I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #teacher x student(15)

Tables turned!

Two separate stories. (2) Page 106: The story where the one roommate jumps out a window and sprains his ankle in order to avoid seeing the roommate he thinks rejected him. Two young men share a college dorm, but since one has been harbouring a secret crush on the other throughout their stay, he is anxious to find his own place. The other roommate is reluctant to let him. (1) Bratty kid takes friends up on a bet that he can't seduce the school nurse, a handsome man. The nurse gives him the best kiss of his life, and changes him forever. Sadly for him, the nurse spotted him miles away and was just toying with him. Now he has to win him back, or so he thinks.

At the academy he now attends, Luciano is reunited with Shinobu, the tutor who once taught him at home and whom he once loved. Shinobu coldly refuses him, however, and as the rosiness fades from Luciano's memories, he realizes that what he thought was passion was, in fact, something much crueler, which fills him with shame and self-loathing. Now that Shinobu is in peril, what will Luciano do?

Harasen, the lonely music teacher, whose crush on student, Sajou Rihito, in mangaka Nakamura's Doukyuusei series went nowhere (in no small part as a result of his own scruples; Harasen doesn't touch students), attracts the attention of another student, Sorano. Sorano is fascinated, but blocked by the same scruples, and tries in his clumsy and inexperienced way to make things right between Harasen and Sajou, and, when that does not work, to console and heal him as far as Harasen will let him. The question is how far is that, and are Harasen's scruples real, or a mask for cowardice?

An art teacher, Jun, brings about an unconventional awakening within a serious student, Homura, that puts him at odds with the expectations that others have placed on him. Things escalate and it seems to Homura that Jin is pressured to resign under circumstances which are completely misunderstood. After years of guilt and just by chance, he comes across a notice with regard to his former teacher in another city and decides to pursue this lead, unsure of where it will take him.

Yuka Ogura, a 15-year-old student, has a pretty damned hard life, although it doesn't show on the surface, and he does the best he can, which is actually amazingly well, considering. Abandoned by his single mother, he was raised by his grandmother, the property manager at the small apartment complex where they live, except she now lies in a coma at the hospital. As an even younger student, he was singled out by a seriously creepy teacher and, instead of receiving compassion from others at his school, he is blamed for the incident and bullied. And if anyone thinks this means he is, at least, receiving support and guidance from the staff, forget it. Instead, another seriously suspicious teacher is on his case, Nishio-san, a woman whose true agenda appears to hide under an unctuous cloak of concern. All this in the first chapter. Meanwhile, Yuka espies his new and gorgeous next-door neighbour kissing another man, and it turns out to be the student teacher, Hikaru Gotou, who is his teacher for the year. Love at first sight for poor Yuka! Unfortunately for him, Gotou is a bit of a feckless man, who uses sarcasm to blow him off, and is completely unequal to the emotional tsunami that comes barreling in with Yuka. Blackmail works to the extent that Gotou is more set than ever against getting involved with kids, especially this kid, except Nishio steps in with a horrifyingly detailed account of Yuka's tragic backstory, and instead of scaring him off, it backfires: Gotou is every bit as hooked as the reader. One of Ougi Yuzuha's best stories, this starts off as a modern horror tale about a boy's coming of age, with suspense and drama to keep readers clicking each page, and transforms into a gentler romance. It may feel strange to cheer on a teacher x student relationship, but thank goodness Yuka has Gotou. Read this! One of my faves.

(1) A bored student discovers that his teacher is a vampire who uses pills to suppress his urge for blood. Then he decides to play with his teacher. (2) A secret room behind the science lab becomes a private space for two lovers when time seems to phase in and out. (3) The astronomy club has one member, and there is a reason for it.

Insincere playboy teacher, Kurosawa, meets earnest kid, Mamaru, who is fed up to the gills with players because of having to play nursemaid to his divorced cheater father for most of his teenaged life. The story progresses predictably according to stock Peter Pan and Wendy romance tropes, but the insights culled from so much time wasted babysitting one's man-baby of a dad make it a little more interesting than usual. In the time it took for me to write this paragraph, I've already forgotten what the last 2 short stories were about.

Series of short school-centred stories. The last one, involving a tragic past, is the most interesting.