Whoops, I finished this one kind of a long time ago. I’ve already finished another whole book and I’m partway into the next. I guess I have to say my overall opinion of this one was not that great, and maybe that has something to do with why it’s taken me so long to write about it. Aside from the super difficult fourth chapter of volume 1, the first two chapters here were probably the hardest to date. This volume also introduces Rikyuu (who was incorporated much earlier into the anime) and he’s honestly pretty unlikable…he’s intentionally cruel from the moment he appears, and it doesn’t even seem to be a cover for some deeper character flaw, which would at least make him somewhat relatable. Holmes often admits to being 腹黒い but as far as we’ve ever seen, it’s in response to bad behavior rather than just a constant state. By the end of the book, Rikyuu has come to accept Aoi to a certain extent but he needs to be taken down a peg if he’s going to become a regular character.

Aoi’s development in this volume is nice though. There’s a great scene where she’s challenged (pretty rudely) to prove herself as an appraiser and ends up passing with flying colors. I wish there was a bit more relationship development but I guess they do call this a “slow romance” so I suppose I’ll hold out for something else in vol. 5.

I do think I’ll be putting this series on hold for a little while though. It’s a bit of a bummer to stop now that I’m finally all caught up (the anime’s last episode is also this book’s last chapter) but I do enjoy reading it and I would like to continue enjoying it rather than getting burned out.