Since Raizou Shichikawa is left homeless and destitute after his grandmother dies, he accepts a job as a housekeeper at a Mitou mansion. He finds the family a bit weird, but things get weirder when one of the resident's arms gets severed and reattached without blood loss. That is because the Mitou family is composed of kotodama masters and kami. The kotodama masters wield a word-base power, and the kami-sama are human-like paper doll creations who heal their master's wounds caused by using kotodama.
The partnership between kami and kotodama-sama must be between partners of the same sex to apparently discourage them from having sex and falling in love, or something like that. But since this is a Boys' Love manga of course there's lots of yaoi sex and even some yuri sex.
This manga provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Many of the issues plaguing the characters could have been avoided had the adults in their backstories had been a lot less neglectful, murderous, etc…
- Ambiguous Ending: Did Magane wake up with his memories like Asari did, or is he a blank slate like all other kami?
Word of God confirmed that this was deliberately left for interpretation. - Anachronic Order: Other than Raizou and Kon's arc, as well as the conclusion of Shoui and Asari's arc, most of the stories of the other couples are told in Flash Backs. Genma and Himi's story takes place 16 years before the present, Ryuusei and Moriya three years, and Konoe and Kotoha's at least 14 years.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: All of the main couples at one point go through this.
- Back from the Dead: Himi dies after taking a stab meant for Genma, but is revived without his past memories. Asari dies as well, but he comes back with his memories after a little bit of time.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: When Genma hit rock bottom, he was taken care of by his neighbors. His neighbors happened to be a child Raizou and his adopted father. Years later, Gemma repaid their kindness by getting Raizou the job as the Mitou housekeeper when he became homeless.
- Berserk Button: Don't touch the box in Waki's room. Ever.
- If you harm someone's kami-sama or use them while they already have a master, said master will usually react violently.
- Asari really doesn’t like when kami-sama are abused by kotodamas. He even physically attacks Genma at one point over his treatment of Himi.
- Fraternal twins Tsukito and Seiji have a particular hatred for kotodama masters who are careless with their powers, as that means their kami-sama will take more damage to their own bodies to heal them. They have both made a point to avoid using their own kotodama powers so to not hurt their shared kami-sama Hatsuhi.
- Bifauxnen: Raizou mistook Ouka for a man when he first met her because of her appearance, and even referred to her with male pronouns until he learned the truth.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Mitou family, naturally. Most every branch of the family has a considerable amount of wealth, but many of the family members have a lot of baggage. Then you factor in the kami-sama, who in many cases are obsessed over by their master or experience abuse from their masters.
- Bungled Suicide: Shoui is on the receiving end of his when he tries overusing his kotodama powers to indirectly end his life. The result is that he doesn’t die but instead seriously injured. His first attempt left him so injured that he couldn’t move from his bed from the pain.
- Butt-Monkey: Konoe is often the subject of Asari's taunting, has to deal with borderline Tyke-Bomb Kotoha's Berserk Button temper, and also has to fix the mansion after Kotoha accidentally destroys it.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Ryuusei gets drunk easily and Genma uses it to his advantage to punish him whenever he hits on Himi or insults him behind his back.
- Cast Full of Gay: Both of the yuri and yaoi persuasion.
- Corrupt the Cutie: Twins Tsukito and Seiji develop a hobby of teaching Kotoha "dirty talk" and sexual meaning behind words, much to Konoe's horror and frustration.
- Cosplay: Ouka and her kami-sama Benio are often dressed in costume rather than regular clothing, for no reason other than Ouka's enjoyment. Benio's clothes tend to lean more towards Sexy Whatever Outfit.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Genma’s father was…obsessed with Himi, to put it mildly. He neglected his wife and son and never spent time with them, instead giving all of his attention to Himi. When Himi healed an injury Genma recevied (something that Himi voluntarily did himself) Genma’s father responded by physically attacking his son, screaming at Genma for touching “his Himi” and then ultimately throwing Genma and his mom out of their home entirely. It only went downhill from there for Genma.
- Death Seeker: After overusing his kotodama powers Ryuusei decided to lay in a construction zone and wait to die. The construction zone however happened to belong to belong to Genma, who bluntly tells him to go die somewhere else.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Kon went through this after his kotodama master died as he did not want to be turned back into Hakushi. He did all of the housework at the Mitou mansion, and even took on dangerous jobs from Genma. He resents Raizou for a brief period when he arrives at the Mitou mansion to be the new housekeeper (thus taking one of his jobs), but when Raizou realizes Kon’s situation he goes to Waki and asks to be Kon’s kotodama master so Kon can remain.
- Domestic Abuser: Genma abuses Himi left and right. He does get better as a person after Himi dies.
- Driven to Suicide: As a teenager Shoui deliberately overused his kotodama powers several times in an attempt to indirectly commit suicide. Asari saved him each time but begrudgingly so, which did not help their relationship in the beginning. Thankfully it got better and Shoui stopped using his kotodama in such a way.
- When Waki first met Rikiichi, it was after a failed suicide attempt from throwing himself off a waterfall.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Asari, Konoe, and Kotoha's hair was longer in Flash Backs. Konoe and Kotoha both get an Important Haircut when they move out of the main house.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Averted. Konoe had a goatee for a while until Waki removed it, but hardly anyone really cares.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Himi died saving Genma, and Rikiichi and Magane died saving Shoui.
