I Hope It Snows Soon

Season three's third chapter centers on Machi Kuragi as a damaging rumor about her family circulates and Yuki, with Kakeru's push, decides to check on her. The approaching graduation stirs a wave of confessions among the seniors, chief among them Motoko's farewell to Yuki. Threaded through are the fears that snow and perfection hold for Machi.

Machi shatters a box of chalk while dreading the sight of untouched snow, and a rumor soon spreads that she was cast out for trying to kill her brother. Kakeru admits the tale is close to the truth, and he and Yuki go to her apartment. There Machi confesses that even her own parents disbelieved her, and Yuki tells her he is proud of who she has become, promising that when the snow piles up they will leave footprints in it together, which stirs in her a first wish for snow. Elsewhere the seniors decorate for graduation, and Kyo tumbles from a ladder after Yuki saves Tohru but not him. Outside the school Motoko finally confesses, wishing Yuki the kind of happiness he gave her without asking anything back, and after the ceremony Naohito offers her a quiet farewell of his own. In the hospital Hiro meets his newborn sister Hinata, and at the estate Akito walks from the cat's room clutching scissors as strands of her long hair drift down.

The title is one of Machi's lines. The episode adapts chapters one hundred two and one hundred three, drawing some council dialogue from the latter and adding fresh flashbacks of Machi's mother demanding perfection to outdo Kakeru. The graduation ceremony and its accompanying song were expanded for the anime, while several smaller manga scenes, including exchanges after Naohito's meeting with Motoko, were trimmed.