Looking Up At The Half-Moon

After being diagnosed with hepatitis A, Ezaki Yuuichi finds himself stuck in the hospital, separated from everyday life and increasingly frustrated by the isolation. To break the monotony, he slips out whenever he can—often earning a stern response from his nurse when he’s caught.

Everything shifts when he meets Akiba Rika, a girl his age hospitalized as well. Yuuichi is drawn to her at first sight, but Rika proves far more difficult to understand than her appearance suggests: moody, self-centered, and unapologetically demanding. As they spend time together, their guarded encounters gradually soften into a quiet teenage romance, shaped by small moments of happiness and strain—and shadowed by the knowledge that Rika’s illness leaves her with little time.