Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Volume 17 (2024)

Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi ~Onodera Ritsu no Baai 17~ (世界一初恋 ～小野寺律の場合17～), or The World's Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera 17, is the seventeenth volume of the Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi manga series.

Chapters[]

• The Case of Ritsu Onodera - Special Mix
• The Case of Yoshiyuki Hatori - Special Mix
• The Case of Shouta Kisa - Special Mix
• The Case of Takafumi Yokozawa - Special Mix
• The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.32
• The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.33
• The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.33.5

Synopsis[]

Manga editor Ritsu Onodera already feels like his job at Marukawa Publishing’s Emerald shojo magazine is going to drive him nuts, but then his boss—and first love!—Masamune Takano assigns him special "homework." On top of that, he begins working with a brand-new manga creator making her debut, but she’s disappointed when she finds out Takano won’t be her editor! Meanwhile, Ritsu extracts a promise from Takano for no kissing and no sex until he properly confesses. Takano (barely) keeps it, but with his relentless teasing, how long will Ritsu be able to hold back his own sexual frustration?^[1]

Plot[]

"The Case of Ritsu Onodera Special Mix" begins with Ritsu Onodera's air conditioning unit not working when it happens to be one of the worst heat waves of the summer. While at work, he ends up letting it slip to Masamune Takano that he's putting off leaving work to stay somewhere cool, and Takano ends up inviting him over to his apartment, as his air conditioning is still working. When they're at Takano's apartment, Ritsu takes a shower, and when he comes out of the bathroom, Takano is already asleep, resting on his couch. As he reflects on various things, Ritsu ends up nearly kissing an asleep Takano on the lips, and after realizing what he had just done, gets incredibly flustered.

"The Case of Yoshiyuki Hatori Special Mix" takes place at the same time as "The Case of Ritsu Onodera Special Mix", occurring during the same high temperatures. Chiaki Yoshino is finishing up a manga manuscript alongside Yuu Yanase and Yoshiyuki Hatori. Once work is done and Hatori has handed off the manuscript, he returns to his apartment, only to find Chiaki passed out on his floor asking to be taken care of. Hatori makes dinner for the two of them and helps Chiaki into the bath, washing his hair for him. Chiaki says something that sets Hatori off though, and the bath is cut short in favor of being more intimate.

"The Case of Shouta Kisa Special Mix" takes place in March, during which there is unseasonably cold weather for Tokyo, a snowstorm completely shutting down local transport. Shouta Kisa took paid leave because he had no way to get to the office, and Kou Yukina comes over to his apartment. Yukina begins to work on a painting, while Kisa pretends to read a magazine from across the room, watching Yukina from behind his book. He begins to fantasize about other, more erotic things that they could be doing, but eventually Yukina notices his staring. He asks if Kisa wants to sit across from him at the table, but a flustered Kisa says no.

"The Case of Takafumi Yokozawa Special Mix" takes place during the summer time. Hiyori Kirishima said that she wanted to go somewhere for her summer vacation, so Zen Kirishima and Takafumi Yokozawa makes plans to all meet up. Yokozawa is able to pick up Hiyori first, however a police officer mistakes him for a suspicious person, perhaps trying to kidnap her, and they eventually let him go after questioning at a police station. When Kirishima hears about this, he laughs it off. But Hiyori begins considering how she should explain her relationship to Yokozawa in the future, considering "older brother" or "uncle". She eventually settles on "my dad and I's treasured person".

"The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.32" opens with Ritsu Onodera having a dream about sharing a bed with Masamune Takano, during which he confesses his love to him. He wakes up flustered to the sound of his doorbell, as a repairman has come to fix his air conditioning unit that broke down in "The Case of Ritsu Onodera Special Mix". He takes a half-day from work so he can see that through, and has a meeting with the rest of the Emerald department when he arrives. They discuss general things about the company, and when the rest of the group leaves, Takano and Ritsu discuss a new manga author being brought in, a college student named Aoi Fujishiro. They meet her together later on, and Ritsu becomes her editor. Later on at home, Takano and Ritsu discuss Fujishiro and a 100 page manuscript that she wants to debut in Emerald. Talk of work comes to an end and they turn to discussing their relationship status instead, during which Ritsu draws a line, saying that they shouldn't kiss or do particular sex acts until he confesses in the way that Takano said he wanted in No.31. Takano stays the night at Ritsu's apartment in a way similar to the dream that he had at the beginning of the chapter and gets around these new "rules" by just doing other things that Ritsu hadn't specifically said to not do. The next morning, Ritsu tries to sneak a picture of Takano's sleeping face, but is caught and scolded for it.

"The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.33" opens with Yukina Mutou's original art exhibition and autograph session that had been in the works since as early as No.28. Ritsu Onodera, Masamune Takano, as well as the rest of the Emerald editors are there for the event, and it all goes well. After things wrap up, Ritsu and Mutou go out to eat, and Mutou ends up mentioning that she's engaged to be married six months from now. Ritsu, Takano, as well as her past editor Yoshiyuki Hatori are invited to it, and it will be in Hokkaido. She talks about how she hadn't seen her partner in about a decade before they got together, and it makes Ritsu think about his own relationship with Takano. Back at Marukawa after Ritsu parted ways with Mutou, he has a meeting with Takano concerning his new author, Aoi Fujishiro. They end up comparing her work to a young Akihiko Usami's. When their meeting ends, conversation shifts to Ritsu's "confession homework" that he was assigned at the end of No.31. Takano is getting impatient, but Ritsu is set on going through with the over the top confession that Takano said he wanted. Later at home, Ritsu is doing research for a confession scene that Fujishiro wanted help making more dramatic, but Ritsu can't help but think about his current situation with Takano. He attempts to practice confessing out loud to himself, but gets embarrassed. He lays down and takes out his phone, looking at a picture that Takano took of the two of them after the end of No.32. He touches himself while thinking of Takano as he looks at it, but in the middle of the act, Takano calls his phone. Ritsu has to end the call in a rush in fear that he'll be discovered. The next morning, Takano asked what was up with the way their phone call ended last night, and Ritsu refuses to tell him, too embarrassed.

"The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.33.5" begins with a flashback to Ritsu Onodera and Masamune Takano's high school days in the form of a dream. It depicts Ritsu sometime after he and Saga had sex at their school library in No.4.5, at home with a fever being taken care of by his mother. He thinks back to how they went to Saga's home afterwards and had sex again. Saga asked if he wanted to stay the night, but Ritsu said that his parents would likely say no, so instead he stayed over for a bit longer to finish the studying they hadn't finished at the library during No.4.5. Saga leans against Ritsu and he's just as nervous as he was at the library, barely getting anything done. An adult Ritsu wakes up from his dream, and events play out as they did during the morning of last few pages of No.33.

Character Debuts[]

• Aoi Fujishiro

Trivia[]

• On December 8th, 2022, it was announced that this volume of the Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi manga was the year's #1 best selling book in the BL category at Rakuten Books. The official Marukawa Shoten twitter account posted an info-graphic about it, including a thank you message from series author Shungiku Nakamura, thanking fans for their continued support.^[2]

Image gallery[]

Japanese edition[]

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