Osananajimi to wa Rom-Com ni Naranai Vol 13,14 - Akari enter the fray and she's incredible!
I just completed reading Volumes 13 and 14 of Osananajimi to wa Rom-Com ni Naranai (幼馴染とはラブコメにならない), which accelerate the overarching romantic story extremely quickly. The protagonist has basically become fully aware of every single girl's interest in him. It is honestly making me wonder if we are really close to the completion of the series as a whole (there are 18 volumes released so far).
Before discussing that, let's go over the smaller events of these volumes. The first is definitely that Oriana has become a full heroine, as she transferred to the same school and class as Yonosuke. There is no longer any risk of her going away or becoming a temporary character. The scene with her wearing the school uniform while acting embarrassed was extremely cute!
At the same time, Runa comes back from her overseas training job as a nurse, and she is even more aggressive in her approach to Yonosuke than she was in the past. While my favorite heroine is always Akari, I find Runa to be an excellent character to add spice to the story with her playful machinations.
Kozue, on the other hand, seems to remain a minor heroine, probably due to the age gap and her role as a teacher. However, she is always hanging around and has some of the most entertaining comedy scenes in the group. The one involving a misunderstanding about who Yonosuke was talking about was hilarious (she thought he was declaring his love to her).
As of the last volume, Yonosuke was aware of the interest from every girl except Akari and was already completely confused about what to do. He likes them all, but he doesn't want to ruin the fun relationship they have right now. Unfortunately, becoming lovers with one of them would definitely change their relationship deeply.
One solution is the one often jokingly proposed by Oriana: "Let's just make him take multiple wives." Aside from Haru, none of the other girls seem all that opposed to it, to be honest. I don't think that is where the series is going, but I wouldn't dislike it as an ending if it comes down to that.
To add more trouble for Yonosuke, he starts noticing Akari more and more and realizes that he is probably in love with her. She is still our resident tsundere, though, so she won't easily express her feelings. This causes lots of misunderstandings between the two. To make matters worse, Yonosuke is seen together with Haru by other students, adding fuel to the fire (even though he was just comforting her).
In the end, Haru provokes Akari (to help her out) by talking about how much she loves him. This causes Akari to have a full outburst, declaring her love publicly in the school hallways. Yonosuke now knows the feelings are mutual, so how is he going to act in the coming volumes? His worries about ruining their friendship are growing even more according to the last few panels.
The preview segment shows them finally having a romantic date together and then Akari crying. Why is she crying? What will happen now that the two are basically ready to become lovers?
