Rating: M
Genre: Romance/Drama
Price: $8.99

Takumi and Hachi are getting married, but it's far from a joyous announcement.  Nobu and Nana are devastated, and even Takumi's bandmates take the news hard.  With paparazzi skulking around for a new scandal to exploit and tensions between Trapnest and Blast on high alert, will Hachi ever get her happily ever after?

This volume is huge and packed with not only plenty of story, but also with a 50 page bonus story about the origins of Trapnest from Naoki, the drummer's point of view.  It's all about the fall out from the big reveal in the last volume.  Hachi has chosen Takumi over Nobu, and their plans to get married shake up both Blast and Trapnest to their cores.  Nana and Reira seem to take it the hardest, as they both seem to be losing the ones they love.  But everyone is affected in some way by Hachi's decision, and it seems to tie the bands together more than pushes them apart.

While there is a lot going on in this volume, the plot doesn't actually go anywhere.  It's all character development as we see the different reactions to Hachi's decision.  Even though she's not apart of either group, Hachi's relationship with Takumi makes waves through both bands.  Nana and Reira's reactions take up most of the volume, and though they have very different personalities, their reactions are suprisingly similar.  They both try to run away from the issue, though in different ways.  Nana, even though she to be supportive of Hachi, ends up avoiding her.  She doesn't speak to her or go back to the apartment for nearly two weeks, hoping that Hachi will call her or miss her.  Instead it has the opposite effect of driving Hachi away, as she thinks Nana hates her now. 

Reira literally runs away after Takumi tells the band just before they start a recording session.  Reira has loved Takumi for years, even though he see her as a little sister and not a love interest.  She goes to Yasu, crying and afraid of losing her inspiration for singing.  She doesn't believe she can do anything else.  But when she is found and told the recording session has been put off, she begs to be allowed to sing again.  She doesn't really know Hachi, but that someone could take Takumi away shatters her world.

The interesting thing about these reactions is that it doesn't drive the bands apart, but brings them closer together.  Nana, who was going to try and stay away from Ren because of paparazzi concerns, ends up spending nine days at Ren's apartment.  Reira seeks comfort from Yasu, not other members of Trapnest, and then Shin, who has been seeing Reira on and off, goes to her to serenade her.  Takumi mentions earlier in the volume that he wishes some knight could come and climb the tower that he has locked Reira in, and that knight seems to be Shin.  The relationships between the bands are becoming more intertwined and complex, and this could mean a lot of trouble later on.

Hachi, the cause of most of these troubles is hardly seen in this volume until near the end, when Naoki comes with Takumi to their new apartment.  We see she has settled easily into the life of young wife, which shouldn't be a surprise since it's been her dream since before moving to Tokyo.  But in these scenes, we see how little Takumi and Hachi know each other.   Takumi doesn't know Jun or Kyosuke, or about Shoji.  They made the decision and Nana moved so fast that there hasn't been any time to do so.  It really drives home how shallow Hachi's relationship with Takumi was.

The bonus story at the end, gives some insight into not just Trapnest's origins, but also about Yasu and Ren.  It's all told from Naoki's perspective, so we see how he knew Takumi, Reira and Yasu, and how he got interested in drums.  What we don't see is Takumi and Reira's motivations.  What we know of their past is what Naoki tells us,  which isn't much more than we already know.  Though it was interesting to read the origin, we are left with some doubt as to how much of it is true, and if it's the character or the mangaka that's pulling our leg.

Even though there wasn't a lot of movement forward, this was another good read overall.  The things told in this volume needed to be told in order for the plot to move on.  You can't gloss over the characters reactions to this event.  It makes too many waves to ignore, and I was glad to get it all in one volume, so that the next one can get the story moving again.

8.5