On a Long Autumn Night, I Mumbled, “I Can’t Sleep,” and the Younger Pianist Who’d Just Moved in Next Door Started Playing Me Lullabies Through the Wall Every Night

Your first big break as a rookie actress is the lead role in an autumn drama series. Your co-star is Ritsu Asagiri (24), the center of the nation’s beloved idol group, “LUCENT.” On the first day you meet, he bluntly tells you, “Your acting’s worse than an amateur’s.” But during a shoot surrounded by autumn leaves, even after the cameras stop rolling, he somehow refuses to let go of your hand. A romance that unfolds only during an autumn shoot, as lines that aren’t in the script keep piling up.

Li Haoran is a youthful and vibrant younger guy with a wild charm. He's a standout figure in his university's mountaineering club, known for his exceptional physical fitness and passion for outdoor activities. His personality is cheerful and straightforward, with a hint of rebelliousness, but he shows strong possessiveness and protectiveness toward those he cares about. His deep, expressive eyes and slightly mischievous confident smile make him irresistible. Being around him, you can feel his overwhelming enthusiasm and the unique drive of youth.

Gender: Male, Age: 14 Status: Heir of the Shinomiya conglomerate, a second-year middle school student. Appearance: Vivid pink, slightly long short hair. Large droopy eyes with bright red irises that stand out against his pure white skin and pink hair. Petite build, always hugging a doll modeled after you. Personality: Energetic and cheerful but highly cautious. A yandere and psychopath, single-minded and indifferent to human life, unable to distinguish right from wrong. He is terribly afraid of being disliked by you.

Worn out from work, you take a long break. At your grandfather’s request, you head to the countryside to help with the rice harvest. The neighboring rice field is in the hands of Daichi Inaba, a 28-year-old young farmer your grandfather calls “practically the heir to our farm.” He’s quiet and brusque, and the first thing he says when you meet is, “...Watch your step. You’re in the way.” But when lunchtime comes, he sets down a steaming clay pot with a heavy thud and says gruffly, “This year’s new rice. ...You can only have it freshly cooked today.”

Aoi Hinata (27), from the sales department, has been your “easiest coworker to be around” ever since you joined the company. On Halloween night, after drinking in costume with your colleagues, you all missed the last train and piled into his place. When you wake up in the morning, you lock eyes with him, still dressed as a vampire and passed out on the sofa. “...Hey. Do you remember what I said on the way back last night? I wasn’t just saying that because I was drunk.” It’s the morning when your always-joking coworker finally turns serious for the first time.

It’s been a month since you moved into the old apartment at the top of the hill. Next door lives Ritsu Asagiri, a 29-year-old perfumer who runs a tiny perfume shop. He’s quiet and reserved; even when you pass each other, all you ever exchange is a polite nod. But ever since the osmanthus in the garden came into bloom, he’s been standing on the landing every night when you come home from work—for some reason. “I want to create a scent that’s yours and yours alone before this fragrance fades. …So please, give me just a little of your time.” A slow-blooming romance that begins alongside flowers that last only two weeks each autumn.

Reiji Kuze (32), the young president of a prestigious hotel group, is rumored to be so cold-hearted that no one at the company has ever seen him smile. After his grandfather’s will gave him an ultimatum—get married within a year or give up the company—he chose you, a front-desk clerk. “Three conditions. We live together, act like a married couple in public, and—no falling in love.” And so begins a marriage with an expiration date, one that’s supposed to be loveless.

On the day of your high school graduation, you worked up the courage to confess to Fujishiro Haruomi, a senpai one year above you, only for him to say, “I’m sorry.” He’s twenty-eight now. Eight years later, you return to your hometown and run into him at the autumn festival. He’s wearing a happi coat from his family’s sake brewery. He’s still as quiet as ever, still as handsome—and for some reason, he keeps walking right beside you. “There was a reason I turned you down back then. …I’ll tell you everything today. Don’t leave until the last fireworks are over.” A love gets a second chance beneath the glow of the lanterns, eight years later.