These synopsis are done by Zahara Medina and can't be used anywhere else without her consent. As she is just a student of Japanese, there are bound to be mistakes. If you spot any mistake, please report it to me.
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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).

Act 16 (May'2003)
Nina tells Yuta that she didn't know he was so worried about her, and that she is very sorry. She tells him that even though he's the same age as her, he's like an older brother. Yuta tells her he doesn't want such a little sister... While poor Yuta is thinking that he really doesn't want her to be his sister, Nina notices Sayaka is behind them. Nina tells Sayaka that it's not what it looks like, but Sayaka says she understands. After Nina has left, Yuta starts to tell her that it really wasn't anything, but Sayaka stops him and calls him a liar. She tells him that he likes Nina, but Yuta tells her that he is just worried because they are childhood friends. He tells Sayaka that Nina has been getting weird letters since the day they went to watch the fireworks, and he is a bit worried. Sayaka thinks about this and comments that she saw someone looking at Nina's group from the shadows. Yuta grabs her shoulder and asks her urgently who it was. Sayaka is surprised at his vehemence but then squirms away, saying he is hurting her and to let her go. Yuta is taken aback and starts to apologize, but Sayaka just tells him that she doesn't remember the face of the girl, it was someone she didn't know. Sayaka gets mad at him and tells him that if he is so worried because some malicious letter he must like Nina, he just isn't brave enough to tell Nina about his feelings. He doesn't have enough guts. Yuta watches her leave. Sayaka catches up with Kaji, who is on his way to club practice. She asks him if he can talk with him for a little, and he agrees because she looks really upset. They talk a bit about the relationship between Nina and Yuta and Kaji makes a comment about his own relationship with Ayu. Sayaka says he is a really nice guy, and wonders why Tateishi didn't want to kiss him. Kaji is really surprised that she saw what happened at the fireworks festival and blushes a lot. Sayaka says with a sad expression on her face that if it would be her, she wouldn't refuse it. Then she corners Kaji against the wall and takes his face between her hands, ready to kiss him. Next morning as Ayu and Kaji walk into the school, Sayaka touches his shoulder and wishes him a good morning. Kaji's face goes totally red. Sayaka thanks him for yesterday and Kaji mumbles that it was nothing. Ayu asks him what was Sayaka thanking him for, but Kaji changes the subject right away. Ayu starts to get worried and thinks she has a really bad feeling about it. Later on, Ayu catches up with Sayaka and asks her what happened the day before. Sayaka says that she talked with Kaji about she thinking Yuta is in love with Nina. She adds that Kaji listened to her so she was really happy... and that now she prefers Kaji. Ayu tells her to stop joking, but Sayaka says that that she is for real, and that they kissed. She then leaves and says she is sorry (but she doesn't look sorry at all). Ayu is in shock. Nina and Ayu walk around the school and Nina asks if Ayu is feeling well because she looks sick. Ayu answers that the faster she can go home to sleep the better. Internally, Ayu is going over the kiss thing, and that although Kaji's reaction towards Sayaka in the morning supports it, she really believes Kaji is not that kind of person. But on the other hand-- Nina stops her thoughts by yelling in surprise. There is another anonymous note in her shoe-box(*), telling her to "go away!" The two girls show the note to Mito and Tsujiai and Yuta, who come from tennis practice. They arrive to the conclusion that the culprit is someone from the school then. Tsujiai says that whoever did it perhaps used one of the breaks, so there might be someone who saw it. Mito suddenly remembers something and shows them her keitai phone! Yuta and Nina recognize it as an "M phone" and comment that it's really expensive and, in this case, the latest model. It can basically take photos (movies too...) of the past and the future. It also has fast-forward, so they start to look at everything that happened since 8 am. While they wait, Nina asks Yuta if things worked fine with Sayaka after she "caught" them the day before. Yuta tells her not to worry. Ayu wonders about it, but Yuta says nothing happened. Ayu starts to get mad and says that something bad did happen between them, and because of that now she has problems too. Yuta demands to know why she's saying that, and Ayu answers that if it wouldn't be because he went out with Sayaka to hide the fact that he likes someone... oops! Ayu shuts her mouth up too late. Now Nina wonders if Yuta likes someone that isn't Sayaka, and how come Ayu knows. Ayu and Yuta don't know what to say, meanwhile Tsujiai is watching them. Mito finally sees something and shows the keitai to the group. This is the culprit! The group seems shocked to see who it is. (* - In Japanese schools, students, teachers and guests are required to leave their street shoes at the entrances and use indoor shoes while in the school. School entrances usually have rows of shoe-box lockers in them (the shoe-boxes are usually assigned to each student, so they stay the same for the whole year), and the students leave their indoor shoes inside while they are out of school/overnight (this is why in many manga and anime it's so easy to leave nasty jokes inside students' indoor shoes without them knowing).)
Act 17 (June'2003)
