Aijou Rentarou

Origin

Aijou Rentarou is a 1st year high school student who has been rejected by 100 different times ever since he was a baby. Despite this, he never gave up in attempting to get a girlfriend, going so far as to start saving money for his future girlfriend. In his first day of high school, he went to a shrine and wished for him to get a girlfriend during high school, that's when a god suddenly appeared and told him that due to a small accident while writing his (Rentarou's) life, he ended up with 100 soulmates, which he shall be able to find by feeling a zing (krakoom or da-dun in the Seven Seas release) whenever he makes eye contact with them for the first time.

Major Story Arcs

Disclaimer: Due to the series not exactly having story arcs, this section will be composed of the occasions where he meets his 100 different soulmates, alongside some important moments not related to meeting a new soulmate.

Meeting Hanazono Hakari and Inda Karane

Hakari and Karane are the very first soulmates Rentarou meets in the series, specifically, in Chapter 1 of the series. He meets both at the same times, while searching for his class orientation; when the 3 accidentally bump into each other, Rentarou feels the "zing" that tells him they're his soulmates. After this, the 2 of them start to show an affection towards Rentarou; while the 3 of them walk to the nurse, Hakari and Karane hear a rumor about a 4-leaf clover hidden in the pink clover field at the school, and that if you ask someone out with a pink 4-leaf clover, they're guaranteed to fall in love, after hearing this, Hakari and Karane go to the garden and look for the 4-leaf clover. Trying to help them, Rentarou ends up knowing more about them, like that Hakari likes to act in a very seductive and romantic way, while Karane acts in a more tsundere (sometimes neglecting her feelings or acting very proud of herself) way, and in the end, both confess to Rentarou their love and ask him which one will he choose. While trying to choose who shall become his girlfriend, Rentarou meets with the god from the shrine again, who explains him why he has 100 soulmates, and that if he only picks 1 soulmate, the rest will DIE. The next day, Rentarou declares his love to both Hakari and Karane, and asks the both of them to become his girlfriends, and to prove that he loves them equally, he shows them he was able to pick 2 four-leaf pink clovers; in the end, both Hakari and Karane accept his proposal, making them his first 2 girlfriends.

Meeting Yoshimoto Shizuka

Shizuka is the third soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 3 of the series. He meets her while looking for a book in the school library, that's when he finds out Shizuka is a shy librarian who likes to communicate throughout book lines instead of talking. Shizuka then helps Rentarou to find different romance novels, and after seeing he can't check out the novels due to not still having a library card, Shizuka offers him a special book without barcode; he then reads it at home, and is very moved by the romantic story, which reminds him to some degree of his story of soulmates. After reading it entirely, he meets again with Shizuka, who offers him the second part of the story, and finds out about her love for books, and thanks him for not shunning him for the person she is. The next day, Shizuka sees Rentarou with Hakari and Karane, she feels betrayed and thinks Rentarou will never have time for a freak like her, remembering all the mistreatment from her mother due to her inability to speak normally. However, when she meets again with Rentarou, he shows her an app where she can read the books she likes, alongside the ability of turning the text to a speech, explaining to her that he won't push her to talk, and instead he wants to help her to communicate better. Because of this, Shizuka confesses her feelings to Rentarou, which he accepts and also declares he loves her too, and that together they'll defy fate, thus making her his 3rd girlfriend. After this, Rentarou introduces Shizuka to Hakari and Karane, both accepting this after he says he won't break up with any of them.

Meeting Eiai Nano

Nano is the fourth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 6 of the series. He meets her in their classroom, as Rentarou went back to pick up his phone after accidentally forgeting about it; Rentarou sees that unlike the rest of the class, Nano didn't go outside to check the exam results on the board, and explains she didn't go as she already know she's on the top, thus making the action of go and check the scores a waste of time; after this, Rentarou goes to see the notes and finds out that indeed, Nano had a perfect score in every subject. Some time after this, he and Nano are paired up for a biology experiment on an onion, and sees that instead of using the microscope to study the onion, she directly copies from the textbook in a perfect manner, to then explain that she thinks microscopes and labs are inefficent and redundant respectively. During the experiment, Rentarou accidentally cuts himself with the razor given with the onion, and while he first plans to go to the nurse, Nano treats his wound by herself with some saliva, as she knows saliva is better for disinfection. After this, he talks with her and finds out she finds most activities (like drinking sugary beverages, chatting, or going on holidays) redundant and meaningless, as she believes people should focus more on improving future outcomes, after explaining this, she tells Rentarou that their conversation is also a waste of time, and says goodbye to him. However, at her home, Nano can't think of anything else than Rentarou, realizing that she has some mysterious and not-experienced-before feelings towards him, which conclude in her asking Rentarou for his companionship, to which he accepts; right after this, she refuses his companionship, as she only came here to end her infatuation; and while she considers Rentarou shouldn't really try anymore as she won't go out with him, he tells her that due to being rejected so many times before, he knows trying isn't meaningless as she says. Because of this, Nano decides to give him a chance to prove her wrong on a date. In the date, which is at an amusement park, Rentarou does his best so that Nano can enjoy the day, and while she seems rather unaffected and unsurprised over the different attractions at the park, this doesn't affect Rentarou, who still tries his best so that Nano can enjoy the day. For the final attraction, the 2 of them go to the Ferris wheel, where Nano tells him that while she enjoyed the day, she still considers it meaningless, and while she apologizes for this, Rentarou tells her there's nothing to apologize for, as he understands it's only her perspective and she's honest about her feelings. After saying this, he decides to burn the photos he took at the park as they're rather meaningless, however, Nano suddenly snatches the photos from him, this proves to Rentarou that Nano actually has something now she didn't have before, and she understands that there's meaning in time spent having fun, and that those moments are actually meaningful. After this, Nano declares that she loves Rentarou and wants his companionship, which he accepts and gets surprised when she suddenly kisses him, thus making her his 4th girlfriend.

