Okotowari Shimasu

**Okotowari Shimasu** (おことわりします, “*We refuse*”) is a comedy four-panel style original english-language manga featuring the daily lives of typical anime characters who want to evade living up to their stereotypes.

## Summary

### Plot

The story follows high school student Kou Omori, as he transfers to his new high school. Despite referring to himself as a normal guy, Kou is someone who is always getting involved with weird situations, so he doesn't want to make friends and drag them with him. However, this changes when he meets Akie Shirogami, who befriends him despite being rejected at first. Soon after becoming friends with Akie, Kou is approached by Katsuo Tomoda, a sports genius who wants to challenge him but ends up becoming his friend, and later Erina Yoshisaki and her friend Hotaru Akina. The five of them become closer as they get lost during a school campout, starting their friendship. Later, twins Keita and Maiko Narabuko approach Kou, being interested in him for different reasons and join the group. Finally, german transfer student Seraphina Klein approaches them to help her get used to the school, making their final group of eight people.

As their friendship grows and they spend more time together, the series focuses on their daily lives. Akie is approached by Keita, who asks him if he likes Kou, as he realizes that he's fallen in love with him. However, he decides he wants Kou to remain as his first friend, and that he likes the relationship he has with him enough to not confess his feelings. As summer draws near, the group go visit Kou's home in order to study, where they meet Kou's mother, Chikara Omori, and learn that he has two mothers. Keita, Katsuo and Seraphina fail their tests and are forced to take summer classes during June. However during the first day of summer classes it starts raining, and as Keita and Katsuo share an umbrella Keita realizes he's started feeling something for his friend.

During summer break, Kou asks his friends to join him and his mother on a trip to his hometown, which turns out to be Hell itself. There, they meet Kou's other mother, Akki Omori, and his cousin Haruto Onigasaki. Later, when they decide to go to the beach, Hotaru confesses to Akie that she's a lesbian, and that she's in love with someone close to her, but that just like Akie she doesn't want to confess and risk losing that friendship. Although Akie isn't able to deduce who she's referring to, it's implied she's talking about Erina. On the other hand, Keita realizes and accepts his own feelings towards Katsuo, just in time for the summer festival. During the summer festival, Kou and Akie make a promise to come together with their friends next year.

Once they get back to school, Kanae Senjou introduces herself as class 2-1's homeroom teacher. She expresses her worries over Kou being a troublesome student and requests to meet with his mothers, revealing she was Chikara's classmate in highschool. Their meeting doesn't go as expected, as Kanae leaves with more questions than answers and realizing she's not going to be able to understand Kou, maybe ever.

Meanwhile Maiko and Keita notice that Haruto is attending their school, and become shocked when they realize he's just walking around the school looking like a demon. Haruto tells them he is actually using magic to disguise himself as a human, and that the reason they're seeing his original form is because they've picked up some of Kou's magical powers.

During the Sports Festival, Keita plans on making Katsuo notice him by showing off his athletic skills, something that doesn't work when he gets paired with Maiko at the three-legged race, despite their terrible coordination. The event goes smoothly, despite Erina's terrible sports skills and Hotaru and Akie nor being able to participate. Keita has been training Seraphina, the slowest runner on the class, so that she may have a chance while running in the relay race by acting overly cute. He also plans on using his event to take a picture of Katsuo when he wins the race, but it comes off blurry. Feeling hopeless, Keita partakesin the three-legged race with Maiko, not knowing that Katsuo is taking a picture of him. Their team ends up losing the competition, and Keita discovers the photo but doesn't know who took it.

Afterwards, Mayu Kurumato introduces herself as the Student Council President, saying she wants to make up for the bad impression she caused during the Survival Game.She introduces the rest of the Student Council besides her and Haruto; the Vice-President Nene Toraoka and the Treasurer Hidehiko Tomoharu.

All the students in Nantoka High School attend a School Trip to Kyoto. They go around seeing the most important things to sightsee, and then proceed to go to the inn. Kou, Akie, Katsuo and Keita all share a room, and when Katsuo starts undressing and suggesting Keita they go together to the hot springs, the former blushes and runs away. Katsuo asks Kou and Akie about their thoughts on Keita's behaviour, but they haven't noticed anything strange. The next day, Keita discovers a rumor about a heart-shaped tile somewhere in the inn, which is rumored to make any confession successfull, as long as the person being confessed to is standing on the tile.

The group then proceeds to keep exploreing Kyoto, during different activities in which Keita and Katsuo always ends up being together for one reason or another. Before going back to the inn, they draw fortunes from a nearby shrine, and Keita receives Great Luck in Love. When they arrive back at the inn, everyone decides to go to the hot spring, and although Keita doesn't want to join at first, Kou and Akie persuade him. Since Katsuo has gone somewhere, Keita goes looking for him, only to find him standing on top of the fabled heart-shaped tile. This makes Keita feel nervous, until he finally decides he can't keep on like this and confesses his feelings to Katsuo. He's surprised by this confession, saying how he's never been confessed to by anyone before, and asks Keita for some time to think about his answer. However, before he can finish saying that, Keita rushes him to the hot springs, saying how he wasn't even expecting an answer. Despite this, Keita satys behind, and begins crying when he accepts Katsuo doesn't feel the same way about him.

### Characters

#### Main Characters

* Kou Omori
* Akie Shirogami
* Katsuo Tomoda
* Erina Yoshisaki
* Hotaru Akina
* Keita Narabuko
* Maiko Narabuko
* Seraphina Klein

#### Supporting Characters

* Mayu Kurumato
* Chikara Omori
* Akki Omori
* Haruto Onigasaki
* Kanae Senjou
* Nene Toraoka
* Hidehiko Tomoharu
* Amu Kiyuu

## Links

* Official Okotowari Shimasu website
* Official Okotowari Shimasu blog
* Official Okotowari Shimasu mirror in Tapastic
* Official Okotowari Shimasu mirror in LINE Webtoons.