It's gotten quite cold out now.
At times like this...
Speed walk!
Oh, Master!
Master!
Good morning!
G-Good
morning!
You're a little different today, Master.
I am.
I'm super-strong Bocchi!
Super-strong Master?!
What do you do to become that?
Well, today we have closing ceremonies for second semester.
It happens at closing ceremonies?!
Master?
I couldn't make any friends this semester, unlike first semester.
But...
Since I'm sure I've grown stronger than I was in first semester,
I've become super-strong Bocchi!
Master!
I-I'm going to become super-strong Sotoka, too!
Cold!
Hm?
What?
No One Said That Before
Master.
What is it?
I think you'll gain confidence if you show Nako and the others
how you're stronger than usual.
Right.
Nako-chan.
Hm?
Do you notice anything different about me today?
Huh?! Why are you suddenly asking me such a girly question?
Something about me is stronger than usual today!
Oh, that wasn't what she meant.
Your hint is feet!
Feet?
Hm...
Oh, you're standing on your heels!
I'm super-strong Bocchi.
And how are you strong?
Huh?!
Uh, hey...
It didn't go well with Nako-chan, so...
Aru-chan.
Today, I ate natto for breakfast,
but I added the mustard, which I never do!
You never add the mustard?
Yeah.
But today I added a little.
I see.
I'm the type that always adds all the mustard,
so I guess I'll try leaving it out next time.
All?!
Aru-chan, you're mature.
I really am weak.
Huh? Huh?!
Hey, Bocchi!
Aru.
Wh-What?
Hey, Sotoka?
Come with me!
What? So that's what's going on.
We need to think about how we can get Master to realize she's the strongest.
She's not the strongest, though.
Yeah.
I wish we could get her to realize that there's nothing wrong,
even if she's not making many more friends.
Unfortunately, I think that'll be impossible to do by the end of the day.
Who are you—
Not me, I suppose.
Do you think she would realize it if I stopped being her apprentice?
Huh?
Why would you do that?
If I become her friend, instead of her apprentice,
then Master will have made a friend during the second semester.
But do you think she'd understand that she's strong?
Well...
I think Bocchi would be happy regardless of being weak or strong.
But I think Master might only see me as her apprentice!
Is being her apprentice that important?
It probably is to Sotoka.
Ah, what do I do?!
Thinking about it a bit more,
befriending everyone in class
is unreasonable, isn't it?
But maybe she thinks she can't change if she doesn't go that far?
Was Bocchi ever that bad?
Thinking back to how she first was,
I suppose she has grown much stronger.
So that was how I failed to tell Master anything before winter break started.
Then it was Christmas...
And now it's New Year's.
Figures there are fewer people around after the first three days of the year.
There are lots of stalls here.
I wonder where they go the rest of the time?
Hey, why don't we each buy different things and share them?
Nice idea!
You can actually do that?
Well, I'm buying candied apples, then.
I just said to buy things to share!
I'll get goldfish!
Goldfish aren't sushi!
There's nothing there, yet cotton keeps coming out!
A ninja art?
Ninja!
Well? We should be able to share a bit of thi—
When paying a visit, you bow twice, clap twice, then bow once...
Or so I've heard.
Wow.
Well, let's do it!
Yes!
Bow twice, clap twice, bow once!
No, you don't say it like some chant.
Bow twice, clap twice, bow once!
Kako-chan?
Wh-Why?
Well, to pay our New Year's visit.
I never expected you to recite that chant when you're on our disciplinary committee.
N-No!
That's not it!
Kurai-san.
Happy New Year.
Oh!
Happy New Year to you!
Happy New Year!
Help me become a strong person.
Help me become a perfect person.
Help me befriend everyone in class and make up with Kai-chan.
Help me and Master...
Help me master the ninja arts I'm learning from Master.
Uh, may good things happen to us.
What's that?
Don't you have something you want? Any dreams?
Not really.
Nako-chan has a dream, but it's a secret.
Hey, Bocchi.
Wow, what is it? What is it?
I want to know. I want to know. I want to know!
Tell me!
Oh, fine. My dream is...
