In Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 6 (やがて君になる), the story comes to a climactic moment, with an expected twist.

It is, at last, time for the school festival and with it, Touko’s Student Council is putting on an original play, finally fulfilling her late sister’s unrealized dream. Unusually, we are allowed to see the entire play, including the scene where Sayaka plays amnesiac Touko’s now-forgotten lover. Immediately rumors begin to spread, but they move though the scene to the conclusion of the play; in which the protagonist decides against choosing any of her former lives, instead preferring to create a new self into which she can grow. The play is a rousing success. Touko’s parent’s reaction to it all is very interesting, and I hope we’ll be privy to a conversation between Touko and her family discussing that reaction.

But, as far as the main story goes, there’s only one reaction Touko cares about. When she and Yuu finally have a moment alone, Yuu makes heartfelt confession – she can no longer remain the same as she was, as she had promised. And, more devastatingly, she has realized that she is in love with Touko.

Touko, who had resigned herself to keeping their relationship in stasis, is thrown into a high state of confusion. Where they will end we cannot say (well, okay, obviously we can. It was abundantly clear from the first page of this series it was meant to be a romance. As I noted in my review of the first volume back in 2016, “The first [criticism I had of V1] is that it is presented as a romance. The story is apparently that we’ll side with Touko as her sincere feelings for Yuu are eventually returned.” So, yeah, obviously it has been heading in this direction from the very beginning. Which I’m still kind of sad about. I would really have preferred to have Yuu as a rare aromantic manga protagonist. Oh well.

Setting that aside, as a romance goes, this story is taking time to alleviate my concern that Yuu would be swayed merely by the force of Touko’s affection for her. That, at least, has not manifested. 

Now Yuu and Touko will have to see if their feelings can match one another’s, and then see if they can build a relationship on those feelings.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 8

The play was actually quite good – as well as terrifyingly accurate.

In the meantime, I’m still watching Sayaka, whose role in the play has effectively outed her to the whole school. I hope she will find her way through all this. (I am currently reading another novel by Iruma Hitoma, I’m ever more concerned for her novel, I hope they are up to conveying her as fully developed character.)

It’s summer vacation and the Student Council is very busy. Between organizing the school festival and practice for the Student Council’s original play, Yuu doesn’t have much time to spend with Touko. They do squeeze in one date, but for the most part, Yuu’s spending her time with Kanou, who is struggling to find an appropriate end to the play.  In the middle of a crisis, Kanou meets one of her favorite writers and is surprised to find that the author is a woman.  Kanou writes a letter to Renma-sensei and, with renewed vigor approaches the script. 

This is not a side chapter. Kanou struggling with a script is really very much the core of Volume 5 of Yagate Kimi ni Naru (やがて君になる ). I say that because, when Kanou decides on a course for the play, it’s Yuu who stomps it down. Why, she asks, no, demands, should the lead even have to be any one of the people that the people around her insist she be? It’s a shockingly profound thought, to Kanou. Even though we can see that Yuu is thinking at least as much of Touko herself, it’s a massive breakthrough for Yuu, not just in how she thinks about Touko, but how she approaches their relationship.

Yuu’s breakthrough leaks into other parts of her life. She encounters a classmate who is crying after her feelings are rejected and says and does the right things. But not only is Yuu shown being supportive and humane, a male classmate joins them and also says and does the right things. This scene was worth my money as it’s an excellent example of a really decent guy handling a woman’s emotions with empathy and decency. A how-to on embracing non-toxic masculinity. It was really sweet.

Ultimately, the only one Yuu has not made any changes for is herself. Until, in the tension before the play, Touko grabs her and pulls her to a back of the building for a kiss. Yuu holds Touko off. She explains that she’s not for Touko, but she does support her, and will continue to do so, but will not be used by her. At which I sat back and said “Finally!” Yuu also demands Touko shed the burden of living up to her deceased older sister and do the play for herself. Which she does. 

A final chapter covers Yuu trying to decide where to hang the charm she got at the aquarium on her date with Touko and all the situations in which it would become awkward. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 
Characters – 8 As they become more complicated, I like them more 
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 8

This is the first volume we’ve seen Yuu push back at Touko and my interest in this series grew three times as a result. I guess I’d been waiting for Yuu to be an active participant in the narrative; 5 volumes into it, she finally has become one. I now look forward to seeing what becomes of her.

Bloom Into You, Volume 5 will hit shelves in June 2018 in English so you’ll be reading this pretty soon!