Not at all what I was expecting, but really, really good. I'd classify this as LGBTQA+ rather than BL, since I'm not sure there's actually going to be any sort of endgame romance (although I am quietly shipping a future with Adachi). It's more a slice-of-life story about a gay high schooler, and actually has the most realistic depiction of high school romance that I've seen in a super long time.
Atami sort of has four crushes over the course of this volume, although I think one of them (the long-haired classmate mentioned in the blurb) is more of a friendship deal. And friendship is really the focus of this entire volume. The first crush, on a second year named Adachi, ends pretty quickly in a confession and rejection, but that's really just the start of their true relationship. From that point on, Adachi is Atami's best friend. He spends most Friday evenings at Adachi's house, for dinner and board games with Adachi's mom and sister, and gradually picks up a couple more friends he can be himself around.
There's no homophobia, internal or external, in this story, which is also refreshing for the non-BL category, which can tend to have more gritty realism. Atami is like any other high schooler who's figuring himself out and feeling interested in the people around him. It doesn't particularly matter that he's solely interested in guys; the truth is, he's possibly not even that interested in actually dating any of them. Not yet anyway. It's more fun to just look at them and think about them and talk to Adachi about the little bits of interaction that seem special.
Which is exactly how high school (and some of college) was for me, honestly. Sometimes you don't actually want to date the hot florist. You just want to look at him and keep the flower he gave you one time and check out a library book about flowers so you can learn more about his interests.
Adachi doesn't totally understand this, but he's a remarkably good friend and always listens to Atami, giving advice when it seems like it might help.
The good-looking third year was a really interesting, and somewhat jarring addition. He looked enough like the florist (with a new haircut) that I thought initially he might be the same guy - the art in this series is expressive but not the most detailed. But he was just another gay student who was able to pick Atami out of the crowd and tried to pursue him...far too aggressively for Atami's taste, who did not want to hook up with some random touchy-feely third year stranger.
It didn't go anywhere after Atami's firm rejection - the guy seemed to take the hint and give up on him. But their whole interaction was a splash of cold water in the midst of a warm, relaxed story. I don't think Atami told Adachi about him, either.
Very interested to see where the series goes from here - and how long it goes, since it seems like this could be one of those long-running series without too much in the way of a plot. I enjoyed all the characters and look forward to spending more time with them.