Do Higehiro’s Yoshida and Sayu end up together? Or does Yoshida end up with his crush?
Steven Reynolds 
Last years’ Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway anime was ‘controversial’ for some.
After all, it tells the story of 26-year-old salaryman Yoshida and 17-year-old Sayu. A high school student who has run away from home, meets Yoshida on a dark street, and offers to have sex with him if he will let her stay in his apartment.
For anyone who watched Higehiro through to the end, however, they know the relationship Yoshida and Sayu ended up having was anything but ‘controversial’.
In fact, it turned out to be one of the sweetest, most pure relationships in anime in recent years.
But, for those still watching the anime, or who are not too sure what those ending scenes actually meant, they want to know the answer to this burning question —
Do Higehiro‘s Yoshida and Sayu end up together, or does Yoshida end up with his crush?
Do Higehiro‘s Yoshida and Sayu end up together?
In Episode 12 of Higehiro, Yoshida is back in Sayu’s home town, where he tells her mother she should reconcile with Sayu.
In the last episode, Episode 13, Sayu decides to talk to her mother herself, and apologizes for causing her trouble.
While Sayu’s mother cannot bring herself to get close to her daughter again, she tells her she can move back into the family home and stay there until she graduates from high school.
Then, it is up to her what she decides to do with her life.
After Yoshida goes to bed, Sayu arrives in his room and climbs into bed with him saying “It’s our last night”.
After talking, and Sayu being worried Yoshida will forget her (he won’t!), Sayu falls asleep while Yoshida watches her.
In the morning, Sayu goes to the airport with her brother to say goodbye to Yoshida. Her brother asks to talk to Yoshida in private where he tells him, “You’re in love with Sayu, right?”
Yoshida denies it saying he likes older women, and Sayu is a teenager. Of course, her brother doesn’t believe him and neither do we, right?
When Sayu and Yoshida say goodbye, she tells him she loves him, but he replies “I’m not into kids”.
Sayu then asks, “When I’m not a kid anymore, do I stand a chance?”
He says “Maybe”, she says “Wait for me”, and he tells her “No, or I’ll be an old man”.
Back in his apartment in Tokyo, Yoshida is making dinner alone and, when he tastes the miso soup that isn’t delicious like the soup Sayu makes, he starts to cry, finally admitting to himself “I’m the one that’s not okay”.
After the end credits of the final episode, it’s two years later, and Yoshida is heading back home where he’s meeting Sayu’s friend Asami-chan.
He has just turned down dinner with his former crush, proving he is no longer in love with her.
But, when he gets to the lamppost where he first met Sayu, a girl is sitting there and Yoshida begins to cry.
When he walks up to her saying “Hey you, why are you out so late, go home”. Sayu stands up and tells him her home is far away so “Let me stay at your place, mister”.
In other words, now that Sayu is 19-years-old, she is back to stay with Yoshida permanently and, yes, Yoshida is in love with her.
Do Yoshida and Sayu end up together then? Hell, yes they do.
Watch Higehiro, After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway on Crunchyroll for the entire series.
If you like rom-coms, this one is a fabulous one.
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