This volume has the crazy date between Akiho and Iriya. Okay, maybe you can't call it a "date." We'll just call it "female bonding." The whole ordeal (yes, an appropriate word) is presented from Akiho's perspective. It's really interesting to learn what's going through her mind. Most of her expectations about Iriya are broken throughout the process and evetunally, they come to understand each other better. It's a beautiful story, really. Crazy beautiful. Iriya's "akanbe" towards Asaba the next day is priceless! Too bad it wasn't in the anime.
Thanks to Akiho's efforts, Iriya gets accepted into Asaba's gang, (Akiho, Asaba, Hanamura, Kiyomi, and Nishikubo), and they go bowling together, which causes her to forget to phone in once. Interestingly, in the anime, that whole thing is compressed away. The bowling story from this volume and the haircut story from volume 2 are actually on the Sonohara Denpa Shinbun Gougai CD (KDCA-0042). I didn't even know those stories were originally in the novel since I hadn't read the novel when I listened to the CD. No wonder I loved that CD.
This volume ends with Asaba running away with Iriya. In the anime, removal of the "bug" from Asaba's neck was treated fairly lightly. In fact, I think it was presented as if Iriya took it out for him. In the novel, Asaba does it himself and by himself. It's quite traumatic. On one hand, I think it actually makes more sense for Iriya to do it because she should be much better prepared, both mentally and physically, to perform the procedure. On the other hand, that would go against the current mental state Iriya is in. She really needed to depend on Asaba for everything at that moment in order for the whole story to make sense, a dramatic sense, that is. I love both the anime and the novel, so I'm not actually complaining about anything.
There is another extra chapter at the end that lets us get to know Suizenji better. It's interesting and entertaining at the same time. It also makes me wish his older sister was featured in the anime ;)
