Episode 9

Tea Party (お茶会) is the ninth episode of the Toilet-bound Hanako-kun anime.

Synopsis
Nene received an invitation from the mysterious handsome boy, Natsuhiko and she's ecstatic!

However, he knows about her secret, and while she's being swayed by his flirting, dumps water on her.

Turned into a fish and lost her consciousness, what Nene sees next is the beautiful girl she met before — Nanamine Sakura — and the boy who looks just like Hanako-kun — Tsukasa.

Funimation Description
After a surprise invitation, Nene finds herself kidnapped and taken to... a fancy tea party? Nene quickly drops her guard in coversation with the beautiful and mysterious Sakura, but is their meeting as innocent as it seems?

Plot
Nene reflects on what has recently happened between her and Hanako. During a confrontation on the rooftop, she met a boy looking just like Hanako, and after the episode, things again became awkward between her and Hanako. Although she wants to know more, she cannot bring herself to ask Hanako about the boy, and so she is distracting herself by playing an idol raising mobile game.

As she celebrates the graduation concert of her in-game idol, Aoi tells her that she has an invitation from a cool older boy. Nene is excited at the possibility of romance, and makes her way through a crowd that has gathered at the classroom door to meet the boy. She follows him outside despite herself, flustered and excited but confused as to why he is seeking her. He introduces himself as Hyuuga Natsuhiko. He talks over Nene as she questions whether they have met before, speaking about his hobbies and openness to potential girlfriends. From this interaction, Nene thinks to herself that Natsuhiko has no substance. By Natsuhiko's offer, he and Nene swap contact info, and Nene is finally able to ask about his intentions calling her outside. Natsuhiko tells Nene that someone wants to meet her. She asks him why it is herself specifically, and he replies noncommittally that she is a special girl, flustering Nene again. Natsuhiko leads her to the end of the hallway, to where an empty goldfish bowl is sitting on the floor. As he picks it up, Nene asks why he has it, and Natsuhiko simply asks her what she thinks it is for. Nene replies that she has no idea, although she is visibly nervous.

At that moment, Tsukasa taps Nene on the shoulder before dumping a large bucket of water over her, causing her to transform into a fish. She flails her fins in a panic and yells, questioning what is going on. Tsukasa picks her up by the tail and raises her above his mouth while opening it wide. At this, Nene screams and flails before fainting. Tsukasa puts her unconscious body into the fishbowl and remarks that she has died, a statement which Natsuhiko denies.

Nene wakes up, in human form, to the pleasant smell of pastries on the table in front of her. She realizes she is wearing different clothes, and is shocked before remarking delightedly that they are cute. She questions where she is, wondering if she is inside a boundary. Just then, Sakura enters carrying a box of tea leaves, and remarks that although she told Natsuhiko and Tsukasa to be gentle with Nene, they never listen. Nene recognizes Sakura from their first meeting in the library, and suddenly stands up and loudly exclaims her misconception that Sakura is Hanako's girlfriend. Sakura is dumbfounded, and begins to deny it before she is interrupted by Tsukasa, shocked and questioning if she has kissed Hanako, and Natsuhiko, desperately asking Sakura to deny the statement. As Tsukasa shakes Sakura back and forth and Natsuhiko screams on his knees on the floor, Nene recognizes Tsukasa from their first meeting on the rooftop. Remembering what transpired there, she is put on guard. Sakura finally smacks both Tsukasa and Natsuhiko, and staunchly denies that she and Hanako are dating. Witnessing this, Nene thinks to herself that the three of them get along surprisingly well.

Sitting down at the table, Sakura formally introduces herself to Nene as Nanamine Sakura, a third-year high school student and, just like Nene, a human who has formed a bond with an apparition as payment for a wish. Sakura explains that she has formed a bond with Tsukasa, whom she describes as a bit childish, but surprisingly also reliable. Nene looks at Tsukasa and thinks to herself that he really is similar to Hanako. Nene asks about Natsuhiko, to which Sakura replies coldly that she simply pretends he is not there. Sakura tells Nene that she has wanted to talk to her for a long time, due to them being in the same situation. As she brings Nene a cup of tea, she smiles and tells her she is sure they can be friends. As Nene sees Sakura from up close, she thinks to herself, for the second time, that Sakura is very beautiful and resembles a doll. Right then, Nene realizes she is letting her guard down and shakes her head back and forth while urging herself to stay alert and think. She questions to herself what the three others are doing in the unknown place, and thinks that they must have some relation to Hanako. She concludes that they are definitely suspicious, and resolves to herself not to be drawn in to whatever they are doing.

