Our Fake Marriage volume 2 continues the adventures of the ordinary, jobless Yae playing the wife of famous architect Takumi. First, the manga finishes the glamping trip, and the couple later goes on another trip, this time to Singapore. In between, a friend of Takumi’s swings by to meet (read: check out) Yae.
I find it odd that the first non-client or ex-girlfriend to be formally introduced to the two of them as a couple is a friend of Takumi’s. Yae still considers her role as a job, and I can understand why she wouldn’t say anything. But no one in Takumi’s family has been following the news and heard he’s gotten married? Or do they know he’s been lying about having a wife and are assuming the woman in the pictures is an actress? Either way, that’s certainly got to come up sometime.
Meeting Shindo was rather short, and he gave his stamp of approval when Yae refused his advances (i.e. passed his test). The bigger focus seemed to be the interaction after he left, with Takumi once again showing signs of jealousy and Yae admitting to herself she is getting in the mood. (More on that in a minute.) Tokina expresses hope that she can bring back Shindo sometime, but I’m not exactly sure what kind of role he’d play now that he has cheerfully given his blessing.
So because Takumi and Yae spend much of this volume out of town, we don’t get to see Yae’s job — and house-hunting like before. She’s still pragmatic (or arguably cheap) regarding finances, but that also means a lot of her personality here is just being bashful whenever Takumi is getting randy. We also see Yae experiencing signs of jealousy. So there’s less of that self-deprecating humor the first volume had, as being ordinary is making her feel inferior compared to Takumi’s bombshell admirers.
In exchange, because Yae finds herself wanting Takumi, there’s less of that unsettling sexual aggression or pressure like in the first volume. The two are constantly interrupted, and I hope the manga doesn’t fall into this pattern long-term because it will certainly get dull and repetitive. Volume 1 already displayed some of Takumi’s proclivities, and while the scenes here might be as bold as the bathtub or the post, they are racier because Yae is welcoming Takumi’s advances.
And she’s not succumbing to his charms just for physical reasons, either. Between Takumi’s own admissions and behaviors, she has reasons to (rightly) believe he did or does like her. Volume 2 addressed one of my major hopes for the series: we’re starting to see more of Takumi and Yae’s childhood days together, with perhaps the trigger that started driving them apart. We know they drifted apart before they moved to Tokyo, but even before then Takumi was becoming more popular while Yae was normal. I feel a little bit better that we’ll get these flashbacks and pieces of information, especially since there’s more evidence Takumi has liked Yae for years.
Still, there’s got to be more to their story. And while it likely involves a lot of misunderstandings and interruptions, it still looks like a good one.