Akari and Ayano have moved in together. This fact fills this book with all sorts of tensions, both positive and negative. Sure, they have been through ” a lot,” but so little of it is about them, together, as a couple. Will thins relationship, which has been mere embers since it was lit, get a chance to burst into life?

We…don’t know. Yet.

Ayano is planning on moving school, as rumors of infidelity plague her. The kids in her class are apologetic about it, not really understanding what the parents have against it, as, frankly, neither do I. Busybosdies gonna busybody, I guess. As difficult a situation as it is, it appears that Ayano’s students nd peers seem to be on her side. Nonetheless, she is leaving at graduation to start at a new school. In a fitful climax for the classroom drama, Nitta returns to school just in time to graduate. She finally has it out with her former friend, but whether they will be able to patch things up, we may not actually learn.

Akari encounters the salon manager’s wife who really seems less concerned that he’s having an affair (with Eri, Akari reminds herself) than with him being a dolt. And Wataru is navigating having the woman he is interested in, openly ask him out, now that she too is divorced.

This continues to be such a low-key adult life Yuri that one can hardly think of it as barrelling down on the conclusion of the series…and yet, that is where we are. Volume 9 was released in June and Volume 10 will conclude the series. It’s been an interesting read and I definitely wonder where everyone will end up.

The final chapters were about having bathroom accidents in second-grade and you know what? I didn’t need that. Thanks Shimura-sensei for having a weird insistance on add that to your Yuri stories. Sigh.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
LGBTQ+ – Let’s give this a 7, as Akarai and Ayano start negotiating boundaries and intimacy.

Overall – 8