This was a weird manga. For the stuff that matters to me, and I don't really think there was anything else, it is oh so very realistic. Everything was down to earth, without a single thing that shaked the sync at which I was in with the story.
Out of all the characters, Tohno Touko etched herself the most in my mind, but I am happy to feel that by saying that I am doing somewhat of an injustice for Hirose and Kusakabe. Even Kayo, even all the rest. But yea, the two of them were wonderfull in different ways.
I could describe this manga satisfactory enough with a single word: "Gentle".
Everything that went on was, just girls, young ones, on the verge of adulthood, living their lives, growing up. I even grew to appreciate the male lead, Tomonaga, and very much so his techer-friend-colleague.
Some characters were somewhat minor in the story, but they had their role, and were not suddenly gone by the time it was over. Those characters too are realistic. Some people in life aren't there all the time, but they are sometimes and they are the people we know and are friends with, they are our family. That's what I mean. The minor characters are consistently existent, and were not single-use tools. Just like in real life.
Now, as regarding the thing that stuck with me intensively for days back when I had just read this, and that I can get in the mindset of back easily through a song;
Tohno Touko.
There's a music album that I'd been listening to as I was reading the story. Ended up as the music I think Tohno likes. In particular, that she walked outside alone while listening to this song (【東方ボーカル】 「モノクロ インザナイト (CYTOKINE remix)) , that she liked to listen to this song as she walked alone outside without a place to go to.
Just wandering alone like a hidden gem that can't shine..
The song was beautiful to me, but through Tohno's character the beauty of it developed into strong melancholy. Whenever I listen to the song now, images of Tohno wandering the streets, alone and doing her best to stay strong, flow through my mind.
Oh how it was seemingly happy, before I started hearing the notes of uncertainty and concern, even fear and tears, the interpretation of which was brought to me by Tohno.
Tohno Touko is amazing to me, I love her.
Kusakabe and Hirose are angels.
I have a special feeling about the both of them, both different from the other though. Hirose is gentle in one way, and Kusakabe is gentle in another way. It's a 10/10 manga for me, I love it because of how gentle and beautiful the story is, without being unrealastic. Like, such beauty, such gentle beauty (that the whole story is), I can beleive to be real. It's nice to have that feel. Helps me live by helping me believe I'll perhaps meet such people one day, but yea; It's undoubtedly far too late for me to find such bliss.
Also, I am not stuck on describing the story as gentle because of its title. I believe I'd have described it the same way had the title been something entirely different.