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Fated NOT to Meet, Volume 2
Izumi, the sales ace with excellent grades, good looks and great communication skills, has someone he absolutely cannot lose to.
His name is Sendo, the most unlikable man who took the top spot from Izumi.
After a fateful app encounter, Izumi and Sendo fell hard for each other—now they’re next-door neighbors, savoring the honeymoon phase from opposite sides of a shared wall!
But when Izumi is tasked with mentoring an ambitious new hire, the newcomer’s rapid rise triggers his competitive streak—and his anxiety. As Izumi pushes himself harder and harder to reclaim the #1 spot, he starts to buckle under the pressure… just as his enigmatic older brother, Hayato, unexpectedly returns to Japan.
So why isn’t Izumi happy to see him? And how did he wind up working himself to the point of collapse? Determined to help, Sendo seeks out Hayato in hopes of understanding the "baggage" Izumi has been carrying. Whatever the weight of his burden, Izumi doesn’t have to bear it alone—if he’ll let Sendo in.
This book contains mature content and is intended for readers 18 years of age and over.
His name is Sendo, the most unlikable man who took the top spot from Izumi.
After a fateful app encounter, Izumi and Sendo fell hard for each other—now they’re next-door neighbors, savoring the honeymoon phase from opposite sides of a shared wall!
But when Izumi is tasked with mentoring an ambitious new hire, the newcomer’s rapid rise triggers his competitive streak—and his anxiety. As Izumi pushes himself harder and harder to reclaim the #1 spot, he starts to buckle under the pressure… just as his enigmatic older brother, Hayato, unexpectedly returns to Japan.
So why isn’t Izumi happy to see him? And how did he wind up working himself to the point of collapse? Determined to help, Sendo seeks out Hayato in hopes of understanding the "baggage" Izumi has been carrying. Whatever the weight of his burden, Izumi doesn’t have to bear it alone—if he’ll let Sendo in.
This book contains mature content and is intended for readers 18 years of age and over.
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Published March 31, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 6, 2026
What's funny is that when I read the first volume, I liked this story more than the kind of similar
Fake Fact Lips
. I think that's still true...the first volume of
Fated NOT to Meet
was good, and I enjoyed its setup. But it's kind of flipped after the second volumes.
I loved the Fake Fact Lips Break sequel, whereas this was...a little bit boring?
I reread the first volume before diving into this one, since it'd been a while. My expectation was that there would be more of a focus on relationship growth, since they'd confessed their feelings but were both new to the whole dating thing - Izumi to being with a guy, and Sendo to any committed romantic relationship at all. But they kind of...don't. It's a work-focused story with sex on the side.
One thing that I find kind of disappointing is how their whole friendship bond stopped once they started sleeping together. Or at least, we stopped actually seeing them connecting over movies and food preferences and conversations about cars and all those little things that made them like each other in the first place...plus some serious discussions about relationship issues that made Sendo think of his dating app friend as someone he wanted to break all his usual patterns for.
What's missing now is the two of them being there for each other emotionally. Which is a little weird to say, since Izumi's childhood trauma is the main storyline in this volume...but somehow it didn't connect for me. That's mainly because the big discussions get filtered through a third party.
Sendo is an absolutely ideal boyfriend now, and that starts to get a little dull because he's too perfect. And because it seems kind of one-sided. He's able to beat Izumi's sales while also watching over Izumi's health - both physical and mental. When Izumi asks how he managed that - he's driving himself into the ground with overtime and still falling short of the nepo rookie's sales numbers - Sendo blushes a little and says well, he's been working really hard because he wants to be Izumi's only rival.
That was cute but didn't get explored at all. We don't ever see Sendo actually struggling, or pounding the pavement, or working late. We don't see Izumi supporting him through his difficulties. He...kind of doesn't seem to have any?
Maybe Sendo's version of hard work is like Izumi's genius older brother, who told Izumi when they were kids that it wasn't that difficult to get top scores in everything as long as you paid attention to the materials...
...which, honestly, I kind of relate to. I've never really learned how to study because I never had to spend hours intensely reviewing things. As long as I listened in class, read the textbook, and did the homework, I'd do fine on tests. While Hayato offers his help when he sees his brother struggling, Izumi recognizes that he can't really do anything for him...you can't teach someone how to naturally be good at academics. So he has to figure it out for himself, and he does really, really well at identifying academic patterns and giving teachers and contest judges what they expect.