- Shoui performs a non-lethal one regarding his brother Kotoha. Due to his kotodama powers, Kotoha should have been the future head of the Mitou family. But after seeing the awful living conditions Kotoha was subjected to, Shoui decided to expand and build his own kotodama powers so that he could become stronger than Kotoha, thus taking Kotoha’s position and sparing him the fate of being the head of the family. This ended up paying off big time for both Shoui and Kotoha, as Kotoha and Konoe did get their freedom, and Shoui’s relationship with Asari improved quite significantly during this time as they were forced to spend more time together as Shoui expanded his powers.
- Humans Are Bastards: Moriya held this view until he met Ryuusei.
- If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him: In a platonic example, Asari threatens Genma if he dares to hurt Himi.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Raizou is very good-natured, but is also innocent and naive. Sometimes Konoe can't stand looking at him because he's such a good boy.
- Interspecies Romance: The romances in this series occur between humans and kami-sama, who are Hakushi (paper dolls) with humanoid appearances.
- Jerkass: Genma is a prime example with the way he initially treated Himi, but also because of the fact that his riches came from using his kotodama powers to essentially commit fraud.
- Laughing Mad: After Shoui’s first failed suicide attempt his father visits him and reminds him of his place in the Mitou family and how he will never be free, even in death. After his father leaves, Shoui begins laughing hysterically before he breaks down sobbing.
- Lost Food Grievance: If Kotoha doesn't get his ice cream, a disaster will literally happen.
- Love at First Sight: Raizou falls in love with Kon at first sight.
- Magnetic Hero: Rikiichi. Kami-sama and humans alike hold him in the highest regard. This status is more obvious when he died. His death utterly devastated the Mitou family, and even kami-sama see the time before he died as "golden, peaceful times".
- Never Say "Die": In-Universe. If a kotodama user says words like "die", not only will the target of his/her frustration will die, but the kami-sama will intercept more damage. Ryuusei has been explicitly instructed by his mother not to say that word, and has been reluctant of saying it ever since he accidentally killed her using that word.
- Only Sane Man: Konoe's the only one who doesn't get carried away with anything.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Genma and his assistant Chidori. They’ve been friends for a long time, even before Genma got Himi as his kami-sama, and Himi assumes (twice) that Chidori is Genma’s girlfriend. However neither ever had any romantic inclinations towards each other and Chidori is very much a Shipper on Deck for Genma’s relationship with Himi.
- Power Incontinence: Kotoha is nicknamed the "beast" because his powers are so strong and he has trouble controlling them.
- The Power of Love: This is what brings Asari back to Shoui in volume 9, and what allows Asari to regain his memories when he shouldn't be able to.
- Raised by Grandparents: After the death of his parents, Raizou lives with his grandmother up until her death.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Asari is fond of these, and gives them to numerous characters.
- Red String of Fate: When Shoui was younger, Asari attached their fingers with a red string as a joke to promise to be there for each other.
- The Resenter: Asari, at first. Because he blamed Shoui for Rikiichi’s death, Asari refused the call to be his kami-sama at first. And even after he finally assumed the role, Asari did not hide to Shoui how much he didn’t want to be his kami-sama. Thankfully, he got better.
- The Scapegoat: Shoui serves as this for the Mitou family for many years, when his kidnapping as an infant led to numerous deaths, including of family patriarch Rikiichi and Magane. Because of this he's scorned by family members and numerous kami most poignantly his own kami Asari.
- The Stoic: Kotoha is very expressionless. He only shows emotion when someone's stolen his ice cream or when Konoe is in danger.
- Son of a Whore: Ryuusei is the illegitimate child of his mother and one of her customers.
- Supreme Chef: Raizou lives in the house as the chef and housekeeper.
- There Are No Therapists: Several of the characters have considerable…issues that are hand-waved or outright ignored by everyone around them. But also Truth in Television given social stigmas in Japan.
- Three-Way Sex: Twins Tsukito and Seiji share the same kami-sama Hatsuhi, at the same time.
- Token Minority: Despite his name, Raizou is not ethnically Japanese
- Wife-Basher Basher: Ryuusei is strongly against beating up women and isn't afraid to serve anyone their worth of beating whenever he sees women abused.
- Wife Husbandry: Konoe and Kotoha. But unlike most in the trope, Asari uses the context of their relationship to strike a "death blow" whenever he argues with Konoe.
- Words Can Break My Bones: The kotodama powers in the Mitou family involve the power of words. By invoking their power whatever they wish can happen. But they must pay a price for using kotodama, and it's usually physical damage to their bodies, thus the existence of kami-sama to absorb their pain. Spells vary between the violent (ex. when various characters curse someone to die or humorous (ex. when Genma curses Ryuusei to never get an erection around women again.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kami-sama who aren't used will eventually die and turned into a blank slate.
- Your Days Are Numbered: The more injuries sustained will eventually lead to a kami-sama's death. Asari in particular knows that his death is imminent (due to the Red String of Fate, which Shoui had cast a spell that it would unravel when he dies, falling off his finger), so he runs away and hides in the beginning of the series. Shoui knows of this too, and uses Konoe to take his injuries instead.
