Love ⇄ Distance

You know that period when the entire world shut down and we were all stuck at home staring at walls and questioning every life choice we'd ever made? Imagine setting a love story right in the middle of that, because apparently even a global crisis can't stop people from catching feelings and making questionable romantic decisions. It's early summer of 2020, and social interaction is about as permitted as a fire in a fireworks factory—technically possible, but strongly discouraged and probably going to end badly. Six people living in the same apartment building find themselves crossing paths in ways they never would have before, because when you can't go anywhere, the people next door suddenly become your entire social universe and your only source of human connection that doesn't involve a screen. At the center of this are Takiguchi Miwa and her husband Akira, a couple who've been married for three years and are somehow making the whole work-from-home thing look almost functional, which is more than most of us managed during that time. Miwa's a magazine editor, Akira's a video producer, and their daily routine has this oddly sweet rhythm to it—like they've found a way to be content even when the world outside is falling apart at the seams. Akira spends his downtime watching videos from a popular NewTube trio, completely unaware that these content creators literally live on the same floor of his building. Then there's Asano Chiaki, a young photographer next door who lost his job thanks to the pandemic and has been spending his days taking photos from the rooftop, finding beauty in the mundane like some kind of artistic philosopher with a camera and too much free time. But everything shifts the day he steps onto his verandah, sees Miwa watering her flowers on the neighboring balcony, and gets hit with attraction like a ton of romantic bricks.