The bane of my existence? This body of mine that curses men into becoming obsessed with me... But all I have ever dreamed of is finding true love! Having grown up on fairy tales, I've always been a sucker for the kind Prince Charming type. But it seems I'm not destined for the happy ever after of my dreams. Apparently, I have what some guys call a "legendary snatch" and every man I have dated so far has turned into nothing more than a lecherous zombie! And just when I was sure there was no hope... I met Suzui. He seemed different from others, made me feel safe with his kindness and that hint of sadness behind his eyes. And I'd soon find out that he had his own secrets he's keeping...
On a moonless night... I hear your voice for the first time. Ume was abandoned by the family she married into because she was unable to bear children. She returns to the village where she was born but finds herself alone as her parents die from a spreading disease. As told in tales of sacrifice to the gods, the village also begins to experience a shortage in the crops of their farms that will only continue until someone is offered. Ume is not able to bear a child but as she does not have any children, she is able to lie her way into being offered to the gods. Waiting for her at a shrine deep in the mountains is a wolf god with silver hair and beautiful nails that shine in five different colors... what will come from this encounter between a despised god and an unhappy girl?!
*This volume compiles ch. 1-5 of "The Lying Moon Princess's Marriage: I Will Gain the Wolf God's Favor"
Akari is good at her job, beautiful, and her sense of style is beyond compare... but she has a secret. She's almost 30 and she's still a virgin! One fateful day, a new department chief takes over -- the handsome Shinomiya. "You're my subordinate now, which means from today, you have to do what I say." Shinomiya is a condescending bully and he and Akari clash from day one. Akari finds herself drinking her worries away at his welcome party and before she knows what hit her, she's completely smashed. She wakes up the next day to find -- Shinomiya emerging from her bathroom half naked?!?! Thus begins Akari's comedic office romance with her callous new boss!
*This volume compiles ch. 1-6 of "From Zero to Office Romance"
A coworker who keeps chasing after teen idols despite her age; a useless boss; and a completely unsociable new hire. Ann, a fortyish woman who looks down on those around her and blames everything on others, dreams only of marriage with the boyfriend who won't sleep with her. But then one day, when she learns that one of the colleagues she looked down on is getting married, she reveals her hidden nasty side right in front of the newbie. From that day on, she is visited by one misfortune after another....
She doesn't know how it feels to be in love, and her body can't bear children, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want a perfect family like the ones you see on TV! And who should appear before down-on-her-luck, marriage-crazy Sachiko, but Keiichi! He's got looks and money to spare, and most importantly, he accepts all of Sachiko's conditions! But Keiichi's got secrets of his own... Can Sachiko overcome these hurdles to obtain the happy home she's dreamed of?!
Is this love a dream come true? Or is it the beginning of a nightmare? From cheating, to gold-digging, to dangerous cults, Satoru is a man so unlucky in love that every woman he's ever fallen for has betrayed him. He decides that if he's only capable of falling in love with wicked women, he might as well go with the marriage match his parents have picked out for him. But one look at Michiru, the woman they've set him up with, and Satoru is head-over-heels. And that can only mean one thing...
How reliable would you say your memory is? As humans, our minds can omit memories. Memories can become idealized. Sometimes, they can even be entirely fabricated. There are various ways by which one's recollection of past events can become distorted. One could even say that it is a type of mental defense mechanism meant to protect us. But what if you had the chance to see your memories in their original state, unblemished and untouched...? Would you take it?
Meet Hakucho, the hippocampus and their assistant, Rohen, two mysterious individuals that live and work at an old-fashioned cafe that's more than meets the eye. Their shop comes to those plagued by their past, offering a chance to see the truth behind their memories. When restoring a client's memories, Hakucho summons a mystical creature from their ancient pipe. The creature enters the client's mind, scouring its depths to reveal that which has become obscured. However... sometimes, the truth is perhaps best left forgotten.
Mami has tried marriage once and failed, so now she's looking for something else. Even if her peers won't get it, she wants what she wants: not marriage, not romance, just a man to spend time with when she needs some company! Sure enough, when she brings this up at her junior high class reunion, her friends all gang up against her. However, a handsome former classmate she'd almost never spoken to before--Nakamura--does empathize with her! When Mami learns that Nakamura is also once-divorced and, just like her, is looking not for a wife or a girlfriend but just a woman to spend time with, she makes a life-changing decision. She's given up on living her life according to what's "normal." After spending thirty-some years toiling under the crushing weight of societal expectations, one woman finds herself a partner in crime and a new lease on life in this modern-day survival story.
"Why do I have to be the one to 'put it in'?"Shun Mizuo has always got a smile on his face. He's popular amongst his coworkers and he's good at his job... but he's useless in the bedroom. One day, heartbroken after discovering his girlfriend cheating on him, he drinks himself into a stupor and reveals his "situation down there" to Amachi, his beautiful-yet-frosty coworker. What happens when, suddenly, Amachi says that she feels that this moment with Mizuo must be fate?! An office romance between two people both hopeless in the bedroom!
