中通りダイアリー
Our take
A quiet rural life turns complicated when an old friendship resurfaces unexpectedly.
- Slow reconciliation
- One-sided feelings
- New complications
The setup
A young woman raising her late sister's son in a farming town now drives him long distances for baseball practice, only to find her childhood best friend turned enemy coaching the same team. Their reconciliation stirs feelings neither of them expected.
Why read it
- Slow reconciliation Years of unresolved resentment unravel once the truth behind their falling out comes to light.
- One-sided feelings One of them nurses a quiet devotion the other remains completely unaware of.
- New complications A former classmate's arrival threatens to speed up or derail their fragile new relationship.
For fans of
This second volume of 「中通りダイアリー」 follows a young woman in her early twenties who has taken in her late sister's son and settled back into her family's orchard work in a small town in Fukushima. What had been a plain, repetitive routine of helping around the farm suddenly expands into something far less simple: she now has to drive her nephew a considerable distance, at her own expense, so he can practice with his school baseball team.
That drive brings her back into contact with a childhood friend she once considered her closest companion, and later came to despise, who turns out to be coaching the very team her nephew plays for. The story takes its time unpacking exactly what happened between them years earlier, and once the misunderstanding is cleared up, the two slowly begin to patch things over after years of distance.
What makes the reunion interesting is the imbalance between them. He has been carrying unspoken feelings for her all this time, feelings he has clearly never let go of, while she remains oblivious to any of it. The story lets this gap sit without rushing toward resolution, giving the relationship a believable, halting rhythm rather than a tidy romantic arc.
Into this uneasy balance comes a former classmate from their school days, whose reappearance threatens to either push the two of them together or complicate things further with the possibility of a rival interest. The volume is described as full of ups and downs, suggesting a mix of comic misdirection and real emotional stakes as old feelings and new arrivals collide.
Readers drawn to stories about adult characters quietly rebuilding old friendships, set against the unglamorous backdrop of rural family life and youth sports logistics, will find plenty to like here. It is a story about people recalibrating long-held feelings at their own pace, in a setting defined by orchards, long drives, and small-town routines.
2 volumes in print / Volume 1 to the latest
Spoilers through Vol.2
Feb 4, 2026中通りダイアリー 1【電子特典付き】
Official synopsis
[Includes digital bonus] 'A new family, a new community, and that person I wanted to forget...' Chiemi Monou, 21, works at her family's peach farm and lives at home. Today, Haru, a third-grade elementary student left behind by her eldest sister, came to live with the Monou family! Having lost his mother following his father, Haru's only selfish request was 'I want to continue playing baseball.' Chiemi, finding no particular reason to refuse, agreed immediately, but her daily life is about to become dramatically more complicated! Date City at the northern tip of Fukushima Prefecture and Shirakawa City at the southern tip. A distance of about 100km! Set at the distant Shirakawa baseball field, a slow 'Aoharu' (youth) story begins for young people who don't yet know the taste of love!!!
Vol. 2 / Oct 9, 2026Japan now中通りダイアリー
Official synopsis
21-year-old Chiemi Monou lives in her parents' home in Date City, Fukushima Prefecture, having taken in her nephew Haru, left behind by her late sister. Until yesterday, her days were monotonous, spent only helping with the family orchard, but now a major task has been added: driving Haru to and from a baseball field in Shirakawa City, 100km away! (Highway tolls and gasoline paid out of pocket!) Furthermore, it turns out that Yu Hozumi, a close friend from middle school whom she later came to loathe, is a coach for Haru's youth baseball team, the Shirakawa Stars... So much for monotonous days! When the truth behind the 'incident' that made Chiemi hate Yu was revealed, the two reconciled after several years. Yu is fixated on his unwavering feelings for Chiemi. Chiemi is completely oblivious to Yu's one-track mind. Their relationship seems like it will never progress, yet with the appearance of a middle school classmate, it looks like it might advance rapidly, or maybe not, and there is also a possibility of someone else pining for them... A tumultuous second volume!