Meeting Yakuzen Kusuri

Kusuri is the fifth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 10 of the series. He meets her after passing next to the chemistry lab she was in while going to get a snack with his girlfriends. The next day, he returns to the chemistry lab to find the soulmate he saw. Here he meets a small girl named Kusuri, albeit he doesn't find the girl he meet the previous day; in the lab, he finds out that Kusuri is able to make drugs with different effects, and when Rentarou remembers he came here to find the soulmate he saw the previous day, he realizes he's getting worked up over Kusuri, that's when Kusuri tells him she actually made him drink a tea of love medicine, because she fell in love with him in a heartbeat; right after finding out this, Rentarou throws up the love medicine, and while Kusuri thinks he's doing this because he doesn't want to go out with her, Rentarou tells her he only did this so he can accepter her as himself without any medicine, he then faints after saying this. After this, Kusuri manages to wake him up, and that's when Rentarou tells her he still sees her as mind-bogglingly cute, and when Kusuri asks Rentarou to go out with her, she suddenly changes her appearance. That's when Rentarou finds out the girl he saw the other day was actually Kusuri's true appearance, as her other appearance is the product of a failed immortality medicine which made her small. After this, Rentarou accepts Kusuri's confession, thus making her his 5th girlfriend.

Rescuing Hakari and meeting Hanazono Hahari

One day, after Rentarou hangs out with the girlfriends and ending up winning a wedding photo contest, where the rest of the girlfriends allow Hakari to be the one in the picture with Rentarou, Hakari asks Rentarou to break up with him. He later goes to her house and calls her to ask why she asked for a break up, and while at first Hakari tells him is because she got tired of it, she then tells him it's actually because her mother found out about their relationship, and doesn't want Hakari to go out with a "vermin" like Rentarou, going so far as to planning to transfer Hakari to another school. However, Rentarou doesn't give up easily, and tells the other girlfriends to wait for him while he rescues Hakari and they leave town to escape; Karane doesn't accept this, and instead tells Rentarou that she'll go with her to rescue Hakari; at the end, Shizuka, Nano and Kusuri decide to tag along too and rescue Hakari. They then break inside the Hanazono household to rescue Hakari, and while at first they're able to surpass the different obstacles inside the house, Rentarou and Karane end up being spotted and are taken to Hanazono Hahari, who is Hakari's mother, which then tells them why she's against the idea of Hakari being with a partner; this is because Hahari had her daughter at a very young age, as her loved one (Hakari's father) fell ill and was doomed to die, so she decided to have Hakari as a way to remember him. Some time after having Hakari, Hahari's loved one died, leaving a hole inside her that could never be filled despite loving Hakari; since then, Hahari has done everything so that Hakari avoids going through something like that herself. Rentarou, who up to that point was wearing eye drops, understands why she does this in the end; however, due to crying from Hahari's story, the eye drops are washed out by his tears, and he finds out Hahari's actually a soulmate of his; this last thing happens in Chapter 17. Because of this, Hahari finds out that Rentarou is also her soulmate, albeit she negeclts those feelings; she then makes Rentarou go through a lie detector test, to see if he actually loves Hakari, Rentarou manages to show he really loves Hakari through the test. However, right after this, one of the household maids tells that Hakari is about to throw herself out the window, so both Rentarou and Hahari go to Hakari's room to convince her of not doing it. When Rentarou arrives, Hakari tells him that she's doing this because she doesn't want to see him suffer anymore due to being trapped with her and her mother, however, Rentarou tells her the worse thing that could happen to him is to have to live without her, Hakari then tells Rentarou she loves him too, but when she tries to come back inside, she realizes she's on the edge of the window, and falls from the fear of being there, however, Rentarou jumps out the window to save her from the fall, both surving in the end by falling into a pool. When the rest of the girlfriends and Hahari come out to check on them, Hahari asks Rentarou why he did this, and Rentarou tells him he risked himself to make her smile. After this, Hahari understands why her daughter loves him, and asks him to take good care of her daughter; however, Rentarou knows that everything Hahari did was to protect Hakari, and seeing she isn't happy due to those sacrifices, he promises he'll take good care of Hakari and Hahari, thus accepting the previous confession of the latter, and making her his 6th girlfriend.

