It’s the annual class trip, and Azusa is assigned to the same group as Atsumu and Kuze. While the three of them enjoy the sights in Kyoto, someone repeatedly attempts to harm Azusa. It isn’t long before Karino, Azusa’s knight in tarnished armor, comes to the rescue. The two spend the rest of the trip alone together, with their relationship undergoing a major change! -- VIZ Media
It’s a cruel game where the card you possess determines your class rank. Azusa has the king, the most powerful of the cards, which allows him to rule his class however ruthlessly he chooses. But all bets are off when Azusa gets double-crossed, shattering his pride as he drops to target, the lowest of the ranks. Now bullied by the very people he himself mistreated, Azusa is given a choice—become the new king’s plaything...or service the entire class! -- VIZ Media
Today’s top could be tomorrow’s bottom when playing the caste game! School is hard enough as it is, but when students are forced to play a cutthroat game to determine their social ranks—and subsequent treatment—all bets are off. Karino’s older half brother Tatsumi is a proper honor student, diligently and obediently following the path laid out for him by others. But after he unexpectedly falls for eccentric Senzaki, he takes a surprising detour by unscrupulously securing the delinquent caste for himself. Senzaki accepts Tatsumi’s feelings with reckless abandon, expecting him to do the same. But is Tatsumi willing to forge a new path to be with the impetuous Senzaki?
"Readers will be captivated by this beautifully written novel about young people who must use their instincts and grit to survive. Padma infuses her story with hope and bravery that will inspire readers."--Aisha Saeed, author of the New York Times Bestseller Amal Unbound Four determined homeless children make a life for themselves in Padma Venkatraman's stirring middle-grade debut. Life is harsh on the teeming streets of Chennai, India, so when runaway sisters Viji and Rukku arrive, their prospects look grim. Very quickly, eleven-year-old Viji discovers how vulnerable they are in this uncaring, dangerous world. Fortunately, the girls find shelter--and friendship--on an abandoned bridge that's also the hideout of Muthi and Arul, two homeless boys, and the four of them soon form a family of sorts. And while making their living scavenging the city's trash heaps is the pits, the kids find plenty to take pride in, too. After all, they are now the bosses of themselves and no longer dependent on untrustworthy adults. But when illness strikes, Viji must decide whether to risk seeking help from strangers or to keep holding on to their fragile, hard-fought freedom.
Another summer has passed, and fall’s arrival brings with it the excitement of the school’s culture festival! It’s fun event after fun event, with Karino and Azusa cosplaying, Kuze joining a band, and Atsumu discovering his feminine side. But while everyone is enjoying themselves, third-year eccentric Eno is cooking up a dastardly plan! Just how long can Karino protect Azusa from someone so bent on revenge? -- VIZ Media
Today’s top could be tomorrow’s bottom when playing the caste game! School is hard enough as it is, but when students are forced to play a cutthroat game to determine their social ranks—and subsequent treatment—all bets are off. It’s a cruel game where the card you possess determines your class rank. Azusa has the king, the most powerful of the cards, allowing him to rule his class however ruthlessly he chooses. But all bets are off when Azusa is double-crossed, shattering his pride as he drops to target, the lowest of the ranks. Now bullied by the very people he himself mistreated, Azusa is given a choice—become the new king’s plaything…or service the entire class! Atsumu, a regular target of the school bullies, has had a rough life. But his luck changes when Kuze, the classmate he idolizes, helps him out during the caste game by giving him his jack card. Despite his reservations about Kuze’s true intentions, Atsumu can’t help but lose himself in the pleasures Kuze gives him. But will those pleasures come at a cost?
Today’s top could be tomorrow’s bottom when playing the caste game! School is hard enough as it is, but when students are forced to play a cutthroat game to determine their social ranks—and subsequent treatment—all bets are off. Ever since Karino betrayed him by dragging him off his kingly throne, dropping him to target, Azusa has sworn revenge. But as he’s planning his next move, he’s approached by shy geek Inugai, who’s taken a rather sudden—if odd—interest in photography. What are Inugai’s true motives? And is revenge really what Azusa seeks?
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep—the brash and beguiling Royal Thai Police Force detective who has been our guide through John Burdett’s five previous acclaimed Bangkok novels—is back. The former monk and devout Buddhist, forever battling to protect his karma from the assaults of morally compromising cases, is now faced with the most horrifying technological innovation to make its way to the streets of Bangkok, and a conspiracy of almost unfathomable reach. With Sonchai on this case is the young female inspector Krom. Like Sonchai, she’s an outsider on the police force, but unlike him, she is socially savvy and a technological prodigy. When they’re called to a demonstration—in the midst of a typhoon—of the deadly, superhuman strength of an American man who is seemingly controlled by a CIA operative, they have no idea what they’re actually witnessing or why. Their reliably obtuse and unequivocally crooked boss, Colonel Vikorn, explains some of it, but the most telling questions remain unanswered: Could the Americans have figured out a way to create a physically and psychologically enhanced supersoldier? Are they testing him—or it—on Thai soil? And why is everyone, from the Bangkok police to the international community, so eager to turn a blind eye? Searching for the answers to these questions, Sonchai and Krom find themselves in a remote Cambodian jungle compound for aging American ex-soldiers, where they will discover just how far a government will go to protect its worst secrets—both past and present. But the case will also have much more personal repercussions for Sonchai, shaking his world to its very foundation and perhaps finally forcing him to confront his long-lost American father.
