The manga follows Sasaki, a 40-something, downtrodden man working in a black company with unreasonable bosses and clients. The only breeze of fresh air in his life is Yamada, the cashier of a super market he goes to, always receiving him with a bright smile. One day where he can't find her, he goes for a smoke and meets Tayama behind the super market. Tayama is totally unlike Yamada, cool and teasing, but Sasaki manages to start a friendship with her regardless.
Unbeknownst to him, Tayama and Yamada are the same person.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: Noshizono has the exact same interest in Oono that Sasaki has towards Yamada, complete with the ambiguously romantic nature of said interest.
- Age-Gap Romance: Tayama/Yamada is in love with Sasaki, despite him being old enough to be her father. Sasaki himself feels something towards Yamada, but it seems much more innocent and is more of an idol-like admiration. There have been occasional hints that he is feeling something stronger and more romantic towards Tayama, however.
- Big-Breast Pride: In their first encouter, "Tayama" teases Sasaki if he likes Yamada because she is big breasted pretty girl who doesn't seem to have a boyfriend. He vehemently refutes it, of course.
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Whether he knows it or not, Sasaki refuses to make any romantic moves towards Yamada or "Tayama," and will even get embarrassed if he (accidentally) gives her an off-color joke.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Yamada. Aside from the whole wedding ring misunderstanding, Yamada has been shown to be incredibly passive aggressive about the idea of even a male coworker smoking and talking with Sasaki in her place.
- Genki Girl: Supervisor Maezawa, constantly cheerful and upbeat and noisy. While said behavior can annoy her coworkers, it makes her really good with kids.
- Heel Realization: It's a one chapter situation, but the wedding ring misunderstanding had potential to spiral into catastrophe. After months of enjoying Sasaki's company, a single piece of garbled information about Sasaki potentially being married, either at present or in the past from Maezawa is enough to send Yamada into a fit of poorly-hidden jealousy and suspicion. Once Sasaki seemingly confirms her suspicion with an obliquely-worded question from her, that suspicion twists further into despair. During their following evening smoke, "Tayama" tries to break off the whole arrangement and send Sasaki back to his supposed wife before he gets in trouble. Sasaki is confused by the notion and clarifies that his sister gave him the ring for safe-keeping, he has a watch that's important to him too, and that he's quite single. Before Yamada can feel any relief, she shows visible shame (with a blush, no less), and before any tsundere antics to tell us that everything is back to normal, she says aloud:"I'm so... bad."
- I Have This Friend: Constantly does Yamada play "Tayama" as acting the go-between for Sasaki's idol.
- Interestingly, even in her private thoughts and conversations with her coworkers, she will comment on the Yamada persona as separate from herself, almost like a mask or costume.
- Indirect Kiss: "Cigarette Kiss" variant, in Chapter 16. Quite appropriate to the story.
- I Was Quite a Looker: The elderly Ono-san was quite a bit prettier twenty four years ago, according to an extras page.
- Inspired by…: Jinushi based the setting based on his time doing customer service work prior to being a mangaka.
- Just a Kid: Much to Yamada's frustration, Sasaki often rationalizes her as just a younger friend of his to fuss over. Slowly but surely, the old salaryman is starting to move out of it, but he has yet to consciously acknowledge the flashes of attraction as anything substantial.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: What little we see of Yamada's father, he looks (and acts) very similar to Sasaki, her crush.
- Love Epiphany: In Chapter 26, Sasaki unwittingly talks Yamada into realizing that she is in love with the man who got her to smoke, which she quickly remembers afterwards to be Sasaki himself. The realization hits her hard enough to break her out of her usual demeanor into a much more feminine vulnerability (such that one translation even had her response rendered in lower-case).
- The Mentor: Goto, to Yamada and Obata. In his own brief way, a younger Sasaki filled that role for the teenage Yamada.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Ohno-san is both the oldest and tiniest of the cast.
- Shipper on Deck: Goto. She immediately sees what's going on between Sasaki and Yamada, likes it, and wants more of it. She enjoys the romantic back-and-forth between the two so much that she keeps Yamada's "secret," and therefore gives her the chance to tell Sasaki the truth (or not) at her own pace.
- Shrinking Violet: Obata the Produce Lead, though he's rather loud about it.
- Silver Fox: Sasaki is implied to be one - when both Sasaki's and Tayama's co-workers suspect/witness Sasaki having a romantic relationship with much younger women, none of them ever find it unliklely or question the possibility. It helps that as one of the extra chapters showed, Sasaki used to be very popular with female populace back in college as well.
- Smug Smiler: When she's not wearing a stoic poker face, Tayama is usually smirking (and usually at Sasaki's expense).
- Spear Counterpart: Chapter 30 introduces Nishizono, who is one to Sasaki. She is a 50-something mangaka who also has to deal with a very demanding job, and has as one of the cool breezes in her busy life being a gentle supermarket cashier (in her case, it's Oono), whom she treats almost the exact way Sasaki treats Yamada. The two bond over their shared ways of helping their favorite cashiers.
- Stepford Smiler: Yamada at cash register #2 is constantly cheerful and smiling for the customers. But it's an act, and the much quieter and mischievous "Tayama" is much closer to her real self.
- When confronted with the possibility that Sasaki might have a wife, her persona becomes even louder and cheerier. Goto notes to the uncomprehending Maezawa that she only gets like this when she's really upset.
- Team Pet: Daigoroh the Dog! Isn't he a helpful little dear?
- The Stoic: When "Tayama" isn't smirking, she has excellent poker face.
- The Tease: Yamada as Tayama loves poking fun at Sasaki, delighting in making him behave like the fussy older man he is. This has been known to blow up in her face sometimes.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Yamada with herself. From an implied high-pitched voiced, endlessly polite, and always courteous smiling persona to her real, implied low-pitched, snarky, rough-edged, and almost Perky Goth true self.
- Tsundere: Is she ever, when she's not The Tease instead. From smacking Sasaki around for making a false alarm of his health potentially ending their smoking together to grumbling at him for preferring her summer uniform-bared arms (as Yamada) to her purposefully-bared midriff (as Tayama, just for him), and plenty more incidents inbetween, Yamada hides both hot and cold under that smirk of hers.
- Made even clearer in this quote from Yamada in Chapter 26:
"Sheesh, this uncle is so easy, kind, dense, clumsy, on viropause,only likes rice crackers, tall, one of my fans, you're really, really, really-" - Unkempt Beauty: Manager Goto, never seen without her mane of greying black hair, and she's a manga-loving Otaku to boot. She even kept that style back in high school. It made her popular somehow.
- When She Smiles: Both Yamada's and "Tayama's" genuine and joyful smiles have been shown to dazzle Sasaki (and probably the reader).