Meeting Haraga Kurumi

Kurumi is the seventh soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 24 of the series. He meets her when going to the cafeteria and seeing they both want the same toast, Rentarou notices that she's actually from the junior high, as there isn't really any rules forbidding her from going to the high school cafeteria. Rentarou then shares the toast with Kurumi, and she tells him the reason why she sometimes acts in a rude way is due to being constantly hungry because of burning through food really fast; she also tells him she wears headphones to avoid having any thoughts related to food all the time. The next day, Kurumi goes to the junior high cafeteria to get a popular menchi katsu sandwich, but she finds out that they've sold out already; Rentarou, who was visiting the junior cafeteria, tells her that he can go outside the school during lunch break and get one of those sandwiches for her, which she angrily rejects. Later, Kurumi feels desperate due to not only not being able to find the menchi katsu sandwich, but also due to regretting being mean to Rentarou previously, as she feels she pushes everyone away due to being grouchy; however, Rentarou meets again with her and shows that he did a menchi katsu sandwich all by himself, which he offers to Kurumi; after Kurumi tries it and feels it's delicious, she asks Rentarou why he's doing all of this for a stranger like her, to which he explains it's due to her love and respect for food, and after he declares that sharing a meal with someone who's enjoying themselves makes it much better, Kurumi asks Rentarou if they can start eating together like a couple, to which Rentarou accepts, thus making her his 7th girlfriend.

Meeting Meido Mei

Mei is the eight soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, while she technically met Rentarou some chapters before, the soulmate reveal happens in Chapter 30 of the series. After the girlfriends do different attempts to make Mei open her eyes (as she's always with her eyes closed) which turn out unsuccesful, Rentarou is able to make her open her eyes by doing a small mind trick when telling an anecdote related to Hahari (as Mei is Hahari's loyal maid, and an example of the definition of selflessness); this is when he finds out she's a soulmate of his. After this, due to Hahari's petition, Mei asks Rentarou out on a date, to which he accepts. During the date, Rentarou sees how selfless is Mei, going so far as to tell him she doesn't have any particular interests, and that she instead would gladly share any of Rentarou's interests; during the date, Rentarou tries to reach a compromise with Mei by asking her to get a meal cooked by her, however, Rentarou gets surprised when she returns with a meal made by herself; after this, Rentarou tries to convince Mei to treat herself better too, however, when she declines, Rentarou tries to help her by asking her to not be of any use to him at all; after trying this, Mei realizes she's still of use to Rentarou in the end, and when she tells him about this, Rentarou tells her that she's actually worthy (unlike what she thinks) just by being herself, confessing his love to her, to which Mei accepts, thus making her his 8th girlfriend.

Meeting Sutou Iku

Iku is the ninth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 33. He meets her outside the school, where she's trying to get more students to join the girls' baseball club. After Iku tells Rentarou about why's she looking for recruits, he asks her why the constant batting practice, to which she replies that is for demonstration to possible newcomers to the club, and she comments that she doesn't mind the agony of constantly batting, in fact, she seems to enjoy it. After this, she and Rentarou practice baseball, and Iku is seen never giving up at all, after this practice, she tells Rentarou she enjoyed his company and that playing with someone else is always more fun. The next day, while thinking about Rentarou, Iku sees him with Nano, one of his girlfriends; when Iku and Rentarou reunite later, she asks him if he would go out with her, to which he denies; while at first it seems that Iku is heartbroken for these 2 events, in reality, she's enjoying them, as she's actually in love with pain and agony. However, Rentarou knew this beforehand (as he saw her smile when he was with Nano), and faked a rejection to grant Iku's wish, which took quite the toll on him, as he had to puke blood after having to reject her at first; after this, Rentarou expresses his true love for Iku, to which she accepts, thus making her his 9th girlfriend.

Meeting Utsukushisugi Mimimi

Mimimi is the tenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 39. He first meets her while looking at a "beautiful" monument in the mall, albeit to Mimimi, it's rather a foolish imitation. After this, Mimimi sees that she "caught" Rentarou's attention, so she bestows to him the "privilege" of courting her, giving him a chance to become her lover. During the "courting", Rentarou finds out that Mimimi really cares about all the kinds of beauty, from appearance to attitude; however, when she and Rentarou are having a drink at the food court, Mimimi accidentally angers another person, which tries to throw some boba tea onto Mimimi's clothes to ruin them, luckily for Mimimi, Rentarou intervenes just in time to avoid a stain onto Mimimi's clothes; after this, Rentarou also saves the "perpetrator" from slipping in the tea, as Rentarou understands the guy tried that before to defend his own girlfriend. These actions make Mimimi realize Rentarou's heart is beautiful, so she declares her love to him, to which he accepts, thus making her his 10th girlfriend.

Meeting Kakure Meme

Meme is the eleventh soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 45. He first meets her when going back home after school, she was protecting her bangs from the wind, as she doesn't want to be seen without them. After Rentarou saves her from an incoming signboard and him finding out she's one of his soulmates, Meme explains that she's extremely shy, hencefort why she protects so much the bangs that cover her eyes. She's so shy that after Rentarou compliments her bangs, she "disappears" from the embarassment of receiving a compliment; however, she's seen having feelings for Rentarou, as the following day, Rentarou finds out Meme gave him a letter with a plush complimenting him for helping her the previous day. After seeing that Meme is very shy, he does his best to find her and ask for her forgiveness due to not being careful with his compliment the other day, Meme then explains that she isn't upset with Rentarou, as she's only very shy and embarassed to see him in person, explaining that because of this, she can't be in a relationship with him as much as she wants to. Rentarou then tells her that she doesn't have to say she'll never have a relationship, as he loves her as well, albeit she "disappears" again due to feeling embarassed. Rentarou then looks for her everywhere, and when he finally finds her, he tells her that she can fall in love, no matter how shy she is or how many times she tries to hide, explaining that he likes her just the way she is; Meme accepts this declaration of love, thus becoming his 11th girlfriend.

