Himekoi – Mitsuya Bond

A long time ago, a divine fox saved Mikazuki village from famine. In return, the fox took one of the villagers as his bride. To this day, the villagers hold a marital ceremony every year at the summer festival. The descendant of the fox and the descendant of the bride marry, and then they spend one night together. The villagers believe that this ceremony continues to protect them from disaster. It just so turns out that, this year, those two descendants are Kanata and Kuro, and, this summer, it is their turn to marry and have sex. There’s one problem — unlike Kanata, who believes in their village’s customs, Kuro does not seem too keen on his fate. Kuro’s apathy hurts Kanata, who always felt that he didn’t quite mind, as long as he was with Kuro…

Fox brides of the BL variety is catnip to me. Masked Love is an adorable childhood friends-to-lovers story about two boys destined to be married because of town tradition.

Villagers believe the well-being of their town was due to fox protection in exchange for a bride. Kanata is the descendant of the bride, and Kuro is the descendant of the fox. They were to be married during the festival. The ritual culminates in the consummation of their marriage. But Kuro’s lack of interest had Kanata mired in doubts, and soon they noticed a series of unfortunate events around town.

Everything was very cute and sweet. It’s all the squee-tastic things we love about friends to lovers. Then by Chapter 3, things became messy when it shifted to the dads’ POVs. These two were the chosen couple from the last generation, but they were also each engaged to women to continue the lines.

The plot did something more convoluted by throwing a third boy between Kuro and Kanata. Also something something blah blah about Kuro and Kanata not having to be engaged with women just to force a happy ending.

I didn’t know what was happening anymore. I skimmed and gave up. What a waste of fox brides!

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