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.

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 28 (Apr'2003) [ vol.07 ]
Akane hugs a very surprised Subaru, and after a moment, he ends up hugging her in return. Next morning, Ryouki wakes up in his chair, covered by a blanket. He wonders what he's doing there, and then sees Hatsumi is sleeping on the sofa! He wakes her up and he is really mad because she didn't wake him up. She explains he looked really tired so... He is mad because they didn't get to do anything together. To her surprise, he calls the front desk and checks out! He tells her that she wanted nothing to happen so bad she let things happen this way. Hatsumi is really mad because it was he who fell asleep first, after all! (^^; ) When Hatsumi goes down to reception, she realizes Ryouki really left alone. She goes out totally depressed, but bumps into a older man. He helps her and is really nice and polite to her. He seems to be really known because all the staff is very polite to him. After Hatsumi leaves, he is told at the desk that Ryouki was there with the girl that just left. As Hatsumi walks away, Shinogu's friend catch up with her in his car, and they offer her a ride. Inside the car she explains what happened in very wide strokes still hiding the truth from Shinogu and calling Ryouki her "rich friend." Subaru, who of course knows who she is talking about, follows the game and tells her that if that friend left her alone, then he can't care too much about her. Hatsumi wonders if Shinogu knows... and also wonders if what he said it's true. Hatsumi arrives to the conclusion that she has no idea what Ryouki's real feelings for her are. An angry Ryouki arrives home, just to find that her mother is waiting for him and of course found out about him staying overnight elsewhere. Ryouki comes out clean and drowns her mothers hopes that he is dating someone "good" by telling her that he is dating Hatsumi.
Part 29 (May'2003) [ vol.07 ]
Ryouki tells his mother about him and Hatsumi, and his mother is quite shocked. He tells her that his grades won't be compromised that that it will be quite all right, so not to worry. Meanwhile, Shinogu and his friend drop Hatsumi at the apartment building, where they meet a very happy Akane. Shinogu's friend, Kazuma, seems to like her although he assures Shinogu he is not a lolicon (lolita complex). Hatsumi gets into the building and ponders going up to meet Ryouki, but decides otherwise. But to her shock, when she arrives at her apartment, everything is trashed! A man suddenly appears behind her and covers her mouth, telling her not to move or say a thing. He is interrupted by the door bell, so he throws Hatsumi to a side and runs for it out of the house, bumping into the person ringing the bell... Ryouki! Ryouki is fast to catch up with things and is about to run after the robber but sees Hatsumi is badly shaken up and decides to stay, so he hits the fire /emergency alarm instead. Ryouki goes down near Hatsumi and starts telling her that people should come soon when she suddenly hugs him. Ryouki wonders for a second if the man did something to her, but Hatsumi tells him she is fine but... she was very scared, with the man and also because of being alone that morning... Ryouki starts to tell her that the morning thing was because of what she did the night before... but then shuts up and they just kiss. Other people from the building finally arrive to the apartment and Ryouki asks them to call the police. After they leave, Hatsumi wonders if they saw them kissing, but Ryouki says it doesn't really matter because he already told his mother. For a moment it seems like Hatsumi doesn't want to be involved with him, but it all turns out just fine for Ryouki. A bit later, Shinogu returns to the family home with some drinks and learns what happened from a neighbour, who adds that thankfully Ryouki was around to save Hatsumi, while watches them talk to the police. The rumors fly fast and soon everybody knows what happened. At Tachibana's place, Tachibana's mother's groupies are commenting on how cool it is that Ryouki went to the rescue, although his mother doesn't seem too sure about the whole thing.
Part 30 (Jun'2003) [ vol.07 ]
Thanks to the rumors circulating about her and Ryouki, all the neighbours are suddenly very nice towards Hatsumi. Ryouki and his family are on a trip to Australia, so he told her he would call her every day. But Hatsumi doesn't have a keitai (cellphone) and doesn't really think it's worth getting one... and she doesn't think it's good if he calls to her home because of her father, so... While Hatsumi ponders about all this, she finds Subaru at a bookstore. Akane goes to Subaru's apartment and asks his sister if he has said anything about "them." Asahi has no idea what Akane is talking about, and Akane is concerned Subaru hasn't said a single thing... Asahi tells Akane where Subaru went. Subaru tells Hatsumi he is relieved Ryouki was with her (when the robbery). He starts to ask Hatsumi about how does one define "going out" with somebody and what it entails. Hatsumi wonders if Subaru is going out with someone, but Subaru blushes and says that he is talking about "a friend," and that he isn't going out with anybody. Unfortunately, Akane arrives just in time. Akane starts to get mad as she sees happy talking Subaru and takes his arm, telling him that he shouldn't hang on to Hatsumi like this, and that since she came all the way here to find him, he should go with her. Akane drags Subaru away and realizes she is holding his hand. She