Nabako Kamo's Naisho de Hallelujah opens with Shuu Ohga throwing 100,000 yen at a naked young man lying in bed before storming out of a hotel. The angry man's internal narrative informs us that he's a composer and is frequently approached by aspiring idols, actresses, and reporters. Since the dark-haired man he left behind was certainly no actress and a bit old to be an idol singer, I suspect Shuu thinks his pick-up is a scandal-mongering journalist about to reveal that the number-one hitmaker sleeps with men. He muses that he's always been a romantic fool and flashes back to some hospital scene from his youth...then it's the next morning in the Ohga house and we meet the cutest 5-year-old boy, Shuu's son Botan. Botan is all big eyes and starfish hands and "anone, anone, Papa-chan."

Botan has a friend whose cat has had six kittens, and Botan thinks it would be great if Papa-chan would let him have one. This question has clearly been asked many times before, and Botan, deflated by his father's refusal, trudges sadly off to school. But he who meows last meows best: that afternoon, Botan brings a stray home. Botan is convinced that "Umechan" is a cat...even though he looks exactly like the young man his father slept with the night before. Apparently, having the sexy young man lick him on the nose and rub up against him "nyaaing" was enough to throw Shuu off his game. He allows Botan to keep the new "pet" for now, which also gives Papa-chan a willing -- albeit untrusted -- sex partner. Chara Comics are definitely getting "sexier" in terms of their content, but the heart of this story is the little boy. Although Shuu is a dedicated parent, he's too busy to recognize that his son is missing a mother's touch, which the new pet provides by picking Botan up from nursery school and nudging Shuu into going through the little courtesies of hugging the boy and welcoming him home. Umechan (whose real name we eventually discover is Shizuka) is the touching, cuddling parent Botan yearns for. At the end of the first chapter, Botan reacts with shock and horror when "Umechan" reveals that he isn't a cat. When Shuu comments that they would have preferred Shizuka as a pet, Shizuka's hackles rise and Botan points with delight, convinced that he's really a cat after all. And then there's the cute omake at the end of the volume, showing what Botan and his kitten-owning friend "Torachan" will look like in 7-8 years. They're wearing Chinese garb and Tora's clearly going to be a seme someday...lucky Botan.

For people who aren't swept away by adorable little kids and heartwarming family dynamics, the lovers spice up the mix with mistrust and angst...although it's pretty heartwarming angst. While Botan brings out all of Shizuka's nurturing tendencies, Shizuka proves to be an enigmatic and sensual uke. He and Shuu are bound together by a childhood incident in which Shuu was injured by a falling structure while pushing Shizuka to safety. Shuu still bears the scars on his torso and arms, and Shizuka still bears the guilt and fear. (I'm developing a fetish for "hatsukoi" stories -- there's one in Piyoko Chitose's S<><> Friend that rescues the volume for me.)

(Shizuka turns out to be a freelance illustrator, incidentally. One more for the kitchen sink of BL cliches in this volume. This mix still doesn't compare to Reiichi Hiiro's Passion Fruits no Kaoritsuki for its sheer outrageous mix of yakuza and host club characters meeting and mingling over children who are not their own but who transform lovers into a family.)

1. Juuni Kokki 8 by Fuyumi Ono (yippee!)
2. Kimi wa Pet by Yayoi Ogawa
3. Tsuki no Shippo by Rinko Ueda
4. Hikaru no Go 22 by Yumi Hotta
5. Virtual Lovers by Kaoruko Maya
6. Samishii yoru no himitsu by Youko Mizuno
7. Bespoke by Tsukasa Matsuzaki
8. Tantei Aoneko by Modoru Motoni
9. Tsuki no Hana by An Mihashi
10. Kamen Teacher by Atsuki Kyouyama
11. Anata no kiss mo kokoro mo zenbu by Ai Hasugawa
12. Yoru ga aketara by Kazuho Kaguyama

1. Pheromone Mania Syndrome by Ichiha
2. Juuni Kokki 2 by Fuyumi Ono
3. Juuni Kokki 3 by Fuyumi Ono
4. Juuni Kokki 4 by Fuyumi Ono
5. Juuni Kokki 5 by Fuyumi Ono
6. Moonlight Sonata by Nachi Yasuhara
7. Yononaka wa bokura ni amai by Satosumi Takaguchi
8. Kimi ni CHU oshi 7 (Hikago anthology) I have a bad feeling I own this already.
9. Taboo no Ori by Harumi Benisako