Last upgrade: 08-May'04

Hot Gimmick manga synopsis.

These synopsis are done by Zahara Medina and can't be used anywhere else without her consent. As she is just a student of Japanese, there are bound to be mistakes. If you spot any mistake, please report it to me, thanks! :) (comments are also appreciated....)
Please remember to support your favorite authors by buying the Japanese tankoubon or official translations.

Chapter 38.

Fast Index:

• Vol.01 acts: [01] [02] [03] [04]
• Vol.02 acts: [05] [06] [07] [08] [09]
• Vol.03 acts: [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
• Vol.04 acts: [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
• Vol.05 acts: [20] [21] [22] [23]
• Vol.06 acts: [24] [25] [26] [26:b] [27]
• Vol.07 acts: [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]
• Vol.08 acts: [33] [34] [35] [36] [extra chapter]
• Vol.09(?) acts: [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]
• Vol.10(?) acts: [42] [43]

Note: B/w scans are from the magazine, where the print is in low quality paper and different ink colors so it sometimes scans pretty bad and leaves lots of noise in the picture. The tankoubon quality is, of course, much better (perfect, that is).

Note 2: Ryouki is the direct katakana reading used for the kanji in his name, but the romanization of it seems to be Lyoki. I'm using Ryouki because it's easier for the reader.

