Nanoka is a precocious and somewhat self-important grade-schooler who, when she's not in school, tends to spend time with three very different women, a high-schooler named Minami, a 20-something woman called "Skank-san", and an elderly woman who she calls Obaachan. After being given a school assignment to try to figure out what the meaning of happiness is, Nanoka plumbs her friendship with these women, some of her classmates, and others to try to understand this for herself.
Provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: The last chapter reveals that everything before then was an extended dream of Nanoka's as an adult, calling into question just how much of her time spent with Skank-san, Obaachan, and Minami actually happened and how much was just her own life experiences.
- Ambiguous Ending: What's said between Nanoka and Kiryu in the last page isn't revealed, but they apparently left the art gallery together and it's implied that he asked her to at least be his girlfriend, if not full-on proposed to her.
- Driven to Suicide: Subverted; Skank-san tells Nanoka that she had hit the nadir of despair and was planning to kill herself the evening that Nanoka showed up at her door with the black cat, but decided not to after the encounter.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Skank-san's job, per Nanoka's description, is "selling her youth". This could be as simple as being a model, but the slur written over her door and the way she shrugs off Nanoka asking about it when they first meet implies that she's a call girl or actual prostitute. Despite this, she is always welcoming to Nanoka, seems to really enjoy her visits, and is generally kind and friendly.
- Idiosyncratic Cover Art: The cover art for the manga adaptation is the same scene of Nanoka and the black cat on the apartment balcony as is on the light novel cover, but seen from in front of her instead of behind her.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Nanoka calls Skank-san that because the word was scrawled on the nameplate over her door when she showed up trying to get help to save the black cat's life. She's far too young to know what the word means, and Skank-san finds this amusing and decides to just run with it.
- Lovable Coward: Kiryu is a deeply sensitive boy who is kind and very good at art, but is bullied by some of his classmates for his drawings. Later, he becomes horribly ashamed when his father is arrested for shoplifting and a rumor that he's like his father starts to circulate, which causes him to retreat deeper into his shell. Nanoka's clumsy but well-intentioned attempts to support him don't help, either. She's eventually able to draw him out and helps him stand up for himself, but still calls him a coward in the last chapter when he seems to not be able to say something important to her.
- Loyal Animal Companion: Outside of home or school, Nanoka is always accompanied by the black cat whose life she and Skank-san saved.
- Malicious Slander: After Kiryu's father is arrested, his fellow students get wind of it and a rumor starts circulating that Kiryu is also a thief. Nanoka is shocked to learn that Ogiwara, the only other boy she's seen talking to and who she seemed to like as much as Kiryu, was the one who started the rumor.
- Meaningful Appearance: As an indicator of her withdrawn, depressed personality, Minami is depicted with her bangs completely covering her eyes when she's first introduced. As Nanoka gets her to open up, her hairstyle shifts so that her eyes become visible.
- My Greatest Failure:
- After Nanoka reveals that she got in a fight with her mother and said some very hurtful things, Minami vehemently pleads with her to go home and make up with her mother, revealing that her parents died in an accident shortly after something very similar happened between them. It's implied that her guilt over this is one of the driving factors behind her cutting herself.
- On a similar note, Skank-san tells Nanoka that she was a lot like Nanoka when she was young, but remained aloof and distant as she grew up and ended up driving away everyone who could've actually meant something to her. As a result, she fell into an empty and self-destructive lifestyle, and she implores Nanoka to be better about getting along with her classmates.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Skank-san's real name is never revealed.
- Plucky Girl: Nanoka has a bit of an attitude problem and tends to look down on her classmates for not seeing things like she does, but on the whole she is optimistic, courageous, and tries her best to help and encourage people.
- Punny Name: The huge painting in Obaachan's house is signed "Live Me". It's revealed in the last chapter that the painting was done by Kiryu, who signed the painting that way to pun on his name sounding like "kill you" in English.
- Running Gag: Nanoka is constantly saying "Life is like [X] because [Y]", with X and Y changing every time she says it.
- Self-Harm: When Nanoka first meets Minami, she's cutting her left forearm with a box cutter, and has numerous scars from earlier wounds. Nanoka tries to figure out why someone would do this, with a variety of reasons given by others.
- Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Nanoka's classmates start ignoring her after she tries to stand up for Kiryu, although this doesn't bother her as much as Kiryu's apparent spinelessness does.
- Title Drop: Done in the last chapter when Nanoka greets Kiryu and says "I had that same dream again" to him. Minami and Skank-san also say "I had that same dream again" in the penultimate chapters of their arcs.
- Trauma Swing: Nanoka sees a forlorn-looking man sitting in a swing in a local park on a couple of occasions, then learns that it's Kiryu's father when she runs into the two of them together.
- Vanishing Village: The first sign that the story has some otherworldly elements is when Nanoka discovers that the abandoned school where she and Minami meet up has disappeared, replaced by an empty lot with hazard tape around it.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Nanoka's parents both work a lot and are rarely home at the same time, which is part of why she spends so much time with the other three women. This bugs her more than she tends to let on, but when Nanoka learns that her parents can't come to school on the day that her class gives their reports on the "happiness" assignment due to sudden work commitments, she blows up at her mother.
