It's been awhile since I'd read this series, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back into it, but oh man, is it getting good. This was a pivotal issue for the major characters to do a gut check and verify that the ways their relationships had changed in Japan would carry over to the land they all originally came from, despite the fact that little has changed back home.
I'm so bummed that I have to wait for the next volume to reach my library system. This series is getting so good.