Flower and Cheek

This manga features Hohoko, a high school student who lives with her musician father. Yahiro, another student who helps in the school library along with Hohoko, is a fan of her father’s group, Hana to Hoho, and realizes who her father is. Hohoko, a book lover, and Yahiro, a music fanatic, write messages to each other in the school library, where private conversation is forbidden, and thereby gradually get to know each other. Hohoko is decidedly drawn to Yahiro, but what he really likes is her father’s music. The fact that he became friends with her because of her father weighs down on her heavily. Gradually, a secret about Hohoko’s mother that her father has kept from her, along with Yahiro’s views on love that result from past trauma, become clear. The two characters’ chance encounter constitutes the story of one summer in their lives, drawn with a touch of tranquility.

Won a New Face Award from the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival in 2020.