Love Where You Least Expect It - Home Office Romance

 

The perks of working from home include more time to sleep, time for breakfast, a short commute, and overall, more time for yourself. A meet cute seems more unlikely when you’re a single person office, somehow though Nokoru finds one during his break time on his balcony. Though the romance started from the comfort of his own home it still comes package with all the same uncertainties and stress of starting any new relationship.

Home Office Romance is a story about the pandemic which I feel like we don’t get to see very often. Sure, tv shows had characters wear masks to acknowledge it, but I felt like I didn’t see too many stories about people just living through it. Home Office Romance showcases how new bonds didn’t stop forming just because people were stuck inside. Not only in the traditional sense of bonds with others, but people also found themselves connecting with old hobbies or picking up new ones, finding joy in things they were once too busy for. People suddenly had time again during the pandemic. Nokoru Mitsuhashi is a burned-out system engineer with a 75-minute commute that left him exhausted every day. He was so exhausted that even after being in his apartment for a year he still had five boxes to unpack that he never had time to get around to. When Nokoru starts to unpack the boxes, he finds a manga series he used to really enjoy and becomes nostalgic about the hobbies that fell to the wayside while he worked himself to the bone. op

I could feel the nostalgia coming through the panels of Nokoru unpacking his boxes and finding things he’d forgotten he cherished. Every time I clean my room it becomes me going through old scrapbooks remembering things I haven’t thought of in ages. I find meaning in old papers that I know I no longer need. It feels alluded to in the panels of Nokoru going through the manga that he sat on the floor and read them for a while, I’m imagining hours. He used the inspiration from his manga to get into gardening and turn his balcony into a little jungle oasis. It’s the lush, beautiful balcony that gets Natsu’s attention.

My favorite thing about Natsu Izumi is that she slowly challenges Nokoru to leave his comfortable bubble. From the start Natsu makes Nokoru uncomfortable starting a conversation Nokoru wasn’t expecting commenting on his sacred garden space. Natsu is a beautiful, driven, and confident contrast to Nokoru who is so shy and awkward he rehearses his conversations. She’s well-traveled thanks to being an archaeology student, and one of Nokoru’s desires is to travel and see new places. Natsu nearly breaks Nokoru apart mentally as he stresses over reading too much into her words or not enough. It’s cute and endearing watching him navigate his own budding feelings while attempting to take hers into account.  He’s unsure of how she feels about him as she doesn’t make it explicitly clear for a while. Natsu throws crumbs at Nokoru though like wanting to shop together, have dinner at his place, and asking him for help putting furniture together. He manages to ignore all of the signs instead thinking that he wouldn’t bring enough to the relationship for her. Good thing Natsu kisses him first because I doubt, he’d ever have made the first move.

This adult romance captures what it’s like to be an adult couple with little free time even without the commute in the way. Nokoru creates a schedule for Natsu to fill out so they can plan the best days and times to meet up. It’s a really cute gesture and shows he wants to see her when he can knowing she’s busy as a research student. It also very much shows off that Nokoru is not as sporadic as Natsu, he needs more structure time to plan the perfect time to impress her and be ready for anything. The planned meetings are made even cuter when Natsu starts to borrow Nokoru’s favorite manga having a specific day to borrow the next volume. Sharing things with your significant other like your favorite books or tv shows is so cute to me. It adds a lot of weight and meaning to attach your partner to the memory of them. People have things they can’t watch or listen to because of a bad break-up story behind it.

The manga does not let you forget the story takes place during the pandemic. Once you’re comfortable with an occasional mask Natsu is sent out to do a research project and shortly after there is a spike in pandemic cases. Natsu stops talking to Nokoru and all he can think is she’s stuck somewhere helpless lonely and sick. The thought terrifies him, especially since she’s not responding to him. Without hesitation Nokoru flies to where Natsu should be not knowing the language, but it doesn’t deter him. He gets to her just to know she’s okay. It completely melted my heart seeing the relief in Nokoru’s eyes when he sees Natsu healthy.

Home Office Romance is a stand-alone volume that isn’t long but moves like a slow burn taking care in developing the characters and their relationship. Touching on the anxieties that come with navigating a new romantic relationship and the precious moments filled with love. I swore there were moments when I was holding my breath especially before their first kiss. Home Office Romance proves that love will find you when you least expect it