The thing I didn't like in this volume was when Kiyoka and Arata agreed that, "Whoever wins will have Miyo." As if she was a property or something. And, this dumb girl left the decision-making to her betrothed. Rather than talking things out, they went along with it, just for sake of the plot. ( )

After the events of the first volume, Miyo never has to worry about the Saimoris again, but that doesn't mean the poor self-esteem they left her with is gone. In this volume, Miyo decides she wants to start studying etiquette - she's painfully aware that her education as a young noble lady was cut short due to the way her family treated her, and she's concerned that she'll be an embarrassment to Kiyoka. Kiyoka asks his sister, Hazuki, to be Miyo's teacher, which has the additional benefit of giving Miyo another friendly and supportive woman in her life besides Yurie.

Unfortunately, it isn't all flowers and sunshine where Miyo and Kiyoka's developing relationship is concerned, due to a combination of Miyo's poor self-esteem, Kiyoka's increased workload, and the two of them being too socially awkward to know how to communication openly with each other. Miyo is having nightmares so frequently that the lack of sleep is starting to take a toll on her health. Although she thinks she's hiding it from Kiyoka (she knows he's busy at work and doesn't want to cause him problems), Kiyoka knows about the nightmares and is waiting for her to talk about what's bothering her.

While these two anxiously hover around each other, a newcomer, Arata Tsuruki, decides to take advantage of the situation in order to become closer to Miyo.

My description makes this sound like the setup for a jealousy storyline. Same with the publisher's description. Rest assured, however, that that's not the case. You'll probably still want to smack the characters silly for not talking to each other properly, but at least it won't be because one party is convinced that the other has started falling for someone else.

Anyway, this volume had some issues with its writing that I didn't recall in volume 1. As it turns out, volume 2 has a new translator, so I'm thinking it's definitely a translation issue rather than a problem with the original work. That said, it's still readable, even if certain sentences are structured a bit oddly.

Storywise, I think I liked volume 2 more than volume 1, although problems were still resolved way too quickly and easily. Volume 2 includes some political machinations and Usuba family developments. I wasn't expecting the Usuba family to turn up so early, and even then I thought they'd hover in the background for a few books before actually doing anything. One of the benefits of this series being so tightly written (possibly overly tightly) is not having to wait for fun things like the introduction of the mind-controlling Usuba family. Granted, just like other Gifted characters in this series, they don't get much opportunity to show off. You'd think Miyo would need some actual on-page training before gaining better control of her powers, but no.

I like this series despite its issues and plan on continuing. I just hope that the characters stop getting in their own way so much in the next volume. (Although internal conflict is the only conflict this series doesn't solve in an instant...)

Extras:

Includes an afterword by the author. From the sounds of things, the original web version of this had more bloat. I think we may have a unicorn: a light novel author who listens to their editor.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )