I enjoyed this manga even though I found it to be on the sad side. The only thing I didn't get though was the 1st story. The brother and sister spending the night together before the wedding. At first it seems like a brother and sister just spending time together before her big day, but then you realize it's something else and I just don't know what.

I re-read it a couple of times trying to find what I missed, but I found nothing. And whats with the I've been a working adult for 3 years now over and over or the path of a virgin quote at the end. Why didn't he go to the wedding. Is he a ghost? Is she? Is she just remembering the last time she spent time with him in the house? She did look older in the cab.

I just didn't get it. Can anyone explain it to me. I feel like an idiot asking to have a story explained but I've been pulling out hair over this for a while now.

Jeffrey

The story isn't that complicated, but it can be confusing I guess because there's an ambiguity to the narration as it switches between sister's and the brother's perspectives without telling the reader whose thoughts s/he's reading.

The way I understood it, the younger brother wants to properly bid farewell to his beloved sister before she gets married, so they spend their last day together at their parents' home. The line "Tomorrow/Today, I'll get married." reflects the sister's bittersweet approach to the situation and how she feels about leaving her younger brother; after all she has been taking care of him for many years.

At the same time, the brother tries to reassure his sister (and himself) that he's an adult now and that he will manage even when she heads off to another man's home. Therefore, he repeats "I'm a working adult for three years already. I have a pretty stable job." at the beginning and the end of the story. The "path of the virgin" probably refers to the wedding aisle in the church, which is often referred to as "virgin road" in Japanese. He's basically asking if he too should get married.

All in all, I don't consider this a sad story; it just feels realistically melancholic because life goes on and sometimes, you have to part with certain people and arrangements.

[color=#8A795D]"Stories are what death thinks he puts an end to.
He can't understand that they end in him, but they don't end with him."

• Ursula K. Le Guin, Gifts[/color]

To be savoured:

• Blood Alone by TAKANO Masayuki
• Otoyomegatari by MORI Kaoru
• Gangsta. by Kohske
• Seishun Kouryakuhon by AKIZUKI Sorata