Higehiro, short for Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway (Japanese: ひげを剃る。そして女子高生を拾う。, Hepburn: Hige o Soru Soshite Joshi Kōsei o Hirou, lit.' Shaved the Beard Then Picked Up a High School Girl'), is a Japanese romantic comedylight novel series written by Shimesaba and illustrated by booota. It was serialized online between March 2017 and August 2018 on Kadokawa's user-generated novel publishing website Kakuyomu. It was later published by Kadokawa Shoten with five volumes between February 2018 and June 2021 under their Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Imaru Adachi has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace since November 2018. The light novel is licensed in North America by Kadokawa and Yen Press. The manga is licensed by One Peace Books. An anime television series adaptation by Project No.9 aired from April to June 2021.
Plot
Young handsome salaryman Yoshida had finally gathered up the courage to confess his feelings for his employer and longtime crush Airi Gotou. Sadly though, he ended up rejected and goes out drinking with his co-worker/best friend Hashimoto to relieve himself of his sorrows. While heading back home in a drunken state, he meets Sayu Ogiwara, a teenage high school girl who asks to spend the night with him. He lets her in out of pity and because he is too exhausted to argue, saying to himself that he will chase her out tomorrow. The next day now sobered up, Yoshida asks Sayu how she ended up at his apartment: she reveals that she had run away from her family and home in Hokkaido and has been prostituting herself to random men in exchange for a place to stay. Now knowing her backstory, Yoshida feeling bad for her finds himself unable to kick her out of his house and their time of living together begins.
A 26-year-old handsome salaryman with short black hair, brown eyes, a pretty decent face and a well-built frame. Living alone most of his life, Yoshida grew to be a highly independent person. He is an exceptional and reliable employee who is always dedicated to his work; he puts in overtime daily and even helps lighten the load of tasks of his colleagues. He was rejected by a coworker and while on the way home, drunk, he saw a teenage girl under a lamppost. He was a member of his school's baseball team in high school and dated Aoi Kanda.
A beautiful runaway high school student from Asahikawa, Hokkaido who survived by seducing men and sleeping in unfamiliar locations before she met Yoshida under a lamppost. She got to sleep—and then live—in Yoshida's apartment, albeit, in his words, for the time being. She gets a part-time job at a convenience store in Tokyo. She is actually from a wealthy family but left home due to family issues.
Yoshida's boss at the IT company he is working for and his primary love interest. She is a beautiful and mature fair-skinned woman with silky brown hair that is either tied or braided on the right side, rich brown eyes, a beauty mark under her right eye, and huge breasts. At the start of the story, she rejected Yoshida and claimed that she liked someone else, but this was a lie and she had feelings for him.
Yoshida's junior and mentee at the IT company secretly has romantic feelings for him. She generally has a laid-back personality and remains relaxed and unfazed even if deadlines and tasks are piling up. Although she is highly capable of doing her job efficiently, she opts not to exert effort as she believes overworking will soon just result in death. Instead, she uses the favouritism she gets from her other superiors to her advantage.
Yoshida's co-worker and friend. He is a young man with black hair and brown eyes. He wears a pair of eyeglasses. He gets along with everyone in their company and is not as serious about work as Yoshida but still gets his job done. He jokes around a lot to lighten the mood and often teases Yoshida.
A high school girl and Sayu's best friend, who works part-time at the same convenience store. She is a gyaru. She comes from a wealthy family, but she is not on good terms with them. She aims to be a novelist and remains in contact with Sayu even after she returns to Hokkaido.
Aoi Kanda (神田 蒼, Kanda Aoi)
Yoshida's upperclassman and first girlfriend. She later joins his company.
Kyouya was one of Sayu's many hookups who offered for her to stay with him at his place in exchange for sexual favours. He later gets a job at the same convenience store as Sayu and Asami.
Sayu and Issa's mother who works for the Ogiwara Foods Corporation along with her adult son. She seems to care more about Issa's achievements and needs more than her daughter; when Sayu still lived at home (even when she was a child) she rarely showed Sayu any type of parental love or affection, often being harsh and cold towards her (she might have also been abusive, both mentally and physically); she even went as far as to not allowing her daughter to hang out with her friends. Years ago while she was pregnant with Sayu, her husband, who had a knack for constantly cheating on her with other women, had already moved on to someone else and tried to force her to get an abortion but she refused, thus leading to Sayu's birth. To her, Sayu simply became proof as well as a painful reminder that her husband was no longer in her family's life.
One of Sayu's close friends from Hokkaido and classmates from Asahikawa Dairoku High School. Due to her beautiful looks, she was often the victim of bullying by other girls who were jealous of her, which later led her to kill herself by jumping off the roof of her school, leaving Sayu distraught. The aftermath of her death caused further strain between Sayu and her mother, who believed that Sayu was the one who drove her friend to suicide. Being constantly blamed for her friend's death led Sayu to leave home and became emotionally unstable.
