Episode 16 - Don't Look At Me Like That

Don't Look At Me Like That (そんな目で見ないで, Sonna Me de Minai de) is the sixteenth episode of the Little Busters! Animation. It aired on January 26, 2013. This is the first episode of Haruka Saigusa's arc.

Short Summary

 * Masato battles Haruka after she eats some of his katsudon, but he loses quickly. Later, Riki, Rin and Komari watch as Haruka starts to repair a bench which she has fond memories of, but Kanata arrives and points out that the bench was already going to be destroyed so there was no point in trying to repair it. Haruka and the others watch as two other disciplinary committee members destroy the bench and take away the remains to be incinerated. Haruka is taken away to the disciplinary committee to answer for her numerous infractions, but all hell breaks loose when she loses her composure from the committee members laying countless blame on her, including accusing her of wrongdoing she did not commit. Before she can make things worse for herself, Yuiko intervenes and calms the situation, though Haruka is still ultimately punished. Another day, the whole school is in an uproar after flyers are posted all around school saying that Haruka's father is a criminal. The members of the Little Busters go around school collecting and taking down the flyers until they finally find Haruka, who had been crying alone in the baseball clubhouse. She explains that in her family, each woman takes two husbands, and one of her mother's husbands was later arrested for attempted murder. Finally, Haruka reveals that she and Kanata are in fact twins.

Detailed Summary

 * One day, during lunch time, Masato comes to the classroom in glee, as he gets to eat his katsudon (he snuck out of school and bought one while no one was noticing). However, his joy is soon replaced with shock as he finds out his katsudon was empty, as Haruka arrives and draws on Masato's face. Haruka claims that she ate the katsudon because she was given a special mission by the FBI to eat the katsudon because there was a bomb there. Haruka did give Masato another katsudon, but she took one bite of it. Enraged, Masato challenged Haruka to a battle, but loses after Haruka uses her weapons (rubber bands and marbles) and her powerful physical skills, and also because Masato's weapon was a camera, which didn't do any damage to her. Haruka then calls Masato a "space idiot".


 * Haruka is a miserable child; her only real sanctuary is within the Little Busters. She plays mostly harmless pranks on them and they laugh with her. It’s just an all around good time. As we already know though, Haruka is the number one delinquent student in the school and is on the Disciplinary Committee’s watch at all times. They love following Haruka around just to catch her in the act of committing something against the rules. The thing Haruka did was not asking permission to use the cafeteria oven. She got away momentarily, but the Disciplinary Committee will have their justice later.


 * The second thing Haruka does is fixing a broken bench. The bench holds significant value for Haruka; it was the place that she first found a friend. Riki, though he doesn’t remember it, talked to her when nobody else would and asked her to join in their game of tag. Haruka doesn’t join in, but it always seems like Riki is extending his hand to broken girls and makes them better again. The only problem is that the bench is slated to be destroyed and taken to the incinerator. Oddly, it is Kanata and the Disciplinary Committee that comes and destroys the bench right in front of Haruka while she is crying and shouting at them to stop.


 * Kanata and her committee members take Haruka away while she is talking with Rin, Riki, and Komari to their headquarters where Haruka will have to face the consequences of her previous rule breaking. Third parties are not allowed in the room, says Kanata’s second in command. Riki, Rin, Komari, and Kurugaya stand outside the Disciplinary Committee room where they listen in on the conversation. The committee states the various petty offenses that Haruka accumulated. They are still holding a grudge for the vending machine incident despite Riki and the other Little Busters paying the drinks.


 * The Disciplinary Committee is a group of people that volunteer to do a job that nobody wants to do. At the head of the committee is Kanata whom, we learn from Haruka, hates the rules even more than Haruka and yet she ruthlessly attacks any rule breaker. The committee, possibly thanks to Kanata, has prejudices against Haruka. They look at her and only see a problem child.


 * Haruka had to have had some kind of intense traumatic experience while she is younger. While the committee makes catcalls and calls Haruka a stain upon the school, Haruka’s mind translates their words into the much harsher words from adults. At this point all hell breaks loose: Haruka snaps and shouts at everyone to shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! Kanata seems to have been waiting for Haruka to snap, she smiles. Haruka grabs a stool and lifts it above her head in a threatening manner. Kanata tells her members to subdue Haruka. Haruka fights back though she lost the stool. She bites and kicks and punches to break free. It got so bad that Kurugaya had to step in before Haruka got expelled.


 * As a result of this incident and her previous rule breaking, Haruka is suspended from school until further notice. She also has to clean this room that she made mess of. Considering that Haruka was fighting tooth and nail and threatened to attack with a deadly weapon, she is lucky not to have been expelled whether it escalated into a brawl or not. Riki, Rin, Komari, and Kurugaya help Haruka clean the room. Haruka is highly depressed and wonders if her friends are beginning to hate her. She hates herself, but she hates Kanata more than anyone. That’s fair, Kanata hates her as well. Riki wonders why Kanata seems to have it out for Haruka.


 * Several days later, trouble happens. An unknown person or persons littered the school with a news article revealing that Haruka’s dad is a criminal and not just any criminal. He was arrested for arson and attempted murder. The article describes how Haruka got her delinquent nature from him. It’s really a nasty piece of writing and those responsible for this covered every wall and window with the article. Every classroom in the school has many copies littered on the ground. The Little Busters quickly move into action, removing the articles from sight. Kengo became serious and threatened some NPC students with his kendo stick for talking about it.


 * Rin finds Haruka hiding out in the baseball club dugout and leads the way. Haruka is crying endlessly and apologizing for things that they have no idea why. To them, Haruka is still Haruka and a stupid news article won’t change how they feel about her. Haruka decides to tell her friends the truth about her family. The Saigusa family is old and respected. Haruka finds it weird, though she has no right to complain, that in their family woman receive two husbands. It’s an odd way of keeping the family line alive, but it’s there. Haruka’s father is the man in the news article and the people from Haruka’s past that hated her guts is her family. The reason why Kanata looks like Haruka is because Kanata is her half-sister and they are twins.

Important Events

 * Haruka tried to repair a bench which she had memories of but to no avail as the Disciplinary Committee, led by Kanata, destroyed it.


 * The Little Busters found flyers being posted around the school about Haruka's father being a criminal.


 * Haruka revealed that she and Kanata are twins.

Screenshots
 

Trivia

 * This episode marks the starting point of Haruka's arc.