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Honestly, this gave me mixed feelings.

Story: 8
The start of the story was intriguing, with the protagonist having a cliche crush towards a popular girl and portraying their own personal troubles within the first few chapters. The flow of the story was chill, flecks of comedy really upped the ranking. The set up for the story was definitely enjoyable, seeing how Hotaka's and Niki's interest towards each other built up was cute. Story telling was pleasant and poetic, it was very unique in that aspect. I think around the final volumes was when the manga had rushed to reveal truth about the characters and their ... stories, extremely twisting a lot of the already built-up love and respect I had for the story.. The ending can definitely leave you feel many things but confusion would really be one of them. I'm not saying that stories like these do not exist irl, and while they certainly do, the ending (especially last chapter) to the manga was sketchy and did not feel very meaningful as it should have.

Art: 6
Nothing much to say here, the art was pleasant to look at and the artist very certainly portrayed each character great. Everything was anatomically correct, panels were done alright and the effects were often very expressive. It did not appeal so much though, the art style was nothing out of the ordinary and it seemed very standard. It is a 6 not a 5 only because I think the backgrounds were nicely drawn and objects, such as (minor spoiler) Niki's motorcycle, the keyring she had, etc. The pool, school, buses, and water when Niki dives in or swims in is shaded with a lot of effort.

Character: 7
Now each character was definitely unique and realistic to some point, but imo the side/minor characters definitely popped out more. On-chan's and Soga's comedy subtle romance (and Shake and Soga's little rivalry over her) was adorable and hilarious. At this point they were more interesting to me than the actual characters. Because of that, they're not just some random side or filler characters to enlarge the story of the protagonists; they're so full of life and have their own story develop.
The protagonists, Hotaka and Niki, were realistic as both of them share family problems and trauma which is what brings them together eventually. This family aspect is so important in their character that it adds depth to understanding their personalities more. I also like how the creators try to bring in as many sides to their traits, like Niki's roughness (badass attitude) when she is annoyed at herself or a student accusing her wrongly, lol, which nicely contrasts the anxious rounded Hotaka that can barely muster courage.

Enjoyment: 8
I personally enjoyed the story, whilst it wasn't the best it could have been, it did keep me flipping the pages. However, others might not exactly like it because of the twists at the end and the ending explains the truth but explains little of the solution to how the whole...situation ends? Story telling was great but around the final chapter it did not elaborate enough.. The series was pretty memorable but it would not be something I'd want to willingly re-read.

Overall: 7
It did not reach its full potential, at a time I felt like the writer was not sure where to go with the story and hence it ended with mixed feelings. Characters were a strong point and probably one of the few reasons I'd recommend anyone to read this series.