The First「初めて, Hajimete?」 is the thirtieth chapter of the Oshi no Ko manga series. It is written by Aka Akasaka and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari. It was released in Weekly Young Jump on January 7, 2021.[1]
Summary[]
As Kana cheerfully talks about skipping school with a degree of irony, Aqua says they can always head back if she feels bad about it. Kana turns down the suggestion and asks what he has in mind for the day. However, to her disappointment, they end up going to a park nearby to play catch, with Aqua having prepared the ball and gloves ahead of time. As Kana makes a bad throw, she asks why he didn't ask someone else like his sister or the other cast members of LoveforReal. For Ruby, he does not want to set a bad example as her big brother and for the LoveforReal cast, he is not particularly close with anyone. Besides with Kana, he does not need to worry about lying or having any ulterior motives.
They then change the topic towards LoveforReal with Kana asking if Aqua is aiming for anyone in particular and what his type is. Aqua pauses and thinks to himself that, over the years, his mind has been adapting to his new body and environment as he grows up and "The boundary between 'me' and 'Aqua Hoshino' is disappearing steadily." This makes Kana express her concerns about Aqua possibly having middle-school main character syndrome and tells him to grow out of it as it is painful for her to watch. Aqua retaliates by hurling the ball at Kana, stating that he sees girls around his age as potential love interests, adding that he prefers them older. Kana, being a year older than him, is glad to hear this, but her mood sours once she realizes that Akane is also one year older than Aqua. Kana angrily throws the ball at Aqua, which he compliments, and asks if this is her first time. Kana cheerfully confirms this, saying it is her very first time. With that, Kana has helped Aqua get his emotions in order concludes that his feelings towards Akane are not romantic, and he is merely seeing Ai's shadow.
During their final days of filming, Akane thanks Aqua for the suggestion of putting on a character as it has helped her increase in popularity. Aqua asks Akane how she could imitate Ai so well, and Akane explains that she does so by reading books on psychological profiling and studying Ai's background. Then she fills in the background with a couple of things she made up, such as harboring a secret child. Aqua asks how confident Akane is with her knowledge of Ai's thought patterns, to which Akane replies pretty well, claiming to have Ai pretty much figured out. Aqua is astonished to learn all this and concludes that her ability to understand and imitate Ai is far too valuable to let go. Therefore for the show's finale, Aqua share a kiss with Akane, much to Kana's dismay.
Characters[]
