Last update:
22-Sep'04

Bazaar
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(And remember to buy these tankobon if you like the summaries, it's the best way of thanking the authors and the synopsis are nothing compared to the real thing! ^^ )

All synopsis are by Zahara Medina, and cannot be used anywhere else without her permission. As she is just a student of Japanese, any help, comments or corrections are more than welcome! ^^;

Note: B/w scans are from the magazine, where the print is in low quality paper and different ink colors so it sometimes scans pretty bad and leaves lots of noise in the picture. The tankoubon quality is, of course, much better (perfect, that is).

previous chapter

Chapter 22 (Aug'2004)
Maki is blushing and about to say something, but they are interrupted by Yuzuru and Nao, who come back for Riku. Maki turns away and says it's nothing. Riku is kind of glad because if he were to declare himself to her right now, she wouldn't know what to answer... Still, her face feels very hot. Some of the students decide to go to some place to celebrate after the festival ends. Some of the students want Riku to give a little speech and she cheers up the group. After that, Riku notices Yuzuru is leaving the room. She follows her and confesses she likes Kaede. Riku asks for forgiveness for having kept it a secret. Yuzuru says she already knew because Riku is very easy to read. Yuzuru says they are rivals from now on (in a friendly way). Meanwhile, Maki is complaining he wants to eat more. He looks across the room to Riku. Some of the students want to take a group photograph and ask Riku and Yuzuru to take part. A guy pushes Riku by accident and Maki breaks her fall. Riku is so nervous to be so close to him that she pushes him away and falls against him again. Maki falls back... and Kaede stops the two. Maki looks at his hand... The four then excuse themselves and leave the party, surprising everybody. Kaede says Riku should go back home to rest since she worked so hard at the festival. Yuzuru then says she and Kaede could go do something together still. Yuzuru jokingly asks Riku for permission to be alone with Kaede. As Riku blushes and they both laugh, Riku wants them to be this way for a bit longer. The group parts way with Riku at the station. But after Riku has gone in, Maki seems to decide something and runs after her! Yuzuru wonders if he is going to finish his business with Riku, and Kaede seems very surprised. He tells himself Maki is really impressive and he should follow his example... As Riku is falling asleep while waiting for the train to leave, she suddenly hears Maki calling her. She looks at him and Maki tells her that he will protect her. That from now on no matter what happens, he will protect her! The train doors close and Maki is left behind on the platform. Riku blushes deeply and thinks that even though it wasn't a love declaration per se, those were the words that have made her the happiest so far.
Chapter 23 (Aug'2004)
Maki wakes up at his room in the dormitory. He is in a pretty bad mood because he overslept. At the kitchen, Kaede is happily (...) making breakfast for the upper classmen. He reprimands Maki for his grudgy looks and Maki says he can't be neat like Kaede. Some other guys make a jab at Kaede and Maki defends him. At school, a girl goes to Maki and says she just learnt it's his birthday and thrust a bag at him, telling him to keep it--then runs away. Kaede and another guy congratulate Maki since it was a 2nd year student. However Maki gives the bag to Kaede after saying it creeps him out. Kaede tells Maki not to act like that even if he doesn't like it, but Maki says that's it's not his birthday and he doesn't think it's okay to accept things from people he has never talked to. Unfortunately, the girl had stayed to watch his reaction to her present! The girl runs away calling him a horrible person and crying, while Kaede tells Maki he should be nicer to girls. Maki is going to answer him but elbows someone by accident! It's Riku. Kaede and the other guy tell Maki to be more careful and watch what he's doing. Riku says it's nothing, but Maki gets mad at Kaede & Co. asking Riku about it and yells at her to shut up and that girls are always making a big thing out of nothing and complaining and that's why he doesn't like them. Riku is left wondering what on Earth is going on. Afterwards Kaede tells Maki that Riku was shocked and that people from their class heard about Maki really not liking girls... (poor Maki ^^). Maki tells Kaede that it's not that he hates girls, but that they always act scared of him and he doesn't like girls who are always crying and complaining. When Maki returns to the