My Monster Secret, known in Japan as Actually, I Am... (実は私は, Jitsu wa Watashi wa), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiji Masuda. It was serialized in Akita Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion from January 31, 2013, to February 16, 2017. Akita Shoten collected the series in 22 tankōbon volumes.
An anime television series adaptation ran from July to September 2015.[2] AnimeLab has secured streaming rights in Australia and New Zealand.[3]
Seven Seas Entertainment acquired the rights to translate and distribute the manga for North America, with the first volume being released in January 2016.[4]
Plot
Asahi Kuromine, a normal high school student who supposedly cannot keep a secret, finds his demeanor quickly challenged when he spots his classmate and crush, Youko Shiragami, unfurling a large pair of wings from her back when he tries to propose. He learns Youko is a vampire, and she is only able to attend a normal school on one condition: no one must discover her true identity. This secret becomes difficult to maintain, as Youko herself is an airhead and Asahi's childhood friend Mikan keeps bullying the two of them. Love is blooming between Asahi and Youko but things are not very easy. Later on, Asahi discovers more girls in his school with secrets of their own: a tiny alien who rides a human-sized exoskeleton of herself, a werewolf capable of switching gender at any depiction of a moon, a thousand-year-old demon who secretly runs the school, and more who not only pose a challenge as Asahi tries to maintain Youko's secret, but also secretly like Asahi and despise the idea of Asahi and Youko being a couple, thus trying to separate them.
Asahi is a second year high school student who seemingly cannot keep a secret, so much his nickname is "leaky basket." He discovers his current crush, Youko, is a vampire when he finds her unfurling her wings after school.[ch. 1] As a result, he is forced to keep her secret, lest she have to drop out of both school and his life. He comes to learn secrets about his other classmates and finds the people around him are not who they seem to be. Often forced to play the straight man in increasingly absurd situations, Asahi often acts as the narrator through his inner monologues. He is also susceptible to projectile nosebleeds when confronted with perverse situations, earning the nickname "Eromine" from Youko. Asahi has a younger sister named Mei, though she is barely mentioned in the story until much later on. As the series progresses, Asahi and Youko begin dating, eventually becoming a couple.
Youko is a classmate of Asahi and the daughter of a human and a vampire. Though she has long canine teeth, many other typical vampiric characteristics are downplayed, such as only getting tanned in sunlight or feeling guilty when entering a room uninvited. She has a Kansai accent, but speaks in honorifics so as not to expose her teeth. While initially coming across as haughty, her true personality is bubbly and absent minded. Her dream is to become a cool beauty, but has yet to accomplish this goal. Though initially friendly with Asahi, she develops romantic feelings for him, but keeps them to herself because she believes Asahi likes Aizawa. She is also often hungry, due to not being able to eat lunch for fear of revealing her teeth. As the series progresses, Asahi and Youko begin dating, and accidentally becomes pregnant with Asahi's child after regularly sucking his blood, unaware a vampire sucking a person's blood has the same effect as sexual intercourse.
Nagisa is a classmate of Asahi and Youko, and is also a small alien riding a human-sized robotic exoskeleton of herself. Initially the love interest of Asahi before the series began, she turned him down before he could confess, believing her secret would be discovered if she started a relationship with him. She, like most of Asahi's friends, is aware of his feelings for Youko, and develops feelings for him after the fact. Her alien species is militaristic, and she often uses military terminology when describing things. Her exoskeleton runs on an internal battery must be constantly recharged with an AC outlet and has on many occasions run out of power for comedic effect. She is usually meticulous and serious with her actions, though loses her composure when dealing with embarrassing situations. Nagisa has an older brother, Ryo, whom she initially respects and draws inspiration from, before learning he is less reliable than she initially realized. As a small alien, she is always wearing the same clothes her robot is wearing. Her exoskeleton has a metal screw cockpit opening with an antenna sticking out of it, but no one guesses what she really is despite this. When Youko and Asahi start to date, she decides to put her feelings aside to help them, and remain friends.
