Episode 1

## Living in the Same Place, but Not Living Together.

* Episode
* Title Card

## Episode Chronology

****"Living in the Same Place, but Not Living Together."**** (同居以上、同棲未満。, *Dōkyo Ijō, Dōsei Miman.*?) is the first episode of the More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers anime series.

## Short Summary

Third year high school students Akari Watanabe and Jirō Yakuin are randomly paired together for their school's couples training program; a course that monitors and judges them based on how well they work together as mock newlyweds. Having polar opposite personalities with Akari being the fun-loving, extroverted *gyaru* and Jirō being the introverted gamer, the two initially did not get along. After learning that the Top 10 (A-Rank) couples who score the highest have the right to switch partners, Akari and Jirō reluctantly decide to put aside their differences so that they can earn enough points to switch to their respective crushes; Minami Tenjin, a popular school idol and Shiori Sakurazaka, Jirō's childhood friend. To make matters more interesting, the pair also learn that Minami and Shiori are partnered with each other. When Jirō is asked by his friend, Sadaharu Kamo to hang out, he is ordered by Akari to give her a kiss goodbye before he can leave. When Jirō hesitates, Akari mocks him for not having the guts to do so. This pushes Jirō to impulsively kiss her on the lips which flusters her and adds points towards the pair's score.

A week after the training began, the pair's score does not improve. While waiting at school for the rain to stop, Jirō has a conversation with Shiori but is interrupted by the arrival of Minami, who takes Shiori home and leaves Jirō depressed. Having overheard what transpired, Akari picks up Jirō and encourages him to keep fighting for Shiori. She then prepare for him an omelette rice for dinner much to his happiness. To earn themselves some points for the program, Jirō offers to spoon feed her a piece of it to which she accepts after some hesitation. However, the intimate act causes the two to experience strange emotions about each other which results in them questioning themselves on what they are feeling.

## Plot

### Prelude

Third year high school student Akari Watanabe throws a 500 yen coin into a well and prays at a shrine with her wish to be paired up with the guy she likes for the upcoming marriage practical. Her classmate, Shiori Sakurazaka arrives at the shrine but trips and bumps into Akari, startling her. Upon recognizing Akari, Shiori asks her if she came to the shrine regarding the practical. Akari, clearly embarrassed, denies this and leaves the shrine. Shiori then approaches the well, tosses a coin, and begins to pray.

### Act 1

The scene cuts to a narration by Jirō Yakuin, another classmate of Akari's, who gives a brief description of the marriage practical. The practical was implemented by the school's curriculum where two students (one male and one female) are assigned to live together as mock newlyweds.

At Seishun Academy, Jirō is shown sitting on the staircase playing video games with his friend, Sadaharu Kamo. While going on about their activity, Akari interrupts them and irritably tells them that they are blocking the stairs. The two boys move out of the way to allow Akari and her friends to pass. Sadaharu finds Akari cute but Jirō dislikes her due to her *gyaru* attributes and for treating people like himself as out of her league. Jirō and Sadaharu then witness Akari greeting her crush, Minami Tenjin, where she openly admires him for his coolness and handsome looks.

Jirō is next seen sitting in class and having a conversation with Shiori, his childhood friend and crush. Shiori tells him that she hopes that she is paired with someone she knows for the upcoming practical. During class, the teacher gives a presentation regarding the marriage practical, including where the students will be living and how they will be evaluated. During the presentation, Jirō assesses his current standing with Shiori and appears to be pessimistic, as he believes that she only sees him as friend. Despite this, he still wishes to be partnered with her because she is the only girl that he can interact normally with. Unfortunately for him, he was paired with Akari and the scene switches to them being alone together in the training dorm where they will be living together from now on.

