College student Al decides to stay in London for the winter holidays to work as many shifts and save money for the next term, but when London’s mayor is found dead in the same subway Al was on, he gets tangled up in a clandestine investigation with Ellis, a detective seeking redemption. Al's flatmate also gets intertwined with a disastrous outcome, so nothing is looking too good for Al. The search for leads forces Al to seek out his birth mother and confront a past he had been content to keep buried.
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Haruhi attends the prestigious Ouran High School on a scholarship. Most students at this school are from well-to-do families. One day, while trying to find a quiet place to study, Haruhi enters a music room and finds a Host Club, a group of male students who provide companionship, conversation, and flirtation to bored female students. Haruhi accidentally knocks over an $80,000 vase and is forced to work for the Host Club to pay off the debt. The hosts make-over Haruhi and provide an actual school uniform suit, since Haruhi has to get 100 customer referrals in order to pay back the debt. Club "king", Tamaki, takes special interest in Haruhi and delights in piling on the torture and teasing. At some point, Tamaki finds Haruhi's ID, and realizes Haruhi is biologically female, but the Host Club assumed Haruhi was male. Haruhi doesn't care for the gender binary, but is rather more worried about working off the debt and maintaining good grades to keep the scholarship.
Mutta just got fired from his automobile design firm, but this might be the motivation he needs to finally revisit his childhood dream. His younger brother, Hibito, has already achieved the dream and is a NASA astronaut, but Mutta is the older brother and should have paved the way for his younger brother. He applies and makes it past the initial interview, but finds the training and physical tests to be pretty difficult. Mutta becomes part of a competitive group of hopefuls, and has to overcome the label of "Hibito's brother" and the misconception that he's getting special treatment or inside information because of his familial ties.
Nasa and Tsukasa go on a sort of honeymoon to a hot springs with a private bath in their room, but both are too shy at the beginning to bathe in front of each other. By the end of the trip, they are able to get into the same bath but only at night with the lights off. We also finally meet someone claiming to be Tsukasa's guardian, and she chides Tsukasa for not bringing Nasa around for her approval, but gives it by the end of the conversation. When they get home, they decide to get an air conditioner for their small apartment and they find relief from the hot summer days, but they can’t agree on a temperature at night, vacillating between too hot or too cold with just a few degrees adjustment.
Jin makes a bold move to try and get the Boys shirts in a trendy store, but it fails miserably. This means the young entrepreneurs have to get part-time jobs to support their supply budgets. This is especially daunting for Ryo who is looking for a place to fit in within a very binary Japanese society, a society that wants him to wear girls’ uniforms to work or perform tasks around the workplace that girls are “better” suited for. After several hurtful job interviews, Ryo decides to go into the next one as a girl, but he finds a workplace where every employee dresses the same, and everyone is expected to do the same basic workload. His co-workers seem to accept him for who he really is, or they at least don’t ask questions or box him into the wrong gender. That is until they decide to go out together for a Welcome celebration, and one of the male workers hits on Ryo. While still recovering and figuring out who he’s attracted to, a popular YouTuber gets involved in the Boys line and wants to promote their brand online. With a new and improved website design, the stage is set, but the video may turn out to do more harm than good for Ryo.
Mogumo just wishes they could have some friends to truly understand them. When Tetsu seems this wish from his classmate, he invites Mogumo to work at his family’s cafe. The workers there are otokonoko - they are boys who dress as girls, maids on this instance. After some initial consternation about introducing themselves as an otokonoko, the staff conclude that everyone can identify how they wish, and Mogumo doesn't have to offer up any gender in their introduction. Tetsu and the rest of Mogumo's coworkers work towards understanding Mogumo's feelings about gender, and this prompts a few others to start exploring their own identities -- maybe it's not just as simple as dressing up in clothes of the opposite gender ... maybe there's a bit more to the feeling they get from wearing these outfits.
Nasa goes back to his old job to help out for the day, and it turns into an all nighter. Tsukasa tries not to feel lonely, but not texts or calls all day leave her missing her husband. She can’t sleep that night, so she’s awake at 4am when he gets home. The loneliness has gotten to her, and she asks for cuddles and kisses, which is more than she’s ever asked for before. Nasa happily obliges! Later, a movie that totally isn’t Endgame is coming out, and Tsukasa is dying to see it opening day in the theater so she can avoid spoilers. She and Nasa also prepare by watching a few movies before, and Nasa appreciated how into the story Tsukasa gets. Nasa and Tsukasa, separately, receive a whole list of what kisses mean when they’re given to a partner on different parts of the body, like the neck, forehead, arm, even the belly *blush*. Later, the two can finally go on a honeymoon, thanks to some raffle tickets to a Hot Springs, but that means they’ll actually be alone … together … on a trip …
Nasa‘s cousin, Ginga, who acts like a yakuza man but he’s really a normal high school student, has his “boys" bring in a feral kitten they found outside their high school. Nasa immediately takes it to the vet to get completely checked out. When the vet asks for his name, Tsukasa offers up "Toast" because the kitten has a lighter square of fur on its back and it’s mostly brown. Once Toast is back home settling in, he starts getting in the way of Nasa getting close to his wife because he's constantly demanding food. Ganga presents Nasa with a wedding present: two tickets to the Land of Dreams, a theme park. The young couple decided to go to the park as a date. Tsukasa has never been and is excited to try everything. They weren’t the only ones who had the idea to come as a date. Nasa's teacher is invited by a colleague who doesn’t know how to confessed his feelings for her.
Yatora Yaguchi is a second-year high school student who hangs out with the “delinquents,” but he works really hard to get good grades despite his appearance. Everyone in Yatora's class is starting to figure out what college and profession they want to go into, but Yatora isn’t sure what he wants to do once he graduates. None of his hard work makes him feel alive, and he has no particular passions or hobbies. After seeing a beautiful painting in his art class, he decides to actually put some effort into his art assignment to paint “your favorite scene”. He finds immense satisfaction in painting and the praise he receives even though he didn’t finish it. He starts to earnestly learn art in the hopes of making it into Tokyo University of the Arts, a highly competitive, but only public, university dedicated to Art.
Takane is still dealing with his fall from grace, and Hana is determined to prove that she was never interested in him because of his money. Much to Takane's dismay, Hana continues to come over to his apartment, brings food, and cooks for him, "nursing" him back to "health" in a way. He's so sour about losing everything and having to work from the bottom that he won't even verbally spar with Hana, so how is she supposed to keep up her side of their arrangement? Slowly, Takane gets more confidence at work, along with an underling, and things start to look up for him. He learns about a sales commission available to him, so he starts working extra hard at his entry-level job. Eventually, he gets back to teasing Hana, but not before she's realized something about herself that could change their agreement!
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About MeI've been reading manga and comicbooks for years. Now, I write reviews and other helpful things for School Librarians, teachers, parents, and students. Search this siteRatings, Audience, and Subject Tags
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