Bitter Virgin [Manga]

Daisuke Suwa is a high school student living with his widowed mother in a small Japanese community. Unwilling to spend the rest of his life working at their family-owned restaurant, his ambitions are to leave the town he grew up in by gaining acceptance at a city university and to enjoy the life of a bachelor.

Daisuke is also a bit of a ladies’ man. In a discussion with a classmate about which of the girls in class he would choose to date, he declares that while he makes no distinction, he would pass on only one: Hinako Aikawa, a beautiful but shy girl who displays an unusual degree of aversion to men. Daisuke is put off by what he calls her “sweet virgin” act and is annoyed by her extreme reactions to physical contact from men.

Working after school one day, Daisuke takes refuge in a “haunted” church building to avoid a pair of girls who ask to join him on his food-delivery run. Just as he is about to head back to work, he hears someone entering the building. Believing it to be one of the girls he was trying to avoid earlier, he hides inside a nearby confessional booth. To his surprise, the newcomer turns out to be Hinako.

To avoid an awkward moment, Daisuke remains inside the confessional and pretends to be a priest. He tells Hinako that mass has ended and asks her to go home unless she wants to confess, believing this will make her leave. He is startled when, instead of leaving, Hinako asks him to hear her confession. Believing her confession will be about a trivial matter, Daisuke agrees. She proceeds to tell him a story that completely changes his view of her.

As a junior high school student, Hinako was sexually abused by her stepfather and became pregnant. Her mother learned of the pregnancy when Hinako miscarried, but did nothing. As a result, the abuse continued, and Hinako soon became pregnant again. She was told that the pregnancy may make her incapable of bearing children again, but since the doctors felt an abortion at that point would be dange