Chihaya, Arata, and Taichi visit a Shiranami Karuta Society practice session. There they meet Dr. Harada, the society's director, and the oddball Hiro Kinashi, known as Retro (Hyoro), a sixth-grader like them. Chihaya, Arata, and Taichi play Retro and his friends in a three-on-three Genpei match. Taichi tells Arata he should just play alone against Retro and his friends, but Arata says he wants to play as a team. At Chihaya's urging, they decide to compete in an upcoming tournament for teams of three. In the meantime, Taichi is accepted into a prestigious middle school, and Arata learns he will move back to Fukui when the school year is over. In the tournament, Chihaya is matched against Y?sei Nishida, whom she quickly nicknames Porky (Nikuman), in the first round and loses. Taichi also loses his match, so the team is eliminated. After the last day of school, Chihaya says that, as long as they have karuta, they will see each other again.