Citrus (Volume 3) - Love or Lie!

Yuzu still can’t work out where she stands with Mei and it’s driving her crazy. Then, an old friend arrives and makes everything that much more complicated. What is Matsuri up to?

Citrus (Volume 3) – Love or Lie!

What happened?

Mei has been helping Yuzu study. If she falls out of the top one hundred students their Grandpa will start to lose his patience with her… again. However, all Yuzu can think about is Mei. Things weren’t helped when Mei told her that the last kiss meant nothing too. Yuzu went to the arcade to play games with Harumi when she sees her old friend Matsuri. She was like a little sister to Yuzu when they were growing up and has come to play!

Matsuri has been sending guys pornographic videos online and then stringing them along with lewd messages. Yuzu tries to tell her that she shouldn’t be catfishing people, but Matsuri doesn’t seem that bothered. In fact, she’s more concerned about a photo of Yuzu and Mei. She can tell that Yuzu likes Mei, which is a problem since she likes Yuzu and doesn’t want to share her with anyone. After playing games late, Matsuri and Yuzu walk home. Matsuri spots Mei buying groceries and kisses Yuzu.

Citrus Volume 3 Matsuri kisses Yuzu in front of Mei

Matsuri comes to Yuzu’s school to ask her out and makes a scene of things in front of Mei. Yuzu agrees to go out with her after school and brings Mei with her. That infuriates Matsuri so much that she runs off. Mei tells Yuzu to go after her since she thinks Matsuri needs her more than anyone. However, Matsuri comes back and asks Mei to talk with her in private. Mei agrees and when the discussion gets heated she kisses Matsuri, claiming that she was taking back the kiss Matsuri stole from Yuzu the other night.

Unfortunately, Matsuri had paid a couple of kids to take pictures of her altercation with Mei. She’d expected Mei to hit her, but a kiss was even better. On Christmas Eve, Mei was about to head home to be with Yuzu and her mother when Matsuri intercepted her and told her that she would meet with one of her online clients if she didn’t want Yuzu to see the picture of them kissing. Mei agreed, making excuses to Yuzu. While Mei was out with the random online guy, Matsuri went out with Yuzu. When Yuzu learned what was going on she was mad and told Matsuri to grow up. For now, it looks like Mei has won.

What did you think?

Well, Matsuri is a delightful character! I was a little worried about the forced drama that Matsuri was sure to bring, but in the end, I think it worked quite well. It helped to flesh out Yuzu’s backstory a little, however, its main purpose was to make Mei reveal how she feels about Yuzu. There must be some more to Mei’s life that makes her so cold and closed off from Yuzu. She seems to be protecting her feelings at all costs.

I was really glad that Yuzu realised what Matsuri was up to and put her in her place. It was a nice contrast too between her two “little sisters” and how she didn’t feel the same about both, proving that her feelings for Mei are not just a pseudo family feeling that she’s not experienced before. Of course, the problem currently is that Mei has pulled away so often and so hard that it may be hard for Yuzu to believe her attempts to reconcile.

There will come a point when Yuzu won’t want to be hurt anymore and that’s when Mei will have to break down her emotional barriers. So far, I’m really enjoying it and am loving the difference between the two girls. That makes their interactions far more interesting. Sure, if they both instantly fell in love with one another and lived happily ever after that would be great, but it wouldn’t feel like they had earnt it. If anything, their relationship will be stronger in the end because they will both understand one another. I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out.