Akagami no Shirayukihime - Chapter 10

Akagami no Shirayukihime is actually my number one favorite shoujo manga. I love it so much that I had actually planned to blog it here from the very beginning. But I didn't expect that latest scanlated chapter to be out so soon so . . . I'll start with this one. Hehe~

THAT cover image is one of the most wonderful Akagami no Shirayukihime pictures I have ever seen. *enthralled* And the cover of the second volume even has Zen on it! My favorite character! Oh how could this chapter be full of amazingness right from the very beginning~ Haha!
Anyway, this chapter had been so much fun~ Zen and Raji had been the greatest entertainments for me in this chapter! Haha! And we also get to know a bit more of what Zen's brother, Izana, is really like.

Okay, chapter began with Zen and Shirayuki . . . still in hugging position! Haha!

Zen is freakin' worried about what his brother has done to Shirayuki. He knows more than anyone else how evil his brother could be. Haha! But when Shirayuki just told him that Izana just warned her . . .

Zen was surprised. He can't believe that's all that his evil brother did to her.

But well, Shirayuki tells him that even if Izana did something evil, she's not going to be asking Zen to beat up his brother or anything like that. Hehe~

Zen, your crush doesn't like the idea of you fighting your own brother. And I guess you have just realized that. And oh god your shocked expression~ *in love*

Later, Zen realizes another important thing:

BWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ZEN! YOU ARE SO OBVIOUS! FREAKIN' OBVIOUS!
He totally enjoyed hugging her~ And he had blurted it out~
It cannot process to Shirayuki's head very well. Too shocked for brain to function . . . nor to speak. But her body had been automatic. So there was a blush~
Zen's dorky face . . . I can't stop laughing!
BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
And oh they look so cute when so speechless like that~

Anyway, Zen finally thought of a way to change the topic by asking her to walk with him because he has something to tell her . . .

Take note, they walk HAND-IN-HAND. Well, platonic friends may do that, but Zen is obvious so this can't be platonic. Wahahaha!!!

Anyway, what Zen wanted to tell her was about what Raji said . . . and it's pretty embarassing . . . making Shirayuki more nervous . . .

It took Zen a while to say it . . . but he finally did . . .
He tells her the rumor about them being engaged.

Shirayuki's reaction is so . . . bwahahahahaha:

Zen is worried that the rumor will be making Shirayuki's life uneasy in the future. It's easier for her to gain more attention because of her hair.

But Shirayuki's bigger concern is that if she could still stay in the castle~ Hehe~

Zen didn't get it. But Shirayuki changes the topic by asking if his situation's okay:

Zen says that he's fine. Shirayuki tells him that she's fine too . . .
Main point of what she said: As long as Zen's there, she'll get through anything!
Hehe~

Zen's reaction:

A boy in love's reactions are always so priceless~

Anyway, when it's time for them to separate . . . Shirayuki was about to go to where she needs to go but Zen's hand didn't let go of her:

In actuality . . . he doesn't ever let go of that hand . . .

And he wants to have at least one more hug for now:

He tells her that no matter what people say or do to her, he'll always be her ally.

Then they do some best friend pose . . . and this is their type of high five:

JUST HOW THE HECK COULD A ROMANTIC TOUCH LIKE THAT BE SOMETHING PLATONIC???!!!!

YOU TWO ARE SO OBVIOUS!!!!!!!! DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!
STOP TEASING ME AND DELIGHTING ME AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!!!!!
IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

*ehem*

Anyway, Zen goes back to his quarters and thought about his brother . . .

We get some Izana background now. When Izana turned seventeen, he wanted a castle for presents. But he wanted that castle built at the borders of the lands of enemy lords. Since he's the crown prince, the lords try to bribe him (and he had accepted those) and please him (they built him the castle he wanted).

Zen heard about it and is questioning his brother's actions:

But Izana didn't take him seriously and continued to play around. He even invited Zen to take a look at his new castle with him. (It seems that Zen . . . doesn't easily get things. Haha!)

