At the beginning of 2019, the first volume of the Yagate Kimi Ni Naru side novel focusing on the character of Saeki Sayaka, Touko’s close friend and Student Council Vice President, surprised the heck out of me, with its grasp of the character’s voice and insight into this young lesbian’s development as a person.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite, Volume 2 (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について) was even better.

The story begins with Sayaka already in high school, already the VP of the Student Council and very, very aware of Touko’s sudden interest in this first-year student. Sayaka is hyper-vigilant of Touko’s glances, the way she introduces and stands near this girl, Sayaka knows…and understands…that she’s lost her chance with Touko.

The story then backs up to how she meets and becomes friendly, then friends, with Nanami Touko, a woman who surpasses her academically and in every other way. A woman she is content to follow, a woman she knows she cannot have, but is unwilling to give up on the idea of. Until Yuu comes along.

My favorite scene comes early as Sayaka, having seen the casual relationship between her classmates Aika and Midori, asks Touko is she can speak with her in private. Touko jokes in asking if Sayaka is going to confess to her? Sayaka cannot even begin to imagine how to do that at this point, although yes, she wants to. But no, Sayaka simply wanted to know if she and Touko could call each other by their given names. Touko jumps straight to calling her “Sayaka” with no honorific, which settles the matter. It was a sweet, earnest and heartfelt scene which provides excellent insight into Sayaka’s still-quite serious personality. She’s learning to fake casual sincerity, but when she’s actually sincere, she is very serious indeed.

The story walks us through specific interactions as Sayaka finds herself happily dragged in Touko’s wake. She joins the council because of Touko, learns about Touko’s sister, and her motivation for the play. As their third year in high school dawns, Touko and Sayaka are, for the first time in differing classes, but that is not what concerns Sayaka. As they turn away from one another at the bulletin board, Sayaka sees Touko walk towards that first-year who, through no fault of her own, has stolen Sayaka’s chance at high school love.

And then the final 9 pages begin and my eyes could not have gotten bigger. But first….

Sayaka does not identify herself as gay in this novel, but she does admit to Touko, during a conversation about being confessed to, that she has been confessed to…by another girl. And that they had dated. The next page begins with Sayaka thinking,”There. I said it.” This is the closest she comes to saying anything about her interest in women generally or Touko specifically…although we know that she will at least once before the end of high school, admit the truth to the subject of her feelings (presuming we are caught up on the manga up to Volume 7.)

But back to those last pages. The entire novel had, up to that point, been written in 3rd person. The final pages switch to 1st, as “I” am sitting in a far corner of the college campus, when a woman comes around the corner. “I” can see that she is crying. The girl apologizes and I offer some civility as comfort.

(At this point I – the reader – thought we might have been getting another glimpse at Miyako’s meeting with Riko, which followed this exact pattern. About which I have a little rant, if you will indulge me: “Random Woman A meeting Random Woman B in a random corner of the campus” is cute, but it also effectively strips any possible queer identity from the characters. It’s not like they met at a LGBTQ mixer, book club, class on gender studies, at a bar, live music show, volunteer opportunity or any one of the dozens of ways two women might actually meet. Nope. Two couples in this series just happened to meet when one person came running around a far corner of the campus to have a good cry and the other just happened to be there. I bet the odds on that are good. /rant /eyeroll/sarcasm

The two women end up sitting next to one another in a class. The formerly crying girl asks if “I” am a first-year. No, “I” am a second-year. “Oh, so you’re my sempai.” “I” am amused by this, and at this point has made it clear that the first-year reminds us of Yuu… and of our failed high school romance. “I” am absolutely aware of three previous school romances and how each of them was a failure of a sort. “Sempai, huh?” The first-year asks the narrator their name and “I” reply, “Saeki Sayaka.” As the pages come to a close, Sayaka is contemplating her future…and this woman.

And then the book ends, and I flipped the page and re-read the advert for a 3rd Saeki Sayaka novel for like the 49th time.

We are going to get a novel about Sayaka after the manga. Ahhhh!

I do not expect any more queer identity in this upcoming book than we had in the previous two, but it would be nice if, you know, Sayaka got to ask someone out who liked her the same way. I’m not asking for much, I don’t think.

Ratings:

Art – 10 Once again, art by the series creator, so….
Story – 8 A much stronger sense of Sayaka’s feelings for and about Touko, that we could not get from the manga
Character – 10
Service – 1 Not really this time
Yuri – 7 This book is chock-full of Sayaka’s thoughts about being attracted to Touko for all the reasons.

Overall – 9

Once again, I am pleasantly surprised to have fully enjoyed a novel by Iruma Hitoma, in which the tone and feel of the character as we know her is captured well. And I look forward to the sequel as it takes us into new territory.