That leads very naturally into his current role as a salesman. His coworkers refer to him as more of a host, which Sendo (in volume 1) objects to, but is honestly kind of true. Izumi approaches everything from a charismatic "I'll give you what you want" perspective. He compliments clothing, he learns and exploits family connections (like an exec's devotion to his daughter), and basically charms his way into people's pockets.
We don't get to see a lot of how Sendo handles sales, but he seems to be very straightforward and honest, which would appeal to a different type of audience: those who feel that he's being genuine and addressing all their concerns. Then there's the rookie, who's as honest as Sendo, but in a more obvious, blunt way that has its own sort of appeal. (Especially when you factor in his family and all his connections, whom he admits himself are paving the way for his first month of incredible sales.)
Between the two of them, Izumi is struggling a lot. Second place is bad enough - and he and Sendo swap positions enough for it to remain a fun competition where it feels like a pretty even playing field. Third place is unacceptable and makes Izumi feel absolutely worthless.
He does tell Sendo he's feeling that way, and Sendo...........goes and has a whole chapter-long conversation with Izumi's older brother to ask him about his childhood and why Izumi is like this.
It's not that I minded that. I liked Hayato; he's a genuinely good guy who really loves his younger brother and wishes they could still be friends like they were when they were little, before Izumi shut himself off after their parents' favoritism became too obvious and too painful. And it was funny and sweet that he instantly clocked the relationship between Izumi and Sendo and gently hinted to both of them that he knew but would wait for them to talk about it when (or if) they wanted.
But while it was really funny to see Izumi hiding around the corner, watching his brother and boyfriend having a long, serious conversation, a lot of this is just stuff Sendo should've asked him directly.
I guess he figured Izumi might not be able to be honest about his own feelings - because one of the things I'd liked in the first volume got retconned in this one. It turns out that Izumi's cheerful "I'm not traumatized at all by my childhood or my parents, though! It just drives me to work really hard and do my best" is all a big front for some pretty intense self-worth issues.
Hayato had seen the shift from Izumi's playful competitiveness - "you beat me but I'll do better next time, watch and see!" - to an empty-eyed "good job, big brother, you deserve it" once he realized that he could never, ever be as good as Hayato. Not objectively, and not in his parents' eyes.
Still, Izumi never gave up, and he's recovered a lot of that "childish" competitiveness with Sendo. In general, he's doing pretty well now. But as Hayato warns Sendo, he'll still run into breaking points now and then, like with this rookie who seems to have a "natural" gift for something Izumi has poured so much hard work into for years. That's a childhood trigger and leaves Izumi feeling like he'll never be the best at anything, no matter how hard he tries...and his sense of worth is tied to being #1.
I liked the moment where he finally broke down and cried about it during his vacation trip with Sendo - when Sendo said the words he'd been wanting to hear all this time, from the people who were supposed to love him. It doesn't matter where he ranks in comparison to other people - what matters is how hard he works and how amazing he is as a person. It's a simple idea that he hasn't been able to believe in for himself because he never got that assurance from others.
But that was a brief couple of panels, and that moment is the one that should've been a big focus, instead of Hayato and Sendo standing out in the cold and talking about Izumi's feelings for so long.
There are certainly good elements to the storytelling here, but I just didn't connect with it as much as I wanted. Maybe on future rereads it'll be a bit better.
I loved the Fake Fact Lips Break sequel, whereas this was...a little bit boring?
I reread the first volume before diving into this one, since it'd been a while. My expectation was that there would be more of a focus on relationship growth, since they'd confessed their feelings but were both new to the whole dating thing - Izumi to being with a guy, and Sendo to any committed romantic relationship at all. But they kind of...don't. It's a work-focused story with sex on the side.
One thing that I find kind of disappointing is how their whole friendship bond stopped once they started sleeping together. Or at least, we stopped actually seeing them connecting over movies and food preferences and conversations about cars and all those little things that made them like each other in the first place...plus some serious discussions about relationship issues that made Sendo think of his dating app friend as someone he wanted to break all his usual patterns for.
What's missing now is the two of them being there for each other emotionally. Which is a little weird to say, since Izumi's childhood trauma is the main storyline in this volume...but somehow it didn't connect for me. That's mainly because the big discussions get filtered through a third party.
Sendo is an absolutely ideal boyfriend now, and that starts to get a little dull because he's too perfect. And because it seems kind of one-sided. He's able to beat Izumi's sales while also watching over Izumi's health - both physical and mental. When Izumi asks how he managed that - he's driving himself into the ground with overtime and still falling short of the nepo rookie's sales numbers - Sendo blushes a little and says well, he's been working really hard because he wants to be Izumi's only rival.
