Episode 9: A fantastic episode which confirmed almost everything I suspected from the previous episodes. In this episode, everything that went unsaid throughout the series was suddenly said aloud. And after everyone had revealed the feelings held deepest in their hearts, it turns out everyone was an infinitely wonderful person that you just want to hug forever.
So how did it all happen? First off, we now know why Ruri Gokou broke up with the guy she said she loved in emphatic terms. It wasn't that she resented Kyosuke for not returning her feelings, nor did she do it as a selfless sacrifice for Kirino's sake. It was more fundamental than that. She did it in the pursuit of not living a lie. It wasn't any good for her to have Kyosuke by default, simply because Kirino hadn't explained her feelings to him. She only wanted the Kyosuke who would still be her boyfriend even after learning how his imouto felt about him. Continuing to live a lie was pointless, because Ruri couldn't enjoy a transient boy's emotions that existed only so long as the lie survived, nor did she wish to unfairly take advantage of her friend's compassion to drive her into a corner. IE, only by breaking up with Kyosuke could she unseal Kirino's lips, who secretly hated it but didn't want to disrupt their romance so just endured to the side. It was actually a really mature and insightful move to make, even though it came as a shock the episode before. Ruri Gokou isn't selfless, though, once the truth is out she starts fighting again with all her strength, even against impossible odds, to be her senpai's girlfriend. Now that she's leveled the playing field, she's as selfish as ever, which is how true love should be.
As for what Kirino was thinking, this all becomes clear as well. Kirino really had given Ruri permission to date her brother, and she really had given that line 'take the next girl's confession seriously' for Ruri's sake, referring to Ruri's coming confession. She really had given her permission for Kyosuke to date Ruri when he asked her. That mystery is all cleared up. The only thing she hadn't done is happily put a smile on her face and acted like losing her brother to another girl was some sort of good fortune. That alone she couldn't go so far as to do for the sake of being a good friend or being a good sister. By the end of this episode, Kirino looks so heroic and so great that she just sweeps away all competition. She went so far for other people's sakes, even though she's so constantly accused of being selfish or rude. I never believed those insults about her in the first place, but now they've been totally blown away by her dialogue in this episode, such that there's no evidence for such slanders possibly left in a critics' quiver.
Kirino says quite clearly that she wished Kyosuke wouldn't date any other girl, and that he would always belong to her, but she wished even more that he not cry, and that therefore she would do whatever it takes, even get him to reconcile with his girlfriend, in order to see him cheered up again. In other words, she wishes he were always there to make her happy, but she wishes even more that he be happy himself. If those two wishes ever do conflict, she sacrifices her own wish and works hard to help his. This is the exact opposite of selfish, it's just pure love at this point. She's one of the most loving girls ever described in any story of any sort. Her line to Kyosuke while hugging him from behind, that it didn't matter what other girls did to him because now and in the future, she would always be his ally and always be there to pick him up again, is simply golden. It's just amazing. The sheer number of ways she confessed her love for her brother this episode is staggering. Explaining to Ruri why she was willing to help her brother in his time of need, she listed all the nice things he had ever done for her, as though they were so fresh in her memory that they had happened yesterday, and said she was grateful for every one of them, and not only that, she admired him so much for doing them, that she wanted to be just like him and treat him just as well as he had treated her, not only out of respect, but out of a wish to be just as good a sibling as he had been to her. Jesus! Is there any higher praise? She wants him always by her side, she wants to become him, she'll always accept him no matter who else abandons him, she wants him to be happy more than anything else, she's grateful to him for everything he's done, how many more ways can she say she loves him in a single episode?
I'll also put a good word in for Kyosuke here. Having never confessed any true feelings to Ruri their entire relationship long, when she breaks up with him he finally starts to show the first glimmer of a non-pretend emotion. It appears that he didn't understand what he had until he lost it, which is a quite human and common occurrence. Upon being dumped, he realized that maybe he really had loved Ruri, which he's kind enough to convey to her once they've met back up again. When he cried at the thought of losing her, he finally left that closed in shell of his that he had treated Ruri with throughout the summer. Even so, it's too little too late. He already cared for Kirino way more than Kuroneko, and now that Kirino has gone so far as to say all this, his feelings for Kirino have only doubled and trebled. He even says in the episode that if Kirino keeps on being so nice to him, he'll end up falling for her. When he's heard out everything Kirino and Kuroneko have to say, and Ruri asks him whether he really wishes to go on dating her after having learned the truth of the situation, he starts with a grim voice to let Ruri down, but she also sees this just in his body language and quickly tells him to shut up and not to say it, so that she can continue to fight on as best she can in case he changes his mind in the future. That was one of the cutest and most charming things Ruri's ever done. So desperate not to lose Kyosuke, she'd even rather retreat shamelessly with her tail between her legs than have the truth spelled out to her. When love is even stronger than pride, true love has clearly begun.
At the end of the episode, when Kirino asks him what his answer would have been if Ruri hadn't stopped him, he said clearly that he had no intention of dating a girl so long as Kirino felt the way she did about him. She asked when he would start dating, and he conjectured that the right time would be after she found a boyfriend and started dating someone herself. When she pointed out that she couldn't date anyone because he had told her not to, they both laughed in the paradox the two had created. Neither of them wants the other to date someone else, and both would only feel comfortable 'betraying' the other once the other has already 'betrayed' them. As such, it doesn't look like either of them will be dating anyone for the foreseeable future. This doesn't mean they're romantically inclined towards each other. In fact, that Kirino had explained so thoroughly her wish to be a good sister to Kyosuke like he had been a good brother to him makes that possibility even less likely than before. Actually, the future is really uncertain right now.
It could be that, like Kuroneko's ideal drawing, all three of them could get along perfectly even with Kyosuke dating Ruri, if Kirino just manages to get used to the idea and not mind it anymore. It could be that Kyosuke and Kirino fall for each other in the end. Or it could be that they don't date anyone until college or work separates them naturally, after which point dating someone else will hardly make the situation any worse, in which case their promise to each other would no longer hold. I can envision many other futures as well. What I do know is that all the characters in the series are such fantastic people that I can trust them to do what's right no matter what choices they make. However this convoluted romance story ends, it's going to be great.
However, we're only at episode 9 of the story right now. There's still tons of exciting Oreimo to come, which implies that everyone's going to take a break from romance for a while and enjoy other relationships/ties/bonds instead. It's time for everything to go back to normal for Oreimo land. Peace has returned to the land, God is in his heavens, and all is quiet in the world. The coming episodes are going to be a lot more relaxing than the previous ones.
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