20. Chi demands

This episode marks a notable shift in Chi's character dynamic, as she expresses, in one way or another, a clear demand or request — a gesture that breaks with the relative passivity that characterized her earliest steps in the series. This new ability to demand something, rather than simply accepting or passively discovering what is offered to her, reflects a growing self-assertion in a character who originally had no bearings and no clearly expressed will of her own. For Hideki, this development represents both a source of pride — seeing Chi assert herself as a full-fledged individual — and a new cause for wondering what this concretely means for their relationship and for the future. The episode thus fits into the series' broader trajectory toward its resolution, in which every character, Chi foremost among them, must gradually take on a more active stance toward events rather than simply enduring them. This evolution of the character, patiently built since the first episode through the learning of language and then of emotions, reaches here a new significant stage, laying the groundwork for the resolution episodes that will soon tie together all the major narrative threads of the series around the couple formed by Hideki and Chi.