Maddies Manga

With Takasugi insisting they keep their relationship hidden from their coworkers, will they really last? It’s only a matter of time before this office romance is revealed to everyone.

You can check out volume three of this series for yourself below!

My thoughts on this volume (Spoilers!)

While this is by far the most tame romance series in my collection, I am still enjoying it for the most part! “Just how tame is it?” you may be wondering? The two of them sit next to each other on a park bench, and it’s an incredibly big deal. That tame. There is a lot of cuteness to be found in Takasugi and Tsutsumi’s relationship. Takasugi has clearly had feelings for Tsutsumi from the start, but as her superior at work he finds himself unable to fully express himself. Likewise Tsutsumi has clearly liked Takasugi for a long time now, but she doesn’t realize that Takasugi likes her back.

This misunderstanding did start to cause me some grief—”just start dating already!” I would yell at the book. Thankfully, in this volume there is a confession! As if to answer my frustrations, there is finally some relationship progress. Not all progress is good progress though, as the factors that were keeping Takasugi from expressing his feelings in the first place are still at play. How does he combat these obstacles? By hiding the relationship, of course. This is unfortunately one of my least favourite tropes, as it felt like he was almost embarrassed to be seen with Tsutsumi.

On their one and only date of the volume, he wears a comically large trucker hat. When Tsutsumi questions his fashion choice, he admits that it’s a disguise so that hopefully should someone he knows walk by, they won’t recognize him. Tsutsumi believes he is embarrassed to be seen with her due to her childish appearance, and just…accepts it? She has a whole internal monologue where she agrees that she does look too childish, and that she too would be a little embarrassed to be seen on a date with herself.

This volume sadly ends with this misunderstanding still lingering in the air. I can only hope things get resolved soon, and that Takasugi can get over himself. While I like the fact that he is trying to keep their workplace peaceful for the both of them, there’s no way that he can actually believe that hiding the relationship doesn’t cause Tsutsumi any harm. You can’t be depicted as a very observant character, and miss one of the most obvious cause of stress in your own girlfriend! I don’t accept it!