That's an Unwavering Truth

Tohru struggles to decide who she can confide in and how much of what she knows must stay hidden. At the same time, one of Shigure's long-guarded truths starts to surface as the school and the Sohma household both move through the graduation season.

Akito dreams of her younger self pressing Shigure on whether he loves her, and he hands her a flower, calling it a certain truth that she matters to him above anyone. She wakes beside Kureno. As students fold paper flowers for the ceremony, Tohru nearly asks Shigure about Akito's true gender before losing her nerve. At school, mischief erupts when the Prince Yuki Fan Club steals every flower Yuki made and then Kyo's as well, sending the friends chasing after them and leaving Kyo and Tohru alone. Wandering the halls, Yuki is gently rebuffed by classmates who assume he is too busy, until Machi seeks him out; his thanks and a pat on the head earn him a slap.

Tohru asks Kyo how he would feel if a zodiac curse broke, and his blunt answer nearly brings her to tears until he offers a paper flower to console her. Later, Shigure brings Akito a flower of his own. That evening he skips paying respects at the main house and slips away to dine elsewhere, and Kureno recalls warning him by phone not to treat Akito coldly, revealing she has always wanted Shigure rather than him. When Akito confronts Shigure in her room over the woman he dined with and his past with Ren, the quarrel collapses into a kiss and the two sleep together, with Shigure reflecting that he has waited for her since the day he confessed. Tohru, meanwhile, goes looking for Isuzu and learns she is on leave at the hospital.

The title is taken from a line of Shigure's, drawn from an adaptation of Chapters 100 and 101. Several small changes accompany the move to screen: Akito wakes on a futon rather than in a limo as in the manga, Tohru's hesitation over asking about Akito's gender is trimmed, and the waitresses reacting to Mitsuru's phone call are an original addition.