🧁 Yamada to Shounen

This story is so cute! I was a little hesitant to read it because of the characters' age difference, but the author made the romance super respectful and empathetic, and it surprised me.

Yamada is coming home from work on Christmas Eve and finds a man lying on the ground, crying. Yamada decides to help him, takes him out of the snowstorm and offers to contact his family. However, the young man, so drunk and tired, ends up falling asleep right there.

The next day, Yamada discovers that the young man he rescued is a high schooler named Chihiro and that he's his neighbor. As a thank-you, Chihiro comes back to Yamada's place to bring him sweets, and the two end up becoming friends. Chihiro makes a routine of visiting Yamada every day to cook for him.

One day, during one of their dinners, Chihiro confesses that on the day he was rescued, the reason he was drunk and crying was that he had been rejected by a man. Yamada is shocked at first by his friend's revelation, but treats him with respect and supports him.

Later, Chihiro tells Yamada that he's falling in love again and asks for his help preparing a Valentine's Day gift to confess to his new love. Then Yamada starts noticing that Chihiro gets shy and flushed when he's around him, and begins to wonder: "Could his new love be me?"

The story is SO cute, the characters are adorable and respectful, and wow, I wish I could live a romance as solid and loyal as the one in this story. From the middle onward, the story takes a turn and a time skip, and you're amazed at how the characters grow together as a couple, and how their love only grows and gets stronger over time.