Media
Light novels
The series was written by Shimesaba and illustrated by booota and was serialized online between March 2017 and August 2018 on Kadokawa's user-generated novel publishing website Kakuyomu. It was later published by Kadokawa Shoten with five volumes between February 2018 and June 2021 under their Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint.[5] It ended in its fifth volume, which was released on June 1, 2021.[6]Kadokawa is publishing the novels digitally in English.[7]Yen Press will also publish their own release of the series.[8]
A manga adaptation with art by Imaru Adachi has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace since November 2018. It has been collected in twelve tankōbon volumes. In March 2021, One Peace Books announced their license to the manga in English and would begin releasing the series in October 2021.[23]
On December 26, 2019, an anime adaptation was announced by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko.[1] The adaptation was revealed to be a television series produced by Dream Shift, animated by Project No.9 and directed by a director under the pseudonym of Manabu Kamikita, with Deko Akao handling series composition, and Takayuki Noguchi designing the characters. Tomoki Kikuya is composing the series' music.[48] The series aired from April 5 to June 28, 2021, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, and BS11.[49][50]Dialogue+ performed the series' opening theme song "Omoide Shiritori",[51] while Kaori Ishihara performed the series' ending theme song "Plastic Smile".[52] It ran for 13 episodes.[53]Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Southeast Asia.[54]Muse Communication has licensed the series in Southeast Asia and South Asia.[55]
Yoshida is a 26-year-old salaryman who works for an IT company. On a certain weekend, he confesses his feelings for Gotou Airi, his superior at his workplace, but is disappointed when his love of five years ends in a heartbreak. He decides to drink his sorrow away in a pub while complaining about his heartbreak to his colleague, Hashimoto. On his way home, Yoshida bumps into a high school girl, Sayu, who is sitting on the street under a telephone pole. Drunk as a skunk, Yoshida half-consciously allows Sayu, who has no place to stay, to spend a night in his house.
Feeling sorry for the homeless Sayu, Yoshida decides to have her stay in his house within condition she does household chores for him. They continue to live together awkwardly but somehow comfortably. During a holiday and on the way to the groceries, Yoshida notices that Sayu does not have a cell phone. When he asks her why she refrains from answering with an uncomfortable smile.
Yoshida doesn't seem to care about the inconvenience of his own life and doesn't ask for anything in return from Sayu. Because she can't bring herself to understand Yoshida's intention, Sayu feels bewildered. One night, she receives a message from Yoshida that he will be home late. Sayu realises that there is a possibility that he may have a girlfriend. The thought of losing her "place" makes Sayu's heart shake with anxiety.
Yoshida and Sayu reveal their feelings to each other and close the distance between them. Then, Sayu starts a part-time job at a nearby convenience store. Asami Yuki, who is a senior at the store and is in the same grade as Sayu, takes good care of her and soon becomes friends with her. After work, Asami hears that Sayu is living with Yoshida, and suddenly decides to visit his room to see what kind of person Yoshida is.
Yoshida receives an unexpected confession from Gotou, who supposedly rejected him in the first episode. Yoshida is pressured by Gotou's strong words, "I want to meet Sayu," and invites her to his home. On the other hand, Sayu cannot hide her confusion as she does not understand Gotou's true intentions. Sayu nods her head when Gotou wants to talk to her alone. However, what Gotou says to her is a harsh reality.
After confiding in Gotou about her doubts and fears, Sayu is now able to think about her future. She gradually becomes more positive, but then she meets someone who knows about her past that she doesn't want to remember. It was a man named Yaguchi who used to let Sayu stay at his house. Sayu rejects Yaguchi's invitation, but he threatens to reveal her past and coerces her to take him to her place.
Sayu reconciles with Yaguchi and stays good friends with Asami. Yoshida goes about his daily life at his own pace, not noticing Mishima's true feelings for him. Meanwhile, Sayu becomes unsure about coming home, after finally finding the happiness she had always wanted. All of a sudden, Sayu finds out that someone has been looking for her. She realizes that time is against her.
Issa, Sayu’s brother, is looking for her. While heading home from shopping, Sayu meets with Mishima, who invites her to have a chat together. On her way home with Yoshida, Sayu noticed a poster for a nearby summer festival. They decided to attend the festival together.
Issa comes to get Sayu home. After a discussion with her brother, Yoshida asks for Sayu to be given more time to think about what she wants to do. Sayu faces Issa to provide him with her answer. Feeling Sayu's determination and belief in Yoshida’s generosity, Issa agrees to give her more time to stay. Sayu then meets up with Yoshida and Asami to tell her whole story until right before she met Yoshida.
Yoshida finally knows Sayu's dark past due to her best friend who died and her mother's rejection. Yoshida and Sayu continue to live together for the past few days while covering up their feelings for each other. Issa thanks Yoshida for her decision to take time alone to escort Sayu back home.
Yoshida decides to come along with Sayu and her brother Issa to visit their home, for Sayu's sake and his own. Sayu and Yoshida spent some time together and reminiscence about their experience so far. While on their way, Sayu decides that there is a place she wants to stop by first. The high school that Sayu enrolled in. The place that changed her life forever.
Sayu's mother was waiting for her when she came home, and they sit down for a discussion. Yoshida finally understood the true conflict Sayu is facing which was previously unbeknownst to him. While Yoshida is furious with her mother, he knows what is best for Sayu and decides to speak his mind.
Yoshida convinced Sayu's mother to somehow make up with her daughter. With that, Sayu's long journey away from home came to an end and it’s time finally to say goodbye to Yoshida.
Reception
The light novel series has a total of more than 400,000 copies in circulation, including digital copies.[1] The series appeared at 4th in the bunkobon edition of Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! in 2019.[59]
