It's good to have a character like Maki for representation, someone who is so completely asexual/aromantic that there is no mistaking it. We then switch over to Sayaka for a while and get a pleasant (and needed) interlude between her and the cafe owner, followed by a welcome side story showing how the latter and Yuu’s teacher started dating.

growth/change (0-5): 2 - Touko really shows how much she's changed since the play, actually showing vulnerability around her school mates. Sayaka and Touko have their school trip where Sayaka takes her long awaited chance to tell Touko how she feels. Touko, sad about Yuu, actually shows that she's sad to others, and admits that she's depressed when they ask.Up through volume 5, Yuu really had been presented to the audience as aromantic/asexual, and her friendship with Maki who is also aromantic/asexual provided nice moments of pseudo exposition on it for the audience.

Even with the eventual outcome more than likely being a happy ending, the characters (and reader) are put through the wringer and it might be the isolation talking but it really moved me. But things don't go as planned, since Nanami instead of accepting Yuu's feelings just says "I'm sorry. Usually love triangles like this make me pretty frustrated, because I don't like to see girls suffering from rejection. That’s when Yuu sees the beautiful student council president Nanami turn down a suitor with such maturity and finesse that Yuu is inspired to ask her for advice. For anyone that’s looking for a good romance comic that defies expectations and is relatively chaste, Bloom Into You is a good choice.There's also the school trip for the 2nd years (Touko and Sayaka) where Sayaka finally confesses to Touko. From what I understand, it is entirely possible for someone who is aromantic and/or asexual to also love someone, whether that is because romantic and sexual feelings exist on a spectrum, or just because asexual and aromantic people can love, just in their own ways. Nice melodramatic teenage angst, like: the very first person I said "I love you" to didn't love me back so now there is no chance of me ever having love in my life, you know, EVER, even over the next 60+ years. LGBTQ+ representation (0-5): 2 - I'm going to give this some extra loving because of the flashback with Hakozaki-sensei and Miyako that really feels like adult lesbians that exist in the real world and not just fantasy yuri decontextualized from society.

Sayaka finally confesses, expressing to Touko that at first she might have fallen for the version of Touko that she created for others, but even after getting to know her, her feelings stayed the same. But when the next person to confess to Yuu is the alluring Nanami herself, has Yuu's shoujo romance finally begun? Just what changes can someone accept, even if they don't want those changes, but still adore the person? At first, Touko doesn’t respond, but the next time they are together she asks Sayaka about her feelings.That final bit I want to highlight is we get some nice stuff with Hakozaki-sensei and her girlfriend, Miyako.