keyofnik: We have Grandpa sobbing at Rei that he’s all alone, this happening literally a few seconds after him insisting that you have to be tough for training. Rei has been dealing with this for about a week now, and she’s worried sick. Yuuichiro — in what I’m sure he thinks is an attempt to help — makes it all about him and says he just needs to try harder. He runs off to pray, setting off the Shinto equivalent of a pail of water over a door. Then sobbing Grandpa jumps tracks again, now laughing because he caught Yuuichiro in a prank. Usagi finds this HILARIOUS, and of course that’s all the encouragement Grandpa needs. Now again the whole setup, the crying and all, looks like it was an elaborate plot on Grandpa’s part to trick Yuuichiro into praying and then springing the trap. I really don’t think that’s the case. I think Grandpa’s mood swings? All legit. I think he truly can’t stop himself from swinging wildly between these extremes (note that Rei says he’s been doing this for days; if every time was just an attempt to trick someone, she’d know). It just so happens that he’d set up that water prank a while ago and Yuuichiro conveniently set it off. I’ll come back to that in a second. All Usagi sees is exactly the superficial level. She thinks this whole thing is nothing more than Grandpa playing around and expertly manipulating everyone. And it’s GREAT. It’s the greatest thing! Grandpa’s so silly, he’s just having a little fun! Who’d ever want to put a stop to all that?