Meeting Iin Chiyo

Chiyo is the twelfth soulmate Rentarou meets in in the series, specifically in Chapter 51. Despite her being his cousin, they actually never met before this point. He first meets her when going to his uncle's house, as he was asked to look after Chiyo while her dad was out. When entering to the house, Rentarou accidentally slips, and after his shirt slightly untucks, Rentarou finds out that Chiyo is someone who doesn't like to see something messy and unorderly, as this makes her want to do her best to fix it; this attitue can be explained due to her being the president of her class, which makes her feel that she has to become a model student to her classmates. During Rentarou's stay, Chiyo does everything she can so that he's okay, and when she doesn't find anything to make him feel warm (as he was experiencing a sudden coldness), she hugs him; Rentarou then tells her that she doesn't have to try being so firm all the time, as she's still just a junior high student; this makes Chiyo feel better, as she always wanted for someone to tell her that thing. After she accidentally loses her glasses, she confesses her love to Rentarou; that's when it's revealed that this was secretly "orchestrated" by Hiro, Rentarou's uncle and Chiyo's father, who explains he did this as he loves her very much and knew she had feelings for Rentarou. After this, Hiro asks Rentarou if he will go out with Chiyo, which he accepts, thus making her his 12th girlfriend.

Meeting Naddy

Naddy is the thirteenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 57. He first meets her after she introduces herself as the new japanese language teacher on Rentarou's class. She stands out as she mostly speaks in yankee "idioms" made by herself, alongside expressing an enormous love for everything USA. After her first class, she asks Rentarou to stay with her for extra lessons; during this extra lesson, Naddy eventually falls for Rentarou due to his sweetness and "shyness". After Naddy asks Rentarou to go out with her, he asks her if she's actually very japanese, due to her confession being more "japanese" than american. Because of this, Naddy reveals to Rentarou that her actual name is Yamato Nadeshiko, who grew up in a very traditional japanese family (traditional in the sense of culture, as she had to constantly wear kimonos and practice the koto) where she was constantly under pressure, she then fell in love with american culture, due to feeling it was more "free" than her japanese life, going so far as to adopt a new identity based on american culture. After knowing this, Rentarou tells her she doesn't have to be ashamed of her american mannerisms, as this shows she isn't afraid of neither the person she wants to be or expressing herself, this way, Rentarou accepts her love confession, thus making her his 13th girlfriend.

Meeting Yasashiki Yamame

Yamame is the fourteenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 64. He first meets her when going to the gardening club's field to ask someone from the club for help with getting flower crowns for his girlfriends. Yamame tells him she can help him with it, but only if he helps her with some fieldwork, which he accepts. While helping her with the field, Rentarou finds out that Yamame loves any kind of living things, from animals to plants and insects, going so far as to use stilts while doing fieldwork to avoid stepping on any plants or bugs. When Rentarou asks her why she loves plants and animals so much, she tells him she loves them this much because they made her appreciate her tall and large body, as she could protect any kind of plants and animals with it. After Yamame and Rentarou finish with the fieldwork (which he enjoyed nonetheless, despite not picking the flowers), she tells him he can have as many flowers as he wants, as he has worked hard enough to get them. However, right after this, the Vice Principal appears out of nowhere with her hair on fire, which scares Yamame; however, right before the fire can get her, Rentarou stands on it's way to protect Yamame, who admires this action of his and accidentally ends up confessing her love to him. Rentarou accepts this, because of her unconditional love of nature and gentle heart, thus making her his 14th girlfriend.

Meeting Momi Momiji

Momiji is the fifteenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 69. He first meets when looking for a "mysterious" girl who gives out bizarrely pleasant massages before simply leaving, so that she can help him with healing his girlfriends, this girl turns out to be Momiji. While helping her with carrying around the girls from the tennis club she just massaged, Rentarou finds out that Momiji also likes groping, due to her liking to touching soft things, this explains why she always gives out massages, alongside wanting to make bodies as soft as possible. After finishing with carrying the tennis club members, Momiji asks Rentarou if she can massage him, as she feels he's carrying a lot of fatigue, to which Rentarou accepts; after Momiji finishes her masage, she tells Rentarou that she wants to heal any woman's body with massages, this way becoming the best masseuse she possibly can. After this, Momiji starts to have feelings for Rentarou, which start to increase after he asks her again for a massage for his "Astro Boy-like" back. When Momiji asks Rentarou why he went the extra mile to get his "Astro Boy" back again after the first massage, he answers her by saying he wanted to help her on getting more experience and become the best masseuse she possibly could, after this, Momiji confesses her love to Rentarou by saying she wants to massage him everyday, to which he gladly accepts, thus making her his 15th girlfriend.