blushes about this but then gets mad at herself for blushing because such a little thing as holding his hand. Akane tells Subaru she heard everything... when he said he wasn't going out with anybody. Akane guesses there was more to it and wants to know what he told Hatsumi. Since he won't say, she demands to know what it is that he can talk about with Hatsumi but not with her. Subaru doesn't want to tell Akane because he thinks he will give the wrong impression (after all, he was talking about his relationship with a girl - Akane), and instead tells Akane it's not any of her business. Akane gets angrier and takes his bag with books from him and says she won't return it if he doesn't tell her. Subaru starts to get mad as well and says that he doesn't care and that he can buy them again later. Akane then throws the bag away... smack into an incoming car! As it turns out, it's Shinogu's friend's car! Akane asks him to let her in. Subaru tries to tell her not to ride cars with strangers, and Akane says that it's none of his business. Soon after Shinogu's friend starts to drive, Akane asks him to stop the car. The guy reminds her of his name, Kazama, and wonders if the "little guy" from before is her boyfriend. Akane gets angry and defends Subaru saying that even if he is not very tall, he is cute and is a very good person and... Yes, yes, Kazama gets it. However Akane gets depressed and wonders if she's just not good (for being his girlfriend). She says she doesn't understand Subaru's feelings. Kazama says he has a good feeling about this though, and points to the rear mirror. Subaru has run after them! Akane gets out of the car. Akane asks why he followed her since she told him it wasn't any of his business. Subaru says that he doesn't understand himself very well but that he was worried about her. Akane gets all warm about this and asks him to please keep on always being concerned about her. Kazama "hmph"s. Hatsumi returns home surprised that Akane and Subaru were such good friends but also thinking that she understands Subaru's confusion about "going out" matters since she herself doesn't understand it all so well. When she arrives home, she finds there is a visitor... Azusa's manager, Katsuragi! Hatsumi takes her to her room (her father wouldn't be too happy to see Azusa's manager there...) and Katsuragi starts to break down and tells Hatsumi that Azusa is missing. He was acting weirdly and talking about quitting his modeling career. She though he could find him around Hatsumi, and she asks Hatsumi to help Azusa.
Part 31 (Jul'2003) [ vol.07 ]
(beta version) Hatsumi finds Azusa (who has a new haircut), misses Ryouki's phonecall and manages to end up asking Asuka to spend the night together (in a non-sexual way) so that he isn't alone.
Part 32 (Aug'2003) [ vol.07 ]
Azusa wonders what her "boyfriend" would say of it, and Hatsumi says she wants to take care of her childhood friend so it doesn't matter. To his shock, she takes him to Shinogu's place. Shinogu seems to agree without much problem and forcibly takes Azusa away to go get some food. He tells Hatsumi to call home and that she can use his keitai (celphone). While they walk, Shinogu brings up the topic of Azusa's mother. He tells him that he found something was a bit off with his father's attitude, so he is wondering if his father was just a "stand in" for the real culprit. Azusa is really taken aback at this. Meanwhile Hatsumi looks for Shinogu's keitai while worrying a bit about having missed two of Ryouki's calls in a row. She thinks it's okay because her feelings for Azusa aren't the same they used to be. While getting the phone, she accidentally drops some papers and sees an official paper titled "dissolution of child adoption" with Shinogu's name on it. Back at Shinogu, Azusa asks him if he is saying that because there is something he knows. Shinogu tells Azusa that when he was adopted into the Narita family, there was some problems with money and his parents had some fights at the same time as Azusa's mother's affair problem. He thinks this is really weirdly coincidental ( Z's note: I'm assuming that Narita's monetary problems got solved magically after this and that's the part that makes it all "weirdly coincidental"? ^^; Otherwise the way he explains it makes his father look just as guilty or more of an affair as before...). He tells Azusa that if he wants to find the truth he will help him. Back to Hatsumi, she is shocked when she reads the paper and keeps it when Shinogu and Azusa return. She is really troubled because she doesn't understand Shinogu's intentions or why he has this paper. Next day, Hatsumi, Shinogu and Azusa return to the apartment building. Shinogu notices Hatsumi seems pretty down but she says there is nothing wrong with her. She prays to god that things will stay the way the are without anything bad happening. In that moment a Mercedes stops in front of them and Ryouki gets out. Without a word, he slaps Hatsumi. Azusa and Shinogu complain and Ryouki tells them to shut up and with a expression of worry in his face he starts to tell about Hatsumi not answering his calls and going around with other men... but then his mother gets out of the car as well and interrupts them. She congratulates them all on the new year while Hatsumi is in shock, Shinogu is throwing eye-daggers at Ryouki an Ryouki is glaring at Hatsumi. Hatsumi thinks god is really mean... At the same time, from inside the car, Ryouki's father looks at Azusa.
Extra Chapter (Sep'2003) [ vol.07 ]

Next Chapter...

All images © Aihara Miki (except backgrounds)