Naka-shou, Koi no Yu Eigyouchu!

仲吉商店街、恋の湯♨営業中！
Nakayoshi shoutengai, Koi no Yu Eigyouchu!

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About: MC, a daughter of a family that operates a public bath house, Koi no Yu (来の湯), and her relationship with the sons of the nearby premises in the Nakayoshi shoutengai (or NakaShou for short). There's 6 volumes, with each featuring two of the boys, who would come to help MC with cleaning.


Aoba Taichi (CV: Maeno Tomoaki)
The son of the produce shop just next door to MC's bath house. He is a tsundere, and he just can't get to say anything nicely to MC, even though he wanted to. Taichi is always angry and raised his voice whenever there is something that disagrees with him. When he heard that the Koi no Yu is looking for a new foreman (traditionally a male role) to help around whenever MC's parents are not present, he vocally disagrees, saying that MC always having problem with male in general - she is easily harassed, pushed around etc.. He told her to refuse it, but he can't say it's because he's worried for her. He finally made it to apologize to her for the harsh things he had said.

Juujyou Masaki (CV: Saitou Souma)
The son of the Florist Saki. Very friendly, but he has a peculiar personality that made him a bit unusual. He seems to know exactly when it's going to rain, and used that ability to decide when to keep his delicate flowers in shade. There is a scene of him strongly opposed MC to have him remove his dirty clothes for her to clean because he has a lot of scars all over his body. It was revealed later that because he was a bit of a strange kid, he was abused by his biological parents. Now he lived with new parents that loved him and he will not let the bad memories of his childhood to hold him down.

Munehara Kenta (CV: Masuda Toshiki)
The son of the Munehara Butchery. He is very active and lively. He is a year younger than MC. His favorite food is milk and would drink them anytime he can have it, which sometimes would lead him to get his stomach upset. Kenta, however positive he is at many things, kept an anger towards himself when he can't be as useful or helpful as other people. He compares himself to others a lot and get upset when he can't do the same. This made him to act childish and immature when he felt like he failed. He talked about it with MC and she reminded him that he is already a wonderful kid as is. In the end, he told her he drink milk all the time was to grow up bigger and stronger for MC to rely on, also giving him an excuse to visit her at the bath house (bc milk is sold there).

Kanagaki Sumire (CV: Kishio Daisuke)
Son of the Pasticeria Viola. A year older than MC, and a half Italian on his father's side. His hobby is baking cakes in order to put smiles in people, especially the MC. I'm not really sure the exact of his issue but I think he takes the role of mood-maker for everyone very seriously, that one day when a girl confessed her feelings to him but he kindly refused. The girl cried, leaving him behind feeling he had hurt a person. Sumire was feeling very upset with himself until MC reminded him that he can't please everyone (I think, I'm pretty lost with the whole thing). She also pointed out that Sumire's name, in English, can be spelled as Smile. I think she meant his existence alone is enough to make someone happy. He mentioned in the end that Taichi, Masaki, MC, as well as Sumire, all went to the same kindergarten where they first became friends. He said he was not getting along with the kids in his class then because he looks foreign, but the three of them disregard that and asked Sumire to play and became friends together ever since.

Sakou Atsushi (CV: Kondo Takashi)
The son of the Sakou Liquor Shop, he is the oldest of the boys. He has an elderly father and some far younger siblings. Because he is older than the other children of the shop owners nearby, he acts as the big brother towards everyone. Aside from helping his father with the shop, he also does delivery, as well as taking care of their home and his younger siblings. One day he promised MC that he will come to help her with cleaning the bath house, but he didn't show up that night. It was much later that he arrived, all wet from the pouring rain outside. Instead of having him helping her clean, she insists he would go straight to the bath to warm himself up. Seeing Atsushi not as cheerful as he always does, MC tried to spend more time with him afterwards by giving his shoulders a bit of massage. After a while, he finally shared that his father collapsed earlier and was taken to the hospital immediately. It was later reported nothing to be worried about, but he and his younger siblings all panicked and worried, having flashbacks of the moment when they lost their mother. With him being the eldest, he should have been the one responsible in such events, yet he snapped at them when they can't stop crying. The neighboring couple had to step in and help with the hospital arrangement and taking care of the kids. Atsushi felt useless when he should be the one to be relied on, if emergencies such as that were to happen. He said he can't think properly of what he should do, thus he ended up walking in the rain towards the bath house. MC was able to give him a shoulder to cry on as he broke down talking about his insecurities. The next day he thanked her for listening, and that he knows why he instinctively searched for her last night - Atsushi knew MC would listen and he would feel a lot better afterwards.

Yuzusawa Kai (CV: Kaji Yuuki)
The son of the newly opened Yuzusawa Coffee Shop, and new classmates with MC. He appears to be a very solitary person who didn't really care about other people or being social. MC, however, would try to talk to him whenever they met. Taichi is especially suspicious of how unsociable Kai is, and would warn MC against talking to him at all, but she disagrees. To continue letting Kai out of the community would not be good for him. One day she happened to spend some time talking with Kai and after he got comfortable with her, he asked if she knew of a certain bakery. He only wanted her to tell him where it is but MC insisted on taking him there (it was in another nearby town). They took the scenic route that includes climbing a very high staircase to the top of a certain hill where they sat to catch their breath. With the beautiful panoramic scene of their town as background, Kai finally shares with her his story. He moved in to the neighborhood when his father quit his office work and decided to try his luck with his own cafe. Before, because his mother died when he was very young, Kai would have no choice but to always moving from places to places due to his father's work. This made Kai very difficult to make and keep friends. He had always been a quiet kid and never know how to socialize or talk to people, to which he deals with completely not getting involved at all. But now living in NakaShou, he began to desire to be included in the small community and would be willing to change himself. MC suggests to stop treating himself like an outsider, and befriend Taichi for starters.


Final say: This is a very light drama with nothing too heavy. Well, some are quite the wholesome drama, with a generous helping of realistic. They're all good boys, though surprisingly, my least favorite of them is Maeno's character. Taichi's issue is the most uninteresting of all of them, which is rather sad because I like Maeno's tsundere.