Maddies Manga

Would things have played out differently had Yui not moved away with her mom all those years ago? Seeing photos of Hayato and Ritsu getting along while in middle school has her feelings left out. Will making new memories with the two of them make up for lost time?

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Author

This series was written by Yoko Nogiri. X

Some other notable series by the same author are: That Wolf-Boy Is Mine!, and Those Not-So-Sweet Boys.

Genre & Tropes

High school romance, drama, love triangle.

Info about this series (complete)

This series is complete in Japanese at seven volumes. It will be getting an official English print soon!

TL;DR rating

I really enjoyed this volume! I find this author to be very skilled at writing about complex relationships and feelings. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next volume…

My thoughts on this volume (spoilers!)

There was another big secret revealed in this volume: Hayato knows that he and Yui aren’t actually siblings. It seems like no one knows that he knows, so he’s doing his best to continue acting like a normal big brother. So… everyone knows the truth except for Yui! When will the poor girl be put out of her misery?

We learn Hayato’s secret together with Ritsu, and from there Ritsu begins really struggling. He’s in a pretend relationship with Yui because of her dubious feelings for who she believes to be her older brother… Hayato acts a little closer than a normal brother would with Yui because he’s trying too hard to be a good brother… and the only person who knows everyone’s secrets and thus can call them out on them is poor Ritsu.

While the strange relationship between Yui and Hayato will probably turn a lot of people away from the story, I found the author was able to depict it rather tastefully. After not seeing him for many years, of course she’s a bit uncomfortable and unfamiliar around him. With him trying to act as the world’s most dependable, slightly overbearing brother, of course she can only see him in the most positive light. She fully understands that her feelings of admiration has gone above the appropriate level, and enlists the help of Ritsu to get out of the deep end.

Because Hayato is unaware of how a brother should act, he treats Yui the same as he did when she was a child. Wiping crumbs off your 6 year old sisters cheek = cute. Wiping crumbs off your 16 year old sisters cheek = strange. He doesn’t register it as strange because he’s just hoping to keep their family together and happy, and Yui doesn’t register it because she’s already flustered by him. It’s up to poor Ritsu to put a stop to all of the strangeness.

To his credit, Ritsu does do an excellent job as Yui’s pretend boyfriend! He’s not all that innocent himself, as he’s clearly using Yui’s vulnerability to hopefully one day become her actual boyfriend. He has only good intentions though, so I wont fault him for being opportunistic.

I felt rather sad when the three of them went to a restaurant Hayato and Ritsu used to frequent in middle school—while Yui was living elsewhere with her mom. Due to her relationship with Ritsu (“dating”), Hayato and Ritsu really don’t get along well. So, when she spotted all those polaroids of the two of them looking like best friends posted on the restaurant wall… oh I just felt so bad for her. It’s clear she’s really struggling with the fact that she was separated from them for so long. Watching her thoughts start to spiral—”if I never moved away, I would still be able to see Hayato as just my ordinary older brother”, “if I never moved away, would I be in a normal relationship with Ritsu?”—I just felt so bad for her.

The poor girl is struggling so much, someone please break the secret to her. Though… Maybe it’s a good thing that she doesn’t know Hayato isn’t actually her brother. I’m a little scared to find out what she would do should she find out. Hopefully Ritsu will be able to fully win her over by the time the secrets out.

Check out the series for yourself! (Japanese only)