I've heard this be compared to 'The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria' a couple times, a work that was hardly known in Japan but beloved and hailed as hidden gem by its English readers, and from what little I've read, it does seem very charming... even if that tragedy tag scares me a bit lmao. Still, I'd welcome any good mystery, especially if it is one with a strong central character dynamic.

This one is really interesting and compelling. I’m not much for tragedy, but this is on my list of exceptions. Fair warning, it can be straight up depressing, and current events are not being kind to those dealing with depression, so ymmv. I’d add it to my library but probably wouldn’t read it for a while.

It's spotlight time and I'm not sure what else to say—so I decided to share some screenshots of the manga adaptation and some various reviews of the novel and the manga:

alt text