Jirō is dreaming about Shiori when he is woken up by Akari. He gets up, annoyed, but when he sees Akari asking him to stay beside him for the night, he softens up.
It's half past one in the morning and Akari and Jirō are in the living room watching a horror movie. Akari screams in fright, so Jirō suggests that they should sleep. However, Akari insists that she's not scared. Suddenly, lightning strikes and Akari trembles in fear. Jirō, once again, suggests that she watch the movie tomorrow. However, Akari refuses because their classmates said that watching horror movies together would help in increasing their points for the practical.
Jirō turns off the television, much to the annoyance of Akari. She's determined to earn them points and to her, the best way to do that at the moment is to stay the night together. She starts getting close to Jirō and hands him matching pajamas that they could wear to get that couple vibe. Jirō wonders if something happened between Akari and Minami at karaoke the other day because she was more pumped up than usual at raising their points.
Akari orders Jirō to turn around so she could change into the pajamas. Jirō demands that she do so in her room, but she starts taking off her shirt anyway. He turns around and takes off his own shirt, too. He thinks that Akari is way too comfortable at stripping while there was a guy in the same room. He wonders if she's acting like if it's fine because they were supposed to be acting like a couple.
Jirō starts doubting if Akari even thinks of him as a man, when suddenly the power goes out. As Jirō is asking if Akari is fine, she suddenly hugs him. He panics because he can feel her breasts on his bare chest. Their points start to increase, and he gets annoyed at the beeping sound.
He feels Akari trembling and he realizes that she must be terrified. He looks for his phone so he could turn on his flashlight. Akari tells him to stop, but he turns it on, anyway. Through the light, he sees Akari in tears. She gets angry and accuses him of being a pervert for staring at someone's crying face. He assures her that he wasn't staring at her.
Jirō tries to enter their room, but he is unable to because of the blackout. They are stuck in the living room until the power returns. Akari demands that he return to the couch and accompany her. He muses at how she's so scared and yet still so aggressive towards him. His heart starts to race at how close they are.
Akari orders him to say something interesting. When he stays silent, she starts taunting him, so he decides to tell her a horror story. When he notices her being quiet, he starts to tease her. She screams out an insult, so he stops and apologizes.
Akari tells him that if Minami was with her instead of him, Minami would be nice to her. She starts to intertwine her fingers with Jirō's and tells him that since he is the one she is with at the moment, he should let her rely on him.
Jirō starts sweating profusely. He turns around, unable to look at Akari. He is blushing and he can feel his face burning. Akari finds a flameless aroma candle to light up the living room. With their hands still clasped together, Akari starts to drift off to sleep. Jirō calls her name and she looks at him sleepily. Unable to resist, he tells her that she's cute and gives her a hug. However, he realizes what he just did and struggles to think of an excuse. Luckily, when he looks at Akari, she is sound asleep.
He starts to examine her face. He's amazed at how angelic it is and how it contrasts with her personality. He recalls her words and wonders what it means to rely on someone. He holds her hand once more, wishes Akari a good night and goes to sleep with Akari leaning on him. It turns out, however, that Akari was awake all along and heard everything. She blushes while thinking that he's an idiot for saying the things he just said.
Sometime later at school, the mid-April results for their school's Marriage Practical are posted. Jirō and Akari are at 12th place with a B-Rank. Jirō's friend praises him for being so capable. Akari on the other hand, is concerned when she unexpectedly sees Minami and Shiori at 60th place with an E-Rank.
Chapter Notes
Akari has Jirō watch a horror movie with her so they can earn points.
The power goes out, so Jirō helps calm down a frightened Akari, which raises their points.
They both sleep in the living room while holding hands.
The mid-April results of the Marriage Practical show Jirō and Akari in 12th place, earning themselves a B-Rank. On the other hand, Minami and Shiori are shown to have an E-Rank.
Summary
Jirō is sick in bed when he receives a message from Akari telling him to open the door when she arrives because she forgot her keys. He groans at how bossy she is even though he's ill.
He lies awake, thinking about how, in just three weeks of Akari and him being a fake couple, they have already earned enough points to get them a B rank. He recalls how Akari left him to hang out with her friends despite knowing that he had a fever. He thinks that if it were Shiori, she would have probably been kind enough to nurse him back to health. He then starts to daydream of how Shiori would be spoon-feeding him some porridge. He tries to snap out of it and then goes back to thinking that even though he and Akari were a fake couple, she should still be with him since he's sick in bed.
The doorbell rings and Jirō is suddenly getting happy at the thought of Akari coming back earlier than expected. When he opens the door, however, instead of Akari, he sees Shiori.
