Sound the morning bell because the teachers are going on a field trip. From taking on a familiar face to going shopping in the heart of hitman central, Rita and the gang band together for the hardest job of all: Parents’ Day. With new hotties and notties entering the scene, will Rita find love in the streets of Tokyo, or will it be just another instant Ramen for one? Find out next in Kindergarten Wars Volume 4.
Trouble, Make It a Double
Two new characters join the fray in this chapter following the events of the previous volume: Ashley and Sylvia. Leo left Rita behind to fend for herself against a heavily armored group of assassins in order to confront Doug and Hana. He figures if he has better odds against them than he does against his own sister, and by him we mean his subordinate Ashley, who is unabashedly submissive towards Leo and would just completely melt when receiving praise from him. She’s an absolute terror and destruction with her mace chain weapon, but what really makes you wonder is that if she’s so powerful, why didn’t Leo let her take on his sister Rita? Could it be that Rita’s too powerful, while Doug and Hana were more her speed? Or did he pull her away to protect her?
He shows no attraction towards her as of yet, but we wouldn’t rule out the possibility of something more between them. Not much is known yet about Sylvia other than she, too, is an inmate/teacher of Kindergarten Noir. A former smuggler, partnered with Luke, is now in the midst of an intense battle with Leo while Doug and Hana handle Ashley. Almost immediately, her thoughts dwell on Luke and his “fighting figure”, so who knows how this could play out between those two.
Parents’ Day
Rita breaks away from the armored assassins and rejoins the rest of the gang already battling it out with Leo and Ashley. Still unwilling to combat a member of his family, both Leo and Ashley retreat and vow to take them on again another time. However, it turns out it does not go so well for the gang if they let any adversary get away. Principal Erina may be displeased with the outcome, despite almost losing her entire teaching staff to two elite assassins, but she shrugs it off in order to allow them to prepare for the hardest mission they’ve ever faced together: Parents’ Day.
The problem speaks for itself; the whole point of this school is to protect the children separate from their parents, influential people who ought to be much higher-valued targets, but are now being brought together in one place; it’s going to turn the school into a warzone. And by letting the ringleader of the assassins get away, Leo’s bound to go after them in full force. The school needed provisions for the impending battle, so they devised a plan to make their way to Central Tokyo, unbeknownst to them, to be a central hub world for hired guns.
Caught Between a Cop and a Conman
When most of the team left to prepare for the trip downtown, Rita and Luke left alone with each other in the nurse’s office, a setting in many shoujo manga that Rita misinterpreted as something that may have happened on purpose. She figured this was her chance to bag a boyfriend out of Luke, only for him to reveal to her that he already had a girlfriend. Defeated before she even began, Rita had to cut her losses and get back to work. Gordon, the resident nurse, knew the real truth about Luke’s relationship status and asked why he lied. Luke reveals to Gordon a bit about his past; why he was incarcerated and for whom. Sometimes, the pain of loss can still linger in some men for a long time.
Rita and Doug have been in constant proximity since the beginning of their time here at Kindergarten Noir. Rita, knowing full well of Doug’s criminal record as well as his smoking, gambling, smuggling, womanizing, lying, cheating, stealing, and probably poor taste in ramen, has already passed judgment on him. They pass each other in the hallway when Rita trips on her own carelessness, thinking about Doug and how he’s no good. He tries to break her fall, but both of them end up falling down stairs and manage to break each other’s fall, with their lips. A moment’s mistake sends them both flying for cover. Doug reminisces about his past life, revealing how he vowed to always be alone to avoid getting hurt, while Rita freaks out about how Doug managed to steal one last thing from her: her first kiss. Regardless of how innocent the incident was, both are now at odds on what it meant to them; could it lead to something more, or should they just let it go and move on?
Don’t Bring a Kindergartener to Gun Fight
The plan was simple: The group rode off to Central Tokyo in the school bus, which would attract the assassins. Luke and Sylvia provide the diversion while Rita, Doug, and Hana ditch the bus and shop for supplies. What none of them were counting on was the one thing they didn’t need on their little field trip: Lyla. The most valued target is now in the middle of a huge company of killers ready to take all their heads. Leo wasted no time in hiring all of Central Tokyo to take out Rita and the gang, and now they have to protect Lyla as well as themselves without the aid of Luke and Sylvia for the time being.
Final Thoughts
Leo’s boss still remains a mystery, giving him the go-ahead to hire every assassin in all of Central Tokyo. As for the characters themselves, this isn’t just a love triangle anymore; it’s becoming a whole love complex polygon. As it stands, the current score is: Doug loves Rita, Hana either loves Doug or still thinks it’s a stomach bug, Sylvia loves Luke, Ashley loves Leo, Luke still holds on to the memory of his murdered lover, Leo might love Ashley or may be just manipulating her to get what he wants out of her, and Rita is still swinging out into the wind to any hottie that has good taste in ramen. The passion between Rita and Doug is on hold for now, but we wouldn’t count it out completely just yet.
And then there’s Sylvia; will she somehow make it with Luke, or become an obstacle for Rita if those two should cross paths over him? Lastly, exactly how deadly is Rita’s twin brother Leo? He clearly uses his brains over brawn, choosing not to fight her directly, so either he’s smart enough not to do the fighting unless absolutely necessary or he’s not one to fight family unless he has no other choice. He may be in charge in the field, but hey, he’s not the one footing the bill on hired help. Let the expendables do all the fighting.
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