During their trip, they also visited the places of the evil lords. He said the same thing to each, that the other lord had been trying to bribe him and says he does not like it. In short, he's pretending to the lord he's speaking that he's in favor to him while the other isn't.

After that, the lords have been bribing him secretly instead. They also did more evil deeds, so many and so obvious that they eventually got caught. It has also been shown later that Izana didn't use any of the treasures that was bribed for him and gave it back to the people. He had also selected those who would replace the overthrown lords.

Zen finally gets it, and apologizes to his brother:

Zen also gets worried that the losers might have a grudge against his brother. Izana's aware of that, and says that he'll surely die if no one's going to support him.

Of course the thought of Izana dying isn't something nice to Zen's ears.

Afterwards, Izana lectures him that he should make people recognize him as a lord, or else he himself won't even be able to realize his own position. Zen sees what an outstanding crown prince his brother is and he wants to be someone who can stand by his brother's side. That's the path that Zen had chosen to take.

So, it turned out that Izana isn't really a bad guy after all. He plays around, but he knows what he's doing, and it's often for a good cause. Even though Zen feels that his brother tortures him so much, he highly respects and admires the guy.

Now back to the current timeline, the rumors had spread during the banquet but none of the princes are saying a word about it. Haha!

I love Zen and Izana's clothes. It's not as fancy as CLAMP's designs, but they still look gorgeous~

Anyway, even the people outside are talking about the rumors . . .

First strike on Shirayuki. But she tried her best not to be bothered by it.

Yes, this girl is strong. She won't go emo on something that simple!

Now after the party, the brothers are back to their normal clothes (I assume this had taken place the next day or many many hours later). Zen waited for his brother then appeared before him when he finally got Izana alone.

Zen wanted to talk about something . . . and the topic is very obvious . . .

Izana doesn't feel like it. He wonders if there could be someone else who could scold Zen for him . . .

Hahaha! I knew Izana is crack~

Later Izana suggests to have a non-serious swordfight while talking. His shoulders feel stuff so it seems that swordfights are his exercise, hehe~

While fighting, Izana tells Zen to spit it out already. Zen goes straight to the point: He's asking why Izana was mean to Shirayuki. Izana just tells him that he doesn't have time to understand and observe the girl more carefully.

Zen doesn't like it that Izana just prejudged Shirayuki like that.

Izana realizes that Zen is not acting like usual and Zen really means srs bsns . . .

Izana tells Zen how obvious Zen is:

Izana knows that Zen's madly in love with her. Heeheeehee~

Izana warns Zen that if ever Zen and Shirayuki get together, people will have high expectations from her. And if people realize that there really isn't anything special about her, Zen will not be treated nicely either.

Of course Izana doesn't want that to happen. But Zen assures him that he'll be okay, and the same goes for Shirayuki. Oh he has a lot fo faith on that girl~

Zen also assures his brother that him meeting Shirayuki won't changed his goal (which is to become Izana's greatest support)

Izana then tells Zen to leave her behind.

Well, as if Zen could do that . . .

He totally wouldn't . . .

Izana later comes across with Mitsuhide . . .

He says that Zen had brought home something troublesome. But Mitsuhide tells him that he thinks that he's the cause on why that happened.

Meanwhile, let's see how Raji's doing:

He's having stomachaches and his driving him insane!!!! Bwahahahaha!
But he doesn't want to go to see a doctor because he might meet Shirayuki!

He tried, but he still met her:

Funniest reunion ever!

Raji couldn't think straight anymore. When he saw pills with Shirayuki, he thinks they were meant for him. He forcefully takes the medicine from her but . . .

She takes them off from him with an evil glare! Wahahaha! Even Raji's attendants got freaked out from Shirayuki's evil look! Hahahaha!

Shirayuki informs him that what he tried to drink was medicine for wounds, not for diseases. Haha! Idiot Raji almost got himself poisoned. Haha!

She later lectures him that he needs to become more responsible as a prince of her mother country. That got into Raji.

