Yuichi Kazuki was an honor student at Ryokuyo High School where he was adored by all the other students.  Since he was very good looking and kind hearted, all the girls wanted to be his girlfriend and all the boys respected him.  Yuichi was very smart and athletic, but no matter how many girls asked him out or gave him gifts, he always politely declined.  Wataru was Yuichi's underclassman who found himself the only person to receive anything other than gentle words from Yuichi.  They accidentally switched rings at the water fountain when they first met, and Wataru could not believe that he had the same ring as the famous Yuichi.  In their school, matching rings worn on the left ring finger were the ultimate expression of love between couples.  Rumors began flying about the nature of Wataru and Yuichi's relationship after everyone realized they wore the same rings.  Since Yuichi always spoke harshly to Wataru, Wataru tried to hide his budding feelings for the other boy and said how angry he was that they had the same ring.  In actuality, he was pleased that they had the same one, although he would never tell Yuichi that fact.

Yuichi and Wataru began to see more of each other at school, although Yuichi always tried to keep an emotional distance from the other boy.  Wataru finally gathered enough courage to talk to Yuichi about his feelings when he saw Yuichi walking through the park with a woman.  Thinking that they were lovers, Wataru could no longer bear to look at his ring and gave it to a little girl in the park.  Yuichi and Wataru eventually shared their first kiss in the student council office that did not end well due to Wataru's mistake and Yuichi's knowledge of Wataru's missing ring.  It ended with Wataru telling Yuichi that everything between them was over.  Wataru's sister eventually persuaded the depressed and heartbroken Wataru out of the house by asking him to take her shopping for her birthday present.  They ended up in a jewelry shop where they met the woman Yuichi had been seen with - who revealed she was his cousin.  She confided in the siblings that Yuichi had been extremely depressed as of late and that she had made Yuichi's ring for him as a favor.  It turned out that Yuichi had had his ring made to match Wataru's after he had fallen in love with him from afar.  With the knowledge that Yuichi did indeed love him, Wataru ran off to see him.  Yuichi never imagined that Wataru would ever feel the same way for him and they both confessed their feeling to each other.  Yuichi also had a gift for Wataru - his ring that he had given away had in fact been given to Yuichi's niece, Takako, and he got it back for him.  Yuichi and Wataru then switched rings, for each of their rings fit perfectly on the other's ring finger.

The novels followed Yuichi and Wataru's secret romance from where the manga left off.  This story actually acknowledged the unfortunate social repercussions that the two boys faced as a gay couple, which was interesting because not all yaoi anime and manga go into that.  Yuichi and Wataru had to keep their relationship a secret from the rest of the world, which added a real sadness to the whole thing.  But they told each other many times that they didn't care about all of that as long as they were together.  They made love for the first time in the end of the first novel, took a vacation together in the second, and found themselves in a love triangle in the third as someone else fell for Wataru.  Yuichi's brother also quickly became a problem for the two boys when he decided that he opposed their relationship, worrying about Yuichi's future if he stayed with Wataru.  The third book ended with Yuichi and Wataru in each others arms at Wataru's school festival.  They couldn't openly walk through the halls of the school together, or even both wear their rings, but Wataru said that he couldn't think of a better way to spend his last school festival than to be with his boyfriend, even if it had to be in secret.

The novel series has not yet been released in its entirety. The boys still had many obstacles ahead of them, such as their coming out to their families and society, Yuichi's brother's opposition, Asaka's love for Wataru, Wataru's entry into college, Yuichi's decision about the direction of his future...  But they stuck together through everything so far and I imagine that it would remain that way.  As long as they were by each other's side, they were both confident that they could do anything.

This quote is from the second novel, when Wataru and Yuichi were on vacation together.  A wedding was being held in the lobby of the hotel they where they were staying and Wataru thinks about how Yuichi had just asked him to move in with him after Wataru was finished with high school.

Wataru (thinking): "The more I hear 'I'll be with you more', the more I'd rather it was 'I'll be with you forever."  We can't have a 'marriage' like the couple in front of us, but instead of promising eternity to each other at the start, we can arrive at eternity at the end."

~~~

This quote, from the end of the third novel, took place when Yuichi and Wataru were in the student council classroom together.  It was their secret meeting place from before Yuichi graduated, and the two were happy to be able to be with each other, even if it had to be in private, at the school festival.

Yuichi: "I'm glad I met you Wataru.  However noisy it's been around us, however many feelings it's resulted in.  If you didn't exist, this school would have lost its value to me long ago.  But I'm happy that it didn't, and I think I'd like to go on keeping high school memories precious.  Wataru, you've added something extra... to my life, to my feelings.  So, let me go on enjoying you forever."

Wataru:  "Kazuki..."