Here You Are

Season two's twenty-fourth chapter splits between Machi Kuragi's fragile sense of self and the Sohma New Year's celebration. A simple query from Yuki about her preferences leaves Machi convinced she is hollow, an impression her mother's cruelty only deepens. Meanwhile the zodiac assembles for the annual banquet, where affection and violence sit side by side.

During a council meeting Yuki asks Machi her favorite color, and her inability to answer convinces her she is an empty shell. Her mother's berating phone call reinforces the feeling that she is dull and broken. When Machi later drops her bag at the station, Yuki finds that she kept the maple leaf he gave her, pressed into a bookmark, though she denies it means anything until Kakeru covers for her. Elsewhere Tohru joins Kazuma for the holiday, where a cold Rin is also staying. At Akito's banquet, Hatori and Momiji perform the dance marking the turn from Rabbit to Dragon, and when Yuki says he no longer wishes to blame others, Akito strikes him with a glass bottle and demands an apology. Haru slips away to find Rin and discovers her asleep at Kazuma's house, embracing her, while Tohru privately wishes for the curse to end.

The title comes from a line of Yuki's. Adapted from the ninety-fourth and ninety-fifth chapters, the episode reworks several manga moments, including added spoken dialogue in scenes once carried by narration and new visual touches such as commuters freezing in place as Machi questions her worth. A few exchanges around Kazuma's household and Kureno observing the gathered zodiac were trimmed for the anime.