The Flowers of Evil

Kasuga Takao is a boy who loves reading books, particularly Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. A girl at his school, Saeki Nanako, is his muse and his Venus, and he admires her from a distance. One day, he forgets his copy of Les Fleurs du Mal in the classroom and runs back alone to pick it up. In the classroom, he finds not only his book but Saeki's gym uniform. On a mad impulse, he steals it.

Now everyone knows "some pervert" stole Saeki's uniform, and Kasuga is dying with shame and guilt. Furthermore, the weird, creepy, and friendless girl of the class, Nakamura, saw him take the uniform. Instead of revealing it was him, she recognizes his kindred deviant spirit and uses her knowledge to take control of his life. Will it be possible for Kasuga to get closer to Saeki, despite Nakamura's meddling and his dark secret? What exactly does Nakamura intend to do with him?

(There's also a drama adaptation.)

Kurose Reiji was born in the countryside, and has spent his life believing he can never leave his town. He cannot leave his mother alone with his shut-in brother and demented grandmother, nor can he escape the clutches of Minegishi Gen, who keeps Reiji at his beck and call. In contrast, his childhood friend Akiyama Sakuko sees past the nothingness of their gloomy town and dreams of the chaotic glamor of Tokyo. As a way to withdraw from his monotonous life, Reiji finds comfort in watching the performances of "Acrylic," an idol group, and its most beautiful member, Aoe Nagi. But when he encounters the famous idol behind a convenience store in his grim town, he does not anticipate that he will soon be involved in a series of scandalous events that seem to be a repercussion of times long past. Robbed of his innocence, Reiji struggles to wade through the abyss of sin he has been pulled into, all while an intricate web of lies, obsession, and betrayal threatens to tear him apart.