33:52 ( )

Kyoko learns the rest of her mother's story. Mr. Misonoi was indeed a corporate spy. He left without a trace and Saena has lived with the guilt of her actions ever since. She'd even have gotten an abortion if she could have. Despite this revelation, Kyoko leaves with a lighter heart and a desire to do her mom proud. Meanwhile, everyone else is still worried about her. Kyoko checks in with Moko, Ren checks up on Kyoko, and Kyoko even stops by to see Sho. Kyoko decides to audition for a role in a drama called Lotus in the Mud. (A funny moment: Ren could have gotten the role of the ronin that Kyoko's character falls for, but Yashiro didn't think it'd fit into his schedule. Poor Ren!)

I was hoping for a larger chunk of this volume to be devoted to the rest of Saena's story, but it's nice to know that Kyoko could potentially run into her dad in a future volume (even if she never realizes it!). The last part of Saena's story was a bit frustrating. If she had truly suspected Mr. Misonoi, she should have brought home fake disks that last time. Why bring home the real ones?

I was a little surprised at how positively Nakamura wrote Saena's revelation that she'd have aborted Kyoko if she could. Kyoko was very understanding and took it all very well.

Some visual problems I ran into while reading this volume: Moko looks an awful lot like Saena. Also, I was a bit taken aback by Sho's new haircut. He looks younger and more vulnerable. Weird.

This volume felt a bit scattered and anticlimactic after the awesomeness of the previous volume, but not bad. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Lotus in the Mud stuff goes. But doesn't Kyoko still have her school bully drama to do? I suppose it could be that there's room in her schedule for more.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )