Age Rating: Teen
Genre: Romance
Price: $8.99

But what does Haruna do when she does find herself liking Yoh?  She starts acting weird and avoiding him, that's what!  When he confronts her about her strange behavior and encourages her to be honest with him, will she quash her feelings or confess her love?

From the first chapter of this series, it was obviously this was coming, but I didn't think it would come so soon.  I'd have thought the mangaka would have tried to milk more angst from the conflicted feeling Haruna about falling for Yoh, especially after he expressly told her not too.  Thankfully she didn't, making this a better volume than I thought it would be.

The first third of this volume is dedicated to Haruna agonizing over whether to tell Yoh she likes him.  She avoids him because he can so easily read her and figure out what she's thinking.  But, of course, he can see everything BUT her feelings for him.  This leads to some conflict that thankfully doesn't last long.  With the help of his friends, Yoh does finally realize it, and Haruna is able to clumsily confess her feelings, which turn out to be returned by Yoh.  Okay, so now they know they like each other.  Now what?

Both Yoh and Haruna are clueless about the whole boyfriend/girlfriend/dating thing, since neither has had any experience.  After the confessions, Haruna goes to school acting all dreamy, but Yoh is acting as if nothing happened, making her think it was all just a dream.  It is refreshing to see the characters stay in character, and not become all lovey-dovey.  They don't suddenly become the perfect couple.  They have to figure out what couples do, by reading shojo manga and watching Yoh's sister. 

I didn't like this volume when I first read it.  It seemed like more of the same melodrama all these High School shojo books have.  But on a second read, I didn't think it was so bad.  Haruna's gung-ho attitude was annoying at first.  But, in a way, I found it kind of endearing.  She takes everything head on, whether it's romance or bullies.  But it was Yoh that saved this more than anything else.  His blunt attitude sometimes makes a mess of things between him and Haruna, but it's at least honest.  It was nice at the end how they decided to find their own groove rather than try and fit into any preconceived ones.

This volume starts out feeling cliche, but the characters and their quirks save it from complete mediocrity.  Teenage girls will probably be able to relate to alot of Haruna's conflicted feelings, but older reader may be turned off by the melodrama.  For a series that had potential, it is now tettering on the edge of mediocrity.

6.5