[hyperborealis]

At the start of the fourth episode, Arata's parents worry that he will be estranged by distance from his friends in Tokyo. For his part, Arata is unconcerned: he is sure his friends will not forget him. Recalling Chihaya's phone call on that winter night of the year before, when she had compared their cell phones to the "misty bridge," he reflects, "Chihaya, In my mind our misty bridge is not a cell phone, but something else." Exactly what, he does not say.

But whether that bridge is karuta, or their shared dream of becoming meijin and queen, or more basically the childhood memories that bind them together, Arata feels a sense of connection already with Chihaya. So it is not true that he lacks meaningful relationships or feels lonely. His desire to move to Tokyo fulfills this sense of connection that he feels, and expressly not the opposite sense that he lacks such a connection or feels the lonely want of it.