Your dream is?
To become the perfect version of myself, I suppose.
Perfect version of yourself?
What? That's so silly—
Wait, that's mine!
Oh, Kurai-san.
You're leaving?
It's not as if I came here with you all,
and I have plans to meet up with my relatives after this.
Later.
Someday...
I'd like to be friends with Kurai-san.
Master, um...
What is it?
Um, Master. I...
No, if I...
Oh.
It's Onaka-san and Kurie-san.
I suppose everyone's here because it's New Year's.
I still haven't given them a proper apology for cooking class.
Oh, you mean when you got flour everywhere?
I'll go apologize.
I think I need to be a little stronger than before!
That reminds me, Sotoka.
Whatever happened to being her friend?
Urk.
What? You still haven't talked to her?
I-I'm sorry!
I said it!
She's so far away!
Oh, Hitori-chan. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
H-Happy!
Are you here for your first yearly visit, too, Hitori-chan?
Y-Yes.
Um...
U-Um, when we were making pancakes...
Uh...
Right.
Want to go eat some pancakes sometime?
Huh?
I do! Let's go right now!
R-Right now?
I don't mean today.
Hitori-chan, I'll contact you later so we can set a date, okay?
Huh?
No?
U-Um, I...
What, what?
If you don't mind, could we go together as friends?
Oh!
Master...
Please be my friend!
Of course!
I mean, we've already been pancake buddies for a while now.
Glad to know you.
You did it.
Good for you, Master.
Oh, it's from Kai-chan.
She's asking whether Bocchi's crying.
Kai-chan?
How do you have her contact info?
We quietly exchanged information back when we saw her during her karaoke.
I'll tell her Bocchi's incredible.
Hitori-chan?!
What's happened to her?
No way! She passed out?!
She hasn't fixed that part?
Hey, Hitori-chan?
Kai-chan...
Wait for me.
Kai-chan?
Good grief.
I'm going to take a picture of Bocchi's sleeping face and send it to Kai-chan.
I—
What?!
I...
I-I, I...
I got my cotton candy back!
Incredible!
She just made friends! Two of them!
Kai.
That's not a kimono. It's a jinbei.
Aren't you cold?
Yeah, but I'm fine.
Let's hurry up and pay our respects.
May Bocchi not cry too much!
Origami right at the start of the new semester?
Training never ends, after all.
Oh, Master.
Oh, Hitori-chan.
Morning.
Morning, Hitori-chan.
M-M-Morning,
Peko-chan! Ito-chan!
Morning!
Morning, Nako-chan.
Did you go eat your pancakes?
Huh?
Oh, not yet.
This isn't right.
This isn't right!
Aru, Aru, Aru, Aru, Aru, Aru!
Wh-What, what, what, what, what, what?!
What?!
There's something not right going on.
Yeah.
Why me, too?
Who cares? You were free anyway, right?
So?
Master used "chan" with Onaka-san and Kurie-san when she spoke to them!
Well, yeah, they are friends now.
Yet I'm still just "Sotoka-san"!
Well, that's because you're master and apprentice, right?
But I've been with Master way longer than those two have!
It might just be habit at this point.
Using "san" with you, I mean.
Have you told her that you want to be friends?
Is being her apprentice that important?
Well...
Master said something to me when we met.
Sotoka-san.
Yes?
I'll do my best, okay?
So once I've passed everything on, then...
Then...?
Will you be my friend?
She hasn't passed everything on yet,
so I feel like I shouldn't be saying I want to be her friend.
That's all pretty complicated.
But what is "everything"?
I don't really know that answer myself.
You don't know?
Well, then it's hopeless, isn't it?
Hold on. Hold on.
This is simply about wanting to be called "Sotoka-chan," right?
Then this isn't that complicated, is it?
True.
It might be easy enough to get her to call you Sotoka-chan after doing so for Peko-chan.
Really?
Have you tried chatting with Bocchi?
Not yet.
Well, then try saying something.
Have faith in Bocchi!
How unfortunate.
Don't call me unfortunate!
You're right.
It's not right that I'm the only one she uses "san" with.
