I finished Sorairo Memorial. Can't say I've ever looked up words in a dictionary through tears before.

It's about two sixth-grader besties, Sora and Iroha. Sora's our protagonist, your typical clumsy crybaby shoujo heroine with low self-esteem (though she's quite clever) and Iroha's the cool, tall, early bloomer class favorite who still absolutely adores Sora. One day Sora, as the daughter of a Shinto shrine, sees a shinigami who says he's pre-scouting a soul who will be taken in a year. Sora quickly realizes he must mean Iroha and decides to give her as many good memories as she can in the time they have left.

They're also gay for each other. Sora's still a bit stuck in an "I don't know what love is, so I'll just spend all my time with Iroha-chan and admire how beautiful she is" mode, but Iroha says she's in love with Sora many times, and the words used for their relationship are ai and koi.

The manga could have been even better if their relationship had been a bit more complex. Now it's very idealized, even though any close relationship has its issues. The chapter where Iroha tries to nobly get Sora a boyfriend only to discover she absolutely hates the idea touches on the darker side of love and I'd have appreciated more of that. Still, it's a sweet relationship and the final scenes with an older Sora will probably make you cry if you're at all inclined.

Thanks for the recommendation, Anon. Not what I expected when I opened the child yuri thread.