Jirō Yakuin/History & Plot

## Plot

### Marriage Practical Arc

Jirō was a 17-year-old third-year high school student who was a virgin. He spent his time playing games with his friend. At the start of the school year, their Marriage Practical partners were announced. He had wanted to be paired with his childhood friend and first love, Shiori. Unfortunately, he seemed to have jinxed himself and gotten paired with the most popular gyaru in their class, Akari instead. On their first day as a pseudo-couple in their school-assigned apartment, Jirō and Akari were immediately at odds with one another with their constant bickering earning them negative points. It turned out that Akari had set her eyes on Minami for herself.

When Jirō found out that Minami and Shiori were paired for the Practical he fell into despair. However, Akari proposed that they take the Practical seriously and earn points so they can be rank in the top 10. Akari started acting sweet towards him which immediately earned them back the points that they lost. The doorbell then rang with Sadaharu asking Jiro to hang out. Akari refused to allow him to leave until he gave her a goodbye kiss. Pressured by Sadaharu calling to him to hurry up, and Akari mocking him for being a virgin, Jirō kissed Akari on the lips. Akari was left shocked in their apartment as she had intended for Jirō to kiss her on the cheeks. Even after Jirō and his friend left the apartment, the kiss lingered on in Jirō's mind.

A week later, Jirō and Akari still haven't earned additional points. Their teacher was concerned and called them to her office after school. Akari refused to go with Jirō because she was planning on going karaoke with Minami. When Jirō went to meet with their teacher, she explained that they needed to do well in the Practical if they wanted to graduate. After the meeting, Jirō was stuck in school due to the pouring rain. He had forgotten to bring an umbrella, so he decided to wait until the rain stopped. Shiori was also at school for a committee meeting, so they started talking briefly until, Minami arrived to pick up Shiori because she forgot her umbrella. After the two leave, Akari went up to him with an umbrella on hand. She nagged him for not bringing an umbrella and for being unable to hold a proper conversation with Shiori. All Jirō could do was apologize. Seeing Jirō's look of dejection, Akari pinched his cheeks and reminded him of their pact to earn an A rank.

When they reached home, Akari prepared dinner for them both. She acted sweetly towards Jirō which immediately increased their points. Wanting to help out with the accumulation of points, Jirō attempts to spoon-feed Akari. She initially refused to cooperate, but after Jirō's complaints, Akari relented and took a bite of the food. Jirō was surprised by Akari's reaction. Before he could process what happened, Jirō's phone rang with Sadaharu on the other line. He answered it right away and went to his room, thanking his friend for "saving" him. Outside, just like him, Akari wondered why she felt jittery when she knew that it was all make-believe.

Eager to earn more points, Akari asked Jirō to watch a horror movie with her one night. She even prepared matching pajamas for them to wear. Akari and Jirō had started to change into the pajamas when the power went out suddenly. She was already frightened before the outage, now she was clinging on to Jirō because of fear. Time passed and the power still did not return, so the two ended up sleeping in the living room together while holding hands. As Akari was sleeping, Jirō remarked out loud that she looked cute. He panicked at thought of Akari hearing what he said, but Akari looked to be asleep, so he started to fall asleep as well. However, Akari was only pretending to sleep and had, in fact, heard him.

Sometime later, the mid-April results for the Marriage Practical was posted at school. The results showed Akari and Jirō in 12th place with a B rank. Browsing through the list, Akari was surprised to see Minami and Shiori ranking low with an E rank.

Three weeks since they were assigned as a fake couple, Jirō and Akari were able to accumulate enough points for them to be confident of getting into A rank. Jirō was sick with a fever, but Akari still left their apartment to hang out with her friends. When the doorbell rang, Jirō assumed that Akari returned home to take care of him because she had left her keys at home. However, it was actually Shiori at the door. Akari had asked her to take care of Jirō so she bought some food and medicine for him. Jirō was over the moon being nursed back to health by his childhood friend. As Jirō was eating, they talked about their "married life" with Minami and Akari. Jirō brought up Shiori and Minami's E rank and offered to help out in any way he could. With this, Shiori blurted out that she would have like it if Jirō was her husband, but she immediately took it back and changed the subject.

After some time, Jirō fell asleep. Shiori sat beside him and watched him as he slept. She crouched down, seemingly attempting to kiss him, but she held back since they weren't a couple and were just childhood friends. Remembering their past, Shiori wondered if she gave it her all this time, if Jirō would have listened to what she wanted to say when they were in middle school.

That evening, Jirō thanked Akari for sending Shiori over to take care of him while he was sick. In return, Jirō promised to help Akari get closer to Minami.

Akari had been making bento lunches for Jirō lately and in returned, she asked for some feedback. Jirō told her that he preferred her tamagoyaki sweeter, but all she wanted was feedback on the taste. That weekend, Akari prepared a bento lunch for Minami which she intended to personally deliver to his apartment. Once again, Akari had him taste the tamagoyaki. All he could think was how it sucked that his fake wife was making bento for Minami, while his crush is Minami's wife. He noted how Akari went all out to dress up nicely for Minami, while she never bothered when she was with him.

Before Akari was leaving for Minami's apartment, she asked Jirō to wish her a safe trip, although, in his mind, he thought that she wanted him to kiss her like he did the last time. They were interrupted when Shiori arrived to share some extra food she made for Minami. She commented that she baked the pies based on Minami's tastes. Apparently, he liked sweet stuff, so she hoped that the taste suited them as well.

When Shiori left, Akari was dejected, knowing that her bento was not to Minami's taste. Jirō tried to console her, commenting about how she was every man's dream. Akari questioned if Jirō thought of her that way and started to seduce him, further asking if he thought about doing something with her.

Jirō, however, resisted her advances, saying that it wasn't right since she had Minami. Akari asked if he rejected her because he already had Shiori. Without waiting for an answer, Akari "breaks up" with Jirō, telling him that they should stop being a couple.

The end-of-month evaluation is posted revealing Jirō and Akari in last place with no rank. Sadaharu asked Jirō what was wrong, but Jirō himself, wasn't sure what he should have done that night. Shiori approached him at school so they could talk. She asked if he and Akari had a fight. Jirō admitted that they had a misunderstanding and that it seemed too late to apologize. However, Shiori assured him that Akari would be understanding since they spent more time together than anyone else. When Jirō arrived home, he was determined to apologize to Akari and asked if they could start over. Akari was initially ignoring him, but after his heartfelt apology, Akari admitted that she didn't really hate him, and that she kind of liked him. Akari moved in for a kiss, but was only teasing him, having him kiss his own hand instead. With that, Akari welcomed him back.

## References

1. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga and Anime — Vol. 1 Chapter 1 and Episode 1.
2. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga and Anime — Vol. 1 Chapter 2 and Episode 1.
3. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga and Anime — Vol. 1 Chapter 3 and Episode 2.
4. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga and Anime — Vol. 1 Chapter 4 and Episode 2.
5. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga and Anime — Vol. 1 Chapter 5 and Episode 3.
6. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga and Anime — Vol. 1 Chapter 6 and Episode 3.