Meeting Yakuzen Yaku

Yaku is the sixteenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 74, she's also Kusuri's grandmother and a widow. He first meets her while visiting Kusuri's house, and like the rest of Kusuri's family, she also looks younger than her age. Despite looking the same age as Kusuri, she acts more like her age (such being 89 years), this meaning she's rather calm and acts more like an adult. After she expresses a certain interest on Rentarou, Yaku and him go on a walk to known each other better. During this walk, Rentarou feels that due to Yaku being so experienced with life, she treats him more like a grandchild than a possible partner, this is due to her feeling she's already too old for love. Wanting to change this, Rentarou decides to try and adopt the "personality" of her late husband, as she consider him to be the paragon of masculinity; however, Rentarou feels this isn't a good idea, as he still feels like a kid having fun with a grandparent, and tries directly asking Yaku to be his woman, but right before trying to kiss her, he stops due to feeling he isn't cut for being a "wild" person. However, Yaku kisses him and tells him that he doesn't have to try to act like her late husband, as she considers that if she falls again for another man, it should be for different reasons, and decides to "stick around" with him so that one day, she will rather take him more seriously, thus making her his 16th girlfriend.

Meeting Torotoro Kishika

Kishika is the seventeenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 81 of the series. He first meets her after she defends him from some guys who tried to steal some keychains he bought, he manages to defend him by using her kenpo techniques. After this, it's shown that Kishika acts in a very knightly and mature way. Rentarou then decides to repay Kishika by treating her to a meal, and finds out that her mature looks and attitude are due to being the big sister to her 5 younger siblings, and having to take care of them when their mother couldn't; during this meal, when Rentarou tries to something out of her hair, she refuses due to not wanting someone to touch a "weak point" of hers. This is furthermore proved the next day, when Rentarou visits Kishika after her kendo practice (where she's the captain), and she storms out of the hall after accidentally falling onto Rentarou's arms (indirectly being hugged by him). Because of this, Rentarou looks for Kishika to apologize, and when he finds her, it's revealed she deals with the leadership emotions by using a rubber glove and a pampering modulated audio, as she always wanted to be pampered by someone, something that couldn't be done due to having family and friends always counting and relying on her. While at first Kishika feels embarassed by this, Rentarou calms her by telling this is normal, as everyone wants to be pampered once in a while, telling her that if needed, he can pamper her as many times as she wants; albeit at first, she's rather taken away by it and becoming a "baby", going so far as to call Rentarou "daddy". Rentarou then tells her that while he can't always be with her as her "daddy", he'll always be with as her boyfriend. After coming back to her senses, she accepts the proposal, thus making her his 17th girlfriend.

Meeting Ahko

Ahko, whose real name is Kedarui Aashii, is the eighteenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 87. He first meets her while looking for a Statue of Libery Cowgirl toy for Naddy, when he tells Ahko about the toy, she helps him find it by going with him to another store which has the toy. During the trip, Rentarou finds out that Ahko loves cute stuff, like keychains, plushes, and similar types of accesories; she also tells Rentarou that she brightened up a bit during this shopping because she loves to share the same feelings with people in general. The next day, Rentarou is surprised to see her having lunch alone, when asked about it, Ahko tells him this is because whenever she's with her "friends", she feels totally out of place; that night, Rentarou asks Ahko to bring stuff she doesn't know what to do with for the next day. That day, Rentarou tells Ahko he asked this to set up a spot on the flea market, and that way, the stuff Ahko couldn't help but buy can be loved and adored by more people. For the rest of the day, Ahko enjoys seeing people come to their flea market spot and express their interest and love for the stuff she doesn't use anymore, that way, she's able to share her feelings with people. After this, Ahko tells Rentarou that when she grows up, she'll set up a fancy goods store and find customers who are interested in those things, doing this alongside Rentarou. This way, she confesses her love to Rentarou, which he gladly accepts, thus making her his 18th girlfriend.

Meeting Nakaji Uto

Uto is the nineteenth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 94. He first meets her while taking a stroll at a park, and sees Uto fishing in a puddle. Uto then introduces herself in a "bard" manner, which means she talks in prose and a poetic way. After Rentarou helps her get her lunch back from a tree where she accidentally threw it, she performs a bard ballad, albeit it sounds terrible. Despite feeling it's terrible, Rentarou can't help but feel emotional from listening the ballad. For the rest of the day, Rentarou and Uto hang out, and he learns more about Uto's way of life as a wannabe bard, and while Uto tells him that she would like to meet the rest of his girlfriends, she tells him she can't due to her life as a bard. Nonetheless, Rentarou accepts this, and promises that he'll never forget her and that he'll serve as the home if she ever chooses to come back, after this heartfelt declaration, him and Uto part ways. However, the next day, Rentarou finds her going to junior high, and she explains that she just meant wandering as a soul, nonetheless, Rentarou is happy to see her again, so that they can be together, thus making her his 19th girlfriend.

