Quick Recap. In the last volume, Ida steals Aoki’s first and second kiss at the fireworks festival. Summer vacation ends and school starts back up with the cultural festival around the corner. The class decides to do Cinderella again, this time without Ida and Aoki in the lead. Ida meets Aoki’s mom at the festival. Aoki overhears a conversation between Ida and his mom that convinces Aoki that she hates him. Come to find out, it was a misunderstanding.
Chapter 33. It’s Christmas Eve and Aoki is at cram school. He can’t spend time with Ida because his dad is in town and he doesn’t want to get in the way of their bonding. Instead, they text each other that they’ll go to the shrine together. At the shrine, they draw their fortunes and Aoki gets GREAT LUCK and Ida gets TERRIBLE LUCK. However, the terrible luck seems to be following Aoki around as he drops his phone and gets splashed with water from some kids playing. While having an almost intimate moment, Hashimoto and Aida show up with charms for the entrance exams. Walking home from the shrine, Ida cozies up to Aoki. He wants to be closer to Aoki. Aoki thinks Ida is drunk from the amazake, but Ida confesses they’re his true feelings. Entrance exams happen and Aoki isn’t convinced he did well. As the train is coming, Aoki slips down the stairs. Ida rushes to him only to find out that something is not quite right with Aoki.
Chapter 34. After falling down the stairs and hitting his head, Aoki is diagnosed with amnesia. He doesn’t remember the entirety of his relationship with Ida. He is in shock that he is dating Ida. Ida makes it a priority to help Aoki get his memories back. He enlists all of their friends to make an effort to jog his memories. However, Aoki gets fed up that this person all of them remember isn’t him now. He breaks things off with Ida and they go nine years without talking.
Suddenly, they meet at Hashimoto and Aida’s engagement party. Ida gets drunk and Aoki brings him to his house. Ida admits that he never wanted to end things and all he wanted to do was be with Aoki. He asks Aoki to wake him up from this nightmare. It looks like Aoki is about to kiss him when Ida hears Aoki yelling to wake up. It was a dream! Ida fell down the stairs to protect Aoki. Ida is happy that it was a dream. On their way to Kyoto for the entrance exam, they both decide that they want to live together if they both make it in to the college.
Chapter 35. The exam is over and Aoki did his best. At the hotel, Ida tells Aoki the bath is ready. Aoki tells Ida to go to sleep first, but Ida has other things on his mind.
Aoki is anxious as he waits the exam scores. He decides to go for a walk when Aida shows up in a car. He got his driver’s license and has been working part time. They go to Ikea together to look at furniture. Aida tells Aoki that he plans on living alone in Tokyo and needs things for his apartment. It comes out that Hashimoto and Aida aren’t doing too well and that Aida is giving her some space. Aoki goes to the bathroom and sees Hashimoto. The people she is with are telling her she has horrible taste in men. Aoki butts in and tells Hashimoto that Aida is a good guy and that he has been distant because he has been working and getting his license. Aoki is told that they were talking about a television show. Aida comes around the corner and tells Aoki he ruined the surprise.
Chapter 36. They both passed! They’re going to Kyoto together! Everyone, including Ida’s mom, is proud of Aoki for passing. Graduation comes and their class decides to do a time capsule. They’re supposed to bring something meaningful the next day. Walking home, Ida makes it known that he is upset that they couldn’t live together. All of the good boarding houses were full. Aoki tells Ida is a good thing they’re neighbors first and they can learn to live alone. Aoki then invites Ida over to officially meet his mom as his boyfriend. Aoki’s mom thanks Aoki for trusting her. Aoki couldn’t part with his treasured memories, so he chooses the pencil he used for his exam. Hashimoto approaches Aoki with the eraser that started it all and they put it in the time capsule.
THOUGHTS
I loved this series! I am surprise that Ida, in the end, was the one more smitten. He was ready to meet any obstacle in their way. Aoki, on the other hand, was more wishy-washy. They balanced each other out in the end. It’s sad that Hashimoto and Aida had to go their separate ways (I don’t think they broke up. That was unclear to me. They just went to different colleges). While Aida kind of irritated me, Hashimoto loved him for who he was. I hope they make it. Aoki and Ida seem like they’ll make the long haul once Aoki grows up a bit more to meet Ida in the maturity department. Overall, the pacing was great and the love story was sweet.
Filthy Casual for Life 
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