Ask Dr. Rin!

A whistle blast of great volume and proximity on the part of Meirin's pet monkey Tenshin shocks Meirin into bootstrapping herself for her school commute to a day of proximity to Asuka who is none too thrilled with the idea and initiates speculative analytical concourse as he questions Meirin's prediction. This sets the stage for Meirin to misunderstand the relationship Asuka has with her friend Yue during the urban historical expository research charged to her group. The ambiance is further soured when Meirin finds that Tenshin has decided to help himself to her lunch while stowing away; a medley lunch and a quick bit of customer service later, Meirin resumes her search for Tenshin before Asuka decides for reinforcements. Ironically, Takashi Tokiwa ultimately serves as the deus ex machina for locating Tenshin and Meirin making time with Asuka after a last-minute high-altitude rescue along with demonstrating why the word "assume" is spelled the way it is. « read less

While Takashi fumes over his recent defeat and redoubles his efforts to conquer Asuka, Meirin is coming to grips that her hakke crystal has been an active deus ex machina in recent events as she has it explained what shikigami are along with the onmyouji who control them. Resolving to defeat Takashi's mortal designs for him, Meirin prosecutes several panicked intercessions to protect Asuka that meet with scant success and gratitude only to find that Asuka can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Takashi on his own -- even if it is only on the soccer field. Meirin replies Asuka's injunction against proximity and association with Takashi by offering him several pink-colored items only to have them angrily repulsed to Takashi's delight when he animates another shikigami that wields Tenshin to infect the coach Asuka has to avail the morning of the game. In spite of Meirin stowing her hakke into Asuka's bag ironically becoming the deus ex machina that saves Asuka and Tenshin, Takashi ultimately succeeds in sidelining Asuka because of the inordinate time frame consumed by the ordeal. « read less

Even with her "romance" with Takashi now community discourse among the Seika Middle School student body, there are more problems than solutions when Yue and Shuuko are visibly anguished at the toll Meirin is forced to bear in order to sustain the mirage as she fails to realize that Takashi is far too driven by his vendetta with Asuka for her appeasement to matter. Frustrated at Asuka's obliviousness to his culpability, Yue and Shuuko deliver a jolt of insight to the locomotive that prompts Asuka to race off after Meirin for answers only to find that Meirin is in just as much danger as he is. The hakke becomes the ironic deus ex machina by it hinting that Takashi is not his own master and becoming the vehicle by which Meirin can finally come clean with Asuka; unfortunately, the kiss he and Meirin were kept from sharing pales in comparison to the vengeful Takashi. « read less

Asuka's consecutive emphatic egress endeavors having met with failure, Tenshin then tries his fortunes and finds the rope bucket so that Asuka can ascend out of the well; a brief stopover to retrieve the hakke later, Asuka and Tenshin arrive just in time to prevent Takashi from exporting into Meirin the demonic apparition controlling him. There is no time for Meirin to exult her emancipation as the enraged apparition is not about to capitulate after being successfully exorcised out of Takashi -- especially since it has erected a barrier that twists the cavern space in on itself. Tenshin takes it upon himself to retrieve the hakke while Asuka tries to distract the apparition; unfortunately, even Takashi recovering himself to intercede as the apparition tries to envelop Meirin does nothing to turn the tide. The deus ex machina to ultimately save the day is set in motion when Asuka and Takashi set aside their differences to dispel the barrier while Tenshin recovers the hakke so that Meirin can marshal the confidence necessary to actively summon her dragon guardian Shin Shen-long and finish off the apparition -- mere child's play compared to the necessity of adapting to Takashi's normal personality. « read less

While Takashi prosecutes an unsuccessful summoning ritual, Meirin's mother Emika is surprised to find an onmyou ofuda in place of the fried tofu she wanted to use in the miso soup. Tenshin explaining Meirin his discovery of Takashi's wayward vulpine shikigami Nanao making a hasty retreat gives way to Yue and Shuuko explaining that Nanao has been stealing fried tofu all over town. The sequence that follows Takashi taking the day off from school illustrates the current relationship Takashi practices with Nanao and prompts Meirin to investigate the epilogue; some teasing of Meirin's crude dimensions and some fruitless divergent concourse later, Nanao proposes a trial that plays on Takashi's three worst fears with his perpetual proximity as the prize as he explains his prologue with Takashi who ultimately demonstrates that action speaks louder than words when he conquers his fears and acknowledges the necessity of Nanao's proximity. « read less

Between an onmyouji on a demonic head trip and her father Shou going on an ego trip that nearly imploded Kanzaki-ke's micro-economy, one would think that Meirin would only have to focus on her life in intermediate school with its endemic milestones from this point forward; unfortunately for Meirin, an impromptu feng-shui divination illustrates a syllabus involving the fortuneteller Banri Shijou whose acquisitive bid for her hakke threatens to pollute the ecstasy of her first date -- the logistics thereof she is trying to compute with Asuka after Koumi wields her in a skit of sibling crass comedy. While she takes a recess to recover herself from the amusement park rides, Asuka promises his protective proximity just as Takashi arrives to join the pair with Nanao and Tenshin not realizing that three is a crowd; yet for that matter, the same could be said for the subterfuge Banri is willing to avail to acquire Meirin's hakke once she easily immobilizes Takashi. With Asuka now isolated within a pseudo-reality labyrinth, the explosive epilogue of this imbrogilo ultimately hinges upon Meirin correctly interpreting her earlier feng-shui divination; as formidable as Banri's powers are, conquering Banri might be easier than Meirin finally getting her first kiss with Asuka!!! « read less