By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

The author, I get the sense, is not only well aware of the reputation that this series has for purity to the point of ridiculousness, but positively revels in it. The start of this volume has Mahiru indicate that she’ll let Amane do anything he wants to her, and both times the closest we get to actual sex is hickeys. Indeed, the joke – both at the start and the end – is that everyone else, including Mahiru, wants something more (never stated, of course, due to pure pureness but implied with her getting very red when he talks about lying in her lap – the last time he did that he was facing towards her, so the implication is there). Amane is made of sterner stuff, though, and he knows very well that the moment that he lets go of his self-control and allows himself to do what he wants with Mahiru, she will somehow immediately be pregnant and possibly homeless. So for now, hickeys it is.

So yes, Amane and Mahiru are now sleeping together. By which I mean she’s staying the night in his apartment, and they sleep in his bed, but again, hickeys is as far as we go. And they’re not even visible hickeys. In the meantime, though, Amane has the future in mind. He wants to live with Mahiru forever, and that means marriage. His parents, who drop by to visit and embarrass the hell out of their son, not in that order, say that they will he,lp with whatever future plans he has – they know he tries to take everything on himself – but he wants to buy the ring with his own money. As such, he asks muscle fangirl classmate Ayaka to help find him a part-time job, and she hooks him up at a cafe her aunt runs for wealthy older customers – one where he can work as a waiter/barrista. That said, Mahiru’s not allowed to see him at work. Yet.

The final scene in the book is essentially the continuation of the first, showing off that them being married is just a matter of a registration – as far as their behavior is concerned, they may not be having sex, but in all other respects they’re soulmates. We meet the co-workers at Amane’s cafe, and they reminded me of the sort of eccentric personalities you might find in some other light novel series, where the childhood friend pines without ever being noticed. But Amane and Miharu are those types as well. In any other light novel, they’d be minor characters, the schmoopy couple who put everyone else in the class to shame and are always shamelessly flirting. Of course, these two flirt without realizing it – even to each other, which can get hilarious.

If you’re waiting for the sex, I’d wait till the end of the series, and get very angry then, as I suspect it won’t be there either. If you’re waiting for the cuteness and the syrupy sweetness, it’s all over this volume.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

This series continues to feature more of exactly what readers want, provided what readers want is Amane having an amazingly low self-image and also being overly polite about “not going too far” to the point that it’s actually starting to annoy Mahiru a bit. More to the point, now that they are a couple, and everyone in school knows it, they’re both having to deal with jealousy. Yes, both. It’s expected from Amane, as Mahiru is the Angel of the School, and that’s the premise of the series. But Mahiru is also starting to realize that her attempts to clean up Amane’s life, give him some self-esteem, and show off what a great guy he is means that other girls are going to think the same thing. And she hates that. It all comes to a head at the culture festival, featuring maid costumes, butler costumes, and lots and lots of thirst. Well, it’s Angel Next Door. Not thirst. Mild dryness.

So yes, it’s culture festival time, though this is a milder one compared to other series – no outsiders, invited family and friends only. But there’s still maid cafes, and much to Amane’s annoyance, that’s what the class chooses, even if it means everyone will be ogling his girlfriend all day. That said, she does look REALLY good in that outfit. And he also looks really cool as a butler, though you’ll never hear him say that – all signs of him being cool come from outside his own self-hating narrative, because you can try to clear up all the past trauma but it still lingers on when the plot demands it. Can he survive a customer trying to grope Mahiru’s ass? Can he survive his parents being amazingly embarrassing? And, yes, we finally get the full story on Itsuki.

We’ve heard the story of Itsuki and Chitose in dribs and drabs, and some of it in the short story book, but here we get the actual reasons behind things. He’s from a rich family, where there’s actually a need to carry on the family name. Being a second son, this should not affect him – except the first son decided to marry the girl he liked, who was not father approved. And now that he sees Itsuki doing the same thing, he is determined to dislike Chitose, especially since she’s the sort of girl that would grate on him regardless. I like how everyone realizes and admits that there’s no way to “fix this”, and there’s nothing Chitose is doing wrong per se. It’s just that sometimes family can be difficult. And even so, Mahiru ends up being jealous, as even though Itsuki’s father is against his relationship at least he acknowledges Itsuki exists. Mahiru still has the worst parents crown.

All this plus Amane’s determination to be a gentleman, to the point where Mahiru has to almost browbeat him into using his tongue. The Slow Burn Express is not stopping at this volume, but it’s good anyway.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

Sometimes all it takes is a little validation. For this entire series we’ve been watching Amane struggle to imagine anyone thinking of him in any positive way whatsoever, and we also got little flashes back to his past to show what happened to make him think this way. But now Mahiru is his girlfriend, and the two of them are a lovey-dovey couple, and all of a sudden he’s become a really amazing boyfriend, to an almost jaw-dropping degree. His tendency towards logically thinking things out and never being impulsive now allows him to, both consciously and unconsciously, seduce Mahiru completely. And frankly, thank God, because it was my main complaint with this series (and many others – a lot of these ‘sweet couple’ series have self-loathing as the guy’s main flaw). That said, that’s still one side of the equation. Mahiru’s past, of course, is arguably even worse, but – despite the last chapter in this particular volume – we have a ways to go before those demons are banished.

The first half of this book continues Amane and Mahiru’s visit to stay with his parents over summer break, and it’s basically a cavalcade of sweet moments, including looking at cute childhood moments, going shopping and buying cute outfits… and also settling things with one of his old best friends, who ended up abandoning him when everything went town in Amane’s past. (Amane’s response is, frankly, a bit logical and cold, but also very in character.) They then go back home and have summer homework… which everyone has done but Chitose, so it’s mostly an excuse to watch her suffer for humor purposes. And then it’s off to a festival, which is mostly there to have everyone realize that Amane is fully invested in Boyfriend Mode, and it can be terrifying. That said, family matters crop up at the end, as Mahiru’s father wants to meet… with Amane.

We do get suggestions of the ongoing plot with this series’ secondary couple, though the series is assuming you read the short story volume that came out right before this. It feels appropriate given this is a sweet love story between couples in high school that a lot of the conflict arises from parents, be it mild (too much teasing from Amane’s mother) to serious (everything about Mahiru’s childhood). Chitose’s issue falls somewhere in between the two, and is also easily the most relatable. She’s in love with her boyfriend and wants to make a life with him, but his father thinks she’s not good enough for him. I expect we may see more of that later on. As for Mahiru’s dad, there’s a lot of “I’m trying, but it’s a bit too late and I know it will make no difference” to this. Which, um, also feels very, very real to me. I wonder if the next major arc will involve Mahiru managing to come to terms with things?

There’s a whole lot of syrupy sweetness I just skipped over, because why review that? But trust me, it’s there. For those who enjoy “I got the perfect girlfriend” series.