Bingo 7: “I” is for “Insomniacs”
Title: “Insomniacs After School”; relevance to the “I” square self-explanatory. I was kind of surprised how much I liked this for it being a high school slice of life kind of thing. Basic plot is two students with legit sleep issues (for very different reasons – one seemingly medical, the other potentially emotional) bond over finding a good nap spot in the abandoned astronomy observatory at their school. Then it turns into a school club story when a teacher catches them and the only way they can keep their spot is if they re-found the Astronomy Club and use the room for its original purpose. Hanging over the whole thing is the school lore over why the Astronomy Club shut down in the first place, and because Nakami and Makari are boy and girl, you can guess there might be something to start there too.
There is some attention to realism here, and I do like that the sleep deprivation is treated seriously, but also that the two main characters actually do have distinct personalities. The high school thing does age the characters, but it’s more of a setting thankfully, as opposed to devolving into all the tropes about the challenges of being in middle or high school, academic, social, and so on. The cat who wonders onto campus and steals Kurashiki-sensei’s lettuce off her sandwich is both comic relief, but also a new slightly oddball pal to go with the rest of the group. There are certainly other students around as well as the one teacher who finds them and ends up being their new club advisor, but the main focus at least in this volume is just on Nakami and Magari getting to know each other and bonding over their shared problem. And maybe even doing a little introductory astronomy (moon gazing). It’s kind of the perfect hobby for folks who can’t sleep.