Title: I Have a Secret Onnibus 1
Author: Yoru Sumino (Story), Zui Nieki (Art)
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 538 Pages
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance, Drama, Supernatural
Publication Date: May 12, 2026
The Story
Everybody has a secret, but it’s one that they keep to themselves. The story revolves around five people in high school, each have a supernatural power that gives them insight into what other people are thinking and/or feeling. Using this knowledge, they try to read one another to traverse their daily high school lives.
We are introduced to Kyou Ootsuka, a boy who has a crush on a girl named Miki (or Mickie, as she has been nicknamed). We learn that he has the power to see a sign sticking up out of people’s heads. An ellipsis means they’re angry, an exclamation point means they’re happy, etc. He can read the mood of everyone, and can even see his own sign.
The problem is, due to an issue that he had with another girl in the past, named Miyazato, he can’t bring himself to tell Miki what he thinks is different about her when she asks. That shyness raises some suspicions with classmate and friend Zuko; however, with the way Miki acts around Zuko, since they are childhood friends, Kyou gets the mistaken feeling that Miki has feelings for him, so he never bothers trying anything with her.
Meanwhile, Miki sensed that something was off between Kyou and Miyazato, and that’s why she stopped coming to school. She takes it upon herself to do some detective work, but admits that she wasn’t getting anywhere, so she decided to confront Kyou herself. Once learning the truth, she arranges for a meeting for them to bury any misunderstandings that may have occurred, thus causing Miyazoto to return to school… just in time for the culture festival, and this year’s theme is a superhero play.
This is when the manga switches gears to Miki. We learn that her power is to see a seesaw on people’s chests. She can see it tilt towards a positive side or a negative side, and as she steers the conversation, she can watch it bounce back and forth. She can’t see her own, though, but she wishes that she could. When we see her best friend, Para (nicknamed Looney), her seesaw is spinning around constantly like a fan, contributing to her insane attitude (hence the nickname). Miki ends up getting cast in the play as the hero Braven, while Looney gets cast as the villain. All the while, Miki is trying to help Kyou, who ends up getting cast reluctantly and sucks at acting.
When they get through it, we focus on Looney and her ability to see people’s heartbeats. She can count their rhythms, so she knows how people are feeling based on different circumstances. Here, she’s trying to play matchmaker because she knows that Kyou likes Miki just based on his heartbeat, so to stop Zuka from possibly interfering due to how long he’s known Miki, she tries everything possible to seduce him. It’s hilarious to see her try, but Zuka is about as ice-cold as it comes… especially to her. All of this happens while on a class trip to Okinawa. Zuka brought a bell with him, but he won’t divulge the reason why, no matter how many times Looney asks. Our first omnibus ends with her prodding him again for information.
The Characters
Our cast is rather small, but it’s diverse!
Kyou is your typical loner, nervous boy. He has grand thoughts of romance, but he’s too scared to even confess to Miki… or look her in the eye without stuttering. Most of his anxiety stems from an incident with Miyazoto. When he tried to make small talk with her, he mentioned something that she took the wrong way, and it caused her to believe that he hated her, when all this time, he thought that after he said what he did, she hated him instead. This caused Miyazoto to leave school, which made him feel even more guilty. That’s why when he noticed what was different about Miki, he couldn’t bring himself to say why. He does slowly overcome this as the volume goes on… especially after Miki gets him and Miyazoto back to talking to one another again, but he’s still quite nervous when he’s around Miki… because that crush remains silent and locked up inside of him.
Zuka is the opposite of Kyou. He’s outgoing, but he’s a bit forward, too. He has no problem speaking his mind, but the thing that’s off about him is the fact that he doesn’t seem all that interested in girls or romance. Whenever Miki makes flirty advances, he tells her off. The same thing with Looney… when she makes some suggestive moves (like not wearing a bra and purposefully rubbing her boobs against him), rather than getting flustered, he gets annoyed and upset. All the while, he wants to root for Kyou when he learns that he has a crush on Miki. He’s a bit of a mixed bag already, and then they threw in the mystery of the bell. He’s a bit difficult to read, but he’s definitely an interesting character.
Miki is a bit out there, too. She comes off as your typical tomboy with a hint of tsundere, but she loses that edge to her as the series goes on. She becomes more helpful than anything, but she’s still a bit rough around the edges. She only teases Zuka because they are childhood friends, and she knows that he can take it. She may or may not like Kyou back, but it’s a bit too muddled to tell right now. I know she definitely thinks about him a lot and is always willing to help him out. She may be under the impression that he likes Miyazoto, too, so that might be holding her back… especially since she perceived them as flirting with one another after they made up, when they were just simply chatting. Then again, with her power, she might be holding back because she can see Kyou’s seesaw teeter into the negative when she talks to him… but little does she know, that’s just him being shy and not wanting to leak the fact that he likes her. It’s a tough position, but I feel that out of everyone, she has the most personality and depth to her character. She’s definitely my favorite so far.
Next, we have Looney… if Miki is outgoing, then Looney turns it up to 11. She is a super tomboy with zero shame. As I mentioned, he purposely ditched wearing a bra just to rub herself all over Zuka. She’s doing everything she can to seduce him, but she doesn’t actually like him. She’s just trying to keep him off of Miki just in case, because she saw Kyou’s heartbeat and knows about his crush just from that. Despite pulling zany antics all the time, she’s a sweetheart in the sense that she goes out of her way to help others. It’s not just with Kyou’s crush, either. She also helps Miki when she falters at the end of the school play. In a sense, she plays the role of the superhero that nobody knew they needed, which makes her pretty cool. She’s my second favorite character!
Then, we have Miyazoto… the wallflower, because that’s what she feels like. She’s about as timid as Kyou, and outside of that misunderstanding with him, there really isn’t much to her just yet. Maybe in the back half of the series, we’ll learn more (well, we should since her and Zuka’s powers are the only two we don’t know about yet), but currently, there’s nothing worth writing about her.
Final Thoughts
This was quite an interesting story. From the synopsis, I was expecting something a little more lighthearted like Rainbow Days, but given how this was from the author behind I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, I can see why this would be a bit more on the dramatic side. I wouldn’t say that the drama aspect of it is really deep, but you can tell that there is a serious tone to the series. It’s balanced out quite well with its comedic moments, which I enjoyed because none of it was too over-the-top. Everything felt natural, which shows how well the writing was here.
Everyone’s powers are interesting, but the one thing I loved the most was that they weren’t unveiled all at once. Over the course of the chapters, each character gets their moment to shine, but nothing is episodic because once you learn about their power, every single action they’ve taken up until the reveal has meaning and weight behind it. It explains why they did the things that they did, why they acted in certain ways, etc. What was even better was that their actions before their reveals were all completely natural and not out of the ordinary for their characters. This caused you to let your guard down as a reader and never question their motives. But when the reveal happens, you’re not made to second-guess why you never questioned them. It just makes sense.
I do have one big complaint, though. There are only 31 chapters in this series! That means that the second omnibus coming out in October is the last! I really love the dynamic between the characters, their unique personalities, and how they stick together so naturally without even trying. The overall story is told really well, so I want it to be longer. Sadly, that isn’t going to happen, so I’ll need to enjoy it for the cup of coffee that it is going to be around for.
If you want an interesting story with a mixture of just about everything you want out of a slice-of-life with a small supernatural twist to it, don’t sleep on this one. Pick it up and read it!
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