Sengoku Hiroko’s Mikkazuki no Mitsu, (translated on the cover as Crescent Sweet Honey (三日月の蜜),) is a collection of short stories that range from the realistic to the fantastic.

The first several chapters are a short mini-series from which the book gets its title. Sakura-san (female) is in love with her coworker at the cafe, Sugi-san (male). Sugi-san has a thing for customer Momoko, but won’t fess up. When Momoko shows interest in attending a trade show, Sakura makes it a date, in hopes that it will motivate Sugi to say something. Only, by the time Sugi finally does, Sakura and Momoko are starting to like one another. Sakura admits to Sugi that she did it all for him, but he knows he’s lost the game. Now Sakura has to figure out what to do with the girl, now that she’s won her.

This was a cute multi-part story, it goes nowhere and runs over well-tread plotlines, but the characters are likable enough and the story is sweet, rather than tawdry.

This is followed by shorts about a poignant meeting between a girl and snow-boy, who will never see the spring together, a strange little tale about a boy and his bug, and a boy and his mermaid.

After this foray into the fantastic, the book returns to the tried and true world of schoolgirls, who see what love looks like from either side of a pair of glasses.

Then back into fantasy in a story where an angel follows a girl around, a cow and a bunny girl have a philosophical discussion, and a witch and a chef discuss…stuff.

A princess has feelings for her maid, which are returned with hesitation because of their situation, and finally the book draws to a close with two shorts stories about like between a boy and a girl in the more realistic venues of an amusement park and a kitchen.

Most of the stories in this books are short, some as short as 8 pages, which makes them feel very like fillers, but Sengoku does a good job of giving the characters life even in so short a space.

While it’s not going to change the world, Mikkazuki no Mitsu is a pleasant choice for before-bed reading.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Stories –  7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 7