Tsujiai, Yuta, Ayu and Nina look at the girl in the keitai and are very surprised. Nina remembers seeing her somewhere before and Ayu has that feeling as well. Nina suddenly remembers, this girl gave Ayu some cookies! Ayu also remembers her being a first year student from the cooking club. Tsujiai says that then she is a fan of Ayu, how come she knows about the Magic Kingdom? Mito says that perhaps she followed Ayu everywhere and learnt about it, kinda like a stalker more than a fan. Yuta also says that Sayaka said something about a girl watching Ayu and Nina... Nina is worried that the girl heard them or saw something, but the others aren't too worried, given that even if she told anyone, no one would believe her. Ayu says she is relieved that they found out the culprit, and that she will go talk with the girl and convince her to stop the letters, keep the secret, etc... Nina says she will go with Ayu. Next day, Ayu and Nina catch up with the girl, who gets really nervous. Before Ayu can complete her first sentence telling her they know it was her... the girl asks for forgiveness and offers some items to Ayu! Ayu recognizes her handkerchief and some of her own stationary, and the girl says she just wanted to have something from her. Ayu is in shock and wonders when... The girl continues and says she also wanted something like her t-shirt... *heart mark* The girl apologizes again and Ayu says that's ok, but about the letters to Nina... The girl apologizes even more effusively and says that it was because Nina was "appropriating" "everybody's Ayu" for herself! (^^; ) Nina wonders why her, given that Ayu also has a boyfriend... The girl says that Kaji-kun is ok because he is a guy, he is cool and they look really well together! But Nina is a normal girl just like them, she can't forgive that! Ayu pats the girl's crying head and thanks her and says she is very happy that she regards her so highly, but that Nina is a very important friend, and asks her to please stop doing bad things to her. She adds that Nina is a very good person and that if she knew her better, she would also grow to like her. The girl agrees and apologizes again. Even Nina is impressed by Ayu's handling of the situation. Ayu then starts to ask the girl about the other letter about the Magic Kingdom, but the girl doesn't know about that and says she only wrote two letters. Yuta gets really worried at the fact that there is even another culprit somewhere. Nina says that at least they know who did the latest thing, so that's good, right? Yuta doesn't agree and asks Nina if she isn't worried that there is still someone out there who knows about them. Yuta gets angry at Nina's easygoing attitude. After school, Kaji walks Ayu home. Kaji gives Ayu a strap for her keitai (cellphone), which matches his. Ayu is very happy because this is his "first present"(*), and thinks that Sayaka was definitely lying about the kiss thing. Kaji wonders if there is something wrong, and Ayu happily says that it's nothing, just that Sayaka said something a bit malicious to her. To Ayu's surprise, Kaji blushes and screams! Kaji asks what Sayaka said, and Ayu answers that she said they kissed. She starts to wonder if it was true after all, but Kaji says it's not, that she surprised the heck out of him, but he avoided her. Ayu is very happy, but then Kaji says that he avoided it, but it did land very near the mouth. Ayu goes ballistic, and Kaji says that those are his feelings exactly, given he doesn't like Sayaka or anything. Ayu says that after all, he did blush when he saw Sayaka, and also said she was very pretty, wouldn't he be happy to... Kaji cuts in and says no way, and then reminds Ayu that it was her who turned her head away when he tried to kiss her. Ayu explains that it was because of all the people, and also because they were in front of Nina and the others, not because she didn't want to! They both blush, they both come closer, a bike catapults them against a wall, and eventually, they kiss. Later on Ayu remembers the occasion and then goes to put the new strap on her keitai. But as she looks into her school bag, she finds a letter between her books. It's another anonymous telling her to go alone to the school's gym at 7 pm if she wants to protect her "secret." That same evening, Tsujiai goes to visit Nina. He asks her to show him the letters, since he didn't see the latest ones. It turns out Nina hadn't told Rio nor the other members of the household so they wouldn't be worried. Tsujiai takes a look at the letters and notices some differences. (Reminder: First letter (fireworks festival) and third letter (shoe-box) didn't mention anything about the M.K., 2nd did) He explains to Nina that the first one was done with plain normal paper and printed out with a computer, just like the 3rd, but with the 2nd the materials are different. Tsujiai adds that he now knows who the culprit is. Meanwhile poor Ayu is getting really creeped out all alone in the dark gym when a basketball lifts by itself and throws itself towards her! Ayu catches it, but suddenly all the other balls attack her! Back to Nina's house, Tsujiai explains Nina that he doesn't know why, but the person who wrote the second letter did it because s/he saw the first letter, in a copycat fashion. And only the people who went to the fireworks display festival saw the first letter. Tsujiai rules himself and Nina out, Ayu and Yuta wouldn't do it either and neither would Kaji given it doesn't concern him. That only leaves Sayaka. At the same time, Sayaka appears out of thin air near Ayu's unconscious body with a pretty dark expression on her face. (* - Like in many other countries, Japanese culture seems to be obsessed with the "firsts" in a relationship. First kiss, first present, first date, etc, etc, etc.)

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All images © copyright Yoshizumi Wataru, Shueisha (except backgrounds)

zahara@washuu.swb.de