Mikan is a childhood friend of Asahi who bullies him relentlessly. She is the president of the Newspaper Club, and has used her position to turn it into a supermarket tabloid. Most of the time, though, the newspaper club members do all the work for her. She secretly likes Asahi, but perceives her lack of femininity as a barrier she cannot overcome, and prefers instead to bully and tease him. She wears fake glasses Asahi won at a carnival when they were younger, and they later become the host of a fortune god in training, though this god's attempts to help only end up causing her more misfortune. Mikan has two younger brothers who occasionally appear in the story. She eventually reveals her feelings to Asahi, who turns her down but also reveals he has always seen her as a girl, and she just never noticed it, much to her own regret. While she generally puts forward a facade of evilness, she genuinely cares about her friends and will do her best to help them.
Shiho is the dominant personality, and is aware of everything occurs when Shirou is in control of her body. While Shirou has a crush on Youko and attempts to discover if Asahi is aware of her secret, Shiho is more playful and amorous, deriving enjoyment from being perverse. She often tries to force Youko into admitting her true feelings towards Asahi, and having a perverted crush on Asahi, and tries to expose herself to him. While her father is also a wolfman, her mother is only shown in silhouette and is referred to as the "Charismatic Female Pervert."
Supporting characters
Shirou Shishido (獅狼)
Voiced by: Kenichi Miya
Shishido is Youko's childhood friend and a wolfman. Initially appearing as Shirou, an intimidating man with sharp teeth, upon seeing any depiction of The Moon, he transforms into Shiho, a busty, self-proclaimed pervert. A second glimpse of The Moon transforms Shishido back into Shirou. Shiho is the dominant personality, and is aware of everything occurs when Shirou is in control of her body. While Shirou has a crush on Youko and attempts to discover if Asahi is aware of her secret, Shiho is more playful and amorous, deriving enjoyment from being perverse. She often tries to force Youko into admitting her true feelings towards Asahi, and having a perverted crush on Asahi, and tries to expose herself to him. While her father is also a wolfman, her mother is only shown in silhouette and is referred to as the "Charismatic Female Pervert."
Principal of Asahi's high school and a thousand year-old demon, although her appearance is of the body of a young girl with demonic horns. Despite her age, she is often quick to exhibit childish tendencies, such as playing large-scale pranks on the people at school and quickly getting excited whenever she believes sweets are nearby. She takes special delight in ruining Akari's life when given the chance. As a demon, Akane is capable of magically transforming herself and others around her, as well as multiplying herself (though the clones will also display copies of her horns on their head). She was the teacher of Youko's parents when they attended her high school. It is implied her present form is not her true appearance. In the past, it was revealed she had a much more mature and menacing appearance. Her true appearance is never confirmed. She is extremely powerful, although not omnipotent, ranking among the other high-rank demons, but she is jealous of them, since she does not have any legends about herself.
Asahi's homeroom teacher and former delinquent known as "Akari of the Hundred Visits" due to responding violently after being rejected by, apparently, 100 boys across different schools. She is Akane's great-great-granddaughter, and while she does not retain any demonic powers, her short temper and unnaturally strong fighting ability allows her to rein in Akane's misbehavior. Aware of the various secret students in her class, she attempts to be a reliable authority figure. However, she often finds herself dragged into crazy situations between her heavy drinking, her near-impossible wish for a perfect man to literally appear on a white horse and marry her, and Akane's own devilish mischief. She is later called Akari-chan by Youko, who comes to see her as an equal rather than just a teacher. She works hard to change her image of a spinster into a cute girl, but her attempts are always marred by Akane's pranks.
Rin Kiryuin (黄龍院 凜, Kiryūin Rin)
Rin is a first high school student and secretly Asahi's and Mikan's time traveling granddaughter from the future (The daughter of Asahi's Daughter and Mikan's Son). She claims to have returned to the past to prevent a dystopian future in which an entity known only as "Charismatic Female Pervert II" has taken over the world, turning 90% of the male humans on Earth into masochistic slaves and 70% of the females into like-minded perverts - however, this is later revealed to be a lie, as she has actually returned to try and prevent the series of events leading to Youko being exposed and abandoning Asahi. She travels back in time using a dragon-shaped time machine and wields a sword capable of making clothes more modest. Usually quiet, she is protective of Asahi, whom she treats like a grandfather, not adapting her behavior to his younger appearance. Also like Asahi, she has trouble keeping a secret, accidentally letting slip letting him know she was a time-traveler despite the possibility of creating an irreversible temporal paradox by doing so. Her grandparents are eventually revealed to be Asahi, Yōko, Mikan and Okada.
