A Condition Called Love

Hotaru Hinase is nearly sixteen and perfectly content without romance, finding happiness in small everyday moments shared with friends and family. Love feels distant and unfamiliar to her—something she doesn’t expect to experience or fully understand.

One day, she witnesses a painful breakup involving her classmate Hananoi, a boy she’s never really spoken to. Later, she notices him sitting alone in the snow and quietly offers him shelter under her umbrella. The next day, Hananoi surprises her by confessing at school. Even after Hotaru turns him down, he keeps trying to show his sincerity—changing his look and even searching the snow for her lost hairpin—determined to give her a chance to know him.

Without romantic feelings of her own, Hotaru decides that spending time with Hananoi might teach her what love is. She agrees to date him and begins figuring out what it means to be a girlfriend, learning how to respond to the steady kindness Hananoi continues to offer.