Class de 2-ban Me ni Kawaii Onna no Ko to Tomodachi ni Natta

Class de 2-ban Me ni Kawaii Onna no Ko to Tomodachi ni Natta (クラスで2番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった) is a Japanese romantic comedy light novel series written by Takata and illustrated by Tom Osabe (first volume) and Azuri Hyūga (from second volume). It began serialization online in November 2020 on Kadokawa's user-generated novel publishing website Kakuyomu. It was later published by Kadokawa Shoten with six volumes since December 2021 under their Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Rin Ono has been serialized online via Media Factory's Comic Alive+ website since July 2022 and has been collected in four tankōbon volumes. An anime adaptation has been announced.

Characters

 * Maki Maehara (前原 真樹)


 * Umi Asanagi (朝凪 海)


 * Yū Amami (天海 夕)

Production
Takata became a member of Kadokawa Corporation's user-generated novel publishing website Kakuyomu in February 2016. He chose Kakuyomu over Shōsetsuka ni Narō to start writing web novels because there were few people on Kakuyomu, which officially began its service in February 2016. He wrote several novels, and one of his works, Toshiue Elite Onna Kishi ga Boku no Mae de dake Kawaii (年上エリート女騎士が僕の前でだけ可愛い), which won the grand prize in the 4th Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest for the romantic comedy category, was acquired by Kadokawa Shoten who began to publish it as a light novel with under their Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint between 2019 and 2020 with only two volumes published. Class de 2-ban Me ni Kawaii Onna no Ko to Tomodachi ni Natta won the special prize in the 6th Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest for the romantic comedy category, but this time the story takes place in modern Japan, instead of a fantasy world.

Light novels
Written by Takata, Class de 2-ban Me ni Kawaii Onna no Ko to Tomodachi ni Natta began serialization on Kadokawa Corporation's user-generated novel publishing website Kakuyomu on November 30, 2020. It later began being published, with illustrations by Tom Osabe and Azuri Hyūga, under Kadokawa Shoten's Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko light novel imprint on December 24, 2021. Six volumes have been released as of May 2024.

Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Rin Ono began serialization on Media Factory's Comic Alive+ website on July 27, 2022. Four tankōbon volumes have been released as of May 2024.

Anime
An anime adaptation was announced during Kadokawa's "Sneaker Bunko 35th Anniversary Festa!" livestream on September 24, 2023.

Reception
In the 2024 edition of Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, the novel series ranked 21st in the bunkobon category. The novel series ranked seventh in the Next Light Novel Award 2022, and won the Next Light Novel Award 2023 in the bunkobon category hosted by Kimirano.

The series has over 600,000 copies in circulation.