Chihayafuru volume 2 summary

...despite having JUST written a brief summary of Chihayafuru, I've decided to start posting detailed summaries of each volume, especially since J-Sis hasn't released a new chapter in nearly a year. I'm starting where J-Sis left off, which is v2 chapter 6.
again, raws can be found at: http://www.raw-manga.com/2010/05/chihayafuruchihaya-full-manga-raw.html

Chapter 6
Chihaya, Arata, and Taichi are competing as a 3-man team in their town tournament for kids. Chihaya is losing, but when the Chihayafuru poem is read, all 3 of them get it. Arata is sick, but he manages to (fairly easily) win his match, but Taichi and Chihaya lose both of theirs, and their team is out. Arata is coughing a lot, but he whispers to Taichi that he wishes they could've won the trophy for Chihaya. Taichi gets on his knees (dogeza) and apologizes for losing. They both turn to Chihaya who is crying and says she wishes the three of them could've played karuta longer; they all cry together.
Graduation day rolls around. Arata goes home early to pack (his family is moving the next day) but Arata and Taichi come crashing in. Chihaya asks Arata to play a game of karuta with her and Taichi expresses his admiration/surprise that Chihaya wants to play knowing Arata is going to beat her badly. Arata quickly clears some space and says that he doesn't go easy on anybody - not even a 5 year old. Taichi reads for them, and they make fun of his monotone reading. They play and Arata totally crushes Chihaya except for the Chihayafuru card, which they get at the same time. Chihaya argues that when it's a tie, the person whose side the card is on gets it. Arata starts crying and thanks them for playing karuta with him but they'll probably never see each other again. Chihaya says no, as long as they continue playing karuta, they're bound to encounter each other.

Chapter 7
At Mizusawa High School, the male students are buzzing about the attractive freshman Chihaya, younger sister of model Ayase Chitose. Rumor is that she is very pretty, but kinda weird - a "mudabijin" (literally translated as wasted beauty) - and we see Chihaya, wearing her uniform skirt over her gym clothes, putting up posters to recruit students for a karuta club. Nobody wants to join, however, and she is bummed, sprawled out on the grass listening to a cd of waka poems. She recalls a memory of when she was in junior high listening to a karuta cd and her friend taking her headphones, expecting some band, and laughing at the idea of doing karuta. She wasn't able to make any karuta buddies in junior high, and even Hyoro, the skinny kid at the karuta clinic she attends, is busy at his own school's karuta club. Even her mother, busy supporting older sister Chitose's modeling career, shows little interest in Chihaya's karuta activities. Eventually, Chihaya joins the track team at her junior high.
As Chihaya lays on the grass, a guy approaches her and makes fun of her for laying sprawled out, saying that this is why she's called a "mudabijin". It's Taichi!! Chihaya comments on how Taichi's grown taller, and Taichi complains that the difference in their height is minimal (he's 172cm, she's 167cm), but he's still growing! She's very excited to see Taichi, and Taichi, blushing a little, says she must not be very popular with the guys (cause she's so weird). They walk to the train station together and Taichi asks if Chihaya has been in contact with Arata, and she says no, he didn't even participate in the national karuta tournament last year (neither did she, busy with track team). They're interrupted by a call to Taichi from his girlfriend and Chihaya is shocked/bummed upon hearing about the girlfriend. Taichi tells Chihaya that he's not crazy about the gf (thinking he might have a chance with Chihaya) but Chihaya is also bummed at the idea that Arata also may now have things more important to him than karuta. On the train, Taichi tells Chihaya that karuta is just a hobby for him, that he's going to join a different club in high school (he played soccer in junior high), and does Chihaya want to waste her three years flailing about in B-class (karuta players are ranked A, B, C, D class and play with other members in the same class). They run into Taichi's girlfriend, who calls him Ta-kun and Chihaya shouts that if she can upgrade to A-class in this weekend's tournament, he needs to start a karuta club with her at school. She wants to tell somebody about the "Ta-kun business" but hesitates to call Arata, wondering if she's the only one holding onto their promise to continue karuta so they can meet again.
Taichi shows up in disguise at the karuta tournament to see how Chihaya is doing. Harada-sensei of course recognizes him (as "matsuge-kun" aka "eyelash-kun") and they catch up. Taichi tells Harada that he's going to play soccer, that even if he tries his hardest, he doesn't have enough talent, and will never be as good as Arata. Harada thinks back to when Chihaya was in junior high, sad to have no karuta buddies, but saying that she thinks of track practice as training for karuta (trains her reflexes). Harada tells Taichi that he needs to first try his hardest before giving up.

To be continued.