By Gwyn

We saw in Volume 3, Fumi was struggling with emotions, and had wanted to give up on her feelings for Akatsuki. But Akatsuki comforting her completely set her off track.

It’s time for summer vacation in Volume 4, and it appears that Fumi is starting to get nervous, as she will be at home with Akatsuki. But all that might change when Gorou, who had stopped by their home, invites her on a trip to Kyoto with him and Akatsuki. Akatsuki, shouts for him to be quiet, as he was working on his novel, and does not want to bring Fumi along. But things change when Akatsuki is too busy for lunch, and Fumi packs his travel bag up for his trip and goes to buy food for dinner.

Akatsuki discovers his packed bag, and that Fumi is gone when he takes a break from his writing. He sees Fumi’s note that she had gone out, and he obviously goes out to meet her- we see Fumi leaving the store when it begins to rain, and there’s Akatsuki, walking towards her with an umbrella. They walk home together, and then he asks her if she would go to Kyoto with him.

As the story progresses in volume 4, we start seeing more thoughts from Akatsuki, on how he sees Fumi’s expression’s change and how she is a mystery to him. His point of view gradually becomes more visible from the middle of the volume, and grows in volumes 5 and 6. It’s great because it’s about time we see how his feelings are, and how he sees Fumi through his own eyes.

Gorou asks what has gotten into Akatsuki to have invited Fumi to Kyoto, and he tells Gorou leaving a ditzy person at home would be dangerous. Fumi gets excited when they arrive at Kyoto, and Akatsuki reminds her that it is a business trip and they aren’t going to the places she mentioned. Not too much later Gorou receives a phone call, and has to go back to fix someone’s deadline at work. Which this starts building up tension, and all sorts of emotions between Akatsuki and Fumi.

After arriving at the inn, Fumi has thoughts that she would have to share a room with Akatsuki since Gorou left, but fortunately for both her and Akatsuki, they did not have to share a room. But they did borrow yukata, free of charge, and Akatsuki’s expressions changed once he saw her come out of her room in a yukata. They walk through the town, going to the places Akatsuki planned to go to.

He invites Fumi to Fushimi Inari shrine for the next day, and she does want to go. Once they returned back to the inn, Fumi falls asleep when Akatsuki was waiting for her for dinner, so he goes to her room to check on her. He finds her asleep, and pinches her cheek. He is caught by surprise when she talks in her sleep, and says she loves him- it mumbled unclearly, but clear enough for Akatsuki to catch what she was saying.

Akatsuki addresses this when they are at the shrine the next day, causing Fumi to go into panic mode, and she tells him it’s a different sensei, but less of a sensei, and more like a life mentor. Of course Akatsuki doesn’t buy it, but doesn’t press any further.

A lot goes on towards the end of volume 4, especially when Akatsuki talks to Gorou about what happened. Gorou isn’t dumb, and he can tell something happened because of the atmosphere surrounding Akatsuki and Fumi. Akatsuki has mentioned before that Gorou catches on to emotions much better than he does.

When Akatsuki and Gorou take Fumi to the station to return home, there is an extreme tension between Akatsuki and Fumi, that Gorou feels the need to break the ice. So he tells Fumi to come here and gives her a kiss on the cheek. This causes a humorous expression from Akatsuki, who is also surprised by Gouro’s action. Once Fumi’s train leaves, Akatsuki grabs him by the collar and asked him about the kiss. Gorou tells him that he realized once he found out Fumi liked someone, he might just like her as well. He tells Akatsuki he is fully aware of the age difference, and is more than willing to wait for her to be old enough to date. And he adds that Akatsuki mentioned it had nothing to do with him of who Fumi likes. The volume ends with Gorou suggesting they finish their research, and Akatsuki remaining quiet.

I enjoy this series a lot because of the characters varied personalities. Including the side characters, like Fumi’s friends from school, and not just the continuous build-up of that “What’s going to happen next?” feeling.

Volume 5 will be reviewed next!