Okada (岡田, Okada), Sakurada (桜田, Sakurada), and Shimada (嶋田, Shimada)
Asahi's three male friends. Okada wears glasses and is often seen with a juice box in his mouth. Shimada often attempts to hit on various female classmates (notably Nagisa's disguised older brother, Ryō) with little success. Sakurada is younger than he appears to be, and is often smiling. All three try to support Asahi, though they often mock his inability to keep a secret. Throughout the manga, their first names have been revealed; Sakurada's name is Kōsuke, Shimada's name is Yūta, and Okada's name is Kanade.
Okada is revealed to be a read people's minds, against his own wishes. He became friends with Asahi and Mikan, when he was amused by Asahi's inability to hide what he was thinking and Mikan's contrasting actions and personality. He gradually fell in love with her, but refrained from confessing as he was aware of Mikan's feelings for Asahi. He eventually did confess, and it is revealed they got married in the future.
Sakurada was once a delinquent, against his own wishes. He was often attacked and mocked because of his naturally massive build and menacing appearance, and no one would believe him. Before he entered high-school, he and his gang attacked Akari, but she beat them all senseless. She consoled Sakurada, which resulted in him falling for her. He eventually succeeded in confessing to her and they began to date in "secret", while everyone actually knew the truth.
Youko's father and mother who had a high school romance similar to Youko and Asahi. Genjirou is a scarred 4-meter tall vampire with an intimidating aura. He is overly protective of his daughter, at one point even disguising himself as a female assistant teacher at the school to find out the truth of Asahi's relationship with his daughter. Touko is a normal sized human woman who often ends up reigning in Genjirou's behavior through various blunt instruments.
Karen Shirogane (銀 華恋, Shirogane Karen)
Introduced as a demon, Karen is actually a fallen angel who lost her halo, which Akane uses as a light bulb without her knowledge. Honest and gentle to a fault, her attempts to be demonic are often seen as angelic, though annoying. She was Genjirou and Touko's classmate, and is the current student council president, having retained the position for over 20 years at the request of Akane. Her feathers can invoke one of the seven deadly sins in whoever gets stuck with them.
Ryo Aizawa (藍澤 涼, Aizawa Ryō)
The older brother of Nagisa. He, like his sister, moves around in an exoskeleton in is the size of a human body. His exoskeleton is the body of a girl 'ghost' so Nagisa wouldn't know he was in there. He is usually the victim of Shimada's continual flirtation, even to the point of almost kissing him.
Yuika Momochi (桃地 結香, Momochi Yuika)
A ninja from a different time-period who tends to fall in love with the first guy she bumps into, including Asahi and Okada. However, her use of ninja equipment usually intimidates anyone she tries to attract. Revealed to be Shimada and Shihos' time traveling granddaughter.
Mei Kuromine (黒峰 鳴, Kuromine Mei)
Asahi's younger sister. Not much is known about her, other than she is Yuika's somewhat supportive friend. She and Asahi have a rather generic sibling relationship; caring for each other without thinking about it, while also ignoring each other.
Saki Minagawa (水奈川 咲, Minagawa Saki)
The student representative of Mei and Yuika's class. Secretly a succubus who drains men's energy when seducing them, though Saki herself has little in the way of skills or experience doing so. Following the decline of the succubus race due to the "Charismatic Female Pervert," she vows to return the race to its former glory in the "Tokyo Pervert Olympics."
Sen Kiryuin (Kiryūin Sen)
A Vampire-Hunter, who has no intention of actually hunting vampires. Another self-proclaimed pervert, he occasionally imparts some advice to Asahi on how to deal with Youko's vampire problems. It is implied his father marries Okada's mother, making them step-brothers in the future.
Shirayuki (白雪姫, Shirayuki)
The principal of Morobare high school from Genjirou and Touko's past. Shirayuki is a cruel individual who feels absolute disgust at the thought of human and non-human species can coexist, believing it goes against the pride of non-humans. Through manipulation, she was the one who orchestrated the events culminating in Genjirou's secret being revealed and subsequently preventing his graduation and causing his isolation, taking great delight on the deed. Disgusted at her actions, Akane forced her to quit as Principal and threatened to kill her should she ever return. Learning about the time-travelers attempt to help Asahi protect Youko's secret from an incoming threat, Shirayuki ambushes Akane to reclaim her position as principal to re-enact her separatist agenda.
