I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #heartbreak(3)

A young man has a sexual relationship with his cram school teacher in order to explore the meaning of 'like' and 'love', never realizing that this teacher was in an intimate relationship with his regular high school teacher. His intervention provides a means for both teachers to connect with their feelings honestly. An exploration of emotional detachment and the toll it takes on the heart, rendered in beautiful line drawings by Yamagata Satomi.

A beautiful and realistic slow-paced story about Kido Yuusuke, a young gay man fresh off recent heartbreak, who tries to play it cool with the casual dating scene, but has the misfortune of "Grindr-ing" Kamiyama Kouki, whose own tragic past has made him a kind and considerate lover beyond the norm. What else can Yuusuke do except fall for him in a big way? But does the older Kouki even want those feelings from such a young and untested partner? The second story is also a sweet one about a gay man, with a history of being exploited by closeted homosexuals, who becomes flatmate with a straight man. Asou Mitsuaki's soft and very beautifully drawn pictures have a quality about them that reminds me of 19th-century European engravings.

Bittersweet stories about heartbreak and loss suffered post nubes lux, when one person within the friendship leaves the other in order to improve his life circumstances or livelihood, when the confession or command of the other becomes a sort of ironic exclamation point which makes a lie of that improvement. Excellent emotional tension, particularly in the first story.