muse ✨'s manga / #one-sided love(5)

On a rainy afternoon, Mio is caught borrowing an umbrella hanging on a doorknob and befriends Yugi, an alluring but standoffish college student that Mio comes to love. But Yugi is hung up on love for his friend Tachibana, who has been his partner for four years, with the understanding that after college, he'll go home to marry his girlfriend. Mio begs for Yugi's attention but is rejected. Four years later, they're reunited through work. Mio wonders if this is his second chance but discovers that Yugi is still being strung along by Tachibana. Junko understands the human heart: how it can continue to love even in the wake of tremendous pain, how it cannot be told who to love - or when to stop.

Rin convinces Haru to confess to the person he loves, which leads to Haru kissing him and Rin being confused. I read this as one-sided love on Haru's part, and Rin being willing to go along with it in the moment for Haru's sake. It was bittersweet for me.

A young actor becomes fascinated with his gay co-star and develops a crush, only to coerce him into sex in order to get past it. He's thoroughly rejected afterwards. He dates someone else to try and move past it, but his feelings don't catch up to his lover's, and he's left wishing he could get over his co-star -- although it's impossible when the co-star begins to express an interest in him. I honestly wish our hero had come to love Katagiri. One scene aside, their relationship was above board, loving, and supportive. I had a suspicion the co-stars would end up together, and I was right. I don't mind the ending - you love who you love - but I think he would've been happier with Katagiri in the long run. This story deals the pain of one-sided love and the graciousness of the one in love to wish happiness on the other person. I hope the boyfriend finds someone to love him back.

Gou has been in love with Taki, his work partner, since they met. But Taki is straight and while he loves Gou, he can't imagine being physical with him. Plus, they're fantastic work partners called snatchers who follow clues to find drugs and turn them into the police. This story takes our heroes through several cases and navigates their incredible sexual tension. Toward the end, the story became too dramatic for my liking, but I was already invested in the characters and kept reading. I'm glad they got a happy ending.

A man with an vibrant imagination crushes so hard on a hot delivery guy that he drains his bank account ordering stuff just to see him. Imagine his shock when, after ordering some adult materials, his neighbor confesses to working for the company - and knows what was in his order. Embarrassing! But the two become friends, and we are treated to a bit of a love triangle before our hero realizes that fantasy isn't all it's cracked up to be.