Stardust Telepath Episode 10: Find Your Truth

After one of the most heart pounding episodes of the year for me my heart was ready for more.

We’re off to a great start as Umika nervously opened the door to class and was greeted by her soulmate who owed her a long overdue #18. The rightful order was finally restored.

Umika wondered how to best approach Haruno, Matataki and the rest of the class but to her surprise they, especially the class rep (seaweed green with orange eyes) was so amazed by Haruno’s recording of their participation in the rocket tournament that she wanted to show everyone how cool it was. Also the class rep went to watch the tournament in person. We briefly saw her last episode and were reminded of that moment here. Eventually Umika noticed Matataki wasn’t in class. As she thought this Haruno reminded her to go talk to Sensei. After a poor attempt to lighten the mood Sensei got to the point, saying she realized how important the tournament was to our heroines, especially Umika and Matataki. She was worried that like a certain someone Umika would be so devastated by the loss she too would stop coming to school. When Umika said it hurt a lot but she wanted to try again Sensei was relieved and explained the grumpy cutie had locked herself at home since the end of the tournament. She hoped Umika and the others could talk to her and help bring her back to the outside world seeing as Umika especially could relate to her. Later she asked the others about it and thought they’d go visit her together to try and bring her out. One of them didn’t seem as enthusiastic about the idea. Before that though Umika asked Haruno to show the recording of her speech.

It was as bad as Umika thought. At first I thought this would be a cute and silly scene of Umika crying over her poor performance but in yet another showcase of the excellence of this show they balanced her “waterworks” with the importance of her reflecting on past mistakes and doing her best to grow stronger. It was a necessary torture for the greater good (the greater good).

The next day at Matataki’s garage the girls tried in vain to call her out, except one. Yu, ever vigilant of serious emotions could tell something bothered Haruno who usually was the most energetic around Matataki. This time she hesitated. As a callback to the post-ED scene of Yu using foreheadpathy on Haruno the first time and being overwhelmed by her “inner galaxy” as it were this time her emotions were all jumbled making it easier for our adorable alien to sense her inner turmoil.

It’s time to learn the truth about Haruno’s what could best be described as “neutral” stance on most things. When she’s younger she and a close friend made a promise to become pro pianists together. However, when they entered a competition it appeared to have ended very badly for them, especially the friend. Haruno never saw her again after that. Since then she swore to not give anything her full passion again, instead try to form a balance where nothing really loved or hated anything. That way there would be no hard feelings next time. As we saw last episode however, Haruno had greatly miscalculated. In fact, she already expected the team would lose the tournament before they even launched their first rocket.

Yu, ever the vigilant cutie, summarized that Haruno was afraid to see others suffer because of her mistakes.

Thanks to Umika showing that despite the hurt from the devastating loss she wanted to try again. Our inspirational heroine helped her realize she no longer wanted to be a background character or sidekick who was only there to help make the dreams of others she cared about come true. She too had dreams, aspirations, wants and needs. No longer would she hold back for the sake of only being an Assist. More importantly this resolve was what she needed to go back and free her future grouchy girlfriend.

We learned from another flashback that it’s her grandpa who gave Haruno the advice to try and become a beacon of support for others who struggled to achieve their dreams. This after Haruno said she’s afraid of the pressure that came with having dreams of her own. To her it felt like being a dreamer was something society demanded of her. Naturally grandpa didn’t mean for Haruno to become someone who didn’t have a strong say in anything but that’s how she interpreted his advice. Now in the present Haruno realized she wanted to be a tag-team partner, not a minion. Someone who had just as much say in matters as the others.

In the big scene that I hoped was THE scene that got the HaruTaki train rolling Haruno went to the garage to save her grumpy sweetie. Matataki tried to push her away again but Haruno had had enough of the mopey, whiny grouch who was wimpier than Umika. She summarized all that we discussed to her and was like “If you don’t wanna get up then I’ll become so smart, sexy and cool that you will want to get up and call me out.”

What triggered her even more was seeing the legendary goggles about to be thrown away. She’s like “Damn it Matataki! You said I didn’t hate anything, right? Well I just found something to hate. You acting like a useless weenie when I know you’re capable of so much more! So quit moping and come back to us.”

We ended the episode with Matataki hinting there’s much more going on than her being a weenie.

Whatever her truth is I know everyone, especially Umika will play a major role in helping her see the light but I NEED Haruno to be the one to truly set her free. I. NEED. HARUTAKI!

Great stuff as always.

PS:

https://x.com/luzeriP/status/1734777222370902526?s=20

I am ashamed of myself for not making this reference before an update. As always my spiritual sister rules.