Chapter 4

Autumn finds Tohru joining Kyo, Arisa, and Saki for a game of cards at school. Kyo's confidence curdles once Arisa needles him about his skill, and while he stews, Yuki is elsewhere gently rejecting a girl and stopping her from embracing him.

Arisa carries the game as Yuki looks on, and the defeated Kyo is left cleaning the classroom, waving off Tohru's offer to help. Spoiling for a fight, he goes after Yuki only to be put down at once, and he strains not to take his frustration out on Tohru.

After work Yuki comes to walk Tohru home, but when she bumps into him he changes into his rat form. On the way back he confesses that living under Akito and the rest of the family felt like a prison when all he wanted was a normal life. He envies how people warm to Kyo despite his dislike of strangers, and it grates on him that Kyo craves a place among the zodiac.

Home again, Yuki heads out into pouring rain to tend his vegetable garden, telling Tohru she is kind for helping, which stirs her mother's wish that she grow into someone others can rely on. Kyo, meanwhile, is disgusted to be served leek, a food he detests, and the chapter ends as a girl introducing herself as Kagura appears at the door.

Arisa beats Kyo at cards and wounds his pride, leading to another one-sided loss against Yuki. Walking Tohru home, Yuki transforms and opens up about feeling caged by Akito and the family and his envy of Kyo. The chapter closes on the sudden arrival of Kagura Sohma.

The fourth chapter of Volume 1 and the fourth of the series, this installment lists its page count as undetermined and is drawn by Natsuki Takaya. Kyo Sohma appears on the cover, and a flashback features Tohru's mother, Kyoko Honda.