Matcha Hazuki

Final volume!

Well, the conclusion is a bit of a whiff as the amnesia explanation fails to really pay off in a satisfying way. But the characters carry the day, keeping me invested even as the story does not.

A flashback to a sports day is crammed into the first chapter for no reason I can discern beyond the fact that the creator feels obliged to have a shojo trope in every volume. But again, it's all so nice, I can't really complain.

It's the penultimate volume, and the creator is jamming in a bunch of stuff before she runs out of time: a wistful Christmas moment, a flashback to explain the friendship between the outgoing male lead and his blunt and standoffish bestie, and the introduction of a previously unknown brother to help explain a possible reason for the female lead's weekly amnesia. This will never be a great series, but at least it is consistently nice.

The new transfer student isn't as ominous as he seemed last volume, but he is a romantic rival that may derail our hero's crush on amnesia girl, especially when he inserts himself into the friendship group during a class trip to Kyoto. Low-key, but nice.