Episode 41

"Being Here" is episode 41 of the anime adaptation of Sangatsu No Lion.

Synopsis
Mikazuki-dou will sell Akari and Hinata's new creation at the summer festival. The event brings back memories for Hinata.

Chapter 83: Being Here
For the upcoming summer festival, Akari and Hinata consider and test out recipes for what they want to sell. The girls decide on sweet rice flour dumplings, as they are easy to make, with the addition of black pearl tapioca and various types of syrup. Their creation is brought to Someji to taste test, and he approves of the dish with a preference for the plum syrup gifted from Chiho from the Heart Care Center.

With Akari accompanying Hinata, Hinata sets out to visit Chiho at the Heart Care Center for the first time since Chiho's departure. While Chiho shows Hinata around the farm and eats lunch with her, Hinata notices that Chiho would sometimes become silent and look absent in conversation. Chiho's teacher remarks to the sisters that Chiho is still recovering from the trauma of her bullying, and that she is still slowly taking steps toward learning to trust and make friends with people her age again. Chiho is stricken with a fever for the evening, so Chiho's mother sends off the sisters to the train station. There, Chiho's mother thanks Hinata for all that she has done for Chiho. Hinata swears to herself that she will visit Chiho again after doing her best in the summer.

Mikazuki-dou starts off the summer festival evening selling Akari's and Hinata's dish extremely well, with help from Rei handling the dishes. Takahashi shows up to visit, and Hinata is able to show him the success of their dish thanks to Chiho's syrup. The initial stock of rice flour dumplings sells out before 7:00 at night, and Someji rallies the crew to continue making more for the rest of the evening.

Chapter 84: Summer Vacation (Part 1)
Someji, Akari, and Hinata spend the next day counting their success last night at the summer festival. While tallying up the finances, Someji complains that he feels Akari spent too much for the ingredients for the rice flour dumplings and handed out generous servings. However, he agrees that the dish makes a good loss leader for helping sell more confections from the store, and that the girls are doing well to support the store like their mother and grandmother before them. He promises the girls to take the lead for next year's summer festival, and Hinata is fired up at the prospect. Someji sternly reminds Hinata to concentrate on her upcoming high school entrance exams instead of looking so far into the future.

Back in Hinata's middle school, a young teacher named Mr. Komigawa is frightened at being appointed the new homeroom teacher for class 3A, and especially at facing any potential retribution from Takagi's mother. Mr. Kokubu asserts that he cannot continue to lead two classes simultaneously while also being the Head Teacher for the school, and heads in to resume his last counseling session with Takagi. There, Takagi asks if Mr. Kokubu has an answer to her question of why everyone has to put in effort and try their best in life, as per their ongoing conversation in the counseling sessions. He answers he does not have an answer for her, and although he has striven to find the answer for himself his whole life, he believes in doing his best from the bottom of his heart anyway. Takagi obtusely asks if the focus is on him now and if his story will take long, but Mr. Kokubu answers no, since their time is up. He leaves Takagi with his final thoughts about her: that Takagi is filled with anxiety because she doesn't know what to do with her life, and her refusal to do anything is because she is scared about learning her own capacity and being disappointed with it. However, he assures her it is okay to be disappointed, and that at least she would know what she should do from there. He promises that once she understands herself, her anxiety will disappear.

In the evening, Akari discovers that Hinata has fallen asleep in the middle of drawing and designing confection ideas. While reading and looking over Hinata's drawings, Akari becomes excited at Hinata's creations.