Hirano and Kagiura

Hirano and Kagiura (平野と鍵浦, Hirano to Kagiura) is an ongoing manga series by Harusono Shou (春園ショウ). It tells the story of Hirano Taiga and Kagiura Akira. The comic is published in the magazine Monthly Comic Gene.

Novel
The novelization of Hirano and Kagiura covers their first semester as roommates together in the dorm.

Chapter 1 - Beginnings (April~June)
This chapter describes Hirano and Kagiura's meeting and everyday lives at school and in the dorms. Despite living in the same prefecture, Kagiura enters the dorms due to living too far to commute for morning practice. He is initially intimidated by Hirano, though as Hirano takes care of Kagiura by looking over his studies and listening to his frustrations with the basketball team, the two quickly open up to each other.

Chapter 2 - Preparations for Summer (July)
Summer vacation is arriving, but Hirano loses his earrings. Preparations and plans for the cultural festival begin: Hirano's class decides to do a haunted house, while Kagiura suggests his class do a yakitori stand, and the two agree to walk around together when it happens.

The incident with Kuresawa behind the school occurs, and Kagiura manages to soothe Hirano, who was upset at the whole ordeal. Kagiura invites Hirano to visit his grandfather's house out in the country for a couple of days during summer vacation, and Hirano accepts.

Chapter 3 - Present (August)
Hirano and Kagiura meet during summer vacation to catch a night bus, riding half a day's worth out into the country to Kagiura's grandfather's house. Hirano meets Kagiura's family and plays with his cousins, even getting sunburnt and needing Kagiura's care in the process. At the stroke of midnight on Hirano's birthday, Kagiura presents Hirano with a gift: new earrings.

Chapter 4 - Falling (September)
School is back in session and Kagiura is coming to terms with his feelings for Hirano, but he still leaves himself the space of "I think." Kagiura walks in on Hirano trying out his Oiwa costume for the cultural festival, and though an embarrassed Hirano tries to make him promise not to come to the haunted house, Kagiura does not accept as he still wants to go. The day before the cultural festival, Hirano says he would like to marry someone as honest as Kagiura, and Kagiura's "I think" comes crashing down.

On the day of the festival Kagiura visits Hirano's class with Niibashi, but Niibashi rushes ahead, leaving Kagiura behind. Hirano trips on his geta and the two of them fall, Kagiura on top of Hirano. They get up in a hurry due to more people coming in to the haunted house, and Hirano sends Kagiura off to apologize to the guests.

Epilogue - Good Things (October) and Extra
Hirano returns to the dorms and apologizes for ruining Kagiura's experience at the haunted house with a piece of candy, and Kagiura states that he likes Hirano--but in a way that could be interpreted as liking the candy. Hirano does not understand, and over dinner Hanzawa becomes suspicious of Hirano and Kagiura's relationship.

The extra manga is a short chapter about Hirano and Kagiura walking around the cultural festival together.

Characters appearing: Hirano Taiga, Kagiura Akira, Hanzawa Masato, Niibashi Juuya, Sasaki Shuumei

Volume 1
This volume covers from October of Kagiura's first year to December of his first year.

The story continues from where the novel ends, soon after the cultural festival. Kagiura gets sick and Hirano tells him to stay and rest rather than go to practice, and Kagiura reluctantly agrees. However, Kagiura gets frustrated when his team loses in a preliminary game and gets knocked out of a tournament, and Hirano helps him work through his feelings on the matter.

Hirano later leaves on a field trip, and the two muse about being separated, Hirano in particular wondering what he should get Kagiura for his birthday. In the end the two go see a basketball game for Kagiura's birthday, and Kagiura confesses his feelings to Hirano--but Hirano misunderstands, thinking Kagiura is talking about basketball.

Characters appearing: Hirano Taiga, Kagiura Akira, Hanzawa Masato, Niibashi Juuya, Sasaki Shuumei, Ogasawara Jirou, Miyano Yoshikazu

Volume 2
This volume covers from December of Kagiura's first year to February of his first year.

Kagiura continues to receive advice from Niibashi about what he should do about his feelings for Hirano, and Niibashi comes to the conclusion that Hirano simply may not see Kagiura as a potential romantic interest. However, Niibashi also comes to question whether Kagiura sees Hirano in that way as well, commenting that he seems more than content with their relationship as it is. Niibashi questions him more and Kagiura admits that he hadn't even thought about kissing Hirano before, but this changes quickly as Kagiura is given the opportunities to consider Hirano as an actual romantic interest.

This affects him deeply, and Kagiura starts avoiding Hirano as he's both made uncomfortable by these new feelings and losing confidence in his chances with Hirano, culminating in Kagiura confessing to Hirano honestly and clearly. Hirano responds that he cannot return those feelings, and though Kagiura is let down by this, he states that his feelings will not change and that he'd like for Hirano and his relationship to go back to the way it was. However, this is easier said than done, and Kagiura still has some difficulty with acting normal.

As Hirano is contemplating what he can do for Kagiura and how to mend their now awkward relationship, an opportunity arises for Hirano and Kagiura to live in the same room next year. Hirano takes it, but the condition, score within rank 50 in his class year, seem unrealistically high for Kagiura, who is notoriously bad at his studies.

Characters appearing: Hirano Taiga, Kagiura Akira, Hanzawa Masato, Niibashi Juuya, Sasaki Shuumei, Ogasawara Jirou

Volume 3
This volume covers February of Kagiura's first year.

Kagiura comes clean about the state of his grades to Hirano, who questions how Kagiura's grades are this bad when they spend a similar amount of time studying. Hirano realizes that Kagiura devotes a significant amount of his time to basketball as well, meaning that they are, in fact, not on an equal playing field. He thinks about why he's so sweet to Kagiura, and comes to the conclusion that while he originally intended to be kind to his roommate just so he could have a comfortable dorm life, Kagiura's honest and happy reactions made Hirano want to spoil him more and more.

Kagiura studies until late at night for the upcoming tests, but this backfires as he ends up falling asleep during class and their evening study time. Hirano initially worries about this, but comes to the conclusion that he wants to help and cheer Kagiura on as best as he can. However, he's bothered by the people around him continuing to remind him that he has the option for a single room and doesn't have to stay with Kagiura next year if he doesn't want to.

Valentine's Day arrives, and Hirano runs into his former roommate, Ichinose Ao, who gives him some chocolate that he can't eat due to his weak stomach. Kagiura, upon seeing this chocolate when he returns to the dorm later, gets jealous and questions Hirano about it, culminating in the two's first argument. Hirano, however, realizes that the Kagiura that's in love with him is the one he's fond of, and they exchange apologies and make an agreement: Hirano will give Kagiura a chance to see if Hirano can see him romantically, by Hirano allowing Kagiura to touch him for 10 seconds every day. When he sees Kagiura's flustered face after they hold hands for 10 seconds, Hirano is struck by the urge to pet Kagiura, which he questions.

Characters appearing: Hirano Taiga, Kagiura Akira, Hanzawa Masato, Niibashi Juuya, Sasaki Shuumei, Miyano Yoshikazu, Shirahama Kyouji, Ichinose Ao

Drama CD
A drama CD was released as a special extra for the February 2021 edition of Monthly Comic Gene, to celebrate the series coming off hiatus. It covers chapters 3 and 4 of the first volume of the Hirano and Kagiura manga, as well as a cast radio track.