I'm sure Master feels the same way, too.
Master!
Oh, Sotoka-san.
I go home.
English?!
Goodbye, everyone.
All right, all right!
I'll do something about this!
Really?
You help out, too!
Bocchi.
Do you have a moment?
Aru-chan.
Um, you doing well?
Yeah. And you?
I'm doing well.
Oh right. How's Mieru-san?
Mieru?
O-Oh, my little sister?
Why is she bringing that up right now?
Uh, Mieru's gone now.
Huh?!
She went somewhere far away, and we'll never see her again.
But that's ultimately for the best.
Aru-chan...
What are you laughing at, Nakosuke?!
You too, Bocchi?!
Wait, you're crying?!
You're making my heart ache!
What did you come here to do?
Yeah, I know.
I know.
Listen, it's actually about Sotoka-chan.
Sotoka-san?
Yeah, so Sotoka-chan wants you to call her "Sotoka-chan."
You don't want to?
No, it's just that Sotoka-san's my apprentice, not my friend.
She's practically a friend already, though.
You can be a stickler for things like that, huh?
Sotoka-chan said she wants you to call her that, though.
So it's fine, right?
I was really happy when you and Nako-chan called me by my first name.
So I wanted Sotoka-san to call me by my name one day, too.
Then that's simple.
I'll go get Sotoka-chan.
Aru-chan.
Thank you.
Good grief, both Bocchi and Sotoka-chan are troublesome.
You're the most troublesome one for me.
Well, we should go as well.
Huh?
We wouldn't want any interruptions, after all.
Sorry for the wait.
You brought her here?
Master...
What's that?!
Oh, she's forgotten her Japanese, but don't pay it any mind.
No, you should mind that.
New...
New shuriken.
Great!
If you like,
let's make new shuriken together, Sotoka-chan!
Yeah!
B-Bocchi-chan.
That's not English.
So...
It's complete.
It's finished.
'Tis finished.
Incredible.
I didn't know there were shuriken like this.
Like this!
There're a lot more, too.
More of them, more... man!
More to be had.
So let's gather many kinds of shuriken!
Gather... forgather.
Gather them.
Gather them, them!
Could you be any more awkward?!
So why are we back here again?
Well, what can we do?
Sotoka-chan's still worried about it.
You got her to call you "Sotoka-chan," right?
But now I can't call her Master anymore.
Really?
Why does it matter?
What's wrong with "Bocchi-chan"?
But...
Bocchi said she wants to be your friend once she passes everything down, right?
Yes.
She's already passed down all her feelings though,
and that's what made you want to be friends with Bocchi, right?
Nako.
Thank you.
Nako, Aru, I'm going now.
I'm going to stop being her apprentice!
Why are you taking all the good moments?!
I wonder where everyone went.
Maybe they all went home and left me behind.
Master!
It's super-strong Sotoka!
Sotoka-chan?
I'm here to stop being your apprentice.
Huh?!
Is it because I'm always weak?
No way!
The opposite, in fact!
Because you're strong, Master!
Master, you brought a smile to Nako's face when she got failing grades,
and when Aru tried to go home to change, you managed to get her to come to school.
After watching you, Master,
I'd rather be your friend than be a ninja!
You've passed everything down to me, Master.
So I'm here to be certified as a master and become your friend.
Sotoka-chan.
Please open the shuriken.
I like you more than I like ninja, Master.
This is...
Master.
Please be my friend.
First...
Huh?
That's the first time anyone's ever asked me to be their friend.
So that was how Master and I became friends.
Sotoka-cha...-san.
B-Bocchi.... Master-san.
Y-You can just call me "Bocchi."
S-Same to you, Master-san!
We're friends now.
Why are they being so distant now?
Oh, that's—!
Yes. I finally finished it.
Let's try throwing it outside!
Yes, Master!
Please wait, Master!
Master!
Seems that things have both changed and not changed.
Well, what does it matter?
It's obvious that they're good friends.
Next Episode:
From Tap-Tap to Print-Print
Next Episode: "From Tap-Tap to Print-Print."