Meeting Meido Mai

Mai is the twentieth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, while she already had some minor cameos in the chapters that take place in the Hanazono household, her debut as a girlfriend comes in Chapter 101. This reveal happens while Rentarou helps her and Mei in their daily chore while Hakari and Hahari are away. Mai is really fond of Mei, as she considers her to be her big sis, despite Mei saying otherwise; this respect Mai has for Mei is shown by trying to show-off in front of Mei and Rentarou. However, this attempt backfires, and ends up being saved from falling on her back by Rentarou, and after seeing his face for the first time, Mai enters in a small inner conflict, due to the mix of jealousy and admiration he has for Rentarou. Despite Mai rather jealous attitude towards him, Rentarou nonetheless finds this attitude rather cute; albeit to stop the conflict for a while, Mei knocks Mai out. When Mai wakes up, she and Rentarou go on a "competition" of who knows more about Mei. Seeing that Mai ran out of things to praise about Mei, knowing how much she care about the latter, Rentarou decides to make her feel better by saying he ran out of stuff to praise about Mei. When Mai finds out that Rentarou was lying about being all out of compliments for Mei, she ends up confronting him about it, with Rentarou saying he said that due to realizing how much she cares about Mei; because of this, Mai accidentally ends up confessing her love for him and accepts his proposal, thus making her his 20th girlfriend.

Meeting Bonnouji Momoha

Momoha is the twenty-first soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 108. He first meets her while helping Yamame with some garden chores, and it's revealed that Momoha lives in a tent inside the school-yard, alongside being both the Social Studies & Ethics teacher and the gardening club advisor. When Momoha offers Rentarou and Yamame some coffee, Yamame feels guilty for saying no due to still having some fieldwork to take care of, because of this, Rentarou tells her that he'll drink her share too so that the coffee doesn't go to waste. During this coffee break, Rentarou starts to know more about Momoha, and finds out that she doesn't want any of her students (including Rentarou) to end up like her, as she considers herself to be a failure due to her love for booze and gambling. She also tells Rentarou that the reason why she doesn't try to rectify that is due to her feeling that when trying this, she ends up being a walking problem for everyone else. After this, she also tells Rentarou that she likes him, albeit Rentarou tells her that she can't just jump straight to dating without a single moment's thought. At first, Rentarou doubts about Momoha's qualities as a teacher, however, these thoughts start changing when he finds out that not only she uses part of her money to buy new equipment for the gardening club, but she also always takes care of the weeding of the school yard, alongside always cleaning up fallen leaves and trash around the school yard without anyone commanding her to do so; not only that, but he also finds out that despite her parents' wishes of her being indepent, she always sends them a part of his money to them in order to try and take care of them. Because of this, Rentarou goes to meet her again at the school yard, and is told by Momoha that she does all of this because she values care and kindness more than money, and that no matter how poor or needy you get, you should never forget your gratitude towards others. Rentarou then tells her that she isn't as needy or poor as she thinks, as she has a rich spirit and heart. In the end, Momoha accepts Rentarou's proposal, thus making her his 21st girlfriend.

Meeting Baio Rin

Rin is the the twenty-second soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 115. He first meets her after she bumps into him on his walk home, after this, she and Rentarou walk for while, where Rentarou finds out more about her. While talking with Rin, a pebble hits his hand as he covered Rin's violin case, so that it doesn't get broken; while Rin starts treating his wound, it is revealed (only to the reader, not to Rentarou) that she's a violence aficionado, which means she loves all the things related to violence. After treating Rentarou's wound, Rin tells him that her violin class has been postponed, and after he proposes her to find a way to "kill" time, she tells him about a nearby place she always wanted to visit. This place turns out to be an game arcade, which she was scared to come alone; during the visit, it's shown how much does Rin enjoy even the smallest kinds of violence, like people striking the arcade machines, or playing games like the Whack-A-Croc or a boxing game. Rin then spots an arcade cabinet of "Re: Biohazard", which is her favorite violent series; while playing it however, she accidentally shows her love of violence to Rentarou, something she always tried to hide. However, Rentarou tells her it isn't like that, that there's no problem on her love for violence as long as it's not causing problems to other people or hurting them, and that he doesn't see her as weird as she thinks. This causes Rin to confess her love for Rentarou, which he accepts, thus making her his 22nd girlfriend.

Meeting Hifumi Suu

Suu is the twenty-third soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 123. He first meets her after bumping into her in school after playing cards. Because of the bump, his cards fall all over the place; albeit acting in a mean way at first, Suu helps him with picking up the scattered cards; however, when Rentarou notices that Suu didn't pick up the cards without numbers, because she considers those to be trash, he finds out that she loves with numbers, the same way people fall in love with other people. Suu also tells Rentarou that despite this love for numbers, she's bad at math, due to not wanting to strip away the "identity" each number has; during this same chat, Rentarou also finds out that Suu loves numbers the same way he loves his girlfriends. However, when asking her if she would like to talk again another time, she refuses, due to her being wired to love numbers; despite this, she starts to have feelings for him. After Suu's class ends, Rentarou meets again with her, and tells her that if she can only love numbers, then he'll become numbers for her, he does this by recreating different numbers with poses, and when it's time to reach 10, a number which Suu was never able to reach by herself, she discovers that together with Rentarou, they can make a 10 and any other 2 digit number she wants. After confessing her love to Rentarou, Suu tells him that she doesn't want to choose between him and the numbers, to which Rentarou tells her that her statement is proof that she loves him as much as she loves the numbers, which makes her feel better, thus making her his 23rd girlfriend.