Although she nearly succeeds in her goals, being assisted by Genjirou, she is confronted by Akane who was freed from Shirayuki's ice by Akari, Karen and future Nagisa. Cornered she attempts to jump from the school's roof to commit suicide, which forces Youko to show her vampire identity to save her. Fearing for her daughter Genjirou tries to take Youko away but Asahi convinces him to let them marry after every non-human in the school decides to reveal their own secrets, but with widespread acceptance by their human peers.
It is revealed she is in truth a centuries old human who became a Yuki-onna after an event in her childhood which caused a non-human friend of hers to be exchanged by money by the human villagers in order to secure funds to survive. Having seen this pattern to repeat itself several times, left her with a deep traumatic experience which is the foundation of her beliefs. After seeing her long time wish requested to Akane came true at last with both species interacting normally, she finds relief and her spirit is put to rest as she had in fact died and became a ghost.
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Eiji Masuda, My Monster Secret has been serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Champion from January 31, 2013 to February 16, 2017 and collected into twenty-two volumes by Akita Shoten. Seven Seas Entertainment has licensed the manga for North America under the title My Monster Secret and published the first volume on January 12, 2016.[5]
The anime adaptation of My Monster Secret began airing on July 6, 2015, in Japan and streaming to North American audiences via Crunchyroll as Actually, I am.... the same day. The opening theme is "Himitsu o Chōdai" (ひみつをちょーだい, Give Me Secrets) by Ars Magna and the ending theme is "Ienai Ienai" (言えない言えない, Can't Say It, Can't Say It) by Hilcrhyme. Additionally, three character song volumes were released: Volume 1 featuring Yōko Shiragami (Yū Serizawa) and Shiho Shishido (Aya Uchida), Volume 2 featuring Nagisa Aizawa (Inori Minase) and Mikan Akemi (Reina Ueda), and Volume 3 featuring Akane Kōmoto (Mao Ichimichi) and Akari Kōmoto (Emi Nitta).
The anime is licensed by Discotek Media. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2017.[32]
Character songs
Volume 1 primarily features Yōko Shiragami and Shiho Shishido. Songs included are Zettai Himitsu Shugi! (絶対秘密主義!) sung by Yōko; Tropical Sisters (トロピカルシスターズ) sung by Yōko, Nagisa, Mikan, and Shiho; StartingHeart sung by Yōko and Shiho; and Tsukiyo no Persuasion Way (月夜のPersuasion way) sung by Shiho.
Volume 2 primarily features Nagisa Aizawa and Mikan Akemi. Songs included are Chikyū senpuku sakusen + a (地球潜伏作戦+α) sung by Nagisa; Itsuka no Summer Day (いつかのSummerDay) sung by Mikan; and Silent Note sung by Nagisa and Mikan.
Volume 3 primarily features Akane Kōmoto and Akari Kōmoto. Songs included are Satanic Surfer Satanikkusāfā (サタニックサーファー) sung by Akane and Akari;Sekai seifuku chokorēto dai sakusen! (世界制服チョコレート大作戦!) sung by Akane; and Day by Day sung by Akari.
Episode list
No.
Title
Original air date
1
"I'll Confess!" "Kokuhaku Shiyō!" (告白しよう!)
July 6, 2015 (2015-07-06)
Asahi Kuromine, a high-school boy who has trouble keeping a secret from anyone, has a crush on his cool and reserved classmate Youko Shiragami. While he worries about getting rejected in a similar manner to his confession of love with Class President Nagisa Aizawa, his classmates encourage him to try again. Upon reaching the classroom to confess to Youko, he finds her unfurling a large pair of wings from her back. Youko admits to Asahi that she is a vampire, but could only come to school if she hid her true identity from everyone. Asahi swears that he'll be her friend and keep her secret safe. Meanwhile, Newspaper Club head Mikan Akemi plans to see how Asahi's confession went, and Nagisa appears to be spying on Asahi from afar.
2
"I'll Keep This Secret!" "Himitsu o Mamorō!" (秘密を守ろう!)
