Sugihara Rio & Kitahata Akeno: 37°C – Thirty Seven Degrees Celsius

Noda met Wakasugi through a mutual friend. They embarked on physical relationship for a few months and then it ended even more vaugely than it started. It was a rather imbalanced relationship with Noda holding back and Wakasugi seeming prepared to leave at any moment. Ten years later, Noda is separated from his wife and Wakasugi is fresh from is own break up. Wakasugi calls Noda up and asks to stay with him and Noda allows it. Even with the awkwardness, it wasn’t long before they got back into the swing of things; though, this time, Noda’s conscience was a lot more restless. The remainder of the story is about Noda’s restlessnes, Wakasugi’s neediness, and that awkwardness and where that takes them and if they even want to go. If it wasn’t for the first person storytelling, it would have been much better. There are ways to do it and make it work; however, this could have easily been rewritten in third person and been fine, which, to me, means that it should have been written that way in the first place. And because it was written this way, reading the sex scenes was not a treat. Also, the way it ended made me feel like I was cheated. It was such a pivotal point and the impending confrontation is one I’d like to have read, but it was not to be.