Akari, who is furious over the pairing, antagonizes Jirō, who awkwardly asks her to calm down. Akari does so but remains upset and complains about the current predicament that she is in. Jirō remarks that she is upset because she did not get to be paired with the person she wanted and Akari responds that she is aware that he wanted to be paired with Shiori. Akari then teases him, saying that Shiori would not want to be with him and that she must be having the time of her life with her new partner. Jirō responds by saying it was disrespectful to Shiori to be making those kind of assumptions and Akari insults him in return. Suddenly, the scoreboard display in room changes from 0 to -3 to the shock of both Akari and Jirō.

Acting quickly, Akari orders Jirō to start getting along with her so that they earn enough points to be ranked in the Top 10. Akari points out that they would have the right to switch partners if they earn a high enough score and she wishes to do so in order to be partnered with Minami. Jirō realizes that they would have to act as perfect newlyweds to each other and becomes hesitant but Akari playfully whispers into his ear that she will do her best to be the perfect wife. This act causes Jirō to be heavily flustered and their score to go from -3 to -2, which elates Akari. Jirō, who is completely flabbergasted by this situation, decides to step out of the dorm to buy some drinks. Akira is then shown sulking on the couch, upset over the thought of Minami being partnered with another girl that isn't her.

While buying drinks at a vending machine, Jirō spots Minami and Shiori walking together. He eavesdrops on them to find out that the two are partners in the practical. Clearly disturbed by this, he runs back to the dorm and begins moping on the couch. Akari, initially annoyed by the boy's sulking, tries to comfort him as she pretends to be a good partner. However, Jirō still feels uncomfortable at the notion of them being a perfect pretend couple despite Akari's claim that it would be good practice for him.

During this moment, Sadaharu shows up ringing their doorbell and asks Jirō if he wants to hang out, to which he accepts. Before he could leave however, Akari stops him and says that he can't leave while they still have a negative score. To Jiro's shock, Akari suggests that he gives her a goodbye kiss. When Jirō hesitates, Akari makes fun of him for not having the guts to do it. Meanwhile, Sadaharu impatiently rings the doorbell telling Jirō to hurry up.

Stuck between Akari's antagonizing and Sadaharu's excessive nagging, a frustrated Jirō finally gives in and impulsively kisses Akari on the lips. Jirō leaves with Sadaharu, noting that he let Akari get to him. Akari falls to her knees flustered saying that she didn't mean to be kissed on the lips. The incident causes their to score to rise from -2 to 0.

### Act 2

While having a pleasant dream about Shiori, Jirō, who had fallen asleep in the living room is rudely awoken by Akari. The girl orders Jirō to begin helping around the house to which he awkwardly obliges.

One week later, Jirō is shown doing morning class duties where his teacher spots him and requests that he and Akari drop by the faculty office after school hours for a meeting. Jirō notices Shiori and Minami outside being friendly together which causes him to be depressed. To make matters worse, Akari decided that have Jirō attend the meeting with the teacher alone because she had plans to go karaoke with Minami and her friends. During the meeting, the teacher notes that Jiro and Akari's score on the practical has not improved and reminds him that he cannot graduate if they remain how they currently are.

After the meeting, Jirō is forced to stay inside the school building since it was raining and he forgot his umbrella. Shiori, who also forgot her umbrella, sees him and they have a conversation. Shiori asks him to start calling her by her first name instead of her last name, "Sakurazaka", which was something he had been doing ever since the "incident" the happened between them years ago. Jirō, who is nervous about calling her by her first name again, tries to do so but Minami arrives to pick up Shiori. Jirō nonchalantly ends the conversation and allows them to leave which clearly disappoints Shiori. Unbeknownst to them, Akari was standing somewhere nearby, having quietly heard the entire exchange.

Jirō is now sitting alone inside the school building, feeling down as he watched Shiori and Minami leave the school together. While he is waiting for the rain to stop, Akari approaches him and offers to walk him home under her umbrella. As they walk outside, Akari encourages a dejected Jirō to not give up and to continue fighting for Shiori, albeit in a mildly harsh tone. As the rain slowly stops, Jirō suggests that they stop by the convenience store for dinner, but Akari rejects that idea, saying she has something else in mind.

