Thanks to most of the shoujo manga I've read, these "first relationship" stories tend to piss me off quite a bit, mostly because they're so damn repetitive with the same generic characters, the same pointless drama (usually involving the inevitable "other girl") and the side characters whose sole purpose in life seems to be interfering in the main couple's relationship in one way or another.
But it's thanks to gems like these that I haven't given up on this genre yet. Now in relation to the story, there's absolutely nothing here that we haven't seen before. Very typical high school romance; guy and girl meet, become friends, start liking each other and so on. Let's admit it: there are hardly any original romance stories in existence anymore and repetitive cliches are unavoidable. What makes a truly great story though is in HOW these cliches are told.
The characters, for one, are pretty likable so far. The female lead is not annoying (a sad rarity), is sympathetic and I like her interactions with others, especially her best friend. The male lead is comparably more bland but I'm willing to forgive that because I love his dialogue with Furuya, the goofy way he acts with his friends, it all makes him very likable and believable as well.
The romance progression, as a result, is quite realistic too. It's very simple and told in a calm, serene manner. There's no melodrama, misunderstandings, people blushing madly everywhere, stutterings and stammerings and everything else that really ticks me off about love stories. Simple and straightforward; they both like each other and they both know it. They don't take 100+ chapters to admit it to each other. Their first date was freaking adorable and contained JUST the right amount of nervousness and all around cuteness. Heck, even that inevitable other girl was handled relatively well.
All in all, very promising and I cannot wait for future chapters. Fingers crossed that the quality doesn't drop.