Love and Lies

In a near-future Japan facing a declining birthrate, a government program known as the “Red Threads of Science” assigns marriage partners to citizens when they turn 16, using compatibility calculations and enforcing strict consequences for those who refuse. For Yukari Nejima—an ordinary high school boy who’s never expected much from life—the system seems like it might offer a clear path forward.

That certainty shatters when Yukari finally confesses to his longtime crush and classmate, Misaki Takasaki, and she returns his feelings. Before they can take their relationship any further, his official marriage notice arrives, pairing him with Ririna Sanada. As Yukari tries to reconcile duty with desire, Ririna’s unexpected interest in his forbidden romance pulls all three into a tense, complicated triangle of secrets and conflicting emotions.