When Raji left, Izana shows up saying he saw the whole thing.

Izana's shipping raji x Shirayuki again. Haha! But Shirayuki tells him that she ain't going back to her home country.

Izana tries to intimidate her . . .

And it totally doesn't work on her . . .

So he plays with her instead . . .

I wish Zen had seen this

I totally didn't expect that from Izana but anyway . . .

That was seriously a stupid tactic to make Shirayuki freak out (I've seen this done with so many shoujo mangas already). But well, Izana just wanted to do anything to make Shirayuki dislike him too much that she wouldn't be able to stand being with her.

But well, of course she felt uneasy, but of course she didn't give in either:

Her love for Zen is just too strong . . .

Izana remembers that Zen had said something similar . . .

Haha! I think Izana actually approves of Shirayuki. He finds her interesting and strong. He just doesn't want her to become a distraction to Zen (of course his brother is more important than whoever~ Ohohohohoho)

Now we say goodbye to Raji:

And he's kinda disappointed that Shirayuki didn't see him off. Haha! I think he's starting to seriously like her. It might become a love triangle if that happens, yes, but at least they haven't been the typical love triangle (wherein the third party had the undying one-sided love since the very beginning. It's not really bad but it's jsut sooooo overused in shoujo manga. And Prince Raji was totally not like that.).

Afterwards, Zen hears about Shirayuki and Raji's meeting (Of course he's not happy. Well, any guy being with Shirayuki doesn't make him happy. Haha!)

Kiki actually already knew about it . . . but perhaps she didn't want to spoil the moment. Haha!

So that's it for Chapter 10.

I love it that even characters from earlier chapters get to return in later ones. This series isn't exactly episodic wherein we just forget about the characters that appeared previously since "the issue was over". It had been very nice to see more of Raji. I appreciate him more now that before.
I also really like it that this series had some magic to make its characters so likable later no matter how much of a jerk they have been earlier. I'm referring to Prince Raji and Prince Izana. Raji had been a huge bastard in the earlier chapters, but when the issue was reconciled, he's not exactly a no-good prince. He's still dorky though, but that just made him more adorable and thus, so likable! Haha! I think the author also likes him that I've seen several Raji arts at the mangaka's blog. As for Prince Izana, earlier it only seemed that he just wants to make Zen's life miserable and he's an evil prince, but he turned out to be wise and very noble. But he still has some childish side and likes to play around by teasing people. And from here I believe it's obvious that he values his brother a lot, no matter how much he's being strict to him. The same goes for Zen. He may be annoyed with his older brother's attitude, but he recognizes his brother's great qualities and highly respects the guy. When it comes to stories with two princes, I often encounter those who fight for the throne. I'm relieved that the princely brothers here are the types that support each other.
Lastly, I really love the romance in this series. Well, yes, I still complain that they're still not canon even if they're already so obvious. But at least there hadn't been too much blushing, and it's actually enough for them to be together (unlike others who.just.want.more.). That must've been why they still try to act that they're just best friends and their love is just platonic. But of course Zen obviously doesn't just love Shirayuki in a platonic way. He's so obvious!!!! And he's not even aware of how obvious he is! Hahaha! As for Shirayuki, she's not exactly naive, but it just seems that she still sees Zen as her best friend, but a VERY VERY IMPORTANT friend . . . or to be exact, the most important person to her.
I really love how they show how much they care about each other. They're so the same~ And I find it really sweet that their romantic moments mostly consist of hugs and hand holdings. Those actions, in my humble opinion, are much more romantic than kisses and eeerr . . . sexual actions. Haha! Not that I don't want to see Zen and Shirayuki kiss . . . but there's really more love in the embraces~ Hehe. And the greatest thing about their love? There's going to be challenges. It's definitely not going to be easy for a commoner to become close to someone of royalty. THAT makes this series such a fairy tale. Aaaaw~

Oh I freakin' love this manga. I can't wait for the next chapter! Hooray!