:::::Chapter l49:::::

Eve remains outside on her lookout duty. Meanwhile, Tarou and Ririsu hang out inside and watch TV. Tarou says he wants to go take a shower, so Ririsu suggests they go see if Suzuko left a change of clothes for them in the tatami room. They find two futons pushed together suggestively.

At this time, Suzuko is eating with Ririsu's family and has apparently convinced everyone that Ririsu is staying with a friend and Tarou went back home after making up with his Dad. So, nobody but Suzuko knows what's really going on.

Back at the house, Tarou suggests he'll sleep on the sofa, as he planned on watching TV until late anyway. However, Eve pops in and reprimands him, telling him that considering his injuries, he should rest properly on a futon. Ririsu sees Tarou looking up, and asks if Eve had returned. Tarou tells her to not worry about it, and goes to take a shower. Eve tells Ririsu that she's going to return to her post as a lookout as Ririsu shows no reaction to what she's saying.

Ririsu sits down in the room by herself and says to herself that she was able to see Eve just then. However, what she saw was more of a faint apparition and shallow voice rather than seeing Eve's full form.  As Ririsu believes the reason she can't see Eve is because of the kiss she shared with Tarou, she begins to reason that the effect is starting to wear off because the kiss was rather weak. She then gets flustered thinking about 'stronger stimuli,' once again.

Meanwhile, Tarou is in the shower, and suspects that Ririsu is lying to him about not being able to see Eve.

After the shower, Tarou returns to the room where Ririsu is. She wants to put some ointment on his head wound, as it is bleeding. After a brief recap of the hand-touching incident, Ririsu tells Tarou that if he has something he wants to say, he should say it.

Tarou asks Ririsu if she can actually still see Eve. Ririsu explains that the ability to see her is returning, but it's very faint. Tarou is puzzled why the ability is fluctuating like it is. Ririsu, frustrated by the situation, makes a vague statement that it is because the effect is going to be weak when the intensity of the stimulus is so low. Tarou is intrigued, and asks if she knows what she might have done to cause the change in her ability to see Eve.  Ririsu is embarrassed by having blurted this out, which is represented by the little angels in her head attempting to bury themselves to escape the situation.

Ririsu tells him that it wasn't what SHE did, but rather, what HE did to her. She tells him about the kiss. She tells him that his consciousness was dim, and so he doesn't remember. She half-heartedly suggests that they need to do it again, but this time with more serious enthusiasm.

Tarou wonders if she's lying, but concludes that there is no way Ririsu would lie about something so indecent. He considers her words, and then says "If that's the case, then why don't we just go ahead and try an intense kiss, just this once?"

Ririsu tries to deflect, but Tarou says that their end goal is to free Ririsu of the FLZ curse. He tells her that after they're done, she can just forget it ever happened. Ririsu asks if he would even be able to do it, because unlike last time, this time he's going to be fully conscious and aware. He deflects, saying that this is a just a simple thing. Ririsu seems to have complex feelings by his wording, but calls his bluff.

She says: "Alright, then. You said it yourself: let's try one intense kiss, right?"

Tarou looks away nervously as she draws close to his face.

Ririsu challenges him: "Don't tell me you're too scared, are you?"

Tarou reasons that this is just a means to an end, and nothing more.

With resolve, both Ririsu and Tarou lean in, drawing ever closer to one another with anticipation...

End of Chapter

Notes:  The show Tarou is watching appears to be based off the recurring New Years Special by the famous Manzai troupe known as "Downtown." This program in particular is consistently one of the highest rated programs broadcast in Japan each year.

Suzuko is also apparently not as pure and innocent as people are led to believe, as she has made some rather suggestive decisions in order to facilitate a situation where Ririsu and Tarou might become physically intimate. She also lies on their behalf to conceal what is happening. Very cool to see her be so bold.

To the main event, there is a lot going on with the prospect of a second kiss. It goes well beyond the normal anxiety that someone might feel in this situation. For one, Ririsu is acting very out of character. Or rather, very in-character as Ririto, in a way we haven't seen for a long time. We know how easily flustered she gets about anything romantic with Tarou. However, she is being very forward, calm, and fearless here. It is my belief that she is using the guise of Ririto Ibusuki, the calm and deliberate transfer student that everyone admires to allow her to divorce herself from the absurdity of what's about to happen. She challenges Tarou's masculinity, in a way, to coerce him into bravely moving forward to meet the challenge of a 'guy' who he knows is actually a girl. She asks him if he's afraid in a condescending/patronizing way.

However, Tarou IS afraid. But, he's not scared because he's nervous about having bad breath or kissing awkwardly in his inexperience. Rather, he is scared because he's afraid that if he kisses her now, it might be the kiss of death for Eve. If he feels any feeling of 'love' for her during this kiss, it might cause Eve to disappear upon the 'fulfillment' of his first love. This is why he has to remind himself that it's just something that has to be done.

So, why does it have to be done? Ririsu wants to free Tarou from Eve so he can live a normal life. Meanwhile, Tarou wants to free Ririsu from FLZ so she can move on as the happy girl she was always meant to be. Ririsu is being bold not solely because she wants to kiss Tarou out of lust, but because she not only wants to be cured, but also as stated before, she effectively has resolved to destroy Eve before leaving Tarou forever to hate her. (If you want to reread this part, find the chapter where Eve and Ririsu talk alone while Ebino is getting dumped on the Ferris Wheel.)

So, this upcoming kiss is a big risk for everyone involved, except we all know somebody is going to interrupt before it happens. I'm sure of it, or else the author would have ended the chapter with the kiss.  My guess is Eve will pop in with an update about Tarou's Dad. Of course, I have been known to be wrong... from time to time.