That was cute but didn't get explored at all. We don't ever see Sendo actually struggling, or pounding the pavement, or working late. We don't see Izumi supporting him through his difficulties. He...kind of doesn't seem to have any?
Maybe Sendo's version of hard work is like Izumi's genius older brother, who told Izumi when they were kids that it wasn't that difficult to get top scores in everything as long as you paid attention to the materials...
...which, honestly, I kind of relate to. I've never really learned how to study because I never had to spend hours intensely reviewing things. As long as I listened in class, read the textbook, and did the homework, I'd do fine on tests. While Hayato offers his help when he sees his brother struggling, Izumi recognizes that he can't really do anything for him...you can't teach someone how to naturally be good at academics. So he has to figure it out for himself, and he does really, really well at identifying academic patterns and giving teachers and contest judges what they expect.
That leads very naturally into his current role as a salesman. His coworkers refer to him as more of a host, which Sendo (in volume 1) objects to, but is honestly kind of true. Izumi approaches everything from a charismatic "I'll give you what you want" perspective. He compliments clothing, he learns and exploits family connections (like an exec's devotion to his daughter), and basically charms his way into people's pockets.
We don't get to see a lot of how Sendo handles sales, but he seems to be very straightforward and honest, which would appeal to a different type of audience: those who feel that he's being genuine and addressing all their concerns. Then there's the rookie, who's as honest as Sendo, but in a more obvious, blunt way that has its own sort of appeal. (Especially when you factor in his family and all his connections, whom he admits himself are paving the way for his first month of incredible sales.)
Between the two of them, Izumi is struggling a lot. Second place is bad enough - and he and Sendo swap positions enough for it to remain a fun competition where it feels like a pretty even playing field. Third place is unacceptable and makes Izumi feel absolutely worthless.
He does tell Sendo he's feeling that way, and Sendo...........goes and has a whole chapter-long conversation with Izumi's older brother to ask him about his childhood and why Izumi is like this.
It's not that I minded that. I liked Hayato; he's a genuinely good guy who really loves his younger brother and wishes they could still be friends like they were when they were little, before Izumi shut himself off after their parents' favoritism became too obvious and too painful. And it was funny and sweet that he instantly clocked the relationship between Izumi and Sendo and gently hinted to both of them that he knew but would wait for them to talk about it when (or if) they wanted.
But while it was really funny to see Izumi hiding around the corner, watching his brother and boyfriend having a long, serious conversation, a lot of this is just stuff Sendo should've asked him directly.
I guess he figured Izumi might not be able to be honest about his own feelings - because one of the things I'd liked in the first volume got retconned in this one. It turns out that Izumi's cheerful "I'm not traumatized at all by my childhood or my parents, though! It just drives me to work really hard and do my best" is all a big front for some pretty intense self-worth issues.
Hayato had seen the shift from Izumi's playful competitiveness - "you beat me but I'll do better next time, watch and see!" - to an empty-eyed "good job, big brother, you deserve it" once he realized that he could never, ever be as good as Hayato. Not objectively, and not in his parents' eyes.
Still, Izumi never gave up, and he's recovered a lot of that "childish" competitiveness with Sendo. In general, he's doing pretty well now. But as Hayato warns Sendo, he'll still run into breaking points now and then, like with this rookie who seems to have a "natural" gift for something Izumi has poured so much hard work into for years. That's a childhood trigger and leaves Izumi feeling like he'll never be the best at anything, no matter how hard he tries...and his sense of worth is tied to being #1.
I liked the moment where he finally broke down and cried about it during his vacation trip with Sendo - when Sendo said the words he'd been wanting to hear all this time, from the people who were supposed to love him. It doesn't matter where he ranks in comparison to other people - what matters is how hard he works and how amazing he is as a person. It's a simple idea that he hasn't been able to believe in for himself because he never got that assurance from others.
But that was a brief couple of panels, and that moment is the one that should've been a big focus, instead of Hayato and Sendo standing out in the cold and talking about Izumi's feelings for so long.
There are certainly good elements to the storytelling here, but I just didn't connect with it as much as I wanted. Maybe on future rereads it'll be a bit better.
April 6, 2026
Reading this thru hoopla app. Finally able to read volume 2 I been wait for since couple month since I read volume 1.
