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.

Sōta's novelist sister Izumi enters a slump when she assumes he is dating Popura and will stop paying attention to her. She decides to go on a journey where she ends up meeting Mahiru who helps cheer her up. As Sōta looks after Izumi, Nazuna helps out at Wagnaria, which annoys Aoi who believes she is outshining her. After hearing about it, Nazuna puts on an act to make Aoi feel better about herself.

Mahiru meets a boy calling himself Kirio Yamada, who she believes might be Aoi's brother. As he is able to withstand her punches, Mahiru ends up conversing well with Kirio, who starts developing feelings for her, but Sōta becomes downhearted when he sees the two getting along. He begins acting strangely the next day and ends up bashing his head against the wall, leading him to think he might've become a masochist. Later, Kozue manages to get the waitresses to dress up in animal cosplay.

Popura and Aoi try to help Mahiru train to cure her androphobia by dressing her up as a guy, but with no such luck. Later, Sōta and Mahiru start exchanging text messages, which causes Izumi to worry. Sōta also runs into Kirio, who manages to deduce that Mahiru has feelings for him. Later one night, Aoi gets locked out of the restaurant, but Jun manages to sort things out for her. Later, Popura and Aoi try to help out Mahiru's progress by exposing her to the other men, only for her to nearly end up punching Hiroomi. Meanwhile, Popura becomes elated when she is finally able to reach the broken items report sheet that was normally out of her reach.

Whilst Popuar is pleased to finally reach the report sheet, Sōta is horrified by the thought of her growing taller. Whilst talking about the future, Aoi ends up turning a statement from Popura that she might have to leave Wagnaria some time in the future to a rumour that she is actually quitting, which she spreads to the other staff members. As the staff have their concerns over this, much to the annoyance of Maya the bird, Popura is confused by their weird reactions to her. After Maya helps Popura with her worries, the truth about Aoi's rumour soon comes out.

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.

As Sōta feels conflicted over his feelings towards Mahiru, Aoi, wanting Hiroomi to give her some attention, tries to obtain information on the blossoming relationships. Later, Popura gets a toothache and takes the day off, having a dream where she becomes a magical girl. Meanwhile, Kirio ends up discovering Aoi, who is revealed to be the sister he was searching for, and is met with resistance when he tries to take her back home.

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.

Still dressed as Kotori, Sōta gets some surprisingly sound love advice from Kirio, who instantly sees through his disguise. Meanwhile, Sōta and Jun become curious about how Hiroomi hasn't been snooping into people's businesses lately, only to find he has simply been more secretive about it. Later, Yachiyo tells Popura that she plans to quit Wagnaria to expand her horizons, assigning her as the next chief.

Aoi, curious about Sōta's delayed reactions, is tasked by Yachiyo with taking a photo of Hiroomi for an album. Meanwhile, as Sōta and Mahiru go on their date, they are interrupted by Mahiru's father, who Mahiru hits when he starts insulting Sōta, managing to work things out with him. Later, Yachiyo announces her resignation to the rest of the staff, with Sōta encouraging Popura to do her best as the next chief before being mysteriously abducted.