Hot Gimmick, Vol. 9

Neighbors in Love!In company-owned rabbit-hutch apartments live tenants who can’t afford to live anywhere else, and the apartment complex in which high-school girl Hatsumi Narita lives is ruled over by the rumor mongering, self-righteous Mrs. Tachibana. Get on Tachibana’s bad side, and life becomes hell. When Hatsumi has to buy a pregnancy test because her popular sister Akane is late, Mrs. Tachibana’s son, Ryoki, who used to bully Hatsumi as a kid, promises not to tell the world about Hatsumi’s secret only if she becomes his slave. Suddenly Azusa, Hatsumi’s protector in their youth, reappears to save her again! He’s moving back into the neighborhood! Despite the budding romance between Hatsumi and Azusa, Ryoki has control over her through the secret that could ruin the lives of everyone in Hatsumi’s family, and he hasn’t forgotten who his slave is!Our hapless heroine Hatsumi’s romantic woes are put on hold (only momentarily, though) to provide ample time for her little sister Akane to experience the sweet sting of teenage love herself. She’s tried flirting, she’s tried being rude, but no matter how hard she works at it, Akane just doesn’t seem capable of getting shy (and dorky) and cute (but still dorky) Subaru to come clean about his feelings. Will a box of Valentine’s Day chocolate bring these two mixed-up kids together, or will Subaru forsake the look of love and watch Gundam reruns instead? Later, Ryoki gets some shocking news from his father and learns more than he wanted to know about his parents’ tawdry past–as well as their tangled relations with Hatsumi’s and Azusa’s folks too! All this and more in Miki Aihara’s Hot Gimmick one of the most talked-about shôjo manga from Japan!