Movie date! Can't wait to see how that goes. I'm also wondering if maybe volleyball girl is going to learn anything about Sakura when visiting her school; we don't really know anything about Sakura other than that she likes books, so I'm curious to see what's going on at her school.

It sure feels like the author is setting up something of a confrontation between Sakura and the friend... Neither is the violent type but it's pretty clear some teenage frustration is starting to build up, I wonder how the author will handle that in such an easygoing manga tone wise.Takamine is doing nothing wrong here but jealousy doesn't always listen to reason!

Girl has nobody to blame but herself. I don't have much to offer in the way of sympathy when a character loses out on the person they have a crush on cause they don't have the courage to say something.

First date... hehehhe FueeeHEHeHeHehEhe ah! this feeling, like I'm an evil spirit on the walls watching something too precious, I'm sure I'll be exorcised soon

I didn't expect to learn some German deodorant marketing lore in a manga like this xD I've seen this Deo in the store before and wondered about it's name, but personally I'm more of a Garnier Mineral kinda gal~

last edited at Sep 5, 2023 10:31AM

Adorable. Light, sweet, and refreshing but still filling. It feels like my tainted soul is being cleaned by a cool breeze in the summer. Precious, pure, and just plain nice. I am reminded of everything good in the world once again.

Hirose sustained some significant damage, and she's in denial. Big fucking oof for our girl here. Man, the way she just fucking died on page 10; painfully relatable. She will obviously play an important role, but I don't think I've seen the way this sort of "role" she'll have is built before, and I like it. I also think the other friend, I believe her name is Hatori, who I now promote over Hirose to be the perceptive one of the trio, will play an important role. I'm inclined to believe she might have feelings for Hirose.

But more importantly, I'm excited like a little kid before Christmas or something for the movie date. As Serenata's comment above very accurately describes, I've been grinning on and off and giggling like a gremlin. Page 17 was the fucking cutest with the "see you tomorrow" transition. So, so good. I'm loving it. This is definitely one of my most anticipated series right now, and I'm very, very much looking forward to the next chapters and seeing how things shape out.

last edited at Sep 5, 2023 11:08AM

She will obviously play an important role, but I don't think I've seen the way this sort of "role" she'll have is built before, and I like it.

Yeah there's a lot that can be done with her and it does seem like the author intends to treat her with some nuance. She doesn't seem antagonistic and it feels like her conflicts will remain largely psychological and internal. Doesn't seem like she was aware of how she felt about things before and this new relationship has forced her to confront the reality. She's essentially another major character rather than an obstacle. Really liked getting her perspective and am increasingly anticipating her focus more and more.

last edited at Sep 5, 2023 1:23PM

Oh boy, here comes the good old "I had a crush on my friend and never said it and now she has a crush on someone else!"
But so far she looks the type to just suffer in silence and not bother the main couple. Works for me.

Hirose sustained some significant damage, and she's in denial. Big fucking oof for our girl here. Man, the way she just fucking died on page 10; painfully relatable. She will obviously play an important role, but I don't think I've seen the way this sort of "role" she'll have is built before, and I like it. I also think the other friend, I believe her name is Hatori, who I now promote over Hirose to be the perceptive one of the trio, will play an important role. I'm inclined to believe she might have feelings for Hirose.

But more importantly, I'm excited like a little kid before Christmas or something for the movie date. As Serenata's comment above very accurately describes, I've been grinning on and off and giggling like a gremlin. Page 17 was the fucking cutest with the "see you tomorrow" transition. So, so good. I'm loving it. This is definitely one of my most anticipated series right now, and I'm very, very much looking forward to the next chapters and seeing how things shape out.

Hinata and Hatori read as straight for me, although it's early enough that it's possible one of them will have feelings for Hirose for extra "drama".

These characters are more emotionally constipated than me and that's saying something

Oh my god we get to see them in casual clothes on a date, I can't wait!

Hirose feels like she wants Takamine to be someone else instead of accepting who she is. That was never going to end in anything but tears.

Good on the other two for picking up on the vibe that neither Takamine nor Sakura have realised and gracefully bowing out!

Surprising levels of acceptance from her friends about same-sex dating. Refreshing to see.

Awww, movie date for sweeties.

Date chapter next yayy

I actually really like Hirose. She's so grounded. We can't really blame her for not realizing her feelings until now since she seems to be focused on volleyball. That's also a pretty good reason to be in a bit of denial since complicated feelings can get in the way of your goals. And even when she was detecting some of her feelings coming through, she still gave the best advice to give the MCs space. Her immediate awareness that Takamine and Sakura are in the stage where they want to get to know each other better is pretty impressive. Like hellooooo, this girl is an absolute green flag.

Unfortunately, I'm not rooting for her to end up with MC but I'd love to see more of her.

last edited at Sep 7, 2023 2:45PM

Poly! Poly! Poly!

Surprising levels of acceptance from her friends about same-sex dating. Refreshing to see.

So from my perspective and experience in high school (America, not Japan - the manga here is of course fiction), I personally agree with you. However, I'm closer to 40 than 30, and in my conversations with my siblings' kids and even young adults in their 20s, same sex dating (or other variations) are much more common - or even the conversations are openly held comfortably, maybe depending on location - but certainly more than when I was growing up. I was quite surprised by this in reality.

I really hope the first volume will do well enough to make it worth continuing for sensei and the editor (^^) Series that are quiet, introspective and fan service free tend to have a much harder time, but I want to believe !

Am I the only one who finds the goofy side characters with the cat smile absolutely adorable? It's so cute!

Wow! Has it really been a year?

...I'm inclined to believe she might have feelings for Hirose...

Hinata and Hatori read as straight for me, although it's early enough that it's possible one of them will have feelings for Hirose for extra "drama".

Yeah, my line there was in large part conjecture based on my knowledge of genre tropes and my read of potential flows of the story. When looking at both characters, I also read them as straight. That said, something about Hatori in particular screams at me that there's more than meets the eye, which is why I think she'll be important as well.

In any case, I love the extra being a peek into their backgrounds and into the other party's inner workings. Gives extra substance, weight, and context to what we've seen thus far, in my opinion, and I'm a big fan.

last edited at Sep 27, 2023 3:58PM

The jacket moment was the most romantic thing I’ve seen all week.

Takamine is so smooth. And pretty cute, with how disappointed she was not being able to see Sakura in her normal clothes.

Now let's just hope she hasn't caught the dreaded cold, or if she has, we at least get a chapter of Sakura visiting her.

Takamine will really make Sakura fall for her now with the jacket thing and being all knightly like that ;) I wouldn't be surprised if we learn that Sakura got a bit scared/self conscious and went to the date in her uniform on purpose though.