Meeting Kaho Eira

Eira is the twenty-fourth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 132. He first meets her in a train, where she saves him from some "bad boys" who threatened him. After this encounter, he and Eira hang out on a park, and during this visit, Rentarou discovers that thanks to her training in Capoeira, she's very skilled and can defend herself and others; however, she was one big weakness, which is being afraid of anything she can't take out with a physical attack, whether it be a ladybug, a cat, a sneeze, and even a baby. This means she has 2 sides, which is shown when she saves a baby from an incoming car, as while she's able to save the baby by stopping the car with a physical attack, she gets scared of the baby as she feels that a baby can accidentally be killed with even the slightiest of touches. When it starts raining with thunder, Rentarou and Eira seek refuge in a small playhouse at the park, where Eira apologizes to Rentarou over her fears, and confesses her love to him; at first, she gets scared of the possibility of being rejected, but then, Rentarou kisses her and promises that she'll never have to say a true "goodbye" to her, and promises to go as far as to train to learn special attacks to stop "goodbye", thus making her his 24th girlfriend.

Confronting Shizuka's mother

With the help of Nano, Rentarou finds out that Shizuka's mother took out her phone, as she doesn't like Shizuka being shy and not talking much, and considers that her phone (the only way Shizuka could truly communicate alongside books) is an obstacle. This makes Shizuka feel bad, so to change this, Rentarou accompanies her to confront her mother. After (luckily) seeing that Shizuka's mother isn't a soulmate of his, he tells her that he's Shizuka's boyfriend, and her mother tells her to leave her, and goes as far as to say that there aren't any productive members of society who talk with a text-to-speech app; however, Rentarou confronts this by telling her he did all of this so that Shizuka would never have to suffer for another day of her life. He then tells her that while he doesn't know all about the world, he does know almost everythin about Shizuka, and that it doesn't matter if she isn't very good at speaking, as he loves her precisely because of who she is. Her mother then realizes that Shizuka feels happy with everyone else no matter how different they are from her, and Shizuka tells her that she's happy of being alive. Thanks to this, Shizuka's mother apologizes to her and gives her phone back, and Shizuka thanks Rentarou for this by kissing him. This takes place between Chapter 134 and 135.

Meeting Nekonari Tama

Tama is the 25th girlfriend Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 141. He first meets her while walking down the street, and is surprised to see Tama, who's a woman who likes to pretend being a cat, and asks Rentarou if he'll adopt her; while Rentarou doesn't answer the question, he does help Tama after she tells her how she got into this situation; he does this by hanging out with her on a park, where he gives her a special sandwich (a sweet sandwich with cream and apricot jam), Tama tries to pay off this gratitude by leaving him the best part of the sandwich, nonetheless, Rentarou tells her to not worry about him, and that she can have the rest of the sandwich. After Tama tells him more about her situation, Rentarou asks her if he can "adopt" her, which she accepts, they then proceed to play in the park for a while. After this, Rentarou tells Tama that despite not being rich himself, he won't consider her to be a burden, and after Tama tells him how she feels sometimes about her life, that she feels coddled, Rentarou tells her it's not like that, as everyone always goes through their own struggles, and that's okay if she can't handle working at all. Thanks to this, Tama feels better, and tells Rentarou that nonetheless, she'll do her best to work and get a job again, all she asks in return to him is that he treats her like a cat and pamper her, but not as her owner, but rather, as her boyfriend, to which Rentarou accepts, thus making her his 25th girlfriend.

The Marriage Proposal

After Rentarou and Karane go visit Karane's family, she runs out of the house in embarassment after Rentarou discovers that her whole family acts like tsunderes, even though Rentarou doesn't mind. After he finds Karane in the park, she tells him that while she loves her family and knows that they care about her, she fears that this will make him (Rentarou) not marry her due to their baby possibly acting too as a tsundere, albeit this last part is accidentally "slipped" out of Karane. Rentarou then denies this, and says that having a baby with Karane sounds like the cutest thing in the world, and that they will rise the baby together; this way, Rentarou technically proposed to Karane to marry, which she accepted. This happens in Chapter 144.

The next day, Karane and the rest of the girlfriends wait for Rentarou at the school rooftop, as he supposedly had to help a teacher with something. During this wait, Karane asks the rest of girlfriends if they ever dream about married life with Rentarou, to which every girlfriend replies with their wishes of a married life. However, they soon realized that some of these wishes might not be able to come true, as it would mean that Rentarou will be able to marry all of them, which might not happen at all. That's when Hakari finds out that Karane might be hiding something, and Karane ends up telling that in fact, Rentarou proposed to her. This happens in Chapter 145.

Right after this happens, Rentarou comes out from his hiding spot, and tells the rest of the girlfriends about the proposal to Karane the previous night. Here it's revealed that the previous night, he told Karane that he'll do the best he can so that none of his girlfriends go unhappy, even if it means to change laws or nationalities, he also says that nonetheless, he'll put the feelings and opinions of his girlfreinds before that, which means if any of them only wants a two-person marriage, that's okay and he won't do the collective marriage idea, all this so that his girlfriends can be happy and satisfied. However, the girlfriends confess that in fact, they always had a collective marriage as their ideal. After seeing this, Rentarou then shows them a proof of his love, which is shown with a bouquet of tons of 4-leaf pink clovers from the schoolyard, which they gladly accept. After this, Rentarou and the girlfriends create a wedding, which ends up being a combination of 2 different wedding styles. These things happen in Chapter 146.