Sayaka Shimada, 36 and single, loves three things: her job, her favorite singer, and her mother, who lives with her. Even with her junior coworker Sugaya tossing thoughtless comments her way, she'd poured herself into her work, and when she paused to look up she found herself on the cusp of her late 30s. Partly at her mother's suggestion, Sayaka visits a matchmaking service. The man she's introduced to is sweet and earnest, and things start moving smoothly toward marriage. Though it hasn't all sunk in yet, she is well on her way to a happy future--and that's when a sudden injury leaves her mother hospitalized. The injury is nothing too serious and Sayaka is settling her nerves, until she notices something off about her mother... A poignant and much-acclaimed depiction of the struggles of caretaking and building a future, issues faced by countless people every day!
Set on becoming a clothing designer, she got herself a job at a leading apparel company - only to end up assigned to the reception desk. Yet Mio Adachi didn't give up there. She spent her days practicing design, on top of performing her receptionist duties, in hopes of one day moving to a department where she could actually work in fashion design. That fateful day comes, though with an unfortunate twist, when a higher-up in the design department sees a sketch by handsome top-class designer Miyabi Shito and mistakenly thinks it's one of Mio's...! Caught between the pull of her lifelong dream and the weight of starting it off with a lie, what path will Mio take next...?
What would you do if the perfect marriage candidate came along and said he wanted to be a "househusband"?
Having been focused on her career until now, Michika has finally begun looking for a marriage partner at the age of 35 when she meets Sho Unomori, a department manager at a major company who is kind, thoughtful, handsome, and one year older than her. "There's got to be something!" Michika throws question and after question at him, seemingly unable to find anything that even remotely resembles a flaw in this perfect man. That is... apart from the confession that he reservedly shares at the end of their date of his dream to be a househusband. Shocked, Michika thinks to herself, "Absolutely not," and kicks all hope aside. But as she spends more time with Unomori, she starts to want to get to know him better...?!
"I got myself fired in the fall of my 33rd year." Six years into marriage, Mai Murata is now raising two young children while both she and her husband work full-time. Her colleagues often say she's "living the dream," but in reality she's struggling to handle work on top of doing all the childcare on her own, and it feels like she's constantly apologizing: to her boss, to the daycare center, and on and on. Amidst all this, she happens to try out a virtual flea market app and finds an amazing deal that makes her day... and leaves her chasing that same high again and again until it's all she can think about. Addiction can happen to anyone, even you. This tale explores one person's struggle to escape that insatiable, unstoppable need and find genuine fulfillment.
I want to be married... And someone like Tomizawa would be perfect!
Mariko, 29, wants to seal the deal by 30. However, marriage requires affection and Mariko's affection is reserved to a man she can respect! She's single at age 29, also aware that she can't let go of her pride. One day, a chance to date THE ideal-candidate, Tomizawa, falls right into her lap!! Delusional or not, she can't let anything jeopardize her opportunity to hear those wedding bells ring. A chaotic private life and dramatic sequence of events keeps her on her toes. Is marriage even on the table?!
I got totally wasted at a party and ended up spewing my guts... and some hot guy saw me?! I ran away, thinking I'd never see him again, but we ran into each other on campus the next day! He may be good-looking, but he spilled the beans about me throwing up to his friend, and on top of that, he keeps calling me by my first name! He's seriously the worst! Despite all of that, my best friend Yuka is head over heels for him, and now she wants me to help hook her up! She even brought his friend into this mess... What will happen in this 4-way love affair...?
Come experience what it's like to receive a massage from your lover. At the private women only massage parlor "KIRAMEKI", working women, mothers and even inexperienced women come to experience just that. Yamato, a new recruit known for his gentle demeanor, discovers the burdens of the women who visit the parlor. A story of healing the women from all walks of life receive from the handsome men at "KIRAMEKI" as their touch softens their hearts, minds and bodies.
"I got my happy ending after marriage! Or so I thought..." Three ladies who went to the same school together admit they have dated nothing but losers. Miraculously, they have all gotten married, but marriage was not the goal. A controlling husband, an overbearing husband, and a mama's boy... with these marital problems, where will they go from here?!
Within Breighlinam Palace, rumor has it that Prince Edouard has executed may of the maids and butlers that have come to serve him. Philippa is desperate. After her parents fell to the epidemic, her aunt and uncle wants to sell off her younger brother and sister. To hold them at bay, Philippa is determined to work at the palace to save her. However, on her first day, sword drawn, the prince threatens her if she were to betray him. Can Philippa save her brother and sister, or will she end up another victim of the Prince's?
Pregnant and stuck at home with her emotionally abusive husband and self-serving in-laws, Sekka tried to grin and bear it by holding onto the hope that he would change once the baby came. Then she finds out he's been cheating...and while she's still reeling from that news, he deliberately sets her beloved pet cockatiel loose, which finally pushes her past the breaking point. Unable to stand by and watch her suffer anymore, her twin sister Rikka makes an offer: "I'll take your place and get revenge on your husband!"
When middle school teacher Rika's lack of self-care catches up to her, she quits her job to recover her health and ends up taking a part-time gig at the local Chinese restaurant: no overtime, no take-home work, and two delicious employee meals a day. The owner Momose and his lack of brain-to-mouth filter prove to be a handful, but his amazing cooking shoots Rika's quality of life straight through the roof! This exhausted overachiever is realizing that being a "proper adult" is harder than it seemed... and her journey of healing might just come with a side of romance!