I wanted to talk about the Post-Music Festival Arc (specifically chapters 178-181, with some mentions of earlier chapters). So I've been going through Mairimashita! Iruma-kun again to document Irumeri moments so I can easily look back to reference moments without having to comb through each chapter or recall by memory (it's something I did for another ship) and something stood out to me when rereading chapters 178-181. This is long and unorganized so bear with me.
SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 171-181
(and 94, but that one is animated, it's Season 2 Episode 20)
Near the end of chapter 178 Lied asks Iruma who Ameri is to him, which leads to Iruma not knowing what to say. Then in chapter 179 we get to see more about Ameri. Demons around Babyls note that Ameri has become bright and approachable, which has been because of Iruma. In the next page we see Ameri blushing and smiling at Iruma's message.
We then see her be miffed about not having time to see Iruma since they were both busy with their respective duties. Ameri also pouts when remembering Iruma turning down her offer to join her after the Music Festival.
But if we go back to chapter 171, Iruma was in the process of accepting Ameri's invite. The only reason he didn't accept was because of Alice and Clara, only for Iruma to be confused when they won't allow him to go.
But back to the chapter at hand, Ameri begins to think about Iruma and the Misfits, thinking he only has fun with them. Then she remembers that she gets along with Iruma quite well and even went on a date with him. Iruma is one of a few people she can unwind and be her true self.
We see how much Iruma means to Ameri, not just with her words but also through her expressions (although her expressions are very easy to notice). Now the day before their reading session, Henri tells Ameri to join him at the Deviculum being held on the same day as her reading session with Iruma. We see how much she wanted to spend time with Iruma and we see her imagine what could have been, but she eventually disregards it as a silly fantasy. Then at the Deviculum, Ameri wishes to dance with someone she likes and Iruma appears in her mind, but she is broken out of her reverie when a demon comes and asks Ameri for a dance. We see her expression and hear her thoughts; she doesn't want to do it, she only swallows her pride for her father and her future. Thankfully she is saved by Iruma who asks her for a dance instead, fulfilling her wish.
What I didn't mention was that chapter 179 is called, "One Year's Distance" which obviously represents the imaginary distance between Ameri and Iruma. I have a few doubts that their relationship would be anywhere close to what it is if they were in the same year and their relationship is already well developed, regardless of their academic years. This is then somewhat confirmed with chapter 180's title, "One Centimeter's Distance" which could be interpreted as their physical distance (which would technically be 0 since she hugged him so the distance between them is 0, but I digress), but it could also be interpreted as Ameri getting over her own doubts in their relationship due to their differences in academic year, realizing that they are much closer than she initially realized.
But before we get to that I wanted to go over the chapter cover. In chapter 180 the chapter cover has the lines "The blazing crimson moon and the twinkling blue stars // All that shines in the Netherworld // Will be outshined." The comparison between beauty and celestial bodies has been prevalent in a lot of works as both the moon and stars have been points of fascination to people for a long time with how beautiful the night sky is, but with this one there is also parallels between Ameri and Iruma's colors, crimson and blue respectively. While I assume we've all seen it, I think it is just fun to see it again (just because I think the image is gorgeous).
Now back to Ameri. She begins to teach Iruma how to dance and I think it's a nice detail to point out that Iruma twirled Ameri. Now with my limited knowledge of dancing, I assume it's used by the one leading and also the taller one since the move requires the one twirling to go under the leader's arm (although height only really matters if the difference is a lot), and in this case it would be Ameri since she is the one teaching Iruma and even with the stairs he is still smaller. The thing is, Ameri wants to do a lot of things with Iruma that are kind of ruined by her stature and her strength. She wants to be feminine, wanting to be saved, wanting Iruma to hold her during their ride at Lady Levi's Aqua Case, and hold his hands (all things Ameri notes in chapter 94 or season 2 episode 20). Most of these things are impeded due to her height, being commented on by Ameri when trying to hold his hand as she complains about being too big. On a side note, their height difference always seems inconsistent. Anyways, back to the twirl. It is accompanied by Ameri comparing it to a dream as she is not only dancing with Iruma, but Iruma is doing a move that should be impossible for him, but the situation allows for Ameri to fulfill her wishes. She allows Iruma to take control to have him twirl her allowing for the roles to be correctly filled for once as she wanted.
Now I'm going to skip Iruma's discussion of what Ameri is to him since I want to go over that in a separate post when I talk about that response and his response to Henri in chapter 327. So as I mentioned a while ago, Ameri realizes that the distance between her and Iruma is not as vast as she once thought. She hugs Iruma and then expresses the same feelings. Then we see Iruma's expression to her gesture and words.
He's clearly flustered in this interaction, the heavy blush, the hand over the place where Ameri placed her head, the way his hair is a little disheveled, and his ahoge being a bit shaky. Not only do we see it, but Ameri also notices it. She blushes at not only what she did, but seems to realize that there might be something between them. Then when we go see Ameri back in school and other demons note how radiant she looks. Then Lied asks Iruma if he found out who Ameri is to him, only for Iruma to respond with that he's confused again, then seeing Ameri with a large smile.
Then in chapter 181 we have Lied spying on Ameri and Iruma and he notes that something definitely happened between them as they begin to act awkward around each other and Lied imagines them acting lovey-dovey.
I did say that the Goetia Museum arc and the few chapters after it was the turning point in their relationship, but this seems to be the true start of Iruma's feelings, with Goetia Musuem getting him closer to realizing (and I missed some moments which I want to talk about as well). Although from memory it seems that chapter 94 is the earliest we see Iruma having some sort of feelings for her, even if it was only like 2 panels, although I'm going to have to double check that statement.
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