As Yachiyo believes the Connect failed because she doesn't truly understand Tsuruno, Iroha steps in to protect her from Tsuruno's attack, somehow using Connect to link their minds together. This brings her to a mysterious stage, which shows how Tsuruno blamed herself for Meru's death and perceived herself as unreliable. This led her to force herself to act strong and cheerful while hiding all the pain she is going through, but upon learning about how Meru truly died, she became unable to do so any longer...