Part 1 (Dec'2000) [ vol.01 ]
Hatsumi is a high school girl who lives with her family (and about half the world) in a company-owned apartment. (In Japan it's normal that big companies will give and pay for the apartments of some of their workers. Of course it's the company who chooses/builds the apartment building and there are several guidelines....). This building is ruled by Mrs. Tachibana, who is a witch to everybody but her loyal followers (^^; ). Tachibana delights in torturing Hatsumi, especially with certain guy called Ryouki, who once pushed her down the stairs when they were kids. Another kid from apartment no. 1, Azusa, was the one who found her and took care of her, so she has very fond memories of him. As she goes to school, she sees her little sister, Akane, being sick in the street. So Hatsumi takes her back home to lie in bed. Akane talks about her boyfriends (and the fact that Hatsumi has none ^^; ) and then says that she might be pregnant.... Since she is too shy and young to get the pregnancy test, she begs Hatsumi to get it for her! Hatsumi dresses up like a non-tanned kogal (blonde wig included) and goes to the drug store to get the test. A guy tries to help her, but she is too afraid of being recognized and runs away. However she does manage to get the test and is happily returning home when at going out of the elevators she crashes into a young man who she recognizes in shock: Ryouki! To make things worse, she dropped the test and now he find it. In her hurry to say that it's not for her, he realizes that it's for her sister. She follows him and tells him to please not tell his mother (Tachibana) about it. He knows she is afraid of his mother, so he tries to harass her sexually else he will tell.... In that moment the guy from the drug store appears, stopping Ryouki, and Hatsumi realizes it's Azusa! He is back.
Part 2 (Jan'2001) [ vol.01 ]
At the High School all the girls are very excited because there is a new student, Azusa Odagiri, who is a model for a famous magazine! They are not too happy that he seems to be friends with Hatsumi, though... Hatsumi and Akane return home together and are met by Mrs. Tachibana, who has some bad words for Akane. Right after her, Ryouki-kun appears with one of her classmates and as Akane is fighting with the boy, he reminds Hatsumi about her debt with him and that she is his "slave" (blackmailing her in exchange of him not saying anything about finding the pregnancy test). He is gone before Hatsumi can react and goes ballistic when Akane says he is such a cool guy. The two guys talk about Hatsumi and the classmate remarks about Ryouki having "Yuka-san"... At school some girls corner Hatsumi because Azusa is friends with her and discourage her about pursuing him showing her a magazine with photos of him and another model going out together. However Azusa was listening to this and he and Hatsumi have a talk afterwards and ends up in Hatsumi agreeing to meet Azusa later on. At home, Hatsumi gets all pretty, but just as she is about to leave, she gets a call from Ryouki, who orders her to go up to his apartment. Hatsumi has no other option than going, and she is surprised at how ordered and clean and pretty the place is. He goes directly to the matter at hand and tells her to sleep with him. Meanwhile, Azusa calls to her home and her brother tells him she is with Ryouki. Azusa is surprised at this... At Ryouki's place, he grabs Hatsumi and throws her onto the bed, even though she is telling him to stop. As he goes over her, she punches him and he stops... just to look into a manual on how-to! It's his first time... Before she can say anything, he hears a door closing and suddenly goes over her right before the room's door opens and a pretty woman enters it. She seems rather surprised to see him with Hatsumi, and Hatsumi is shocked. Ryouki greets the woman as Yuka-sensei and says Hatsumi is his girlfriend. Hatsumi tries to deny that, but Ryouki tells her to shut up. Yuka-sensei doesn't look very happy and leaves the room. Ryouki sighs and Hatsumi looks at him wondering what the hell is going on.
Part 3 (Feb'2001) [ vol.01 ]
After the pretty woman leaves the room, Ryouki tells Hatsumi that she better return. Hatsumi tries to convince him that he should have his first time with somebody he likes, but he says he wants to practice first, sending her into a fit (*grin*). Outside his room, he keeps the pretense that she is his girlfriend and before seeing her out of the apartment, he reminds her of what she is--a slave. Back inside, sensei acts in a rather friendly manner towards Ryouki while Hatsumi waits for the elevator outside, thinking how much she hates him. When the elevator doors open, Azusa appears as he was going to Ryouki's place to look for her. He thinks about having a word with Ryouki anyway after seeing how disturbed Hatsumi looks, but she stops him and tells him she is very happy. He leans forward and looks into her eyes.... but then Ryouki's mother interrupts. Azusa acts like a good boy towards her and Hatsumi learns that Azusa's parents divorced. They agree on meeting another day, since they couldn't that one evening. Hatsumi and Akane meet Subaru (Ryouki's friend and Hatsumi's classmate), and while they talk, Yuka-sensei appears and both recognize her. Yuka calls her "Ryouki's girlfriend," which sends Akane in shock. Hatsumi tries to deny it, but Yuka drags her away to have a talk. Meanwhile Akane tries to get some information out of Subaru, but he just runs away in search of Ryouki. Yuka takes Hatsumi to a cafeteria and she tells her that she and Ryouki have done H things and goes on a rambling about him and Hatsumi and sex related things. Meanwhile Ryouki sees them from the street and decides to enter and listen to what they are saying. Hatsumi gets mad at what Yuka says about Ryouki and tells her that he hasn't done anything with her because he doesn't like her at all (between other things). Yuka gets mad as hell too and throws her drink to Hatsumi's face before leaving. Hatsumi starts feeling really down, but Ryouki looks very impressed by her outburst and shows himself, giving her a handkerchief to dry herself with. Hatsumi is in shock that he listened to what she said. (Ed.N.--Take that with a grain of salt. I'm probably missing a lot of stuff.) Ryouki and her talk about Yuka and him and sex. Ryouki is back to his usual I-don't-really-care cynic self, even though he seems surprised at Hatsumi's view of the situation. Subaru finds them and reminds her about Azusa. Hatsumi leaves and Ryouki seems surprised. Subaru asks what is wrong but Ryouki just says he is leaving too... before he does so, he tells Subaru that he still hates her (Hatsumi).
Part 4 (Mar'2001) [ vol.01 ]
Hatsumi gives Subaru Ryouki's handkerchief so she doesn't have to return it to the man himself. Later as Hatsumi returns home with Azusa, all girls in the street turn to look at him. Subaru returns the handkerchief to Ryouki. Ryouki leaves his home just to find Hatsumi returning and joking with Azusa. He looks a little mad as he watches her happy face.... He goes to her and tells her to go with him and carry his bag. Hatsumi is horrified that he is doing this in front of Azusa, but then Akane appears and Hatsumi agrees nervously to go with him. Azusa doesn't like this at all and watches them go with a frown. In the train, Ryouki is sitting while Hatsumi carries his bag. She asks him not to do this kind of things in front of Azusa. He wonders what's her business with Azusa that she doesn't stop talking about him ... Hatsumi replies instinctively that she likes Azusa! She tries explaining but Ryouki tells her to shut up. He notices a couple kissing on the other side of the station and after looking thoughtful for a moment, he tells her to kiss him. Hatsumi tells her she can't and to stop with the "slave" thing. However he reminds her about the pregnancy test and asks her to take his glasses off. She does so while he looks down at her with no expression on his face. But suddenly she grabs him from his scarf and pulls him down, meeting him half-way and kissing him! She steps back right away looking rather unhappy as she wipes her mouth with her hand and then runs away. Ryouki watches her go and remembers her expression as she wiped her mouth. However as he grabs his bag he feels a strong heart beat. And another. And another. He touches his mouth wondering what the heck is going on... and then blushes deep red as his heart keeps on beating stronger and stronger! (He really has no clue... ^^ ) Meanwhile, Hatsumi returns home rather depressed just to find Azusa waiting for her. Azusa asks her about Ryouki and she replies that she hates the guy.... She wants to tell him about her problem with him, but she can't because it involves her sister's secret. Azusa leaves after she kind of tells him she likes him... Poor Hatsumi spends the night depressing about her first kiss while Azusa damns Ryouki and Ryouki spends his after-school class still blushing and still plagued by rather strong and fast heart beatings! (^^)

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All images © Aihara Miki (except backgrounds)