The first story is definitely my favorite. Mikami and Shibuya are adorable. I am a sucker for complicated stories where the main reason for the characters to be in pain are themselves. Shibuya is my favorite kind of seme. He is the omniscient type. He knew everything since the very beginning and how he was going to play it out. Yet, he still hurt the uke just to make him realize his own feelings. I love that. Cruel, player semes are the best. Then Mikami makes a nice addition to it, because he's the quiet type who will not go deeper into his feelings, but who has outburst if poked enough. Although very short, I liked the pace of the story and how it was developed.
The second story has that same angsty quality to it, but it's just not as much as the first. Still good, though. However, I felt like I read something very similar to it just a while ago, to the point I wasn't even sure if I'd read this one before. But Yousuke is a very strong uke, who knows just how to play his seme. Perhaps if he's been that smart when they were younger, he would've gotten Tanigawa back then already. I just breaks my heart when characters spend such a long time apart because they weren't honest with each other. Oh, I did get surprised by Yousuke being the uke. He's very strong and dominant, so until they had sex, I was expecting him to be the seme.
Both stories didn't have an original theme, but very well executed.
The third story was...well, cute, but not as good as the other two. I can't even recall the characters' names and I just read it. It always bugs me when characters make a bold move at the office. I mean, falling in love with someone that you work with happens sometimes, but kissing someone out of the blue, AT THE OFFICE and with no sign that it's going to go forward? I think it's just too unbelievable. I know this is yaoi and we shouldn't mind sexual assault, so I don't even care about whether both characters have consented to it, but rather I am more worried about the fact that if it didn't work out, it'd be weird at the office. Also, there is a very small glimpse into the boss' past, which doesn't go anywhere, and that only makes it worse. I'd prefer it if there no information about him at all than just a little and then no explanation. There is also two more things that annoy me: the seme has never been gay, apparently. And it's not that I think they always have to dwell on it, because some people are just open with their sexuality, but he should at the very least think something cliche like "wow, this is the first guy I'm interested in". The second thing is that he says his boss has been overworking him and he knows why, but nowhere is that explained or detailed, so we're just left in wonder. The ending is kind of open too (Shoko-sensei's style), so it just felt too quick, too rushed for me. It would have been better if they did wait until the next day like the boss suggested, so there would be sexual tension. Maybe something could even go wrong, so there would be some conflict? And even the fact that they are overworking is never solved.
Don't get me wrong, I did find this story enjoyable, but it's nothing new, nothing special...and this time the execution didn't save it,
The fourth story is very frustrating. This seems to happen a lot with Shoko-sensei's stories, too. It's really great, it has that same feeling as the first two, like love is already there, but the characters just keep missing each other. This one to me has an even more gut-wrenching feeling. It's impossible not to feel bad for them if you put yourself in their position, especially Eiji's. While he's the one who won't take action, he's the one who's left over and over again. Keigo never did tell him he loved him, right? So it could've all just been some sex. So you're there, in your small town, without any family, running your little coffee shop...and your childhood friend keeps coming to town, fucking you and leaving without any explanation. It's very heartbreaking. Of course the worst part is the VERY open ending, which is not only unresolved, but seems like it won't work out. Even though Eiji comes to a conclusion, he doesn't really act on it, once again...so I'm really sad about the way it ended.
The fifth story had a little change of pace from the rest. While it still has that unsettling, unsure type of feeling from the Hazawa towards Seo, Seo was way more honest than all of these ukes. I might've taken him a longer time, but eventually, the ending was cute and not as open as most of these stories. However, I don't have much to say about it. The characters were ok, nothing special about them, and the story was good, but not remarkable either.
Then comes the last chapter, which is related to the second story. I wish it was just attached to it because after reading 5 stories, your head is going to be pretty confused. But it provides useful insight from Yousuke's point of view, so I thought it was a good chapter. It would've been incomplete without us understanding how Yousuke and Tanigawa's relationship came to be and why Tanigawa's like that.
Finally, the art for the whole volume is, as expected from Shoko-sensei, very good. All characters are really pretty and the sex scenes are really good.
(-33)