At a cafe, Akari is hanging out with two of her friends. She is lost in thought when her friend calls her attention for not listening. She apologizes for daydreaming. Natsumi wonders if something happened or if something was troubling her because even though Akari was the one who invited them, her head is in the clouds. They tell her how worried they have been since she has been going home earlier than usual. As an excuse, Akari tells them that her dog at home caught a cold and that she's worried.
Back at home, Jirō tells Shiori how surprised he is that she's there. She tells him that Akari had messaged her to take care of him. Jirō silently thanks Akari for sending Shiori to nurse him back to health. Jirō blushes and thinks that being taken care of by a cute girl like Shiori will surely make any guy like him misunderstand.
He recalls a time back in middle school when he and Shiori had such a misunderstanding. In a flashback, Shiori told Jirō that she would be transferring to a private school due to her parents' work. He had planned on confessing to her. He thought that they probably wouldn't meet again, so even if he got rejected, he'd be able to move on from his unrequited love. As he was about to confess, Shiori interrupted him and asked if he would still be her friend. He answered with a promise that nothing would change between them. At that moment, he became afraid and changed his mind about confessing, although in the end, he was glad that he didn't.
Shiori interrupts his thoughts and asks Jirō if he was well enough to eat the porridge that she made for him. He thanks the heavens for having been given the opportunity to fulfill his daydream of being fed by Shiori. However, instead of being spoon-fed, Shiori asks Jirō if he can eat the food himself. He curses himself for getting his hopes up.
As Shiori is washing Jirō's bowl, Jirō tells Shiori how luck Minami must be to be able to eat her homemade food every day. She tells him that they take turns in cooking their meals. He says that Akari would be thrilled to know that. He states that since he's a terrible cook, Akari does all the cooking by herself, but he does help around the house doing other chores.
Shiori quietly remarks that it's great how Jirō and Akari are getting along fine. Jirō tells Shiori that he saw her and Minami in last place. He offers to help her with anything she needs to increase their rank, although in his mind he knows that he's only offering to help her for selfish reasons—because he wants to be her roommate.
Shiori admits that she isn't good with acting like a couple. Even thinking about it makes her nervous and she ends up distancing herself from Minami. Hearing her say this makes Jirō feel guilty that he's relieved. Shiori suddenly says that it would be nice if Jirō was her husband. She feels flustered and tries to change the subject. Jirō grabs her hand and declares that that is possible, especially if it's her. He tells Shiori that he believes in her and guarantees that she'll succeed. He realizes that he grabbed Shiori's hand and lets go immediately. He curses himself once more for being overconfident but thinks that this is his only chance to have Shiori's attention. A little while later, Shiori finds that Jirō has fallen asleep. She kneels down and leans in to take a closer look.
Back at the cafe, Akari's friends are talking about Natsumi's boyfriend. Akari pretends to be listening, but they notice that she's still distracted. They think that it's not just about her dog and that she should share with them, but Akari brushes it off. They suggest that she's distracted because of Minami's placing for the practical. Her two friends start to talk about Minami and Shiori, as well as Akari and Jirō's relationship. All Akari could do was give them a one-word answer, which surprises her friends.
Back at home, Shiori is still leaning over Jirō. She also remembers the time back in middle school when Jirō promised her that nothing would change between them. She tried to invite Jirō over to her new place and made plans to hang out with him. However, Jirō suddenly apologized and left, saying that he had to do something. She viewed that moment as their farewell and she thought that they would never see each other again. She wonders if Jirō would actually listen to her until the end if she gives it her all this time around.
Later that evening, Akari is taking a shower. She practices what she is going to say to Jirō about Shiori visiting him earlier. Before she could say anything, Jirō calls her and says thank you for calling Shiori to take care of him. He tells Akari that they should work hard as a couple and that he will be helping her get closer to Minami. He further adds that Akari made him experience a blissful dream and thanks her once again. Akari congratulates him, although she wonders to herself why she feels so irritated.
Chapter Notes
Jirō has fallen sick and Shiori arrives unexpectedly to take care of him.
Akari's friends are introduced. One of them is named Natsumi.
Shiori reveals that the reason for why she earned a low score on the practical was because of her inability to interact with male acquaintances.
After hinting to Jirō that she would want to be partnered with him, he encourages Shiori to try harder by telling her that he will be supporting her.
A flashback of Jirō and Shiori's past .
The flashback was at the moment that Jirō learned that Shiori was moving away.
Jirō intended to confess to her that day but stopped when Shiori asked if they could still be friends even if they were apart from each other.
Jirō deduced that Akari was the one who contacted Shiori to take care of him and Akari confirms.
Jirō thanks her and tells her that he will be working hard so that she and Minami can be together but Akari feels irritated over his words.