Volumes 1-2
Story and Art by Ninomiya Hikaru
Copyright © 1998,1999 Ninomiya Hikaru

It's time for another love story. Let's go to some undetermined company that is filled with office workers and which has many departments all doing different things. Life in these corporate beehives can be a rather strange place. All these people working together through the day and some of the nights—interesting things are bound to happen.
The main character, Tasaki Atsushi, is a salary man. One day his coworkers notice a new bunch of female employees. Being the predatory male type, they begin making jokes about which women they are after. Tasaki chides his coworkers to at least learn the girls' names before announcing such grand plans. Just as he says that, one of the new female employees walks by, carrying all of her office supplies, and Tasaki yells out to her, calling her Fuji-san.
She pauses, startled, as Tasaki offers to help carry her stuff. She is a bit confused and then, embarrassed, tells Tasaki that her name is not Fuji, but Fujisawa. In the background Tasaki's coworkers enjoy his gaffe as he helps Fujisawa transport her supplies. Tasaki tries to make small talk and Fujisawa replies by saying "two months." Tasaki is a bit taken aback. Fujisawa explains that she will be at her current place for two months before switching to another department. Fujisawa is a new hire and, as such, is moving between departments before settling down in one.
Fujisawa then drops a couple of bombshells on Tasaki: namely that he is a strange person and that he has had 19 affairs. This is mentioned in the middle of her saying "thank you for your help, this is far enough." Tasaki is stunned. He asks, "So you think that I had all of them?" Fujisawa stares at him over her shoulder for a short while, then says "Yes" before walking in to her new department and closing the door on Tasaki.
At the end of the day Tasaki's co-workers are going out drinking with as many of the new female transfers as possible. Tasaki bows out, saying that he has work to get done. A little while later, alone at work, Tasaki wonders if Fujisawa has gone out with the gang. After looking up her phone number, he calls her house and discovers that, indeed, she has not gone out. Fujisawa is taken aback by Tasaki's call, this time getting his name wrong and calling him Tazaki. Surprisingly, she agrees to meet him outside of a love hotel. But the consequences of this rendezvous will complicate their lives for the rest of the story.
The beginning of this story is confounding—it is very hard to understand what drives the characters. They will say one thing, act in one way, and then suddenly do something unexpected. Like agreeing to go to a love hotel after only talking with the person for a couple of minutes! You get the feeling that the characters are reading from a script that was not well written.
To go along with the strangeness of their actions, the characters' expressions are non-committal most of the time. I do not mean that the art is not capable of delivering expression; it can actually do that very well. Rather, it is hard to relate to the characters because they keep such a straight face most of the time.
Another distracting element is that the author seems to have the characters spend far too much time in the bedroom. Perhaps that is what makes the readers put up with the characters long enough to become interested in what happens to them. Luckily that is what happens. By the end of the third episode you learn enough of the twists and turns that you get hooked. The story is not laden with angst—it is just a simple love story, a good breather between the more serious and action-packed stories out there.
The art itself is one of the nicer features. The backgrounds are fairly plain, and they are there to let you know where the characters are... inside, outside, in the office, at home. The characters themselves are well drawn. Later, as you get to know the characters, Ninomiya Hikaru begins to let you see the rest of their faces and their wide range of emotions. As you get to know them, the characters begin to shine like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. With the possible exception of Fujisawa's hair, the lines are fine and relatively simple.
Do I recommend this story? A qualified yes—if you want a love story and do not mind a lot of bedroom action and confusing motives (or if you are looking for that sort of story) then this is one manga you want to read. Beware though, the language is perhaps a little difficult as there are occasional kanji with no furigana to help.

Published by Hakusensha under the Jets Comics label (Young Animal)
2 volumes, ongoing
Black/white, 198 pages
Vol. 1: ISBN4-592-13301-3
Vol. 2: ISBN4-529-13302-1
¥530
Available now in Japan
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