Blue Spring Ride

Futaba Yoshioka enters high school determined not to repeat middle school, where attention from boys left her isolated by other girls. To keep the peace, she puts on a deliberately unrefined, overly loud persona—anything to make herself seem less appealing and avoid standing out.

Amid those memories, one bright spot remains: Kou Tanaka, the boy she quietly liked before he suddenly stopped coming to school and disappeared. When Futaba learns he’s back—now going by Kou Mabuchi—old feelings resurface, but the Kou she meets is nothing like the gentle classmate she remembers. He’s changed: more mature and charismatic, yet distant and hard to reach. As Futaba considers dropping her act to be seen for who she really is, she’s forced to weigh her lingering hope for Kou against the fragile normalcy she’s built with her new friends.