The School Cultural Fair is only days away. Harima wants to use the prep time to get close to his cute classmate, Tsukamoto, who in turn is equally determined to spend these hours with the object of her affection, Karasuma. While Karasuma... well, you get the picture. Can anybody's love survive...?

Volume 9 of School Rumble sees the conclusion of the BB gun battle to decide what theme the students will follow for this year's cultural fair. In the end the decision on whether the students will stage a play, have a cafe where all the school girls wear maid outfits, or... rather less likely... swimsuit wrestling, rests on the shoulders of two students.

As usual there are plenty of misread signals and mixed messages, meaning that different students fail to convey their affection to the students they like, while other students think that a student, who isn't even interested in them, is making advances.

There are also amusing shorter stories including the appearance of a vampire at the school and Megumi's hospitalised Grandmother who turns into a cat when she sleeps in order to help Megumi's love life. We also discover who is the worst cook and who is nervous about stripping off in front of their classmates in the communal baths.

As there are more and more characters being introduced to this series, there is also a School Rumble Relationship Chart included, as well as the usual translation notes so that western readers can better appreciate some of the cultural references in the story.

Another amusing addition to the School Rumble series.

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Amber Leigh