Renai-rubi no Tadashii Furikata
Two fantastic stories with flawed, imperfect characters. The first pair, Hiro and Natsuo, were once classmates in high school. Hiro was painfully introverted and insecure about himself while Natsuo was a flashy delinquent with terrible fashion sense. Hiro felt intimidated by the puppy like delinquent and blamed him for ruining his school life. Years later they meet at the workplace of the totally madeover Hiro and he plans for some long dreamt of revenge. This pair were adorable but it was hard to watch Natsuo get hurt by Hiro’s plot. My heart hurt in empathy. The second couple, almond eyed and intimidating Hayashida and flashy and popular Shuuna were sex friends. Hayashida was closed off to forming a close, emotional bond because of his history of violence in his younger years. But Shuuna wanted to make the man he was falling for feel free to laugh again in his presence. This story was so good because the MC was a flawed character and basically hated himself for his previous actions. It was good to see that the full seriousness of his actions were something he acknowledged and condemned, but I was still happy he found someone to love.
Hoshi to Harinezumi