This weekend, I’ll be looking at a couple more yuri titles – and as you can see from the title here, I will be covering Nakatani Nio’s Bloom into You once more. Rather than chapters, this particular manga series has episodes. In this third volume of the series, you will find episodes eleven through to sixteen.
The cover of Bloom into You Volume 3, featuring Touko and Yuu sheltering from the rain
NEVER SAY NEVER
As preparations begin for the student council’s play, Touko and Yuu grow even closer – and Touko starts to wonder just how close she can get before she crosses the line. Meanwhile, as Sayaka witnesses their relationship grow, her jealousy reaches a breaking point. Yuu, on the other hand, isn’t sure how to deal with the budding intimacy, and starts to doubt whether she’ll ever truly fall in love.
Volume 3 begins with episode 11, ‘So Many Secrets’. As she is writing the play for the student council, Koyomi asks Yuu for any weaknesses that Touko (or Nanami-senpai, as she refers to her) has. Yuu pretty much just avoids the question.
Touko, Yuu, Sayaka and Koyomi go to a café together, and their teacher, Hakozaki-sensei, happens to stop by whilst they are there. After that, Yuu and Touko walk home together, and decide to start referring to each other on a first-name basis.
In episode 12, ‘Spark’, Sayaka sees that Yuu and Touko have grown closer, and decides to go to the café’s manager to talk about it – after, the manager is Hakozaki’s girlfriend. The manager reveals a little of her past, and Sayaka opens up a little about her own feelings for Touko.
Following that is an interlude covering the time when Touko studied at Yuu’s place from the perspective of Yuu’s sister.
The rain arrives in episode 13, ‘Downpour’, and Yuu is without an umbrella. She ends up sharing one with Touko, though it turns out using a single umbrella to keep two people dry isn’t exactly practical.
The two girls decide to take a break for a while, and sit together on a bench sheltered from the rain.
Yuu and Sayaka practice for the upcoming club relay in episode 14, ‘Point of Intersection’, as they struggle to get the baton pass correct. Yuu ends up inviting Sayaka out to get something to eat and they end up talking about Touko.
There’s another interlude, where Yuu bumps into some younger school friends – or ‘kouhai’.
Preparations for the upcoming sports day are underway in episode 15, ‘In Position’. When Yuu goes to get a banner from the gym storehouse, Touko follows her in and ‘recharges’. Yuu tells her to stop, so Touko proposes she gets a reward if she holds off until after the sports day ends. Yuu agrees.
As the day goes on, Maki asks Yuu if she’s lonely not being with Touko. Yuu denies being in love with her, simply because she doesn’t fall in love with anyone. Maki says he is the same. Yuu claims to not be lonely, but Maki doesn’t seem to agree.
The time for the club relay arrives in episode 16, ‘I Cannot Hear the Signal Gun’, and Touko gets really fired up for it. She’s quite competitive.
After the race, Touko is eager to get her reward from Yuu. However, Yuu can’t bring herself to go ahead with it. Touko decides to take the initiative.
That’s it for the third volume of Bloom into You. We get to see Yuu and Touko’s relationship advance a little bit, even though Yuu claims that she doesn’t really feel anything. There’s hints dropped throughout suggesting otherwise, and it is starting to seem like Yuu’s idea of what love is somewhat different from what she actually feels – the conversation with Maki, Yuu enjoying Touko’s warmth and Yuu feeling good with Touko at the end of the volume. Particularly that last one – I would guess that Touko would totally respect Yuu if she were to say no a kiss.
It wasn’t all about Yuu and Touko, though. Sayaka shared her feelings for Touko with someone else. She claimed to be content with the way things are, but it seems that things could possibly change.
The catalyst for that change seems likely to be the student council play – it is something that will provide Touko with closure on a certain event from her life. Whether that will change the way she acts remains to be seen, though.
Rory Muses 