July 13, 2015 (2015-07-13)
Asahi tells his friends that he decided to be just friends with Youko for now. Meanwhile, Nagisa reflects on how she brutally rejected Asahi the previous summer to prevent him from getting too close to her, but now acts jealous after seeing him with Youko. Later, Youko eats her lunch with Asahi in an otherwise-empty classroom, and finds some cream puffs that Nagisa left on his desk, but the puff is too spicy for her to eat. She inadvertently reveals her wings as Nagisa steps into the room, but Nagisa in turn accidentally reveals herself to be a tiny alien, stepping out of her human-sized "External Unit" while holding a tiny raygun at Youko. While worrying about her own secret getting out, Nagisa chases after Asahi with a sledgehammer she refers to as a "Memory Erasure Apparatus," but Youko saves Asahi from getting hit by it. In the end, the three decide to keep each other's secrets safe, while Mikan is shown digging a listening device out of an uneaten cream puff.
3
"Beware Childhood Friends!" "Osananajimi o Kiotsukeyō!" (幼馴染に気をつけよう!)
July 20, 2015 (2015-07-20)
Mikan tortures Asahi and his friends for more information about Asahi's meeting in the classroom with Yōko, but he refuses to tell her anything, fearing that she would spread the information around school like she did in the past. Later, Asahi's teacher asks him to deliver homework to Yōko, as she is sick and can't come to school. Mikan decides to follow him, but Nagisa appears to help him off her trail. Asahi decides to stop for a brief visit at Yōko's student apartment, but gets a call from Nagisa that Mikan managed to get past her and run to Yōko's house. Mikan is accidentally knocked unconscious after being buried under a pile of Yōko's junk from the closet, but decides to photoshop a romantic encounter between Asahi and Yōko and threatens to display it throughout the school. Asahi confronts Mikan on the rooftop and begs her not to do it, but the pleading only makes her stronger, so Asahi takes the opposite route and decides to let her put up the pictures, draining her resolve as she didn't want him to feel happy. After school, a spirit residing in Mikan's glasses assumes that she secretly has feelings for Asahi, but Mikan angrily denies this as she twists her own glasses around.
4
"Help the Class Rep!" "Iinchō o Tasukeyō!" (委員長を助けよう！)
July 27, 2015 (2015-07-27)
Nagisa begs Asahi for help as her External Unit ran out of battery power before it could recharge and she was forced to come to him in her lilliputian form. Asahi sneaks into the girls' bathroom and carries Nagisa's body down to the nurse's office with Yōko's help. However, on their way out, Mikan stumbles upon the tiny form of the real Nagisa, so Asahi tries to play her off as a lifelike figurine. Unfortunately, this only excites Mikan and Shimada (who arrives later) while Nagisa has trouble maintaining a doll-like composure, forcing Asahi to snatch Nagisa back and hide from his friends. After taking shelter in a gym storage shed, Nagisa mysteriously grows to human size and is embarrassed about revealing her antenna to Asahi while Mikan, Shimada and Yōko all hunt them down. Asahi decides to have the human-sized Nagisa punch him out of the shed and escape, pretending to be angry. A mysterious horned lady magically returns Nagisa to her normal size, while Asahi and Yōko clear up their misunderstanding after school.
5
"Let's Go on a... Date?" "Dēto? Shiyō!" (デート？しよう！)
August 3, 2015 (2015-08-03)
After discovering that UV rays from sunlight cause Yōko's skin to instantly tan, Nagisa decides to train her into dodging sunlight on her route to and from school. Asahi studies up on vampire weaknesses while Nagisa encourages Yōko to do a field test with her new training. On the way, they walk through a shopping arcade, where Asahi tries to protect Yōko from salesmen offering garlic and crosses. However, like sunlight, their effects on Yōko are much less harmful than their depictions in popular fiction: crosses simply make her annoyed and garlic makes her eyes water. After coming across an uncovered bridge, Yōko is about to give up her new daytime route when Asahi asks if she's tried using sunscreen. Yōko ends up using it for the first time the next day at school. The following weekend, Asahi and Yōko go to an amusement park together. Yōko saw it as a chance to get him closer to Nagisa, but Nagisa declined, seeing it as an opportunity to have Yōko go on a date with Asahi. The two of them go through the attractions, including a haunted house where Yōko is scared at first but becomes upset at the actor portraying a blood-sucking vampire. Later that evening, Yōko notes that their outing was similar to the relationship that her own parents had with each other, to the point where they even attended her current school together. Meanwhile, Yōko's father is suspicious of Yōko's new boyfriend, and tasks the werewolf Shiro Shishido with bringing her back home if her secret has been revealed.
