Manga4Kids: Manga Reviews for Parents and Kids

Plot Summary:

The new school term gets under way with an endurance race, which provides Kyo with yet another opportunity to compete with Yuki. Not only is Yuki not interested, he is coming down with a cold—a serious matter for a member of the Sohma family, because they change into animals when their bodies get weak.The race is complicated by the appearance of yet another Sohma, Haru, who shows up mid-course looking for a fight with Kyo. When Yuki's illness suddenly gets worse. Haru and Kyo postpone their quarrel, and Haru hugs Tohru so he can transform into a cow and bring Yuki home. Haru tells Tohru that he loves Yuki because Yuki helped him conquer his anger.

As Valentine's Day approaches, the girls keep putting chocolates in Yuki's locker, and each girl throws out the chocolate left by her predecessor. Kyo seems upset, and the reason soon becomes clear: His cousin Kagura, the boar, arrives and asks to take Kyo on a date on Valentine's Day. When he refuses, she suggests bringing Yuki and Tohru to make it a double date. Kagura leaves, telling Kyo she hopes he and Yuki will get along better. Shigure seconds that, which sends Kyo into a rage. "I like hating him," he says. Shigure questions that: "Your eyes... tell me... that you're afraid to find out." Kyo storms out, and Tohru follows, musing that Kyo's hatred seems to be a way of protecting himself—but from what? "Even if you hate him, if that will ease your fears, it's okay," she tells him.

While the two couples are on their double date, Shigure visits the family compound and has an enigmatic conversation with his cousin Hatori. Shigure hints that he is using Tohru for his own ends, but he doesn't seem to mean her any harm. At this stage of the story he is still very vague.

Everyone returns to the house at the same time to find a young woman at the door. She threatens to kill herself but Shigure stops her. She turns out to be Micchan, his editor, who is insanely possessive of him.

With finals over, Momiji tells Tohru he will bring her, Yuki, and Kyo to a hot spring (an onsen) to relax. Meanwhile, Shigure gets a call from Tohru's grandfather: She has not paid for her class trip. Tohru explains that she spent the money on chocolate for the Sohmas. Although her grandfather offered to pay, Tohru insists on earning the money herself. Her sacrifice momentarily enrages Kyo; although he calms down quickly, he criticizes Tohru for being so selfless. Momiji then tells a strange story that he heard in school: A foolish man went on a journey, and wherever he traveled, people tricked him out of his belongings, saying they needed his help. Eventually he was naked and, ashamed to be seen, he went into the woods. There he met monsters who wanted to eat him, so they tricked him into giving up his arms and legs and even his eyes, until he was nothing but a head. The last monster, as he munched on the traveler's eyes, gave him a piece of paper that said "fool," and the traveler wept for joy, because no one had ever given him anything before. Momiji's classmates laughed at the story, but Momiji thought the traveler was lucky: "Loss, suffering... the traveler didn't think about them." Momiji concludes "I won't trick anyone, even if other people think that person deserves it. I just want to make them happy."

The four friends head to the onsen, where they are greeted by the hostess, who is sickly and scary, alternating between docility and rage. She tells Tohru that her son is possessed by the monkey spirit, and asks Tohru to be kind to him when she meets him. At the end of the visit, Yuki gives Tohru a return gift, a hair ribbon, and Tohru is delighted.