30 minutes later, Nene tearfully complains about Hanako as Sakura gives her sympathies. Nene remarks that the tea is delicious, and Sakura encourages her to have more. Then, Nene further complains about Hanako, and Sakura responds in kind by complaining about Tsukasa. Nene begins to ask a question about Tsukasa, and Tsukasa introduces himself to Nene, telling her his name and that he is Hanako's younger twin brother. Nene is shocked at this revelation, before Tsukasa asks her if she and Hanako have kissed yet and if they are dating. Flustered, Nene responds by denying both and stating Hanako is not even her type. Tsukasa leans close to Nene and questions if she is telling the truth, startling her. Natsuhiko pulls Tsukasa away from Nene, telling him to stop.

Nene suddenly realizes that she has only been chatting with Sakura, and completely forgotten her vow to keep her guard up and not be fooled. As the three others talk with each other, Nene thinks to herself that things are more normal than she expected, and they don't seem like bad people. She wonders if they just brought her to talk, and wishes they had just brought her over normally instead of kidnapping her.

As Nene is distracted, Tsukasa says Sakura's name and turns to her, giving her a look that startles her. Sakura walks up to Nene and says that neither party has it easy, both having no choice but to follow the orders of those they are bonded to. Nene agrees with a smile, saying that Hanako tries to turn her into a fish whenever she opposes him. Sakura tells Nene she understands how she feels, to Nene's happiness, and she takes Nene's two hands into her own before saying she is sure Nene will understand. The chair behind Nene suddenly manifests cuffs, chains, and a spiked collar. The bindings close around Nene, trapping her in a seated position on the chair. She struggles and screams to be let go. Sakura tells Nene that she doesn't want to be doing what she is and wishes she could help Nene, but she has no choice but to obey Tsukasa. Tsukasa remarks that he and his brother are polar opposites and something of rivals or archenemies, before telling Nene he would now like her to disappear. Nene looks downwards and realizes the room seems to be sinking, the water level gradually getting higher. Sakura apologizes and expresses she is glad that she got to speak with Nene in the end before saying goodbye to her. Tsukasa waves and exclaims a goodbye to Nene before he and Sakura close the doors on her.

Nene screams for them to wait, and hears Natsuhiko do the same. As she notices his presence, she questions why he is also trapped in the room. Natsuhiko says that Sakura is "just like this sometimes" and especially harsh only to him. After the two are submerged within the growing murkiness, they soon find themselves in an unknown world full of doors. Nene immediately becomes surprised by Natsuhiko's attempted wake-up kiss, but she deduces there's still something off about him. As the two look around, they are greeted by a Mokke carrying a traditional radio. Nene tears up while pouring out her troubles, only to be interrupted by Hanako's request of an apology. After saying her apology, Hanako then explains that the place where she's at is neither the world of the dead, living, or a Boundary. His hakujoudai assists by looking for her, but Nene is requested to do her part of finding a door that links to her original world. "It's both everywhere and nowhere. You can reach anywhere in the past or future from it."

- Hanako, when explaining the world of Nowhere.

Despite given the warning that they should open doors they recognize, Natsuhiko frivolously opens any door that he sees. With each try, he is given the consequence of its inhabitants coming out, terrifying and harmless alike. When given the question of whether Sakura had betrayed him or not, he deems it a test of love before being bitten by a huge monkey-like creature. After being dragged into the door, he wishes Nene good luck before disappearing. Nonchalant yet defeated, she contemplates while sitting on a bench. Suddenly, the sound of the familiar dismissal music is heard. Following that melody, she finds herself in front of a possible door--only to be terrified with a screaming giant. The nearby Mokke then lead her to the other side of the door, which resembles one of the classroom doors from the old school building.

Ecstatic by her successful find, she stops upon hearing someone appear in front of her: a young boy with a cotton gauze on his right cheek. She immediately thought it was Hanako-kun, but upon further investigation, she realizes it was Amane from the 4PM Bookstacks' memory. When approaching him, she notices the conspicuous bruises dotting on his arm. She asks him if he was okay after lifting one of his arms up, but after Nene notices his crying, he rushes out with a brief farewell. Without knowing, he had dropped a rocket keychain that flew out of his bag. But before Nene could say anything to Amane, she was interrupted by hakujoudai's teleporation back to Hanako's bathroom. She flew out of the stall and into Hanako's arms, surprised by his sudden rescue. After Hanako noticed the clothes she was wearing, he held tightly onto her and confessed he had been wanting to apologize for ruining the donuts. Nene accepts his forgiveness, and Hanako transforms her back into her normal school clothes. Hanako welcomes her back with a smile, making Nene reminisce on the many times he had saved her before. With that in mind, she then wishes that she could protect him too while holding the keychain behind her back.

Characters

 * Yashiro Nene
 * Hyuuga Natsuhiko
 * Yugi Tsukasa
 * Nanamine Sakura
 * Hanako
 * Akane Aoi