6
"Beware of the Wolf Man!" "Ookamiotoko ni Chuui Shiyō!" (狼男に注意しよう！)
August 10, 2015 (2015-08-10)
While returning home from the amusement park, Asahi and Yōko encounter a scary wolfman with fangs. Yōko recognizes him as her childhood friend Shiro, but he threatens Asahi anyway. When Shiro sees the moon in the evening sky, he ends up transforming into a sexy lady named Shiho. The three then go to Yōko's home where Shiho explains that she is the dominant personality in the body she shares with Shiro. Shiho then starts teasing Asahi, making Yōko jealous as she reveals that the wolfman can change at any depiction of the moon, including a picture she shows to Shiho. Meanwhile, Nagisa heads to Yōko's home to make a peace offering with her homemade cake, but upon arriving finds Shiho pinning down Asahi and leaves. When she returns a moment later, she sees Shiro in the same position, and flees at the sight. Eventually, the girls clear up the misunderstanding, while Shiho tells Yōko in a private moment that she should be more honest about her relationship with Nagisa. The next day, Shiho appears in Nagisa's class as a transfer student, introducing herself as "a pervert."
7
"Let's Get Sexy!" "Sekushī ni Narou!" (セクシーになろう！)
August 17, 2015 (2015-08-17)
After being relentlessly teased by Shiho's body in school, Asahi begins to projectile-nosebleed while Nagisa starts to get jealous. Asahi runs away to meet with Yōko when the two see a tiny girl with horns walking by them. Soon, Yōko decides to speak directly with the girl who tells Yōko that she is Akane Komoto, related to their homeroom teacher, Akari Komoto. Akari then shows up to wrangle Akane back to her office, where Asahi and Yōko learn that Akane is actually a thousand year-old devil with real horns and Akari's great-great-grandmother. Akane also claims that it was thanks to her that the various supernatural characters were allowed to transfer into the same class. Despite Akane's attempts to portray herself as an adult, Yōko keeps baiting her into childish reactions with snacks and claims to be the more mature girl. The two girls then decide to have a "sexy" contest in the empty school gym with Shiho acting as the host, while Asahi is forced to be the judge through his nosebleed reactions. Meanwhile, Nagisa starts tracking mysterious demonic energy from her cat-like spacecraft elsewhere in the city. In multiple contests, Yōko and Akane try to one-up each other to prove their sexiness, except Asahi keeps getting the strongest reaction from Shiho's actions. Events included a sexy pose contest, swimsuit contest, dance contest, and cosplay contest. Finally, Yōko challenges Akane to survive eating awful cream puffs that Mikan made earlier. The contest ends with Yōko and Akane blowing up the gym in a large explosion and sending Nagisa's spacecraft flying from the shockwave.
8
"Let's Save the World!" "Sekai o Sukuou!" (世界を救おう！)
August 24, 2015 (2015-08-24)
Asahi finds out he has to retake a cooking class, having missed the previous one. He is delighted to find out that Yōko, Nagisa, and Shiho are joining him in making curry, but soon finds out that all three girls have trouble making it. Nagisa's directions lead her to make a chocolate cake, which is accidentally tossed out a nearby window where Akane catches it with her horn. After taking a bite, she falls in love with it. Mikan decides to buy snacks for Akane in hopes of getting an interview with her, but Akane slips away until Akari appears to wrangle her back to the home economics room. However, both women are sickened to find that Yōko and Nagisa got too enthusiastic and added something to the curry that causes it to spew poison gas. Later that night, Akane breaks down the wall of Akari's apartment and demands that she get Nagisa to make more chocolate for her. When Akari refuses, Akane responds by magically steering an asteroid towards Earth, threatening to destroy the planet. Yōko, Nagisa, and Shiho reunite to make chocolate in the same room, but Akari discovers that the asteroid veers off course when Akane loses concentration, so she ties her down to a chair and force-feeds her chocolates made by everyone except Nagisa. Even as Akane tries copying herself to reach Nagisa's chocolate, the other girls manage to fight Akane's clones off until she loses enough focus that Nagisa's comrades in outer space force the asteroid to make a U-turn, saving Earth from destruction.