I love Izumi and Sendo. Love that it workplace romance - Izumi and Sendo work in the office and they both compete each other. But in volume 2 - when Sahara new staff came in and he the son of director, Izumi get frustrated and work harder to get the high rank he wants because Sahara beat him. So Sendo was able to met Izumi’s bug brother and from there he find a little history of Izumi when he was a chick and compete with the brother and family proud of rank whoever win that cause him sad or heartbreak. Anyway Sendo find a way to have Izumi be happy and less obsessed of working hard. Their scene s** omg 😱 HOT 🥵 spicy 🌶️
I rate this a 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and for the spicy is 4 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
I love Izumi and Sendo. Love that it workplace romance - Izumi and Sendo work in the office and they both compete each other. But in volume 2 - when Sahara new staff came in and he the son of director, Izumi get frustrated and work harder to get the high rank he wants because Sahara beat him. So Sendo was able to met Izumi’s bug brother and from there he find a little history of Izumi when he was a chick and compete with the brother and family proud of rank whoever win that cause him sad or heartbreak. Anyway Sendo find a way to have Izumi be happy and less obsessed of working hard. Their scene s** omg 😱 HOT 🥵 spicy 🌶️
I rate this a 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and for the spicy is 4 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
April 22, 2026
Rating: 3.25*
Wasn't as into this one as I was the first one. It honestly bored me a little bit. Don't get me wrong I loved that it focused on Izumi and his competitiveness and how that basically stemmed from trauma with his parents. I just felt like it almost focused too much on it to the point it felt like it was dragging. Overall this wasn't a bad volume at all and maybe it's my own fault because I kept picking it up and putting it down, but I did have trouble staying interested throughout the whole thing. I did still like the relationship and I think it did a lot of good things, but it just didn't quite hit that well for me.
Wasn't as into this one as I was the first one. It honestly bored me a little bit. Don't get me wrong I loved that it focused on Izumi and his competitiveness and how that basically stemmed from trauma with his parents. I just felt like it almost focused too much on it to the point it felt like it was dragging. Overall this wasn't a bad volume at all and maybe it's my own fault because I kept picking it up and putting it down, but I did have trouble staying interested throughout the whole thing. I did still like the relationship and I think it did a lot of good things, but it just didn't quite hit that well for me.
April 4, 2026
Heartbreaking but Extremely Moving
This was so good. I could read about them forever. Izumi's backstory hurt a lot. It is very relatable even if you haven't directly experienced it before. The embarrassment, shame, pride, resentment, and indifference was palpable. I am glad the author didn't rush this part. Also glad it is not solved either which is really realistic. This one was better than first. 5/5
This was so good. I could read about them forever. Izumi's backstory hurt a lot. It is very relatable even if you haven't directly experienced it before. The embarrassment, shame, pride, resentment, and indifference was palpable. I am glad the author didn't rush this part. Also glad it is not solved either which is really realistic. This one was better than first. 5/5
April 14, 2026
I liked the direction this went in. I've read a few second volumes recently where I felt the author didn't put effort into the story, just coasted. But I did like that they leaned into Izumi's trauma and explored that. I appreciate some introspective work, especially within a relationship dynamic.
This currently has 3 volumes and is ongoing in Japan. So I am.looking forward to reading more.
Cw childhood neglect/emotional abuse
This currently has 3 volumes and is ongoing in Japan. So I am.looking forward to reading more.
Cw childhood neglect/emotional abuse
April 4, 2026
So this isn't a bad series, it just doesn't stand out for me. They are a lot of office work storied (No Love Zone and Ask and you will receive for example) This one does stand out in the field. I like the two characters and the smut is very good but I don't think this is one in going to look to reread anytime soon.
April 1, 2026
I finished it too fast. It’s so good! I love Izumi and Sendo! I hope there’s more manga in the future too!! I can’t get enough of these two! 💜
April 1, 2026
3.5*
I don't feel like a sequel was really necessary, but the added backstory was nice. It was, however, very dragged on. The spice, as in vol 1, was giving.
I don't feel like a sequel was really necessary, but the added backstory was nice. It was, however, very dragged on. The spice, as in vol 1, was giving.
April 18, 2026
This was surprisingly wholesome with spice mixed in.
I really enjoy Sendo taking his time to help and learn about Izumi. They're relationship is so sweet
I really enjoy Sendo taking his time to help and learn about Izumi. They're relationship is so sweet
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews