Joy

When shoujo manga author Gou Okazaki barges into his assistant and fellow manga author Yusuke Akune's apartment, he is not expecting to find Akune in bed with another man. Having assumed his assistant was straight, Gou questions why Akune hid his sexuality, but Akune tells him there was simply no reason to bring it up. Though the two continue working together as normal, Gou cannot help but be curious about this new revelation.

For the 10th anniversary of Gou's debut, his editor suggests that the manga author challenge himself by creating a boys love series. Gou designs the main characters with Akune's guidance, but the plot is instantly rejected due to a lack of romantic development between the leads. Having never experienced love before, Gou pretends to have a one-sided crush on Akune to get inspiration for the plot. But as Gou continues to keep up the act, his feelings toward Akune become increasingly complicated.

Joy was published digitally in English by Kodansha USA from June 7, 2022, to March 14, 2023. It was also released in Brazilian Portuguese by NewPOP from January 28, 2019, to November 2, 2020; in German by Carlsen Verlag from February 1, 2023, to May 30, 2023; and in Spanish by Distrito Manga from June 2, 2022, to October 6, 2022.