China's 'dazi' companion dating goes gray: paid setups, bar touts, coded companionship

One more story

1. English text available

   The Lawyer's Late Return

   When the lights of the firm go out, she finds her partner still waiting downstairs. The unsigned agreement keeps them silent the whole way, until she admits that what she truly wants is not to win or lose, but a chance to be heard in earnest. The car stops at the gate of the old park. They decide to walk first, and talk about tomorrow after.

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2. English text available

   The Unfinished Spell After School

   In an empty classroom at Star Lantern Private High, Shirasaki Rin draws the same magic circle every day—one corner always missing. The afternoon the class monitor, Aoba Toru, pushes the door open, he sees the glyphs light for the first time, and sees her cry for the first time. They say that once the spell is complete, this after-school will end. Unwilling to let the bell cut the two of them apart again, the boy decides to become the puzzle piece that stays missing on purpose.

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3. English text available

   The Transfer Student of the Colossus Nation

   High schooler Kanzaki Eiji falls asleep on the train. When he wakes, a skyscraper the colossal beasts use as a stepping stone fills the window. Here, people raise their cities between the spines of beasts and treat courage like a traffic law. He meets Roki, a lancer girl in the middle of special training, and an instructor built like a bear. All Eiji brought from home is a folding umbrella—until a blade that does not belong to this world slides free from its ribs.

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4. English text available

   The Elf Senpai's Gardening Notes

   The gardening club has only two members. Its president, Tsukimi Kaze, tends a whole season of night-blooming flowers in the greenhouse—blooms she never shows to anyone outside. One evening the new member, Nakamura Haru, stays late to water them and watches her take off her hat. It is not an ornament. It is a real pair of elf ears. Kaze says, "An elf whose ears are seen by a human must make the one who saw them part of the garden." Haru is sure he is about to be planted in a flowerpot. Instead, he is simply pulled in to write the observation notes with her.

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5. English text available

   Failed to Become a Normie Again Today

   Upon entering high school, Kurose Yota swears he will shed his otaku identity and become the kind of normie who says “Where should we hang out?” after class. The plan collapses on the third day of term—Amami Rika, top of the school, hauls his limited-edition figure back from beyond the rooftop railing and declares, “From today on, I’m supervising your normie training.” And so Yota’s high school life becomes a public execution.

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6. English text available

   The Counter Miss Is Actually a Legendary Summoner

   Hiiragi Makoto, the desk clerk of the adventurers' guild Amber Pavilion, has been voted the most hopeless receptionist in the city. No one knows that after work he lets the slumbering golden dragon Oro out of his ring for a walk. When an S-rank subjugation order falls and the guild faces total ruin, the young man who only stamps forms and brews tea takes off his nameplate—the legendary Summoner King, long thought missing, has been sitting behind the window filling out timesheets all along.

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7. English text available

   The Failing Prince's Year of Frames

   Five years after the empire fell, Prince Klaus buried his name and enrolled at the new kingdom's Frame Academy. He meant only to be an ordinary failing student, yet at the entrance ceremony he blundered into the women's baths and came face to face with the reigning princess, Lina. Worse still, the slumbering frame Dawn Eclipse chose him as its master that very night. Within a year the failing prince must win the frame duel at the academy festival—or the remnants of the old dynasty will use his childhood friend as kindling.

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8. English text available

   The Confession Was Where the Penalty Game Began

   After losing a round of truth or dare, Kirino Aoi is sentenced to confess to Nanjo Makoto, the most unremarkable boy in class. She thinks that once the words leave her mouth, the game will be over. But Nanjo nods. From the next day on, he waits for her at the school gate, remembers that she hates cilantro, and holds out an umbrella the moment she wants to run. The penalty game never ended. It only changed its name to love.

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