Girlfriend, Girlfriend: Naoya gets caught red-handed
Naoya is finally confronted with her behavior in Girlfriend episode 11, Girlfriend – unfortunately this confrontation takes place in a bath.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 11 of Girlfriend, Girlfriend, “Hot Spring Tropes”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Naoya’s dream vacation in the harem is ruined in episode 11 of Girlfriend, Girlfriend by Rika and, surprisingly, Shino, Saki’s best friend. Upon arriving at a hot spring hotel, their hopes for a relaxing vacation are dashed when they see Rika waiting for them at the entrance. She followed them to the hotel in the hopes of spending more quality time with Naoya, even though unwillingly like the good tsundere that she is.
Part of Naoya may have been prepped for Rika’s ambush, but when Saki’s best friend Shino approaches him as well, he remains a little confused. Shino wastes no time in confronting Naoya directly, in front of his girlfriends and Rika, about Saki in two stages.
Naoya is able to quickly escape Rika and Shino thanks to Nagisa’s quick thinking at the end of Episode 10 when she covers them. She lies to Shino, saying that she and Rika actually came to the hotel together, separated from Naoya and Saki. Yet somehow Naoya finds herself in Rika’s bathtub and under the undivided attention of her newest admirer. Although he spends time with Rika, he quickly escapes by scaling the fence with the intention of finding Nagisa and Saki.
Unfortunately, Naoya slips onto the roof and ends up in Shino’s bath. Shino is barely hidden behind a towel, but she holds on and quickly reverts to her previous accusation – that Naoya is Saki twice. Naoya finds it difficult to respond to Shino, as he has promised Saki not to tell anyone about their relationship with Nagisa. Even though he doesn’t say so explicitly, Naoya insinuates that he is dating Nagisa and Saki.
Even though he and Shino are in compromising positions because of the hot spring bath, Shino doesn’t back down about his two-step best friend. When Naoya argues how much he cares for Saki and how willing he is to make things right for her, Shino combats this easily by bringing up all the real world issues of dating two people. She covers topics such as marriage laws, surgery consent forms, and other very real issues.
Naoya hasn’t even thought about some of these very valid issues that Shino brings up, which makes his worry for Saki all the more real. At this point, Shino even suspects that Naoya is three-time Saki due to Rika’s presence at the hotel and her public confession at the school. During a decisive moment, Saki and Nagisa run into Naoya and Shino in a rather compromising position, and Shino directs his confusion directly at Saki.
Once again, thanks to Nagisa’s quick wit, she takes pictures of Shino in order to blackmail her into keeping their secret. Shino runs away from the trio, but one thing is certain: she is certainly not done with Naoya and her dysfunctional harem.
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