Watashi, Nibanme no Kanojo de ii kara (I'm Fine With Being the Second Girlfriend) is a light novel written by Jouyou Nishi and illustrated by ReTake. I have been following it since the very first volume in 2021. The series is currently at eight volumes, and the author has confirmed that the ninth will be the final one.

The story follows Shirou Kirishima, an high school student who becomes tangled in a very messy romantic situation involving two girls: Akane Hayasaka and Hikari Tachibana. At the beginning, Akane is in love with an upperclassman named Yanagi. She asks Shirou to help by pretending to be her boyfriend so she can get closer to him.

Shirou, on the other hand, is in love with Hikari. Unfortunately, Hikari already has a fiancé chosen by her family. This leads Shirou to accept Akane's request, and they jokingly label themselves as a “second girlfriend” and “second boyfriend” because neither is the other’s first choice. That phrase becomes the theme of the entire series.

As the story continues, Akane begins developing genuine feelings for Shirou, and Shirou does the same, all while becoming closer to Hikari, who has secretly loved him from the start. The situation keeps spiraling because Shirou makes a series of hilariously poor decisions as he tries to keep both girls happy.

The girls grow increasingly clingy and obsessive, and Shirou keeps digging himself deeper. The line repeated the most in the series is “I’m fine with being the second girlfriend,” spoken by various girls as Shirou gets tossed around by their emotions and accepts increasingly complicated situations.

I enjoyed this series a lot because of how absurd and chaotic the story becomes. It feels like a light novel version of a dramatic soap opera you could see on tv. It has just the right amount of spice without ever crossing into excess.

The story is split into two arcs. The first is the high school arc which focuses on Hikari and Akane. The second is the university arc, which introduces two additional heroines, Akira Tohno and Shiori Miyamae. There is also a volume focused on Hikari’s younger sister Miyuki, though she remains a minor character otherwise.

Personally, I feel the series would have been stronger if it had ended with the first arc. The university arc is still entertaining, but adding two more heroines did not significantly improve the formula. It never quite reaches the compelling emotional peaks of the high school arc.

By the end of volume eight, Shirou finds himself back at the original crossroads with only Hikari and Akane. The final volume will revolve around his last choice. I am rooting for Hikari, since she has always been my favorite, but I am curious to see whether the other girl also finds happiness.

Either way, I am looking forward to reading the final volume once it releases.