The first chapter of this volume is absolutely useless. It's Chika at school, and it's just an opportunity for shameless, barely-adolescent fan service. Chika and her friends are in the swim club, so we see them changing, stretching in their swimsuits, in the shower ... enough already!
Thankfully, the rest of the volume gets back to the main Aoi and Kaoru story. Finally!
With the other girls out of town, Aoi and Kaoru get to spend sometime alone together. But Kaoru's professor has given him two passes to a swanky hotel, so an innocent day out could end up being a night that changes his relationship with Aoi forever.
But after the night doesn't go as planned, Kaoru falls into a depression. Each of the girls tries to cheer him up in her own way -- Mayu gets him to take her on her first date, Tina tries to get him drunk, Taeko tries to exorcise his demons, and Chika? Well, Chika starts to give him a massage (while wearing inadequate clothing, as usual) and ends up getting a massage from Kaoru instead.
Ultimately, Kaoru decides two things -- he needs to be a better person for Aoi and he must confront and deal with his past before he can embrace his future.
This looks like it could be a turning point for the manga -- it may be time to cut back on the beach and hot spring trips and concentrate on the story.
And Kaoru -- if you want to treat Aoi better, you could start by cutting back on the dates with Tina and Mayu and touchy-feely games with Chika and Taeko. Choose Aoi or don't -- but don't be wishy-washy about it.
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