Title: Rainbows After Storms Vol. 7
Author: Luka Kobachi
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 163
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance, Yuri
Publication Date: December 9, 2025
The Story
The school class trip is over, but not without one more incident! While Chidori and Nanoha made up, the problem of bathing together with their class made things a bit unsettling for Chidori. She finally works up the courage to do it, but then Nanoha accidentally bumps into her boob, causing quite a bit of embarrassment.
With the trip over, we shift gears to Mai, who takes up the majority of the volume. She is torn between staying in the literature club and going back to the basketball club, despite her injury. Her indecision stems from the fact that she’s still in love with Nanoha, but she clearly knows her secret of dating Chidori. She doesn’t want to do anything to come between them, so running away is the best solution that she can come up with… that is, until she can’t take it anymore and confesses everything to Chidori!
Given how the two of them have talked on a serious level before, they talk some more, and Chidori gets Mai to realize that she can’t keep running away from her problem… even if telling Nanoha how she feels might destroy her relationship. That was awfully bold of Chidori to suggest that, but it gets Mai to realize that she needs to end things properly. Mai makes her decision, and the remainder of the volume is the fallout of said decision, followed by a few episodic chapters.
Characters
Before we get to Mai, Nanoha, and Chidori still get a bit flustered around one another when it comes to their relationship. The incident where Nanoha brushed up against her boob in the bath was something that she couldn’t get off her mind… for all the right reasons! Even still, Chidori was clearly embarrassed by it and wanted her to forget it ever happened. This is cute, but also a bit confusing, as they also like to spend every waking moment together. Plus, when Chidori worries that their relationship could end if Mai confesses to Nanoha, I think her girlfriend copping an accidental feel should be the least of her concerns. This just shows that Chidori still has a lot of confidence to build for herself before she can be comfortable with her relationship.
Now we have Mai. Of course, we knew that Mai had a crush on Nanoha since the introduction of her character, but I thought that things would have been drawn out a bit longer with her. I never expected her to spill the beans this early about how she knew the two of them were dating, but I’m also surprised she spilled the beans to Chidori of all people. Maybe it was that connection she had with her through their advice talks that made her comfortable in choosing her, but in doing so, it caused Chidori even more anxiety… something that she already has a tough time handling.
The whole point of Mai’s development, though, was to get her to realize that she can’t keep running away from the issue. She needed to strengthen herself and confront things. She also needed to stop lying to herself about not wanting to go back to playing basketball. She is wrestling with those feelings and worked through them appropriately; however, it leaves me wondering where her character goes from here. Does she get relegated to the back burner, becoming just a background character? Will she find love with someone else? Aside from an occasional appearance, I can’t imagine her being used for anything significant from here on out. I could be wrong, but that’s part of the reason why I was surprised they resolved this plot point so quickly.
Final Thoughts
Despite the quick conclusion to Mai’s art, there was some very solid character development to be had here. Although I wish that it had come a bit later so we could enjoy this three-way dynamic a bit more, I do have to give credit where credit is due. In more romance series, the third wheel gets introduced and tries to pursue the main character, only to fail because it was painfully obvious that they were never meant to be together. Here, we have the third wheel realizing it from the get-go and taking themselves out of contention immediately. You don’t often see that level of self-awareness, so perhaps it was best to get it over with quickly rather than leaving it to drag on for a bit longer. Still, it doesn’t quell any concerns that Mai, as a character, has nothing left to offer… at least within a predictable window. We’re just over the halfway point of this series, so there are still opportunities to be had… if she’s not on back burner duty from here on out.
The other moments with Nanoha and Chidori were cute… especially in the episodic chapters that closed out the volume. Silent communication through tracing things on Chidori’s back was cute, but it kind of goes against something that was said in the previous chapters… about how their relationship is kind of obvious once you realize what’s going on. So, they completely ignored Mai’s advice and still resorted to doing things in public that would suggest that they are more than friends. At this point, they might as well just get on the school’s P.A. system and announce it to everyone. It would save them a whole heap of trouble, and I highly doubt that, outside of a few key characters, anyone would truly care. But yeah… keep doing your PDAs… someone else is bound to find out, and maybe they can drop the whole secret thing. We’ll see.
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
