クラスで2番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった5

Things really start getting steamy in this book... figuratively and literally! The book went in quite a few directions I wasn't expecting. Most of the story takes place on a weekend 旅館 trip (though not quite the way Maki and Umi were planning). We get to watch Maki and Umi grow closer and more physically intimate (with the accompanying tensions that brings). While I found it hard to believe that the couple who can barely kiss each other on the cheek without blushing were suddenly talking about having sex, I was happy with where the author took it in the end.

A lot of the story is oddly focused on Umi's brother Riku, who unexpectedly runs into his (10-years estranged) 幼馴染 Shizuku. Maki and Umi (mostly Maki) play an important role in helping the reunited childhood friends(?) figure things out. I found myself confused about why the author made this such a focal point, even to the point of giving some Riku narration, only to effectively write Riku out of the story, at the end. But it intertwined well with Maki and Umi's story, and was mostly a good addition.

Since the story takes place out of town, the usual friends group is only present for about 1/3rd of the novel (and one of the epilogues). I would have liked to see more of them, but I'm sure we'll get to see plenty in the next book. Very unexpectedly, the second epilogue this time was from Nina's perspective. We get to see a bit more of her impressions of everyone. She picked up on Yuu's やばい moment from the last epilogue, and it's very heavily suggested that there's gonna be some strife between Yuu and Umi, around Maki in the future. In any case, it was a nice change getting Nina's perspective.

Overall I liked this volume much more than the previous one, and look forward to the next one.