This season, Yukino is trying to have the school host a prom for the senior students, an idea welcomed by pretty much all the students who hear of it. However, at some point during the negotiations with the school’s parent’s association, the plan was not quite welcomed. Yukino’s big drama relates to her status as resident golden girl while still feeling unaccomplished because she doesn’t get the chance to do things herself. She refuses Hachiman’s help with this project for that very reason; however, things get pretty dicey when the prom plan comes under fire because the spokesperson for the PA’s grievances is none other than Yukino’s own mother, whose beauty, grace, and smile make her calculating and analytic unravelling of Yukino’s prom plan feel even worse.

There is a marked difference between Yukino and her mother; however, that difference doesn’t undermine the nature of the personality traits that Yukino has inherited from her. Yukino’s ice-queen personality is perceived to be stemming from arrogance or self-importance due to her many talents; however, the situation with the prom highlighted Yukino’s inability to establish her position to the people in her life, especially her mother and sister, the people that she has the hardest time dealing with. What Yukino takes away from these situations is self-doubt and a feeling of infantilization, which is exactly why she doesn’t want Hachiman’s help, she wants to prove to herself that she can get it done. When that is your normal, overachieving can’t be what you hold over other people because you can’t get away from the crippling self-doubt that has emerged from Yukino experiencing a removal of her agency by her mother, her sister or by her own expectations.

When Hachiman (finally) goes to Yoi’s house to honour that baking plan they made together, we get to see Yui’s adorable mother. The Oregairu brand of repetitive nomenclature almost shines through to the appearances of the characters, with Yui looking like an abbreviated form of her mom just like Yukino does with her own mom! Yui’s mom has a cutesy manner of speaking, is rarely serious and even calls Hachiman “Hikki” in the same way that Yui does! This might be a mother teasing her daughter about her seemingly oblivious crush, especially considering the kind of close relationship the Yuigahama ladies have. Yui and her mother are so alike, they even have the same pout!

Other than her mother’s appearance, much like Yukino, Yui has carried certain characteristics from her relationship with her mother and that has developed the intricacies of her characterization. For instance, Yui’s continued expression of fondness for Yukino and Hachiman stems from her household being one in which people can be vulnerable like that. Yui’s close relationship with her mom and her open pursuit of Hachiman in season 3 coincide because when we encounter Yui’s mom in the season, she seems to encourage Yui to be a lot more straightforward when it comes to Hachiman. If we are more cynical about it, we could attribute Yui’s codependent attachment to Yukino and Hachiman to something that has been learned at home.