The episode begins with Shiina musing over her New Year's fortune, which promised her some surprising romantic developments, and no sooner has her musing finished then who should walk past but Yuuto? From getting a chance to walk with him, Shiina ends up losing a precious hair clip in a local stream, and of course Yuuto proves to be the overly-helpful guy that he is by spending hours fishing through the icy cold waters until he finds it with her.
Yuuto's kindness continues after Shiina manages to injure her foot at home (while daydreaming about Yuuto, naturally), as he visits her along with a couple of her other friends to keep her company while she's cooped up at her house. This somehow ends up turning into probably the most erotic massages ever seen in anime, and Yuuto also ends up spending the evening at Shiina's place as he worries about her fending for herself alone at home - Bless him. When he falls asleep at her place, it seems like Shiina manages to steal a kiss from him as well, although we don't actually get to see whether she does the deed.
As episodes of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu go, this was pretty run of the mill really - It just worked its way through the required plot points without ever really breaking a sweat or sending viewers into rapture. Of course, perhaps the most impoprtant item on the agenda here (aside from reminding us what an overly nice guy Yuuto is, as if we needed such a reminder) is the re-establishing of a love rivalry between Haruka and Shiina, and I have to confess that I'm a bit torn on that front personally, liking both characters as I do. Still, Haruka got there first so Shiina's actions do seem a little selfish on reflection, but even such considerations don't really paper over a decidedly average episode of anime that is suitable neither for praise nor criticism particularly.
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