Chizu is surprised by the sudden homecoming of Toru, Ryu’s older brother and her childhood crush. But old habits die hard when Chizu can’t seem to get enough courage to declare her love. But this is the one time Chizu won’t be able to count on Ryu to be supportive of her – not when he wants her for himself!
– Summary of Kimi ni Todoke 6
I really like how the summary puts it – Ryu wants Chizu for himself. It’s pretty much a selfish image of Ryu and the problem is that’s not an image often associated with the character. Ryu’s a quiet, gentle and honest guy. I’d never expected anyone to pen him in that light. Although in this volume, the description is not exactly far from truth.
At the end of previous volume, Chizu’s crush came back, much to her surprise. In this volume, she learned about something even more surprising – her crush is getting married. I believe the chapters captured very well Chizu’s reaction to the heartbreaking news – she was absolutely stunned.
However, what I like about this volume is not how well the story captured Chizu’s reaction but how well it also captured the reactions of her friends. They are equally stunned but at the same time showed deep concern for her. Even though they wanted to help her, comfort her, they didn’t know how. It’s as Sawako thought – “What should friends do in this kind of situation?”.
I personally experienced the situation before so I can relate. A friend of mine was going through a very difficult phase in the relationship with her boyfriend and I know she was hurting. But I couldn’t find words to comfort her. All I managed to do was to sit there and listen to her pouring out her sorrows. Kazehaya might’ve said that’s all Sawako and Ayane needed to do but I’m sure deep down, they felt completely useless. It’s as though they fail to cheer up Chizu even though they’re physically there. I know I felt that.
The tone slowly changed from sad to happy over the four chapters. Once Chizu found her closure, the story quickly moved on the jolly atmosphere in the form of Christmas celebration. It’s hard to tell if Chizu is still mending her broken heart but she’s upbeat. And I love nothing more than to see that. Moving the focus away from Chizu and her whole crush thing also meant moving the focus to someone else. It’s back to Sawako, baby.
Sawako had a dilemma on whether to celebrate Christmas with family or friends. It’s a new experience for her since it’s her first time out with her classmates as a classmate. What am I saying? After struggling for so long, Sawako’s finally recognized as part of the class. She has friends. She won’t be attending an event just so she could be “helpful” or an obligatory hangout after sports festival. She will be attending a party just so she could hang out with her friends. How wonderful is that?
It’s nice that this volume contains mixture of emotions. Once I reached the end of the volume, I felt considerably happier than I was when I started reading. Besides, it’s always a pleasure to watch Sawako slowly coming out of her cocoon, breaking free from her old self.
P.S Got lazy of taking pictures of the manga cover so I’ll be “stealing” images from now on. 
P.P.S This volume’s cover is my favorite so far!!
World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko 