The story between class rep Nanase and school delinquent Hana continues in volume 2 of When We’re in Love! Nanase begins to fret that Hana may have stumbled into her conversation with Komari with his birthday gift — and the reveal that she likes him. But Hana appears to have missed it, which makes Nanase relax. That ends up changing during Sports Day preparations when he tells her straight up that he does like his childhood friend/teacher Komari, and now Hana has to wrap her mind about how to deal with these swirling and awkward emotions.
I throw in awkward because there’s one point when they talk again where everything she says feels totally unnatural…but in the clumsy way, not in the there’s no way high schoolers actually say these things kind of way. For someone who believes Hana’s not a bad person, she’s struggling to understand why she’s come to like him so much. But she’s not able to hide those feelings much longer when he says to her he likes Komari. From there things move somewhat quickly — as in, getting Nanase to understand how Komari actually sees Hana and Nanase going full force in explaining where she’s at with Hana at the beach…that he suggested they go to “amend broken hearts”.
So in case the amend broken hearts didn’t tip you off, it’s unlikely it’ll go the teacher-student route if you were worried about it. Aside from her being slightly dense, Komari can only see Hana as family first. Why family? Because she’s known him since he was a kid, and that kid had to deal with the loss of his mother. That’s why while she can see him in that way, Hana has a somewhat different interpretation. Was still a kid, someone who helped him in his time at need, etc…in any case, Hana did have a misconception regarding Komari, but he probably knew it wasn’t going to end with the two of them being together.
That’s why what happens next will be interesting. As of now, Nanase and Hana are not together, and despite how this volume ends, it may take a bit longer for them to actually form a relationship. What event or moment occurs in school to change this, who knows, but they each have to understand their own feelings before actually going out for real. I don’t think a love triangle will appear too soon (the author continues to tease the kid whom Nanase keeps rejecting, but let’s hope it doesn’t happen often), so it’ll come down to how much these two can continue to find what they like about each other.
One thing to note about this manga is the art. It maintains its shoujo softness, but it’s super clean and pleasant to look at. The expressions continue to be a major standout, and is also very helpful when it tries to be humorous. The jokes are mostly fine, but it’s all amusing to see Nanase’s face when she pokes the bear (bear = Hana) too much or when they reflect on whatever moment they’ve experienced. It’s one of the strengths of When We’re in Love, and it’s one of the things to continue looking forward to as this series continues.