With the last volume focusing on Kenta, this one focuses on Yuzuki Nanase. Through most of volume 1, she was mostly a mystery, like Kazuki, as characters like Yuuko, Kaito, and Haru knew exactly how they acted. Though, as Saku mentions in this volume, he & Yuzuki are the most similar among the group. The outside impressions they give are very similar. Both are good-looking and talented, but there is a very calculating aspect to them that Yuuko & Kaito lack. The problem that Yuzuki was coming to Saku with was regarding a stalker. So it seems logical for them to fake dating to bait the stalker out, which is where the information that they needed to be started to come to the surface.
The main portion is them dealing with various guys from Yan High. First it happened at the library, where Saku tried to bait them out, and this is where it is starting to become clear that Saku himself is more of a selfless person than we could be aware of. With comments from Asuka hinting about this in volume 1, Saku cares more about what happens to the people around him than to himself. Asuka could see that Saku was trying to do too much on his own. Also getting Yuuko & Yua pissed because it seemed like he was putting everything on his back alone and just suffering the consequences. Yuzuki is their friend, but there had to be a better approach for Saku to deal with this.
The festival during Saku & Yuzuki’s not-fake date is when they run into the gang of delinquents in Yan High, and that is Yanashita. It is interesting to learn that Yuzuki was a person who put on a mask and tried to please everyone. In fact, this very much implies that she is truly not like Saku at all. Saku is a selfless person who wants to be true to himself first. While Yuzuki puts on a mask to please the people around her. They run into them near school, and that is enough to make Yuzuki shook. Granted, the means by which Saku got Yuzuki to fight back definitely went too far, but the results worked for him luckily.
Though through her story it is easy to say why she would be so shook by Yanashita. A girl who pleased everyone, and it never negatively impacted her. Now here comes a guy who is just plain awful. Being his woman is even something she wanted no part of, but he uses violence, and a girl having an older guy do that left an impact. One of the good parts of the volume is Yuzuki seeing all that Saku is doing for her, which gets her to continue fighting and makes it obvious that she was falling for Saku. Even so much that she wants to step up and face her problem, which is good.
However, her facing her problems alone gives the conclusion of this volume a weaker turn. There is only so much she can do against an older guy, so to face that, Yanashita gets violent. Of course Saku comes, and he gets punched. Now the reveal that Kazuki was recording it was a good plan, but it feels dirty seeing that Yuzuki did not know about this coming in. It made it feel like her personal efforts to face Yanashita felt less impactful, granted it was because of that the plan worked. Still, it would have been better if she knew about the plan and was still willing to go along with it. Though Saku beating up Yanashita was good, the message is that those who just use violence are weak.
How the volume tackled Nazuna was good because she has not been friendly with Yuzuki since volume 1. As she could tell, Yuzuki has a very fake personality. There were false flags that Nazuna was the mole that tricked Yuzuki into blaming her wrongly. Nazuna is someone who admires Yuzuki with her basketball skills but, of course, can’t stand her personality. With how the volume ends, it makes me wonder if they become closer.
Tomoya is one part of the volume that felt the weakest, granted him being in the dark had to happen. Though it became clear that Nazuna wasn’t the mole, then it was clear that the mole had to be him. He was crushing on Yuzuki hard, but it was her mask of Yuzuki Nanase. As in conversations in this volume, it was clear that Yuzuki would never like someone like Saku, and Saku tried to get him to take the honest path. That never happened, which ended up with the two of them humiliating him. It brings a comparison to Kenta from the last volume as to who is the nicer person and who was willing to put in the work for what they want to achieve. Tomoya wanted to take the easy way out.
This volume did really highlight how independent Saku is. Starting to live on his own starting in middle school is really impressive. Still, the feeling he feels alone in reality is clear, as his conversations with Asuka really feel like she is the only person he trusts. Though Saku experienced a lot of heartbreak starting with his elementary school crush when he was living with his grandmother.
As for Yuzuki, it makes you wonder if now she will be her true self going forward. It is clear she has feelings for Saku. Basically competing with Yuuko & Yua in that. Perhaps a friendship is possibly forming with Nazuna too.
Overall it is a solid volume that builds on Saku and the characterization for Yuzuki was good too. Though it is more the conclusion of the Yuzuki situation, it felt very awkward and not hitting the right notes. The biggest thing is the couch scene between Saku & Yuzuki.