Ah young love; it seems like most of the time nice girls are dating jerks that don’t appreciate them.  Not in this series, the nice guy is the one dating the jerk girl.  Yamato may be a sucker, but he is still a nice guy.  Nice enough that plenty of girls openly show their affection for him.  Despite all this, Yamato is totally set on Suzuka, the queen of tsundere characters.  At this point Suzuka has mellowed out some, and can admit that she really likes Yamato.  That doesn’t change the fact that she is constantly ripping him a new one, usually over mundane matters.  

 

Luckily for Yamato, and the reader, he is branching out a little and hanging out with different people.  Ultimately, this is because he needs a part-time job to buy a computer so he can email Suzuka while she studies abroad in America.  Nevertheless, it forces him to work at a café run by Yui’s dad.  Initially, things don’t go well for Yamato and he is kind of a bad employee, but Yui could care less.  She still has a crush on Yamato and I think Yui’s dad can see it and probably hopes Yamato might come around so Yui will be happy.  At this point there is no telling how this might pan out or when Suzuka might decide she doesn’t like Yamato working with Yui.

 

Surprisingly, Suzuka shows some personal growth after she tells Yamato it is okay that he works with Yui.  Normally, Suzuka would be much more jealous.  Then again, maybe Suzuka is being selfish since Yamato’s working will allow him to buy a computer so they can stay in contact.  Regardless of all that, Yui still likes Yamato and maybe this situation will blossom into a different direction if he keeps his job after Suzuka leaves for America.

 

While I don’t have as much of a love hate relationship with this series as some readers do, I do find myself wanting to ring Yamato and Suzuka’s necks on a semi-regular basis.  Sure, this volume is a lot better than volume 11, but that doesn’t change the fact that Suzuka is a tough girl to like.  I think the author broke the tsundere mold when he created Suzuka.  At this point I think a lot of fans, myself included, are still waiting for the endearing part of her character to emerge from the talon wielding tough girl part.

 

Enough about Suzuka, I want to focus on Yamato.  I have to admit that I was very happy to see him stand up to Suzuka and actually get mad at her for a change.  Sure, he eventually forgives her for everything, but it is still nice to see him get mad at her for not revealing her plans to study in America.  His anger, while short lived, is at least more understandable than his normal roll over and play dead attitude with Suzuka.

 

I can’t end this review without some thoughts about Suzuka’s plans to study in America.  I think this is a great direction for this story.  Maybe Yamato can branch out and date Miki or Yui while Suzuka is gone.  Then, after playing the field for a while, he can decide whether or not to take Suzuka back when she returns.  Well, maybe in the end that is just wishful thinking on my part.  All we can do is wait to see what happens over the next few volumes.