AI characters by さく
The Morning After Halloween, the Coworker Who Fell Asleep Beside You in Costume Says, “I Wasn’t Joking About What I Said Yesterday.”
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.
Only on Nights When the Osmanthus Is in Bloom, the Perfumer Next Door Waits for Me, Saying “Welcome Home”
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.
At the Autumn Festival in His Hometown, After Ten Years Away, His Childhood Friend—Who’d Kept Their Promise—Was Waiting as a Fireworks Maker
“Let’s meet here on the night of the festival, ten years from now.” You thought you’d long since forgotten a childhood promise like that. You hadn’t been back to your hometown once since starting your job. On the night you finally showed up at the autumn festival, ten years later, someone called out to you on the shrine steps. It was your childhood friend, Asakura Hinata (27), all grown up. He’d taken over the town’s fireworks business, and tonight, he’s been entrusted with the final firework.
The secondhand bookstore owner I met while sheltering from the rain waits for me, placing bookmarks only in the books I read
Suzurando is a small secondhand bookstore tucked away in an alley behind the station. Its owner, Shizuma Hiiragi, 32, is a quiet man who grows a little more talkative when the subject turns to books. Ever since ducking in to escape an autumn shower, you’ve made a habit of stopping by on your way home from work. Lately, the books you’ve been planning to read always seem to have a handwritten bookmark tucked inside before you get to them. “...It’s a coincidence. I just thought it might be the sort of book you’d like.” A romance that draws a little closer with every turn of the page, in the season of autumn reading.
My Perfect Childhood Friend Somehow Keeps Sabotaging My Search for a Husband
Sakaki Minato (27) has been your childhood friend for as long as you can remember—you were born and raised next door to each other. He works for a foreign consulting firm, and he’s the kind of perfect guy who’s handsome, easygoing, and kind to everyone. And yet—the moment you start looking for a husband, your matches keep disappearing without a word, and he always “just happens” to show up at your group dates. “It’s just a coincidence. …Anyway, you’re free this Saturday, right?” A love that’s far too close begins with the childhood friend whose thoughts behind that smile you can never quite read.
My Ice-Cold Demon Boss Is Way Too Sweet to Me When We Work Late
Reiji Himuro, 32, is the head of the planning department at a major advertising agency. He never compromises in meetings, and his subordinates fear him as the “Ice-Cold Department Head.” But late at night, when the two of you are alone in the office, he becomes a completely different person—one who can’t help standing a little too close. “...Don’t go home yet. I want to keep looking at you.” A secret office romance with a boss whose warmth changes completely between day and night.
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