What happened with her old friend Gojo has been resolved and Nanase and Hana-kun's love is deepening more and more. However, while Nanase welcomes the new semester full of happiness, a rumor reaches her ears that Hana-kun has been suspended for the second time...!! As their feelings for each other change little by little with the seasons, we can't keep our eyes off the direction they're taking! This is volume 7 of the super hit heart-throbbing love story.
Nanase is unintentionally out with the jerk who stole a kiss from her, thanks to her meddling friends. Hana doesn’t know, but then he does... But that’s not a patch on what happens next, when Hana not only ends up in trouble, but in a way I’ve never seen in a shojo manga before...
The first half of this book is basically an appetizer for the back half, which kind of made me sit up just because of how unique it was (I swear I didn’t think shojo had it in it any more, but maybe I just haven’t read enough similarly themed stories).
First we have to dispose of the annoying rival jerk and I love how this was done because Nanase does, you know, the right thing and actually talks it out (twice, though only one is honestly warranted, really, screw that guy). Hana shows that he’s willing to be somebody Nanase respects and things are totally sweet and fine.
And then they are decidedly not.
Hana ends up in a catastrophic amount of trouble through no fault of his own and just like that we’re back at the question of how suitable our two leads are for each other.
And it’s a great way to ask that question - people are changed by those that they are around, certainly, but any (healthy) relationship is formed on a basis of accepting the other person as they are. So, why not throw our leads into a major test of that theory?
And to be fair, Nanase is straight laced as all get out, but other than making sure Hana survives school she has never really tried to change him too much (a little, but she means well). If anything, being with Nanase has made Hana want to better himself, which is a whole other proposition.
They’ve always been very close by in one form or another, however, and a two week separation without contact is a lot of time for all sorts of incredibly poor thinking to manifest (let’s face it, two weeks might as well be eternity in high school). When you can’t communicate with your partner for a long stretch it’s an excellent time for doubt to start creeping in (and, again, anything bad in the real world is only exacerbated in high school).
It’s a really great way to introduce some conflict without having anybody at fault - Hana got caught up in something he shouldn’t have (and knowing what little I do of Japanese morals, I am not shocked by the outcome) and now our leads have to figure it out and while barely being able to hash it out together.
Between that and a very understated encounter with the previous object of Hana’s affection, this book’s doing a great job this volume. It’s never the best thing I read in a given week, but it’s always a consistently good, strong story.
3.5 stars, but we’ll stay at 3 rounded because I want to see how this story plays out before I laud it TOO much. Still, I can’t say enough about how great it was seeing something new in a genre that is rife with tropes. This series just goes along doing its own thing and it is one of the most reliable reads on my list right now.
Ribet amat ya hubungan anak SMA ini... penuh prasangka. Apalagi Nanase merasa hubungannya dengan Hana-kun makin menjauh. Trus Hana-kun kena skors lagi, dan ga bisa dihubungi.
Mulai ada konflik. Aduh jangan sampe ada salah paham dong. Bacanya ikut khawatir. Setelah kemarin dibikin berbunga - bunga kali ini pembaca dibuat ikut deg - degan.
Hana si è fatto beccare con alcolici e sigarette e viene sospeso da scuola. Gli viene vietato ogni contatto con l'esterno e deve frequentare delle lezioni speciali. Nanase è disperata perché le due settimane le sembrano lunghissime. E le sembra che il loro rapporto si raffreddi... Evviva! [*Ironia^3*]