In case you got confused I guess

I decided to make a summary because I liked the story but saw some people saying they were confused. I assumed the part that confused people was that the manga had a lot of flashbacks, though I could be wrong and maybe it’s the fantasy elements that confuse people? Anyway, I hope this helps (=・ω・=)


Main story in a few words:
Hirako gets hired to work part time in the Suzushima Appraisal and Research Company, he meets the president and Uozumi, he gets involved in supernatural stuff, meets Tenkaji, more supernatural stuff happens, and then Tenkaji and Hirako become a couple(?)


Main characters:
Chisa Hirako -protagonist, has light hair and a soft face
Uozumi -works for the company, wears gaudy shirts and colored lenses, has pointy teeth
Suzushima -president of the company, wears glasses
Tenkaji Otohiko -dark haired kid with almond shaped eyes
Inumaru -Girl dog with a boy dog name lol


More about the characters and the backstories that are told through flashbacks all over the manga:

-Hirako’s main thing is that his soul is special(?). The superstition says that if a baby hasn’t been named when there's thunder, his soul will be stolen, and that’s why his grandma did various things in order to protect him. He was given two names, he wasn’t told his real name and he was dressed like a girl when he was little*. The reasoning behind the particularities of his naming is that, according to some cultures, if you know someone’s name, you can get to and therefore steal their soul**, so by having two names and not revealing the real one he is able to disguise himself and not get captured. This also has the effect of making Hirako appear, to the eyes of whoever sees him, like someone else who is special to them. This generally means people are kind towards Hirako but don’t pay much attention to him as a person (though it can also backfire like it did several times throughout the manga).
*If you have read Kimetsu no Yaiba, it’s similar to how the boys of the boss’s clan are dressed as girls in order to try to evade the curse/illness that the family carries
**If you have seen Spirited Away (in Japanese Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), the thing with the name is similar to how Yubaba gained power over her workers by stealing their names from them.

-Uozumi is a mermaid, he has scales on his lower back and his sex was supposed to be determined by whoever had sex with him first*. He was rescued from a freak show, where he most likely would have been forced to be a prostitute, by a kind man who also happened to be some sort of unspecified sex worker. He met Suzushima when they were both kids and has apparently liked him ever since. He is also revealed to be the one that gave Hirako the name Chisa when he was passing by with the man who raised him, while said man was the one that gave Hirako his real (secret) name.
*Just stating it as it is in the manga, I don’t really know much about Japanese mermaids, so I can’t really explain it

-Suzushima is the president of the company and Uozumi’s boyfriend/partner/husband (I don’t know how to name their relationship lol) He was treated rather coldly by his family and was sent to live with his grandmother for a period of time, but he then was sent away again to live with a man he didn’t know (and Uozumi). He later realized that that man was actually his biological father.

-Tenkaji is a boy who Hirako supposedly met while working. He has some magical powers, like the serpent he uses to protect Hirako a couple of times. His family used to make curses, but his parents didn’t want to continue with that tradition. He actually met Hirako when they were both children for a short period of time, but he left a strong impression on him and thus Tenkaji never forgot him.
+Hirako thought that he was a tengu at first, and it gets mentioned once again towards the end. I don’t really know if that’s the case, but I’m inclined to think it isn’t. (Look up tengu if you're curisous, it's not so important as for me to explain)


Summary of the stories that happen in the current time the manga is set:

-First story (chapter 1): Hirako is sent to investigate a camera that took a photo of an apparently empty chair. The guy that took the original picture tries to steal Hirako’s soul with said camera and keep it in a picture like he had done so before to the client that had requested for the investigation, though Hirako’s soul can’t be captured due to its special qualities. The camera guy turns out to be a demon who apparently was in love with the client. After he gets confronted by the client, the camera guy tells him that he did so because he didn't want him to go to a marriage interview.
*I just assume its a play on how people did use to believe that cameras stole people’s soul

