Nagisa Furuya excels at writing gentle, yearning BL stories. Her previously released titles, The Two Lions from Seven Seas and My Summer of You from Kodansha, have demonstrated this knack, and My Ultramarine Sky is no exception. The story follows two friends, Kai and Ren, who have been together since their first year of middle school when they ended up seated next to each other in class. Every subsequent year they also found themselves in the same class, and they just blithely assumed that that would continue to be the case going forward. But then in their final year of high school, the boys are separated – Kai is in one class with a couple of their other friends, while Ren is in a separate room. And just like that, all of their comfortable expectations crumble, leaving Kai especially at sea.

That's probably not a fair statement to make, though – Kai is the more emotive of the two, the one who's naturally outgoing and more open about his feelings. He's having the larger struggle on the surface, but that's not to say that Ren isn't also struggling; he's just quieter about it and attempts different things to cope. Furuya does a very nice job of illustrating their different approaches to their feelings by having Kai be the point-of-view character for the first half of the book, while Ren takes the second and they share the bonus chapter. Since Ren doesn't show a lot on his face or through his body language, this gives us a lopsided view of their relationship that Furuya is then able to play with once Ren takes over the internal monologues, which is an effective way to toy with the reader's perception and emotions. We more or less know how things ought to turn out, but it feels as if there are no guarantees, despite genre form dictating that there are.

And this is very much of its genre, light BL romance. The “light” refers to the fact that there isn't even any kissing in the main story, but don't let that fool you: there's plenty that makes up for that. Every physical touch weighs heavily on the plot and the characters, especially since a “gag” that Kai and Ren have had going for a while is when they “play BL” for their friends – acting out wall slams and other genre tropes for entertainment. When we first see them do this, as requested by their pals, it's immediately clear that this isn't just a game; the tension in their body language is all too real for that. As the book goes on, we have to start to wonder if at least one of their friends hasn't been aware of this for the entire time, and asking them to play BL is a way to both allow them the space to indulge in feelings they're having trouble admitting or an attempt to force them to realize what's going on. Both Kai and Ren have at least some idea that they want to be more than friends, and that comes through in their play.

It is also clearly broadcast by their more casual touching. Granted, this is a queer romance manga, so all interactions are going to carry a lot of weight, but more than that, the barely-restrained nervousness that Kai in particular displays whenever they touch makes it obvious to us that he's very, very aware of their physical contact. Ren, meanwhile, seems to try to use things like leaning on Kai to show that he's both aware and willing for things to move ahead in a romantic direction, but Kai is too on edge to fully understand. Interestingly, it's not that either of them has anything against being gay, it's more that they simply have no basis for understanding how a same-sex relationship would work in the real world. They're familiar with the tropes of BL, but a piece of them recognizes that they are just tropes, and all of the relationships they've witnessed off the page have been heteronormative. There's a lot of believable overthinking going on, and that adds to the story.

My Ultramarine Sky is a slow burn, which may drag for some readers, but it's ultimately a very rewarding reading experience. The gentle pace allows for the yearning to flourish, and Furuya makes the most out of each moment. At the heart of the story is the fact that neither boy felt compelled to act on their feelings because they both assumed that they would always be together, and their separation at school forced them to realize that life doesn't stand still. If you don't reach out and grab what you want, sometimes you miss your chance altogether. It's a theme well-suited to a story set in the final year of high school, and again Furuya makes the most of it without descending into preachiness or after-school special levels of awkward cheese. With its sweet story, readable and attractive art, and generally good use of its themes, My Ultramarine Sky is both a treat for Furuya's fans and a good introduction to her work if you're new to it. If you like your romances gentle and rewarding, this is an easy one to recommend.