Sahoko and her high school friends head out after their class reunion for some karaoke. A friendly dare turns in to a kiss and both Sahoko and Anna find themselves out of sorts. What the kiss means for Sahoko, who is probably still pining after Koshiba Aoi and what it means for Anna, who appears (to us, at least) have an unrequited crush on Sahoko, are entirely different things.

Anna spends time looking back at her feelings about the elusive Koshiba and discovers the roots of her antipathy are not at all what she thought. Sahoko’s thoughts are centered on her struggle to be seen as cool, but not be overwhelmed by it. Aoi sits in the middle of maelstrom of emotional turmoil, all the while doing her best to hold her own life together.

As I have said many times, I picked this story up for the art, which – despite Fly’s tendency towards visible bra straps under shirts (as if camisoles and t-shirts don’t exist for this very reason) – I still quite like. But I won’t lie, I struggle with the story. What I had hoped would be an exploration of adult feelings is a pretty thorough wallow in school life and loves. It’s not that Takeoka Hazuki-sensei’s writing is bad…it’s actually quite good, which is why I am still reading. I just spend every volume waiting for the scraps of adult life. I’d like Anna to work through her feelings for Sahoko and wonder if adult Aoi will even make an appearance at all. Probably not. Certainly, if I were writing this story, she would not. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 2
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Volume 3 in English is headed our way late January 2022. I will probably switch over to just reading this in English, as I’m not motivated enough to read it in Japanese as well.

To that point, I want to say that the Kodansha editions are really substantial. I feel as if I’m getting a chunky, slickly produced book for my money.