A more relaxed volume, thankfully continuing from where the last volume ended, Alya absolutely stole the show here, her daring approaches on him, contradicting a typical tsundere, never failed to make a dent in his armor, and was always adorable to read.
IMO I consider the thing with Masha to be solved, after how Masachika sorted out his feelings performing on the piano last, so when I see him getting confused about it all once again, I just ignore it because I understand feelings aren't easy to handle, and process and Masha has her woman charms, he will eventually notice that Alya is the one for him (till then I dont mind some wavering from his part, his mind is a mess inside, it will take time to get his shit together).
Meanwhile, I will just enjoy Maria's scenes, because she is such a bright and loveable older sis~~
Yuki so far seems to be in a healthy condition, but there are some hints that problems might be on the horizon, Masachika and Ayano did a 180º at the slightest problem, if Yuki enters the sick imouto trope, things will become very conflicting indeed, more than anything, these scenes feel like seeds the writer is planting to build up and fuck up your feelings, eventually.
Sayaka and Takeshi make an interesting couple, it is good to see him, a character I couldn't give a fuck, starting to get a bit more interesting.
Oh and if this was to become a Yuri LN, right away Sayaka x Alisa (Nonoa for threesome?!), to Alya being able to be more flexible and sensitive when addressing others is neat, she could even bypass Sayaka's walls, making her help in the Horseback competition <3. Past Alya would have failed hard here, she would have easily given up.
I was hopeful for some of Nonoa's development, but it seems it will take more time for it to happen, poor Masachika, most would be jealous of the advances she made on him, making him either accept it or get a kiss instead!
Elena-senpai is probably in love with Masachika unless she likes to tease everyone as much as she does him, she was a character I quickly grew to like, so I hope to see her tons more, and it felt nice seeing Alisa building her team for the horseback competition, the team itself got very OP, maybe not the most physically strong, but full of cunning and resourceful characters!
The girls cosplaying was funny, tbh I would go for Nonoa's police costume and ask to be arrested and escorted to a private cell for some PUNISHING~~
Maria was also a killer, but I would need to see an illustration of Elena in that chinese dress, to comment further, but just imagining the width of the slip...
The misunderstanding with Maria was funny, and damm Yuki putting more spice and being the cause of Masachika's worries, having to carry Maria like that, situations like this and others were a major push to make Alicia realize her feelings...
Yuki is just a devil winning the competition like that, I hope in the future Alya learns how to be more shrewd when needed, I feel like she could have caught Yuki, and still gone for the win there, but she was too surprised, she needs to STOP underestimating Yuki ASAP, she might not want to manipulate others, not her nature, she has to be able to defend herself from those that can manipulate others to such a degree like Yuki, it cant always be Masachika doing it for her.
The encounter with his mother came out of nowhere, such a tense situation, and to have Alisa experience it as well, I feel like she has a lot of hints already to figure out the truth (the biggest is how similar both Yuki and Masachika look), but she is trusting on him to come clean eventually, and until then she will wait for him.
His grandmother's words were very accurate, love has many sides to itself, and not all are pretty, and seeing Alya realizing this, and that it all means she is in love, was a good way to end the volume (I adore how she keeps calling him her magician~~).
Looking forward to the next volume developments, that is all I will say, it seems it will reach a point here where Masachika will be forced to make a decision for good and he can't stand to be a sideliner much longer, he might have to embrace the Suou legacy and said goodbye to Kuze's.
The SS at the end with Ayano made me remember I wish the writer would write something more about the time when Masachika reunited with Yuki again, all those years later, it would be interesting to see how their initial reactions were.
Mod Edit: Modified title for clarity and/or easier searching. |