By Hajime Kamoshida and Keji Mizoguchi. Released in Japan as “Seishun Buta Yarou wa Beach Queen no Yume wo Minai +” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

One refreshing thing about this series is that, while it was running, it lacked all the SS or .5 volumes stuffing in tons of short stories to drag out the plot. Which is good, as this series already felt like fifteen volumes was too long. But it’s over now, and so it’s time for Vol. 16, the first of two short story collections. Fortunately, for me if no one else, these aren’t microstories. There’s only three. The first story was a bonus that came with the Blu-Ray release of the anime. The second story was a freebie for fans who went to the movie. And the third is actually written for this book. Given that, they take place before Sakuta’s plotline is resolved, but they feel more relaxed regardless. The first story has a bit of drama, but it’s drama Sakuta is uninterested in. The second has drama, but mostly as a character beat for Sakuta. And the third is pure fluff. Perfect short story collection, in other words.

The first story takes up the bulk of the book. It’s the athletic festival in Sakuta’s final year of high school, and Mai is even coming at lunchtime to give him sandwiches. Unfortunately, despite being an alternate, he keeps having to do events as the star athlete has disappeared. Sakuta tracks her down, only to find that the disappearance is quite literal. In the second story, Sakuta and Mai go on a cute Christmas date, but Sakuta keeps seeing another girl, and he’s having these horrible emotions come to the surface. In the third story, Sakuta laments that, because she’s so famous, he and Mai can never go to the beach. She then surprises him with a trip to an exclusive summer residence with a pool… though he does have to also have his sister, Nodoka, and Uzuki tag along.

I’m going to try not to spoil the first story too much, but I was very surprised, I will admit. In fact, at first I thought what I was suspecting was a big fake-out, and it would be something far more prosaic. But no, it actually WAS what I was suspecting. The writing reads a bit like it was written for teenage guys a bit (because, well, it was), but hey. I did also appreciate that we get no resolution because Sakuta does not care about anything other than Mai, and so walks away. The second story relies very much on you remembering what happened in Books 6 and 7, and how even when a death is rewritten so that reality doesn’t have it, the grief still has to go somewhere. The third story is, as I said, pure fluff, but will definitely appeal to fans of Sakuta and Mai – they’re practically married here, as Mai notes.

There’s a second SS collection, which apparently does actually take place after the main series. Till then, fans will enjoy this.