The second volume in one of my favorite manga series! In this book, we get to watch Akito Hayama fall for Sana. Now that she has improved his family life, he feels very grateful to her. But he's still not completely tamed from being the bad boy! On a class field trip, he steals a kiss from Sana, which throws her into emotional turmoil, to put it lightly. Akito then goes on a quest to take down his two rivals in love, Tsuyoshi and Rei. Tsuyoshi, Akito's best friend, has liked Sana for a while, but it doesn't take a whole lot to get him to like a different girl in the class. And when Akito finds out that Sana has an innocent crush on her twenty-year-old manager, Rei (she's a TV star), he works to convince Sana that Rei doesn't see her as being a woman--just a little girl. At first she doesn't believe him, but then when Rei's high school sweet heart, Asako Kurumi, comes back into the picture, Sana's mom decides it's time to put some sense into her daughter, telling her she's being childish. A heartbroken and humiliated Sana runs away from home, planning to never return. Akito happens to be in town buying something when he sees her run by. He catches up to her, and is startled to see that she's crying. In a gesture that's very unlike him, he listens to her problem and tries to help her, albeit in his own, strange way! :D Finally, he gets Sana to go home. But before they part, she asks him, "Why did you kiss me? I just can't stop thinking about it." To which Akito replies, "Because I don't hate you." Sana leaves feeling more confused than ever.
Later, Sana is finally getting over her crush on Rei, when she runs into Akito's father, who is out buying sushi for the family. He tells her that the last time he got sushi, he asked Akito if he liked it, to which he replied, "I don't hate it."
"And that means he loves it!" says Mr. Hayama with a smile. Understanding slowly dawns on Sana. "Akito likes me...?" She starts to freak out. Later that night, she gets a phone call from Akito. She nervously answers it, only to find out that he's calling to tell her his dad is in the hospital from overwork. Sana rushes over to the hospital and ends up comforting the reformed bully, who looks vulnerable for the first time. Luckily, Mr. Hayama turns out to be all right (he had a stomach ulcer) and everything ends up well. But Sana learns several important lessons in this volume--"Me and Hayama may act mature, but without our parents, we're really lost;" "Even though we fight all the time, Hayama and I really are there for each other when times are tough;" and "Sometimes it's better not to give someone a false dream when you know they'll just discover the truth later."
It all sounds extremely dramatic, but the whole story is told very tongue-in-cheek, with laughs and zany jokes at every turn! I am so in love with these wonderful, unique, funny characters, and the relationship slowly unfolding between Akito and Sana is so fun to watch.