As Inori’s sister Mika has come back to visit from school, we get a great chapter focusing on Inori’s family. We see that despite starting at a young age and failing at skating, not only does Mika hold no hard feelings about Inori skating, but she is in 100% support mode for her. Despite Inori doing well so far, just the fear of failing has her mother traumatized. As she sees Inori performing her heart out, she feels guilty for never noticing it. Her mother finally has her eyes opened to Inori and vows to help her reach her dreams. Great moment in understanding it is not easy to be a parent, but it is never too late.
Meanwhile, for Ryoka as she performs after Inori she is still set on placing number 1. The issue becomes, what if she makes that one mistake? For skating, this moment showcases the importance of recovering, and this is something Ryoka didn’t put enough focus on. When she messes up, she wants a do-over, and, obviously, in a competition people don’t get them. As such, Ryoka doesn’t know the best way to handle the situation, and thus her performance isn’t as good as it could have been. Great moment for both her coach, Mario, and Inori to lift her back up. Mario helped her to be her strong, confident, arrogant self. Which is what makes her unique. For Inori to continue being friends and not to have hurt feelings. So in that sense, Ryoka gets the do-over that she wants with working on her personality in terms of the fight with Inori.
It finishes up with a nice focus on Tsukasa. Learning that Hikaru’s current coach, Jun Yodaka is what inspired him to become a coach. Although Jun hears Inori’s words of thinking of Hikaru as a rival and thinking they are a joke. Tsukasa does the right thing and defends his student Inori against the man who was his inspiration. Along the way, we meet Yudai Jakuzure and his two students, Ema Yamato & Suzu Yamato. Meeting Yudai Tsukasa wanted some advice, but it becomes apparent that there was no advice to give. Tsukasa simply needs to have more confidence in himself. As for Inori, she may have Hikaru as her rival and friend, but she shouldn’t sleep on Ema, or she will pass her.