-Second story (chapters 2, 3 and 4): Hirako is sent to retrieve a vase but a man switches it for another one. The vase contains a curse* that had been sealed by Tenkaji’s family, but had been leaking and getting weaker with time. The guy who made the curse tries to make Hirako break the seal and devour his soul so he can see the person who’s tooth he used for the curse once again (and so he can get back the tooth which was in itself something important to him). Hirako gets grazed by the evil that was in the vase, but everything’s fine in the end. The guy who created the curse is also able to see his important person once again.
+The same guy had tried to get the thing to attack Hirako in the past, but his soul escaped. It was able to come back to Hirako’s body because he remembered a promise he had made to Tenkaji.
*I think it comes up if you look up kodoku

-Third story (chapter 5): Hirako and the president go to investigate a supposed mermaid, but it turns out not to be a real one. As Hirako exits with his shirt opened, Tenkaji sees him and assumes the worst lol.
+The flashback in which we learn about Uozumi and Suzushima’s past makes up most of this chapter

-Fourth story (chapters 6 and 7): A classmate gets obsessed with Hirako because he reminds him of a girl he once was obsessed with. In the past, like many stalkers, he had deluded himself into thinking that acts of politeness meant the girl had feelings for him, and later tried assaulting the girl. After stealing Hirako’s notebook, trying to get him on a leave from uni, and trying to set fire to Hirako’s apartment, he then tries to force himself on Hirako. Hirako manages to escape with the help of some magic that Tenkaji had placed on him. Hirako runs and encounters future Tenkaji*, who helps him by inflicting some type of curse/spell on the stalker’s eyes. Hirako is able to get back to his time/reality, while the stalker, unable to let go of his obsession, gets trapped somewhere else/disappears.
*Don’t expect much of an explanation, time and space are perceived by some cultures to be interconnected in a non strictly linear manner (similarly to how it’s presented in Your name, for example)


Hirako’s and Tenkaji’s relationship timeline:

-Hirako and Tenkaji first meet when they are children and meet once again when Hirako is transporting the cursed vase.
-Hirako doesn’t seem to remember Tenkaji, but he seems to think he looks familiar.
-Tenkaji’s “special person image” that is shown is Hirako himself when he was little, but this is only revealed later when the flashbacks show Hirako dressed as a girl.
-Tenkaji thinks Hirako has just had sex when he sees him in chapter 5 and he is shown to be upset, but he still takes time to help Hirako button his shirt before running away from him.
-Tenkaji tells Hirako that he likes him in chapter 6, but Hirako neither accepts nor rejects him properly
-Hirako gets jealous when he sees Tenkaji with other friends, but doesn't realize what his feelings are
-Uozumi helps Hirako see that he has been thinking about Tenkaji, even if Hirako generally doesn’t pay much attention to other people, because he in fact likes him.
-After Hirako realizes he likes Tenkaji, he wants to know his real self by getting to know the name that was never revealed to him.
-Hirako encounters future Tenkaji.
-Future Tenkaji tells Hirako his real name, and claims Hirako himself revealed it to him.
-We see a glimpse of Tenkaji and Hirako as a couple in the future (cute cute).
-Hirako returns to the past and learns his name with the man that raised Uozumi (it’s the same as the one future Tenkaji told him).
-Hirako tells Tenkaji his real name.
-They become a couple.
-They have a little date in the extra (Inumaru looks like a girl here).


General events timeline (with little to no detail):

-Uozumi gets rescued by Suzushima’s biological father
-Suzushima and Uozumi meet
-Suzushima and Uozumi get separated
-Hirako is born
-Hirako gets his name from Uozumi and the man who raised him
-Hirako and Tenkaji meet
*Time unclear between Hirako being born and him being hired, Uozumi and Suzushima reunite
-Hirako is hired by Suzushima
-Hirako goes to his first job (camera)
-Hirako goes to his second job (vase)
-Hirako meets Tenkaji again
-Hirako picks up Inumaru
-Hirako gets rescued from vase guy and remembers Tenkaji
-Hirako goes to third job (mermaid)
-Hirako gets attacked by classmate
-Hirako gets confessed to by Tenkaji
-Hirako gets attacked again
-Hirako is saved by future Tenkaji
-Hirako learns his real name
-Hirako and Tenkaji become a couple
-Hirako and Tenkaji go on a date
*Some time in the future Hirako and Tenkaji do be fucking


Sorry it ended up being a bit long. Lmk if I got anything wrong.

*****Obligatory English is not my first language pls don’t be mean*****