Back in the day, Takebe and Soramori were rivals in the world of high school gangs, but when they meet again as adults in Volume 1, Soramori admits that she’s always liked Takebe. To Takebe’s shock Soramori asks her out…and she can’t quite come up with any reason to say no.

In Watashi no Kobushi wo Uketomete, Volume 2 (私の拳をうけとめて) Takebe is trying to figure out any of what is going on here, while Soramori is mostly concerned that Takebe’s not having any fun. This isn’t true, but it’s so hard for Takebe to really express herself and she’s not really sure what she wants, so…Soramori keeps trying to find something to make Takebe happy, but when we visit Takebe’s family, we see that she’s had that same expression since she was a child. And Soramori learns she has a rival in the form of Otome, a neighbor, who has known and obsessed over Takebe for years.

When Soramori stops going to the origami class she and Takebe had signed up for, Takebe confronts the fact that she prefers to do anything with Soramori. And with extraordinary effort on her part, she visits Soramori and actually tells her!

Takee and Soramori join two other former gang girls, Maria and Miharu on…wait for it…an overnight camping trip. ^_^ Takaebe is foiled in her chance to just be alone with Soramori, but all of them just relax and enjoy the moment, which for such a wound-up series, is really quite lovely.

The art is solid without being stellar, the whole story is basically set around Takebe’s angry expression, but to my surprise there is character development in this volume 2, instead of just the same jokes, with every chapter ending in a bwa-wa-waa~~ sound.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 5 Yes, they are an item, but their relationship is still a work in progress

The series is still ongoing, you can read it online (in Japanese) on the Young Ace Web Ace site and watch as Takebe continues to grapple with what she’s got to be thinking of as her own arrested development.