Ayaka is an excellent student, who has a hard time taking tests. In return for a recommendation from her teacher to any college she chooses, she finds herself responsible for bringing a truant classmate back to school. She doesn’t really know Honda, but how hard can that be? Well, when Honda demands a quid pro quo in the form of a “favor”- and the first favor turns out to be a kiss – it’s a bit complicated.

My memory of this series in Comic Yuri Hime was “This was a sweet series, I’m glad it was licensed.” But, I had completely forgotten that the premise is kinda trashy, kinda funny. That said, as we see even in this volume, the story moves away from that fairly quickly.

Almost immediately Ayaka can see that something is up with Honda and a few questions turn up a lonely family life. So Ayaka invites Honda into her circle of friends, on the supposition that if she is having fun at school, she’ll want to keep coming. This decision is what changes the tenor of the story from one of uncomfortable skinship to one of friendship.

Ratings:

Art – 8 This is conjecture, but Kashikaze’s art is so familiar, I think they must have been someone’s assistant.
Story – Errrrm…not a great start, let’s say 6
Characters – 7 with room to grow
Service – 5 It’s light as fanservice goes but non-consensual kissing is still salacious and not really cute, IMHO
Yuri – 5 De facto, but more emotional depth to come

Overall – 7

They original premise will pop up again from time to time, much like the teacher from the bushes, but Kashikaze’s story will – I promise you – develop into something worth reading.

Volume 2 is headed our way very soon, in English from Kodansha, with more stolen kisses, but also more of everything else.