9
"Let's Put On Our Swimsuits!" "Mizugi ni Kikaeyou!" (水着に着替えよう！)
August 31, 2015 (2015-08-31)
Now that it's summer, Asahi gets up the nerve to invite Yoko to the pool. The problem is, Yoko doesn't know how to swim and thinks that Asahi is asking her so they both could practice. To Asahi's consternation, Yoko invites both Nagisa and Shiho to join them, and Asahi's three friends wind up going too. Shiho leads the swimming lesson, with Nagisa as her assistant, but her perverted instructions get Shimada into big trouble. Her next set of instructions cause Nagisa to knock her out and take her place as instructor (naturally in a militaristic manner!), but her teaching style nearly drowns both Yoko and Asahi! Mikan then shows up with her two little brothers (and without her camera for once!) and for the first time shows a softer side when talking about Asahi. After the pool closes and everyone is on their way home, Asahi and Yoko both make excuses and ditch the gang, meeting at the school that evening; it turns out that Yoko wants to continue her swimming lessons at the school pool. After some more practice, Yoko tells Asahi about how her parents learned to swim and how her life has changed for the better since she and Asahi met, but things take an embarrassing turn when they begin to address each other by their first names for the very first time (secretly watched by Akane)!
10
"Let's Be Honest!" "Sunao ni Narou!" (素直になろう！)
September 7, 2015 (2015-09-07)
Okada, Sakurada and Shimada invite Asahi and Yoko to join them at a buffet restaurant, but Yoko is reluctant for fear of revealing her secret. However, Asahi convinces her, and although there is constant danger of Yoko's being exposed (such as the bats hovering outside or her wings appearing), things seem to be going well...until Mikan (who is working at the restaurant as a waitress) appears with her latest batch of Russian Cream Puffs for Yoko to try! To protect Yoko, Asahi (joined by Shimada, who doesn't know the lethal effects of Mikan's pastry) eat them all, with the expected result! The next day at school, Mikan is distraught, having lost her "Heathen Queen" glasses; Asahi, Yoko and Nagisa join her in searching for them. It turns out that Akane stole them, and a major chase through the school begins with Akane using her magic tricks, culminating in her creating clones wearing identical glasses, but Akari breaks up the chase, returns the glasses and drags Akane off for punishment! Later, by the riverside, Nagisa learns the truth about the glasses: that they are inhabited by a fukunokami, a god of good fortune (in this case, a god-in-training!) and that this fukunokami inhabited the glasses because they were filled with the good memories about Mikan's childhood and her true feelings for Asahi. Rather than admit to her true feelings, Mikan repeatedly tries to throw the glasses away, but is stopped by Nagisa, who challenges her to face Asahi without them. The glasses tell Mikan that if she won't admit her feelings to Asahi it will just as Asahi and Yoko join them. In a panic, Mikan tries to put the glasses on again, and in the ensuing confusion Nagisa winds up wearing the glasses just as the fukunokami blurts out, "Asahi-kun, the truth is I am in love with you!", making it sound (to everybody's shock) that Nagisa had spoken!
11
"Let's Go to the Summer Festival!" "Natsumatsuri ni Ikou!" (夏祭りに行こう！)
September 14, 2015 (2015-09-14)
Asahi and Nagisa were invited by Youko, Shimada, Oka, and Sakura (respectively) to the Summer Festival; however, Youko tricked them into together on them spending an exciting time 'alone together'. Youko and Shiho follow Asahi and Nagisa around to watch what they do together. Asahi, tying to make the atmosphere less awkward, invites Nagisa to play at the shooting gallery. Youko becomes flustered while watching the two of them play, and loses track of where they went. Soon after, Mikan shows up with her two little brothers and helps the two of them look for Asahi and Nagisa. Soon after they find the two of them, Nagisa trips and falls onto Asahi, then realizing her love for him!
