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A lot of series I’ve been reading these days are reasonably long series- at least 5 or 6 volumes. But here is one that’s a simple quick read. A one-shot that’s for all of you who like teacher x student series. I’ve been reading mostly Kodansha series lately, and they have been doing a great job at releasing a lot of new shoujo digitally. It’s so amazing to see recent stuff licensed so fast! That said, I doubt this one will ever get picked up. It’s a few years old, AND it’s teacher x student. But I’m gonna talk about this anyway, as teacher x student is still my guilty pleasure.
This series is about a high school girl named Rika. She’s cute and outgoing, and quite fashionable. In fact, she gets in trouble at school quite often for shortening her skirt, painting her nails, and wearing flashy earrings – all things forbidden in the school rules. And, in an unusual twist for a shoujo manga heroine, she actually already has a boyfriend when the series starts. Usually shoujo manga is about a girl looking for her first love or something, but Rika is already dating. Her boyfriend is a handsome classmate and Rika likes him a lot. The only problem is that she doesn’t get to see him as often as she’d like due to their always-busy club activity schedules.
The thing that kick-starts this story is a sneaky move by Rika’s parents. one day they tell her that… SURPRISE! They have set up an omiai for her this weekend! An omiai is a meeting-introduction with a potential partner for the goal of getting married. An arranged marriage introduction. Now, they don’t have to get married, but it’s a meeting for the purpose to start dating with marriage as the ultimate goal. Now when Rika hears about this meeting, she isn’t thrilled. HELLO, she already has a boyfriend, you know? But the guy she’s meeting is the son of a friend of her dad’s, and her parents really put on the pressure, so Rika agrees to attend the meeting with the intention of turning it down right away. She can say that she went as promised and it just didn’t work out. Crazy parents, arranging a marriage meeting for their TEEN daughter.
So off Rika goes to the coffee shop her parents arranged the meeting at. The guy she’s meeting is already there waiting for her. He’s young and handsome, and… hmm, somehow familiar? His name is MIHARA Saneatsu, and when he sees Rika, his expression is very amused. After staring at him a while, Rika can’t stand it any more and finally asks him if they’ve met before. He laughs and pulls his hair back and slips on a pair of glasses. Rika is shocked as she recognizes him instantly. It’s her teacher! The one they all nicknamed MIIHAA, the one who always scolds her for her skirt, nails, and earrings! Why is he here?! Yeah, he’s the son of her father’s friend and her candidate to marry. He doesn’t seem to mind the situation too much, but Rika is pretty horrified.
Why on Earth would she be set up with her own teacher? Really, this is something that could only happen in Shoujo Manga Land. Rika is ready to reject this all right away. Remember, she has a boyfriend already anyway! But Mihara-sensei has a proposition. They should go out 10 times, to give their familiaed the impression that they put in the effort, and then they can break it off. Rika is hesitant, but he is pretty persuasive and finally Rika caves in. But how will this work? Where will they go? What about Rika’s boyfriend? And how can she possibly go out with her teacher?