i generally like "childhood friends fall in love" stories, but this one stands out as original, and proves that it's not the plot that leaves a story a mere cliche, but the execution. what makes this one original is mostly the protagonist, who's outwardly stoic, but what he thinks to himself is quite insightful in a laconic way, which often comes across as funny; he is a great "straight man" to his own thought processes. i also like that he's decisive when he has figured something out (or thinks he has). i had such a good time reading this, and i wish there were more to read about this guy. (and i thank the scanlation team; the translation is fluid and natural, which is so hard to achieve with japanese -- what a fantastic job!)
but. the ending. in one way it's quite good; it's fun to see the bespectacled noboru be daring, and i love how he just floors mitsuya who thought he had it all figured out. but it's over so fast, and after the meticulous buildup through mitsuya's inner monologue, it feels way too abrupt.
the other thing for which i am deducting a point is that several of the characters look too much alike; at the start i had trouble knowing who was mitsuya and who his brother, and who went with what name anyway, and later on i didn't immediately know whether mitsuya met noboru at his job (i was wondering why they didn't recognise each other), and whether it was nanase or noboru (with contacts) who was speaking at times. i know there were supposed to be similarities to establish mitsuya's "type", but it was too close.
but, neither is bad enough to ruin the story, not by a long shot. and it actually deserves to be ranked higher considering some manga that are ahead of it. highly recommended.