WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 3 of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, streaming on FUNimation.
The third episode of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War's second season brings a little astronomy and mythology to the lover battle, and a chapter closes on the students' lives at last. It's a bittersweet time.
Moon Legend
This episode begins right after Miyuki's 17th birthday with a nighttime adventure on the roof, where president Miyuki Shirogane shares his passion for astronomy. It's a harvest moon, as Miyuki told his friends earlier that day, and he even went to the trouble of preparing snacks and blankets for a moon viewing. To him, it's a pleasant night for moon watching, but Kaguya sees an opportunity in the love war.
She shoos away Chika and Ishigami, asking them to make rice crackers on the roof's other side, so she can cuddle up next to Shirogane. Up close, she planned to comment on the cold and have Miyuki lend her his jacket as a classic romantic gesture, but Miyuki offered it before she could say a word. Kaguya could hardly believe it, and Miyuki was unfazed by the "indirect kiss" of them sharing a teacup.
As for the moon, Kaguya pretends to like astronomy and asks Miyuki some questions to build up a romantic mood. But Miyuki is totally enraptured by that harvest moon. He even explains a Japanese folk tale about a moon goddess (also named Kaguya) who had to leave behind her mortal lover and return home. As he waxes sentimental, Kaguya, steaming with embarrassment, runs right off. The next day, Miyuki is thinking clearly again, and he has the exact same reaction to himself! He decisively loses this round of the love battle.
Overall, this part of the episode reinforces the theme that while Miyuki comes from a humble background (unlike Kaguya), he makes up for it in other ways, from his top-tier studying methods to his passion for science and the arts. He sees the beauty in everything, and that makes him happier than any wealth. This has the potential to backfire, though, and like any teenager, he's prone to getting self-conscious and embarrassed around his love interest, and that makes him all the more human. Even if he lost this round, he really dominated the scene.
Disbanding The Council
Meanwhile, the school year just ended, and the 67th and current student council must be dissolved. The president is now just Miyuki Shirogane, a fellow student, and he fondly lays his gold decoration to rest and thanks it for all its hard work. Everyone feels bittersweet about this. Kaguya is practically panicking, since the student council is the best way for her to get close to Miyuki.
The four friends hang out at a restaurant to say goodbye to this chapter of their lives, and they wonder if the next generation of student council members can handle the job. Kaguya has no idea how to address Miyuki now, since she likes to call him "president" and feels totally lost. She gets even more flustered when Chika and Ishigami address him so casually. It's almost like sacrilege to her.
Should Miyuki retake the demanding position of president after all? Kaguya thinks so, and she hopes to manipulate him into applying for it. But she doesn't dare openly ask for it, until she grows impatient and does so anyway. Once she does, Miyuki shows her his application, and he kept it secret to bait Kaguya into begging him to apply as president. It was a simple plan that worked.
New episodes of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War premiere on FUNimation Saturdays at 11:59 AM ET.