Meeting Saiki Himeka

Himeka is the twenty-fifth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 150, she's also known as Kiki, a popular idol singer. He first meets her when walking to the storehouse in the schoolyard to do a favor for a teacher, this meeting happens because Rentarou had to pass by the abandoned women's restroom, where Himeka was practicing singing. At first, Rentarou gets surprised because he thought the one singing was the ghost of an urban legend, but after checking (breaking the 4th wall by checking the previous pages) if Himeka is a soulmate of his, Rentarou asks her why she was practicing in the restroom, to which Himeka replies she does this to be "abnormal", furthermore, she shows another "abnormal" action by how she treats the small wound Rentarou got after falling from the scare he got, as she originally planned to use sparkling water and decorative stickers to treat it; when asked by Rentarou why she does this, Himeka replies that she does this to be "abnormal" and stand out, something she has been doing since a very young age.. However, Himeka tells Rentarou that due to him being a perfectly ordinary high school student (at least to her), she can't go out with him, no matter how much she likes him, oddly enough, Himeka says this before Rentarou could even confess. While trying to think about what's something abnormal of himself, Rentarou sees that the judo club are doing a stampede and Himeka is on their way (the club members can't see her as they are blinded by their sweat from training), so before anything happens to her, Rentarou intervenes and does his best to stop this stampede, he explains to Himeka he can do this as long as he has the power of love with him. Fortunately, the Vice Principal appears and scares the Judo Club away, and when Himeka goes to check on Rentarou, he says his power of love comes from his girlfriends, telling her that in fact, he has 25 girlfriends. This is seen as abnormal by Himeka, which makes her ask Rentarou to go out with her, thus making her his 26th girlfriend.

Meeting Dei Matsuri

Matsuri is the twenty-seventh soulmate Rentarou meets in the series, specifically in Chapter 159. He first meets her while checking out a festival, where he finds her grilling yakisoba at her grandfather's yakisoba stand, where he also finds out she speaks in the Tokyo Shimatachi dialect. After Matsuri and her grandpa convince Rentarou to give their yakisoba a try, Matsuri's grandpa tells her she can have a break for lunch, Rentarou then asks her if he can join her to have lunch, which she accepts. During this lunch break, Rentarou finds out more about Matsuri, like why she lives with her grandparents and why she wears a Gothic Lolita dress. After this, Rentarou also discovers that Matsuri always does her best so that people in the festival are not sad as she thinks that a festival is not a place for tears, this is shown by how she helps a lost kid feel better and find his parents. When Rentarou tells Matsuri that he likes her however, she runs away, as she feels that Rentarou is one of those persons who use festivals as tools for love or to hit on someone, which she doesn't like. That night, Matsuri is surprised to see a crowd around a stall ravager, who has visited every single stall during the festival, one after another, this person turns out to be Rentarou, and he tells her he did this to understand her philosophy. After this, Rentarou tells Matsuri that during his stall tour, he realized that being in a festival feels just like being in love, as love is just like a festival, and tells her that some people who come to festivals for love also come to enjoy the festival. After this, Matsuri asks Rentarou to go out with her, which he accepts, thus making her his 27th girlfriend.

Meeting Usami Shiina

Shiina is the twenty-eighth soulmate Rentarou meets in the series. It all starts in Chapter 168, with the girlfriends sharing the snapshots they have of Rentarou while he's helping a teacher. During this exchange, Shiina comments over the photos took by the girlfriends in a positive manner, with all of them wondering who she is. At first, they simply think that with all the other girlfriends already in the group, she was already there for a while and that they accidentally forgot about her, however, this changes when Rentarou arrives, and after Shiina greets him, he asks her who is she, which ends up with the rest of the girlfriends confirming that she wasn't there before.

In Chapter 169, after she gets her proper "soulmate check", Shiina explains to Rentarou and the rest of the girlfriends why she got there in the first place, and why she doesn't like feeling alone. This moves Rentarou and his girlfriends, and she asks Rentarou if she can join the "family" as well. However, before Rentarou can finish his sentence, she fears a heartbreak and ends up storming off to the train station. Fortunately, Rentarou is able to find her in the most crowded railcar, knowing that she doesn't like being lonely. After getting off the train, Rentarou tells Shiina that he won't let her feel lonely anymore, and asks her to fall in love with him, as he feels that if the only reason she wants to date him is to join his "family", he wouldn't have the right to date her, in response to this, Shiina kisses him, thus accepting his proposal and becoming his 28th girlfriend.

Creation

Rentarou was created by Nakamura Rikito (writer) and Yukiko Nozawa (artist), and he first appeared in Weekly Young Jump No. 4-5 from 2020, in the 1st chapter of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You. His surname (愛城) is composed of the kanji for love (愛) and fortress (城), while his name (恋太郎) is composed by another kanji for love (恋) alongside the -taro (太郎) suffix, which is very common in Japan and used for "eldest son".