As soon as it begins, the relationship between Takefumi and Tsubaki ends. He realizes he can't force her to end her free spirited ways and doesn't want to prevent her from being herself. While wallowing in his own misery he begins to understand what Arima sees in Miyazawa. He recognizes that the Arima he knew in the past was a facade and Miyazawa saw through it. Unlike everyone else, she sees him as a normal person, with flaws and needs, instead of the perfect student.
After all of the hasty preparation the cultural festival finally begins. Shibahime's step brother and his band show up, causing a commotion when they take over the stage for an impromptu concert. Miyazawa's family visits the kendo club stall and her little sisters are saved from lecherous strangers by the ever growing friend group. As they are about to perform their play Maho is struck with stage freight. The appearance of her much older boyfriend does not help matters much, but she gathers up her courage and the play is on at last.
The play takes place in the future, after human-like androids have been created to assist humanity. Their original creator enters into self imposed exile with his original android. He is woken from cryo freeze 80 years later by the most advanced descendant of the androids he created. The new model desires nothing more than to understand it's creator. But the man dodges questions about himself, instead probing deep into the new androids functions and abilities, all while his previous original model begins to breakdown. The first half of the play ends with the man confronting his troubling past. The concepts brought up for the past the man is trying to escape, who is being played by Miyazawa, deeply affects Arima.
The first half concludes to much applause. The depictions of the characters are also closely based on the people who play them. The group scrambles to print out a synopsis of the first act to bring people up to speed who will only be able to see the second act. The second act begins and it deals with the mans hidden past. In his youth he was shunned and hated by his peers due to his low intelligence and poorness. A woman named Rose connects with him but eventually leaves him, leaving him in deep despair. Years later she returns and forces him to adopt her daughter, who the man loves with all of his heart. But that love turns dark as he tries to keep her all to himself, eventually leading to her death. Realizing the terrible mistakes he has made he attempts to kill himself, but survives and jars his brain to the point that it unlocks his true intelligence. Once he recovers he uses his new gift to make a better life for himself, no longer shunned by humanity. He pursues the creation and perfection of androids as a way to make his mark on the world. Success brings his dark past to public scrutiny which causes him to flee Earth and leave the world behind, choosing isolation for relief and atonement.
The play ends to a roar of applause and the friends involved in its creation are ecstatic. Tsubaki tracks down Takefumi to convince him to continue their relationship, he relents, even though he understands he will never be able to have as much of her attention as he desires. Miyazawa finally finds Arima and her exuberance shifts their relationship into a perilous trajectory. She has grown so much in a few short months. At first utterly alone to sharing a closed world with the man she loves to being involved with a growing group of friends, creating something greater than her own accomplishments. Her revelry in her new found freedom strikes a blow to Arima who recognizes that the closed world he shares with her is evaporating, leaving him alone again.
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