True Tears

Synopsis

Shinichiro is a student living in what would be a dream come true for most high school boys, but for him is mostly a frustration. A well liked girl in school named Hiromi has lived in his house for a year along with his family. Her father was a close friend of the family, and when he died they immediately took her in. She is popular and well liked, always smiles, is talented in sports- but Shinichiro knows there must be tears inside her. Having an artistic tendency, he makes watercolours of her and thinks about wishing to ease her tears. Yet he cannot bring up the nerve to talk to her even in his own home. She, too, is quiet and withdrawn in their house, quite unlike at school. Shinichiro is also distracted by teasing from his friend Nobuse for watching Hiromi from afar, a curse of bad luck from a strange girl named Noe, and being forced to perform Muhiga dancing. By helping Noe he hopes to ease his own problems, yet he seems to have difficulty helping himself.


Main Character

Noe Isurugi (石動　乃絵)

Noe Isurugi is an odd girl at Shinichirō's school. Noe first meets Shinichirō' while she is up in a tree where she is picking berries for a chicken she named Raigomaru in a coop on a campus.



Shinichirō ends up having to catch her as she jumps from the tree since she was stuck and could not get down on her own. She likes chickens, though would only feed one of them since she says "it could fly" while the other cannot. After the chicken gets killed by a raccoon, Noe becomes saddened, but does not cry because she "gave away her tears".

Shinichiro Nakagami

Shinichirō is a male high school student who enjoys art. He lives with his mother, father, and childhood friend Hiromi Yuasa.

She used to smile around him, though does not anymore when at home. Shinichirō longs to see her smile again which he loved so much as a kid. He is living a relatively normal life until he meets a strange girl named Noe Isurugi who curses him with misfortune after he teases her a bit, though he reconciles with her soon after. Shinichirō is frustrated by not being able to see emotion from Hiromi, and other pressures from his family, such as a traditional Japanese dance he does not want to practice.

Hiromi Yuasa (湯浅　比呂美)

Hiromi is a girl Shinichirō's age and goes to the same high school as him. After her father died, she came to live with Shinichirō's family and has already been living with them for a year once the story begins.

She had been in the same class as Shinichirō since elementary school, though despite being cheerful back then, she now acts cold when at home. In contrast, she normally smiles and is popular at school but Shinichirō knows that she is still hiding something inside her heart. She often helps out with Shinichirō's father's work as they are low on man power. She is on her school's girl's basketball team.