept them, but we aren’t Sawako. She doesn’t know what he feels because she’s incapable of picking up on his cues. She doesn’t necessarily avoid giving him the chocolate just because she’s afraid, but because she thinks it is the right thing to do.