I liked that part as well, Akira is such a douche. He refuses when Touya tries to encourage him and Misaki being together, gladly takes her when Touya rejects her, then gets all possessive, but won't do a damn thing for her. He deserves every bit of being shown up by someone who's not even around.

But my favorite part was when Rina read Yuki's letter from memory. Absolute silence (the score has otherwise been very well placed in each scene) and a really good performance by Mizuki Nana. There was a lot of subtly aside from what looks like just a simple reading. The shot just zooms in, so all the emphasis is placed on Yuki's words through the more expressive Rina, while she recites it with such intense concentration. We got more character development for Yuki in those shot minutes than we have gotten for the rest of the series. I also enjoyed the part where Yuki correspondingly tried not to break down and failed.

The rest of it was hit or miss. Mana's mother being the other company president was interesting. It sheds another light on Mana because perhaps due to her own connections, we might expect Mana to believe Touya knows not one but two idols all the more easily. Yet she remains the largest skeptic.

Touya getting three tickets as everyone found out he never got one was very cliche and lame.

Otherwise, I don't really think this anime has taken a nosedive. It's only preparing to break into a second season. It still remains a far more realistic drama series than any anime romance series. By now we should have expected Rina to break down and hug Touya from behind, Misaki to accidentally end up with her boobs in Touya's face, Yayoi to break down and show some disgustingly cute side to her, and Mana to realize that Touya wasn't lying, all ending with Yuki and Touya reuniting in the rain.

Instead, Yuki has forcibly separated herself from him, Mana likes him enough to help out his twisted fantasy but won't believe a single thing he says while secretly keeping to herself that she has a crush on him, Yayoi is still a robot skank who coerces Touya to cheat on Yuki because he is a dumbass, Misaki is forcing herself to try and be attracted to someone else, and Rina is starting to unravel more and more, hurt that Touya is cheating on Yuki (perhaps because it is not with her?), hurt that her plans to keep them together are backfiring, and losing her pride because he keeps rejecting her.

It's slow, but in a very good way.