Title: Saigo no Seifuku (The Last School Uniform)
Mangaka: Hakamada Mera
ISBN: 4832275410

Saigo no Seifuku is a cute serialized manga about a girls' boarding school, with lots of crushes and whatnot. It runs in both Manga Time Kirara Carat and Manga Time Kirara Max, and the first tankoubon has just come out. I'll be posting some of my favorite chapters here.
Saigo no Seifuku has been licensed by Seven Seas.

Click the thumbnails for the full-size scans.

Chapter 6: The Witch's Poison.
The pigtailed girl does some sort of ritual, in which she writes the initial(s) and birthdate of the person she likes on her wrist and then covers it up with a bandaid (other people aren't supposed to see it), mixes some ingredients together (cornstarch, baking powder, etc.) while saying that person's name (in this case, Kase Tsumugi) five times, then beats eggs together and makes five wishes as to how she wants things to be with that person. Her wishes are: that Tsumugi will talk to her, that they will hold hands, that they will hug, that they will kiss, and that she will have free use of Tsumugi's body. She takes the fifth one back, blushing. She thinks to herself that she hopes Tsumugi will eat it tomorrow.

The next day, she's brought it back to the dorm with her, and a bunch of her friends are all going to split it. One of the girls notices the band-aid on her wrists and asks if she's hurt, but she tells her it's nothing.

She messed up making it the first two times, but it turned out all right on her third try. lol

She asks Tsumugi if she's going to have some, her heart thudding in her chest, but Tsumugi says she feels like she has a bit of a cold and doesn't have any appetite, so she's just going to go lie down.

The pigtailed girl is sad that her ritual was for nothing, or rather that she wished Tsumugi would just have at least one bite. Just as she's decided to make it again some other time, Tsumugi comes back over and takes a bite.

She says it tastes good, then goes off to lie down.

A funny moment--the pig-tailed girl spread brandy on top of the cake (or is it bread? I really can't tell) as a finishing touch, and now one of the girls who ate some is drunk. lol

The pigtailed girl thinks to herself that she traveled all the way home and redid the ritual three times because she's been clinging to a ritual that isn't possibly going to work anyway. Another girl asks her what's wrong, and she says that nothing is.

She redoes her fifth wish--that Tsumugi will have some sort of feelings for her, even if they're very minor. Aww. What a bittersweet chapter.





On the Other Side of the Lenses, from Manga Time Kirara Max Jan 2005 issue.
After having passed her third year of junior high without being able to approach anyone, the main chararacter decides to change. She buys contact lenses, planning to get rid of her ugly coke-bottle glasses, and decides she's not going to be passive anymore. She'll be living in a dorm for the first time, and she wants to make some friends. She vows to do her best.

Just then, she hears a scream and sees another girl falling down the steps.

The girl's leg is injured. The main character wonders what she should do-- Call an ambulance? Call for a neighbor to help? She doesn't really know what she should do, but she knows she has to do it quickly.

But then the girl grabs her, and asks her not to leave her all alone.

And then the main character realizes something-- it's not her glasses that have made her a passive person. She thinks to herself that if she doesn't put things into words or actions, things will be over without anything having changed. She tells the girl she's going to save her, and takes her to the hospital.

The doctor tells her that the girl has a fracture, and tells her (the main character) to go home since her home is far away; she also asks for her (the main character)'s name and address.

Fast-forward to the school entrance ceremony. The main character is wearing her contacts for the first time. Her hair is (sort of) down, too. She vows to herself to smile cheerfully and try to talk to people and make friends when she gets to her classroom. As she's walking by the stairs, she wonders how the girl with the fracture is doing.

Up ahead of her, she sees the girl--Yamada-- who's telling another girl what happened to her leg. Yamada tells this other girl that there was someone who saved her when she fell, and that she was incredible, and that Yamada was so incredibly happy about it. She adds that the girl who saved her had a really cute name-- (guessing at the reading here because there are multiple possibilities) Sawara Ai [note: the "Ai" is "indigo," not "love"]. She says she wants to see her again. Ai comes up to the girls and says "I"/"me" (meaning "It's me," but the other girls don't seem to get this and look confused/inquisitive).





Thunder Girl, from Manga Time Kirara Max Nov 2004 issue.
It's the end of summer vacation, and three of the main characters are lighting fireworks. With the new semester, a marathon will be coming up too. One of them asks the others if they have people they like. One of them says there's nobody she likes, and directs the question at the girl with the long black hair (Beniko). Beniko says that there is someone she likes.

The main characters are standing around, talking about the race-- lamenting that it didn't rain, talking about how fast they are at long-distance running, etc. The short-haired one is a fast runner, but says she's not going to go all-out because she doesn't want to get tired-- she has a club/practice after school, after all.

Just then, another girl comes up and hugs Beniko, saying that she's missed her. What looks like a horde of fangirls squeal and exclaim about the relationship between Beniko and the other girl, Kisaragi (guessing at the name reading here). Beniko asks Kisaragi to stop, and pushes her away. Kisaragi asks her if she was lonely over summer break. Ai thinks to herself that Kisaragi, a third-year, is a little perverted but looks really cool. She also remarks that the girl with the short black hair is angry.

Kisaragi tells the short-haired girl that she heard the short-haired girl was rooming with Beniko. She also says that she heard the short-haired girl is pretty confident in her running skills, and (condescendingly, imo) tells her to try her best.

Kisaragi asks Beniko to go out with her if she wins the race. Beniko says no. Kisaragi then says if she (Kisaragi) wins the race, Beniko will get both her and the folding bicycle that's given to the winner. Beniko says she doesn't want either. Kisaragi leaves, and Beniko complains about how pushy she is. The short-haired girl tells Beniko that she's pretty fast at long-distance running.

The short-haired girl, Kase (guessing at the reading here), adds that she wants the bicycle and might win the race.

When Ai asks Beniko what position in the race she's aiming for, Beniko says that she's skipping it.

The race begins, and Kase remembers the conversation last night when Beniko said there was someone she liked. Kase seems to be going all out, to the point where she's having trouble breathing.

Kisaragi, having decided that Kase is running too fast, jumps on her and takes her down.

Yamada ends up winning the race, and the bike. She asks Kase what it was that made her try so hard in the race, what it was that she wanted so badly. Kase doesn't answer. We also find out, from a random girl, that Kisaragi is a person who hates getting injured, though we can clearly see that she scraped up her knee when she tackled Kase.

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