Episode 14: Class Trip

The installment frames itself as a flashback. It picks up at the 63rd Katagiri High graduation ceremony, then rewinds to the class outing to Kyoto. On arrival, Yuki Yoshikawa can barely contain her excitement over a first visit to the city, drawing a request from Tooru Ishikawa to settle down, while Miyamura and Hori recall that their middle school trip also went to Kyoto. Miyamura frets over bathing, since his tattoos cannot be seen; he resolves to skip washing for the duration and change out of sight. Hori notes that the girls have baths in their rooms, but the boys are stuck with the shared facility.

Rooming with Ishikawa and Syu Iura, Miyamura is locked out when Iura grabs the key and dozes off. The schedule requires a bath before dinner, so in the changing area he silently begs Ishikawa, who knows his secret, for a way out; Ishikawa first claims Miyamura feels unwell, then blurts that he is on his period. Retreating down the hall, Miyamura runs into Hori, who offers her own room's bath since Yuki has stepped out. When he presses her on letting a boy inside, she answers that she trusts he would never do anything improper, and his repeated "are you sure?" leaves her flustered and second-guessing her own certainty after he goes.

The following day, a noisy stroll around Kyoto earns Iura and Ishikawa a scolding from Yuki, and Miyamura spots that the itinerary permits a late bath at 23:00 for anyone who missed their slot. Later, Remi Ayasaki accidentally hoses Miyamura down, and at the clinic her curiosity about why he stays so covered up grows sharper. He raises the problem with Ishikawa on the roof; Ishikawa's suggestion of a vest fails because the arms would still show, and he recalls once catching Miyamura in Hori's old sailor uniform. Kakeru Sengoku wanders in and gets pulled into a debate over which outfits suit girls best. When their English teacher Shin Yasuda tells Miyamura and Sengoku they must swim on the final P.E. day, both dodge, with Sengoku uneasy about his slim build; the compromise has the two of them cleaning the poolside while everyone else swims.

The episode reveals itself as a flashback from the graduation ceremony to the Kyoto trip. Miyamura's efforts to conceal his tattoos drive most of the plot, from Ishikawa's cover stories in the changing room to Hori quietly offering her private bath. Their exchange over trust leaves Hori rattled about her own feelings. Ayasaki's accidental soaking sharpens her suspicion about Miyamura's habit of covering up, and a rooftop conversation folds in Sengoku and a lighthearted argument about girls' outfits. It ends with Yasuda ordering the two reluctant boys to swim, resolved when they are assigned poolside cleanup instead.

This is the opening entry of Horimiya: The Missing Pieces and the fourteenth episode counting from the original series; it also carries the alternate title The Journey Begins. It draws on Chapters 6, 33, and 40, plus part of Chapter 31, and aired in Japan on July 1, 2023. Takao Yoshioka wrote the screenplay, with Masashi Ishihama directing. Per the trivia, the Kyoto trip is placed once Miyamura had befriended Ishikawa yet still wore his hair long, while the later scenes fall after that haircut and his switch to a cardigan. The moment of Miyamura in Hori's middle school sailor uniform comes from Chapter 31 in Volume 5, the clothing debate from Chapter 33 in Volume 5, and the bath in Hori's room appeared as Chapter 142 of the webcomic. On preferences, Miyamura favors blazers on girls, Ishikawa the sailor style, and Sengoku the gym uniform.