The inevitable rival plot emerges, and I realised wearily that it was going to be a scheming, manipulative rival, fully aware of her manipulative behaviour, and with no apparent redeeming features. It felt like a real let-down from Toyama's usual writing. Maybe it goes down well with teenagers... it does mean you don't have to feel any sympathy for her, of course. On the other hand, her behaviour towards Yukina is so obviously and publicly unwanted that you'd think getting her slammed by the school for harassment would be straightforward. The fact that Shigure doesn't intervene raises questions here.

Annnoying subplot aside, the storyline is still working for me. It seems to capture quite well the complicated and contradictory feelings of crushes, particularly at school. The more intimate scenes felt very effective at conveying the strange mixture of feelings around physical closeness and touch, and how powerful that is. ( )