At the end of We Must Never Fall in Love volume 4, Kaede kissed Sakura. Sakura left abruptly after that, but she’s so nervous and confused about what the kiss means. Both try to bring up the topic, but Kaede’s older brother, Aoi, pops by for a stay and throws off the vibe in the household.
Meanwhile, Hatano and Sakura call off their fake relationship, partly because she learns he has a crush on someone. Hatano insists he’s in no rush since that girl sees him as just a friend, but Sakura’s friends and even Aoi know the girl in question is Sakura.
Judging from all that, volume 5 seems like it would be a heart-racing, key volume of We Must Never Fall in Love! In actuality, I was stunned when I flipped a page and saw the “to be continued in volume 6” message. Time flies when you’re having fun, but it also flies when a manga is just creating chapters to stall. Except for the fact Hatano and Sakura are no longer fake dating and we meet Aoi, by the end of this volume, little has changed. I thought Kaede had decided to stop holding back when he kissed Sakura, but he hesitates so much that Sakura tells him to forget about what happened. But now thanks to a conversation he overhears between Aoi and Sakura and some encouragement from his friend Mori, Kaede’s no longer going to suppress his feelings.
For real, this time. I think. Unless he is interrupted again or Sakura runs off in nervousness once more. Then maybe we’ll just end up in a loop forever!
Of course, I’m being facetious. While I agree Kaede (and Sakura) should be absolutely sure before putting their parents in an awkward situation, this kind of will-they-or-won’t-they tends to be frustrating. Many manga are built on misunderstandings and missed chances, of course, but two volumes back-to-back shouldn’t have near-identical cliffhangers.
The rest of We Must Never Fall in Love! volume 5 doesn’t do enough to distract from this fact either. Hatano is still in the friendzone, and while Sakura is a bit flustered when they hang out on New Year’s, that was mostly due to Aoi mentioning any guy who wants to hang out that day would be interested in her. Sakura’s head is still full of Kaede even after she attempts to push aside the memory of the kiss. Key word here is “attempts”, as Kaede is never too far from her mind…even in the midst of a marathon.
Kaede’s reservations are somewhat explained by Aoi, but like other parts of volume 5, the info wasn’t anything new. Aoi also wasn’t around long enough to really shake up the situation between Sakura and Kaede. He teases his younger bro a bit, observes Sakura, and leaves. I wish his appearance would have been set before the kiss and give Kaede (and Sakura) more reason to stay as stepsiblings, or after and contrast what a normal sibling/stepsibling relationship is like.
The best part for me here is all the scenes of Kaede being flustered. He has never had much of a poker face, but it’s refreshing to see a guy blushing almost as often as the girl — and full-on blushing, not just the ears from behind. Plus Mori definitely knows how this type of situation is supposed to play out.
So honestly, while we get a new character here in volume 5, there’s not much point to it if you’ve read the last volume of We Must Never Fall in Love!. Choose if you’d rather have more love triangle antics (volume 4) or a new character (volume 5), as the endings are so similar. Have to wait until volume 6 comes out to see if Sakura and Kaede’s relationship will actually change from stepsiblings to lovers.