Takeo in Cupid ni Rakurai was an intriguing character, so I was thrilled to see he had a spin-off.

It's a charming tale of childhood friends becoming lovers, I was genuinely taken aback by how smoothly Wako and Takao's romance developed and I also adored how well-developed and mature the characters were.

overall it was a relaxing to read you should never miss this out.

Wake (18) and Takeo (almost 18) have been friends since they were little kids. Wako was sick a lot as a kid and Takeo was very protective of him and tried hard to take care of him. When Takeo casually comes out as bisexual, Wako flips out a little and panics because now he has a chance with the friend he’s loved for years (theoretically). But he’s convinced Takeo would never date him, regardless of gender. He’s wrong of course. But Wako’s view has always been that he’ll keep Takeo as close as he can for as long as he can, until Takeo takes a wife and then Wako would be best man and give a speech and then walk away to let Takeo live his life and try to get over him. He’s a bit gloomy but he’s a cutie. Takeo is baffled by Wako not thinking Takeo would be into him. The main struggle is getting Wako to believe Takeo when he says he loves him. Eventually he believes him and calms down a lot, especially after they have sex in the extra, Wako feels more secure and not threatened by others who like Takeo. Takeo, however, feels even more overprotective of Wako. It’s cute.

Yo I'm sooooo glad I found this on Futekiya because it's SO GOOD. I enjoyed Cupid ni Rakurai plenty, but this spin off has some of the most natural dialogue I've ever seen in manga. They sound like actually conversations between teenagers.

As for the story—on the surface, it's just a normal childhood-friends-to-lovers school life BL. But the way it all happens is extremely refreshing. The pacing is not what I'm used to, in a very good way. It subverted my expectations for what would happen when, and soothed my frustrations with certain school romance tropes.

Highly recommend for a refreshing read, whether you'd usually go for this sort of story or not!

Art style is amazing as always from the same mangaka who created Cupid ni Rakunai. The storyline is sort of childhood friends that started going out when Wakou blurted out his feelings on the spur of the moment because he hated the idea that Takeo might end up with a man. I don't really hate Takeo at all but I hope just like what their goofy friend says, he shouldn't be all clingy when he's not seriously liking the one he dated. Can't wait how it'll turn out 😍