Back at their dorm, Akari has cooked omelette rice for themselves, much to Jirō's joy. When Jirō grabs the ketchup, Akari takes his hands and guides him by squirting the ketchup to spell out the word "love" on his omelette. After taking a bite of his meal, Jirō offers to spoon feed his partner some of his omelette to earn points for the practical. Akari says that she is not going to do something like that but Jirō reminds her that this is also embarrassing for him. As Jirō starts to change his mind, Akari suddenly takes a bite from his spoon noting how delicious the food is. This act, however, causes their faces to be mere inches from each other and they gaze into at each other's eyes for a few moments.

Suddenly, Jirō gets a phone call from Sadaharu and he retreats to his room to answer it. Both Jirō and Akari are left pondering on the confusing feelings they had just experienced.

### Post-Credits

In a scene which parodies dialogue in JRPGs and visual novels, Jirō attempts to figure out why Akari emerges from her room with a sultry expression every time before she takes a bath. When Jirō hears Akari making loud, suggestive sounds in her bedroom, he initially assumed that she was masturbating, but it turned out that Akari was just doing sit-ups on her bed.

## Characters In Order Of Appearance

* Akari Watanabe *(Debut)*
* Shiori Sakurazaka *(Debut)*
* Jirō Yakuin *(Debut)*
* Sadaharu Kamo *(Debut, Unnamed)*
* Chloris *(Debut)*
* Lancia *(Debut)*
* Mei Hamano *(Debut, Unnamed, No Lines)*
* Sachi Takamiya *(Debut, Unnamed)*
* Natsumi Ōhashi *(Debut, Unnamed)*
* Minami Tenjin *(Debut)*

## Anime & Manga Differences

* The opening scene with Akari and Shiori at the shrine is exclusive to the anime.
* In the manga, Akari encounters Shiori and Jirō, telling them they are blocking the classroom entrance. In the anime, she instead encounters Sadaharu and Jirō, telling them they are blocking the stairs.
* Akari's friends, Sachi Takamiya & Natsumi Ōhashi appear in this episode but they do not debut in the manga until Chapter 4.
* Shiori's friend, Mei Hamano appears in the episode talking to Shiori in class but she does not debut in the manga until Chapter 9.
* The teacher who presents the marriage practical is female in the anime. In the manga, the teacher is male.
* The anime gives a more detailed description about the mechanisms of the Marriage Practical during the teacher's presentation, including the camera and sensors in the dorm.
* In the manga, both Akari and Jirō learned from the manual that they are able to switch partners if they are ranked in the top 10. In the anime, Akari was already aware of this through the teacher's presentation in class but Jirō had to learn this from the manual because he was not paying attention.
* In the manga, Akari questions why there is a camera in their dorm and insults Jirō again, causing their score to drop from a -3 to a -4. This was cut from the anime
* In the anime, Akari playfully whispers into Jirō's ear that she will act as the perfect wife causing him to get flustered, which adds a point to their score. This is not present in the manga.
* In the manga, Jirō goes out to buy drinks when he sees Akari being depressed over Minami on the couch. In the anime, Jirō does not see Akari sulking, which she only does after he leaves the dorm.
* In the manga, Jirō finds out that Minami and Shiori are partners after encountering and speaking with them when he goes out to buy drinks. In the anime, Jirō spots the two but does not interact with them. He instead overhears their conversation about them being partners before running back home.
* In the manga, when Jirō returns home from buying drinks, he accidentally bumps into Akari who had just taken a shower. This was cut from the anime.
* Jirō's dream scene is extended in the anime with Shiori hilariously head-butting him before he wakes up in the living room.
* Jirō doing morning class duty and being informed by his teacher to attend a meeting at the faculty office is not present in the manga.

## Trivia

* The series is confirmed to be set in the year 2022 as indicated in the Marriage Practical Guidance Video.