12
"Let's Stop This Confession!" "Kokuhaku o Soshi Shiyou!" (告白を阻止しよう！)
September 21, 2015 (2015-09-21)
After the incident at the Summer Festival, Youko has been avoiding Asahi, unaware of how she really felt about the incident. Asahi continually tries to do things together with Youko, but she runs away before they could. Shiho talks with Youko about being more honest about her own feelings. Meanwhile, Asahi asks Sakura, Shimada, and Oka for advice on approaching Youko again. Nagisa reevaluates her own feelings in the hallway and comes to the conclusion that she needs to apologize to them in person. Akane comes up the stairway and says that she has heard Nagisa's inner voice, which she would rather have Youko out of the picture so that she could be with Asahi instead. Nagisa denies the claim, but Akane persists until Akari comes and drags her back to the principals office again. Upon leaving, Akane dropped a photo taken at the Summer Festival. Nagisa looks at the photo on the staircase, concluding that she would keep the photo for personal use only. A few moments later, Asahi and his friends come down the staircase and notice her, in which she tries to hide the photo from them. Mikan also arrives, coming up the stairs and wondering what the commotion was about. Mikan becomes suspicious after seeing Nagisa back up, so she tries to take the picture that the other is hiding. Pushing the two of them into the wall, Nagisa accidentally lets go of the photo, which coincidentally lands in Asahi's hands. Nagisa, in a fret, shoves ice cream into Asahi's eyes and takes the photo back. Everyone watched as Nagisa got rid of the evidence by eating the photo before their eyes. Asahi, who can't see, puts his arms against the wall 'blocking' Nagisa in. Youko, who passes by and sees this, runs away. At her house in the bathtub, she begins to think about everything that happened over the past few days, including what Shiho said. At Asahi's, Asahi has a nightmare that Youko and him couldn't be friends anymore. The next morning, Asahi finds Youko, who says to meet her on the rooftop in the evening. Asahi decides that he was going to confess to her on the rooftop. Nagisa overheard his conversation, and she wonders what she was going to have to do. Mikan, who was also revealed to have been watching, explains about all of Asahi's old love confessions. and how Youko was the only serious love he has ever had. Nagisa understood what she had to do, and while Asahi was making his way towards the rooftop, stopped him. Persistently being chased, Asahi ran for his life as Nagisa tried to knock him out with a 'sleep inducing device'. Asahi decided he had enough and climbed up a stack of desks and chairs to make his way to the rooftop. When he got there, he saw Youko being taken away by a mysterious bat revealed to be her father.
13
"Let's Go Home Together!" "Issho ni Kaerou!" (一緒に帰ろう！)
September 28, 2015 (2015-09-28)
Asahi, Akari, Nagisa, Shiho and Akane pursue Youko, but are hampered by Akari's refusal to exceed the speed limit and risk damaging her new car. Akane knocks out Akari and uses her powers to take control of the car, but ends up destroying it in the process. Asahi, Nagisa and Shiho break into the mansion, and are confronted by Youko's father Genjirō. Asahi asks him to return Youko, but is questioned about his relationship with Youko. Youko arrives, and the trio try to help her escape, only to learn that her father was bringing her home because her mother is sick - she had wanted Asahi to come to the rooftop so that she could tell him that she was going home for a bit. Genjirō learns that Asahi knows Youko's secret and chases after them, but Asahi is able to get him to slip on a banana peel. While hiding in her room, Youko and Asahi talk over what happened at the School Festival. Genjirō tries to force Asahi out of Youko's room, but Youko's mother Tōko arrives and frightens him into running off. Youko and Asahi go to talk to Genjirō, and Nagisa exposes herself as an alien to him. Asahi offers to have his memories of Youko's secret erased if Genjirō promises to allow Youko to continue with school. Genjirō agrees, but only if Asahi erases ALL of his memories of Youko. Nagisa is unable to go through with the act, however, and Youko tackles Asahi before he can do so himself. Just as she is about to confess her feelings for him, Genjirō collapses, and Nagisa realizes that the hammer must have hit Genjirō when Youko tackled Asahi. While eating onigiri, Nagisa and Youko talk about how much they like being with the other students. The next morning, Akari and Akane pick up the students (Akari made Akane pay for a new car in full). Genjirō pretends that he doesn't care that Youko is leaving, but runs after the car waving goodbye.
Reception
The manga had 1.5 million copies in print as of March 2016.[33]
