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When his father remarries, Yuuta Asamura winds up sharing a roof with a brand-new stepsister, who is also the hottest girl in his grade! But Yuuta and his new sister, Saki Ayase, have no delusions—they both carry trauma from their parents' difficult divorces, and they agree to keep a respectful distance. As it turns out, however, the two have a lot in common, and slowly, cautiously, they grow closer. But is the emotion blooming between them simple admiration, familial love, or something more? (Source: Yen Press)
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Finished on 20 January 2025
Another entry in this excellent series, this one mainly focuses on Saki's journey to face her past, especially her biological father.
Let's start with the disgusting personality of Saki's father, Fumiya Itou. Ghost Mikawa in the afterword chapter did mention that since the LNs are written from first person view, there are bias on how the world looks from the character viewpoint. This meant that Fumiya Itou character may be heavily biased and pictured incorrectly due to Saki's dislike towards said person. However even with this level of bias, I can read between the lines and build my own image on what kind of person Fumiya Itou is. First of all, this guy is not human, not a decent one anyway. Any decent normal human during a conversation would say hello and ask how the other person is doing, maybe ask how's her school, how's the exam study progress, which university is she aiming for, etc. But this guy did none of that. He came in, didn't even respond to her greeting, jumps straight in by praising her looks and beauty, of how proud he is for what she has accomplished. After this sequence of praising, he immediately starts bragging on how he started a new company, his new wife is expecting a child, and he's now going to the United States since his company is growing. The conversation is very one sided. He left no room for Saki to even respond and make this conversation a functional one. Saki kept throwing awkward glances, but he ignored it. So even with this biased view, I can picture the guy to be very self-centered. Everything is always about him, he takes no interest in other people at all, even though other people may want to help him. I feel bad for his current wife to be honest. I hope she's capable of handling this troublesome human being.
The highlight of the volume is this study trip, where Yuuta and Saki went to Atami alone as an escape for Saki to not meet her biological father. First of all, I feel like the writing for this volume is much brighter and chipper, and it shows in this chapter. Their conversation feels a lot livelier, there's a lot more teasing, a lot more comedy, a lot more banter thrown around, and this is a good change, since I feel that previous volumes, their conversation is very stiff. It's like they converse only when necessary, and they say things that are to the point. It's like 2 ChatGPTs talking. It did improve overtime, but until volume 11, I still feel this stiffness. But in this volume, especially this chapter, that stiffness is gone. All I feel when reading are two people who are getting closer and getting to know each other better. The most important thing is that they tease each other often and it's fun to read. This trip definitely shows that they have gotten a lot closer. There's also that intimate section in the family bath, where Saki leans on Yuuta, while saying thank you. There's nothing sexual at all about this part (and I'm not being sarcastic here). All I see is Saki thanking Yuuta for his eagerness to help her during the troublesome time, and even went out to prepare for this trip. Sure, they're both naked in the same bath, and Yuuta is still a normal high school boy, and even Saki in her diary mentioned that ABSOLUTE NOTHING happened in the trip, which is bullshit 😆. However, if you read it without the sexual glasses, it's just a wholesome chapter, and a worthy addition to this volume.
As I said before, this volume focuses heavily on Saki's character in general, because we never really see deep into her character. But when I read this volume, I'm so happy that she's smiling a lot more. Her smile that exists during her childhood era is resurfacing, and she can enjoy herself a lot more these days. The volume cover may be intense, with both of them seemingly in deep thoughts, however the contents of this volume is very peaceful and serene. There's no massive conflict. In contrast, there's a lot more sugar. I'd say this is the most sugary volume so far. This smile of hers must be protected!
Yuuta's character also improved a lot in this volume, particularly in his proactiveness. I used to rank him as a terrible MC. He thinks too much and ended up doing nothing, which I know is caused by his biological mother, but it's still hard to read. But in this volume, he did quite a lot:
Old Yuuta can't do this. He would just think that he's overstepping boundaries and stuff like that, and ended up doing nothing. The amount of things this guy did during this volume completely destroys him in the previous volumes. He became such a good boyfriend and brother. Bravo Yuuta! Keep this up!
I can't wait for the next chapter. 10/10. Good job Mikawa Ghost!