By Gwyn

Volume 5 is when everything changes for both Fumi and Akatsuki. Because Akatsuki has a hard time with admitting his feelings, Gorou makes advances towards Fumi, which is more of an attempt to get Akatsuki to realize he has feelings for Fumi more than anything. Gorou points out that Akatsuki had said before that it had nothing to do with him. Hearing this causes Akatsuki to go into a foul mood.

When Fumi comes home, she finds Akatsuki shirtless and that makes her flustered. They get into a small argument- Akatsuki brings up that Fumi likes someone, she tells him that it has nothing to do with him, and then she brings up Katsura, showing her little jealous side. Akatsuki asks her why bring her up, as it has nothing to do with anything. Fumi, still flustered, disagrees and then throws a towel at Akatsuki, asking him to please have more consideration of her feelings as she is still a woman.

Akatsuki must have listened to her as the next day, he comes out of his room dressed nicely. What I like in the scene is that Mika Yamamori has put in a reference to their other series, “Daytime Shooting Star”, by having Fumi wear a shirt with the name on it. That’s another good series and I will review that in the future. Fumi tells Akatsuki that she is happy that he took her feelings into consideration.

When Gorou comes over again, he takes Fumi by the hand to take her to a festival. Akatsuki swiftly smacks Gorou’s wrist, causing it to get red and sting. He tells them he’s going with them and that’s final.

It’s obvious at this point in Volume 5 that Akatsuki does have feelings for Fumi, as his jealousy and the need to be with Fumi continues to grow. You can see it when he notices how happy she is when she eats a candy apple and laughs when he puts a mask on his face. This causes him to smile himself.

Akatsuki asks Fumi about the guy she likes, and she describes him to Akatsuki. He tells her that he hopes she gets to go to the festival with him next year. Their hands bump each other and that’s when Akatsuki takes her by the hand and admits that he couldn’t leave her on her own (despite Gorou being there).

After Fumi hears this, she gets brave and admits how she feels about him. Akatsuki is caught off guard, and Fumi isn’t sure what his reaction really is. She sees her friends from school, and she runs off crying. She tells her friends she thinks she made the wrong choice to tell Akatsuki, but they tell her that he might be feeling awkward as well. So Yoh-chan tells Fumi to spend a few nights at her place to let both of their feelings sort out.

Fumi lets Akatsuki know that she was going over to her friend’s place for a few nights, and told him that her feelings for him was still real. She leaves him Yoh’s contact information if he needs her, and this gives us time to catch up on Akatsuki’s past and his past relationships. It shows us how oblivious he was to his girlfriend’s feelings those times, and why it was always the girls that broke up with him. All of those things made Akatsuki feel he was better off alone. This also explains why he was so harsh to Fumi in the beginning of the series.

While at Yoh-chan’s, Fumi gets her nails painted and gets some helpful advice from her. Meanwhile, Akatsuki takes that time to think about his feelings and comes down to a conclusion of what comes next.

The next day Fumi and Yoh-chan had been working on homework, and it must have been a lot, as Yoh-chan is tired. She is saved by the doorbell and she rushes out of the room to answer the door.

It is Akatsuki and Yoh-chan calls Fumi down. Fumi comes to the hallway and sees Akatsuki at the door, sweating and panting as though he ran there. Yoh-chan tells Fumi it’s time to go home, and Fumi finds herself with her bag, outside with Akatsuki. Akatsuki offers to carry her bag. And this is the moment readers are waiting for. He asks her to go out with him, leaving Fumi speechless.

And that’s where volume 5 leaves us- waiting to see the answer Fumi gives Akatsuki! Again, this is just one of many great parts of the series; each volume always ends with a great cliff-hanger! Volume 6 review will be coming soon.