classroom, Riku is finishing a phone call. She tells him that she is meeting some friends from her old school. Maki tells her bluntly he couldn't care less. During class Maki draws a caricature of Kaede, but when he is about to show Riku (who sits next to him), she is happily looking at Kaede. Maki watches her for a moment and then looks away without disturbing her. After school, Maki is at Shibuya(*) making some calls. Some girls notice and recognize his uniform and go towards him but he gives them a pretty dark look and they get mad at him. Maki doesn't seem too happy about this reaction... Some guys meet with Maki, they are his ex-classmates. They ask him to go to a group blind date with them (*2). Meanwhile Riku arrives at her meeting and is whisked away by her friends. Maki is bored as hell at a McDonalds when a group of girls enter the place, including Riku! Riku's friends turn out to be there for the blind date too. They are shocked to see each other, but when one of the guys tries to pair up with Riku, Maki takes her away from the place. In the street Riku tells Maki he is hurting her hand. Maki gets mad and asks her why she was doing something like that. Riku says that he was there too! Maki says coldly that she doesn't have the free time to look for men. Riku says that she didn't know what her friends had planned. Maki tells her to stop fooling around since she likes Kaede, and stop doing things like this. Maki catches himself and remembers the looks the other girls gave him when he was rough with them. But instead of the reaction he expected, Riku just says she is sorry and that she will be more careful. Maki is very surprised. After they sit to eat some chips, Maki comments on how she wasn't afraid of him. Riku asks him if he really hates girls and they both joke around. The same girls who saw Maki earlier pass again and are very surprised that he can laugh like that (nicely). (*: Shibuya is one of Tokyo's busiest "hang out" districts. *2 : Group blind dates are very common between young people. A girl invites her female friends and they meet a male friend and his friends at a fast food place, restaurant or karaoke.)
Chapter 24 (Sep'2004)
Natou and other older female staff/parents talk about how long they are going to allow a person "like that" be the chairwoman/principal. Riku meanwhile is busy with paperwork but manages to sneak away when Natou tries to dump more work on her. She meets Yuzuru at the tennis court. Yuzuru tells her that everybody had lots of fun at the festival, then takes her to watch Kaede having a match against Maki. Riku is amazed at their play and thinks Kaede can do anything. She also notices Maki. The boys go to them after the match ends and Maki asks Riku why she keeps looking at him. Riku blushes and they enter into a fight when she says it's not like she is specifically looking at him. Kaede wonders why she is so mad, and Riku leaves and avoids answering. As she walks away she keeps thinking about Maki's words in the train. She tells herself that she likes Kaede but... She thinks she is acting weird and decides to go freshen up. At the outside water sink she finds Kaede. She apologizes for leaving so brusquely. Kaede asks if something happened between her and Maki, but Riku says nothing big happened, trying to tell herself that Maki's words were really not that significant. Kaede surprises Riku by saying that then she should be fine if he is not around. Riku asks Kaede what he means but he just walks away, leaving her worried about what he said. Next day Riku is still pondering what Kaede might have meant. She asks Maki where Kaede is, and he says he took the day off to go home. Riku wonders if his family leaves that far away but Maki says it's not that... He then asks her if she wants to go visit Kaede's place with him. When they arrive, Riku is surprised because it's a very large traditional style place. Maki is not humbled at all and just calls for Kaede in his usual manner. Kaede is surprised to see them and Riku says she was worried about him because of what he said. Kaede says it was nothing to worry about, but Riku thinks he looks very lonely. Kaede invites them in. Riku remarks she didn't know Kaede's place belonged to a master of Japanese calligraphy. They are talking animatedly when a scowling man appears and demands to know why Kaede hadn't told him earlier that he had arrived home. Maki and Riku think he's pretty scary--he turns out to be Kaede's dad. He ignores Riku and Maki until Kaede tells him Riku is the school's principal. He then tells Riku to come back the next day as he wants to talk to her about something... he wants Kaede to quit their school!

All images © Tajima Mimi (except backgrounds).