From the back cover:
Kyoko’s determination to help Ren continues as she lends a friendly ear—in her chicken suit. Ren opens up and confides in Chicken Bo, but is Kyoko really ready to deal with his lovelorn confession? To make matters worse, Ren’s been given an ultimatum by the LME president, and if he can’t act right by the end of the week, he’s out on his ear!
Review:
I think my brain was kind of fizzing out from Skip Beat! overload by the time I got to this volume, because while some of it was definitely great, I had to keep rereading other bits to make sure I understood what was happening.
This volume centers squarely on Ren and Kyoko, which I definitely appreciate. See, Ren is supposed to play someone who’s trying to suppress his feelings for a girl. And he is someone who’s trying to do the same. So, he invites Kyoko over to “rehearse,” with her playing the part of the girl, so that he can see what his own reactions would be in the situation and thus gain insight on his role. Except it all goes wonky and Ren kind of loses control at one point—which is awesome—and it probably is a very confusing experience for Kyoko overall. In fact, the next day, she’s basking in the sunlight, talking about starting fresh.
While all that is pretty fascinating, what I’m actually most curious about now is exactly why Ren is preventing himself from loving anyone. He’s made a few cryptic hints to why he can’t afford to have anyone precious “here” or “no matter where [he is].” So, like, is he dying or something? That would kind of be melodramatic, and I’d hope to see Nakamura think of something different, but it’s about my only guess at this point. Of course, see above re: fizzing.
I have to say, I can’t believe how much you have read so far this year! That’s awesome, I wish I had enough time to do that.
Hee. I’m not sure whether I should feel proud or lame. 🙂 Really, though, it’s a determined effort. I have a very huge backlog of manga (and other books, too) that I own but haven’t read, so I am trying to make some serious progress.
As bad as I am about keeping manga around forever and not reading it, I was surprised when I moved because I had barely any fiction I hadn’t read. I celebrated by buying a ton more :p
You bring up a good point about Ren’s resistance to falling in love. Part of me thinks the explanation can only wind up being really bad, but on the other hand this series hasn’t really done anything particularly poorly yet. It wasn’t something I’d put much thought into, but now I’m worried you’re right and he’s dying.