Kare Kano vol 12

 In volume 11 the story shifted to focusing on Shibahime's step-brother Kazuma.  Kazuma's summer is filled with Shibahime and his band, the two things that he loves.  The band consumes much of his life and passion and when he realizes the pain and rejection that Shibahime has dealt with in her life, his guilt begins to overwhelm him.  She clings to him desperately but he realizes music will cause her to be alone again.  His feelings for her grow stronger and the fear of hurting or loosing her causes him to avoid her.  When she confronts him about his confusing behavior he lashes out at her and runs away from home.

     Kazuma has run away from home because he is unable to deal with his growing feelings for Shibahime.  Instead he decides to focus his entire life around music, quiting school to do so.  At this point everyone around him realizes how he feels, except for Shibahime and his mother understandably allows him to travel the path he chooses.  The turmoil from his emotional stress causes his artistic abilities to engage and he begins writing new material for the band.  A song that is a love letter to his step-sister causes the band to gain incredible attention through out the music community, pushing them to relent and sign to a major label.

     Meanwhile Shibahime is again alone and lost.  All she see's around her is the images and sounds of Kazuma.  It gets to be painful enough that she unknowingly begins to block out his music.  Her friends remain mostly oblivious to the pain she is going through and wonder at her odd behavior, while they are swept away in the popularity of her step-brothers band.  Shibahime ends up in the hospital due to exhaustion and malnutrition.  Kazuma decides to confront her and express his love for her, regardless of the outcome.  As he suspected, she does not view him in the same way and rejects his decision.  Not wanting to lose her, he tells her that she will always be the most important person in her life.  Willing to wait forever if she opens up her heart more to him.  After a successful tour the band comes back to Tokyo to play the famous Budokan.  Kazuma gifts Shibahime a ticket in the front row, in the hopes that he can reach out to her.  For the first time she is able to hear his words and hear his heart.

 

    The final segment deals with a peak into the life of the least talked about person in the friend group, Sena Rika.  Rika considers herself normal and just enjoys life in the background.  She doesn't recognize her amazing sewing as anything special.  Shibahime's father was so impressed with her clothing design work for the cultural festival play that he unofficially offered her a job at his company.  While she has known Shibahime, Arima and Tsubaki since middle school, she has been friends with Aya since kindergarten.  The two spent as much time together as kids as possible, even if Aya was a bit sadistic.  They always spent time with Aya's older brother, who over time grew to develop feelings for Rika.  Rika comes to visit Aya as she works hard on her next novel and is able to spend time with Aya's older brother.  She comes to realize she has feelings for him and recognizes that he is probably too shy to express them himself.  In a moment of shared understanding the things they can not say end up being conveyed.