血の轍 [Chi no Wadachi] #4

Two figures share a quietly tender moment on this cover — a composed older woman in a white blouse and pearl necklace offering a pale flower to a younger student in a school uniform, their gazes meeting with an intimacy that feels both warm and subtly charged. The soft watercolor-style palette and drifting blossoms give the scene an almost dreamlike delicacy that suits Oshimi Shuzo's reputation for psychologically layered storytelling. Volume 4 of Chi no Wadachi continues to draw readers into the unsettling emotional world this series does so distinctively well.