The good news is that My Boy in Blue is more focused this time around. The volume features the school trip — more specifically, the awkwardness during the trip. Heisuke’s school just so happens to also be in Tokyo at the time, and he spends much of it with Kako, Jiro, and Mikado. But Kako is also trying to figure out what’s up with this Yui Sendo girl. She’s got a sharp tongue and even mentions Kako’s cop boyfriend — a fact that she certainly shouldn’t know. Plus, Yui keeps being spotted in shady situations, making Kako and Mikado suspicious of her.
But in another amazing fluke, Yui is a certain someone’s childhood friend. Is the My Boy in Blue love triangle about to become a love square?
This series has had a lot of coincidences, and this is all the more noticeable with the whole Heisuke situation. A lot of manga have students in the same class who don’t get to hang out with their friends as much as Heisuke does, and he’s from another school. Okay, whatever.
Now, though, we find out he’s connected to another seeming delinquent. Yui continues to be much of an enigma — from all we’ve seen, she doesn’t seem to be on the straight and narrow, but volume 9 provides the strongest evidence she’s just a misunderstood, edgy teen. At the very least, she’s probably very observant to notice that Kako and Kota are not blood related.
Based upon genre standards, Yui will probably end up being Kako’s friend at some point, but I do like how we see Kako as a bit sullen. Even though she wants to believe any friend of Heisuke’s is a good person, at least Kako is not trying to push a friendship with overenthusiastic smiles or something. The stuff about Yui will continue for at least another volume, but the blunt accusation Yui makes will likely cause some awkwardness between the married couple.
Speaking of the married couple, the titular boy in blue is MIA for almost the entire story. That may not be a surprise since this is about a school field trip, but Miyoshi admits running out of pages to show Kako texting Kota and other such moments. For a romance, not every volume has to be about the main couple, but they already took a backseat during the Mikado/Jiro arc. The previous storyline involving Kota worrying about his sister’s accident would have helped balance his absence in this one, but two chapters centered around him doesn’t make up for him being pretty much gone for four. It’s partly a complaint about volume 8 and partly a complaint about volume 9.
Either way, if you were cheering last time about Kako finally working up the nerve to sleep by Kota’s side, the hints that Kako’s feelings are going to be thrown into disarray between her friend Heisuke and husband Kota is going to leave a sour taste in your mouth. I’d rather Kako settle her feelings now so that the love triangle/square doesn’t drag on, as I’m more interested in Yui’s backstory and having the main couple progress their relationship.