Autnor
In a quiet countryside town where nothing ever changes-not the train schedule, not the school lunch menu, not even the gossip. Second-year student Sora Inoue thinks he has every week of his life mapped out.
That is, until one afternoon, he crosses paths with a girl he's never seen before... a girl with long, sunlit braids that sway like golden ropes in the breeze.
He only catches a glimpse - enough to walk headfirst into a utility pole - but assumes she must be a tourist. After all, nobody interesting ever transfers into his rural school.
So imagine his shock when the girl steps into his homeroom in the new term.
Except... her hair is completely different.
No long braids.
No beads.
Just neat, shoulder-length twists tied into two playful buns.
The girl introduces herself - in a crisp British accent - as:
"Heather Thompson. Exchange student from Manchester. Please treat me kindly!"
From that moment on, Sora's orderly world unravels. Heather appears each day with a new hairstyle-cornrows, box braids, butterfly locs, knotless braids, braided wolf cut. Each one more dazzling (and more confusing) than the last. Sora becomes fascinated... but also terrified of accidentally offending her.
As he slowly, hilariously, and awkwardly attempts to understand Heather - and her hair - he finds himself drawn not to any one style, but to the girl beneath them: bold, warm, clever, and endlessly surprising.
Between rice-paddy sunsets, awkward cultural misunderstandings, hair-related chaos, and a growing crush he is completely unequipped to deal with, Sora's boring countryside life becomes a rom-com he never asked for... but maybe always needed.
Because sometimes love doesn't begin with a spark - it begins with a braid.