Popura becomes upset with Sota constantly calling her small. Later, Sota becomes devastated when Kyoko kills a bug, inadvertently insulting Popura and Inami in the process.

Whilst out shopping for some more cream, Kyōko and Yachiyo end up meeting Otoo's long lost wife, Haruna. As Yachiyo debates whether to tell Kyōko about her, she disappears again. As Yachiyo feels guilty about it, Mahiru learns about Jun's one-sided crush on Yachiyo and starts feeling sorry for him, leading Sōta to believe she has a crush on Jun. With some support from Jun, Yachiyo apologises to Otoo after he returns and cheers up.

Souta spends the day looking after the little girl who came before, leading Popura to start feeling a little left out. The next day, Aoi comes across Haruna, seeing her as a potential mother and bringing her to Wagnaria, where the other staff try to keep her put until Otoo returns, but she somehow manages to escape regardless.

Staying over at Sōta's house, Aoi explains her backstory about being constantly forced to study by her mother, inevitably pointing out the reason she ran away was because Kirio ate her natto. As the other staff members try to convince Aoi to return home over the next few days, Popura asks Kirio to bring over his mother, Kikuno, who is revealed to have trouble talking with others clearly to the point that her children need a manual to understand her.

With Aoi's situation resolved, Sōta continues to be in denial over his feelings for Mahiru. Meanwhile, having finally learned Yachiyo's birthday, Jun gives her all the presents that he hadn't had the courage to give her before. Later, Aoi gets herself a cellphone, which she attempts to use to communicate with Kikuno, while Popura becomes depressed when she believes she's gotten shorter.

As Popura becomes more aware of the relationships blooming around her, she and Aoi question Otoo about the restaurant's stance on romantic relationships. Later, Minegishi comes to the restaurant to tell Sōta something and gets punched by Mahiru, leading her to feel she hasn't gotten over her androphobia, but Sōta manages to calm her down.

As Sōta stops showing up at work, Kyoko learns that he has been spending a lot more time crossdressing because of his mother. Worried she is the cause of her problem, Mahiru confronts Sōta and tells him how she thinks of her, but Shizuka catches him and forces him to quit working at Wagnaria. Learning from Kyoko that Shizuka is having Sōta crossdress until he learns to be honest about his feelings, Mahiru heads off to talk with Shizuka, having to confront each of the Takanashi sisters along the way. As Mahiru confronts Shizuka with help from Nazuna, Popura shows up and convinces Shizuka to let Sōta keep working. Afterwards, Shizuka returns to her work while Sōta and Mahiru finally confess to each other.