A review by ellelainey
Stay by My Side After the Rain Vol. 1 by Shoko Rakuta

4.0

The cover of this one made me think this was a YA series, but it's not. Well, it's got a YA vibe and a first time, virgin storyline, but the MC's are both in their adult years. However, there's a sort of double timeline, with the high school storyline and adult storyline getting equal time.

Kanade and Mashiro were high school friends. Kanade was secretly in love with Mashiro and held onto that without ever admitting it, despite Mashiro having a girlfriend. As soon as they graduated, Kanade tried to move on but no one has ever compared to his first love, and he cut off contact between them to protect himself.
Years later, a woman at work wants to date him, but he lies and says he's dating someone because he's not ready to come out as gay at work. Then he bumps into Mashiro by fluke and Mashiro doesn't want to let him go again.

I really loved how close Mashiro and Kanade were in both timelines, that we got to see their old friendship and their new romance develop. The only part I hated was the co-worker Kanamori claiming to be a BL fangirl only to pressure Kanade into coming out, just to make the girl at work who fancied him feel better! That's no reason to come out when you're not ready, and I love that Kanade stood up for himself about that, BUT he quickly surrendered to the pressure of coming out to both Kanamori and the girl who fancied him.

Overall, it was a super sweet story and I loved both MC's equally. They were lovely and perfectly suited to each other.