Common-Sense Monster

Itou has never understood how ordinary conversation is supposed to work. For a teenager who freezes up at small talk and fades into the background of every classroom, daily life is a constant struggle to appear normal. That struggle makes her classmate Takahashi all the more enviable—effortlessly charming, endlessly popular, and perfectly at ease with everyone around her. To Itou, Takahashi's social grace seems almost inhuman. Then comes the day Itou stumbles upon the truth: Takahashi casually swallowing someone whole. But where anyone else would scream or run, Itou can only marvel. So that's the secret—Takahashi isn't human at all, but a monster with an uncanny talent for blending seamlessly into society. Suddenly, that impossible perfection makes complete sense. Far from being frightened, Itou is thrilled. If anyone knows how difficult it is to fit in, it's her—and Takahashi has apparently mastered it. With this bizarre new connection in hand, Itou resolves to do whatever it takes to befriend the monster walking among her classmates, kicking off a strange and delightful bond between the girl who can't fit in and the creature who learned how.