Hoshi no Furu Machi

I love this manga. It's like sitting out on the deck looking at the stars at night. Nice breeze and it's all quiet.

TetsuDan, that male lead thing, I assume you're talking shounen/seinen, 'cos it's actually pretty common in shoujo. Manga where the male lead is the main character, yeah?
There are a few. Bitter Virgin (which is also one of my all-time favourite manga in any category), Aishiteruze Baby . . . Kimi Shika Iranai is probably shoujo technically, but it's a rare one where the viewpoint character is the male lead, and it's pretty good . . . um, arguably Angel Densetsu although romance is only a sub-theme in that manga, but never mind it's hilarious and generally awesome so read it anyway . . . Nana to Kaoru, which has the added advantage of the SM theme and the fact that Nana is incredibly sexy . . . hmm, Miman Renai; the girl is a loli and the plot centres around her being too young but it's strangely sweet and innocent. Honourable mention Kagetora; you said not fantasy and Kagetora is borderline, set in present day but the male lead is like a ninja guardian for the female lead, so . . . but it's good and fun.
All these fit your condition: "non-fantasy/sci-fi manga in which the male lead actually sticks with one girl"; they're also all good ones, taken from my favourites list. Let me know if you check any of 'em out.

Tatsumi that sounded so badly like a lie.

It's a manga READING site, but I refuse to read simple directions on it. Irony, ftw.

And this is why we need to be able to edit our comments.

The spoiler tags look like this:

[spoiler]Whatever you want to write.[/spoiler]

Geez ppl, its right next to the submit button! All you had to do is read it.

Btw, I don't know how to do the spoiler thing. If someone with the means and knowledge to do so for me would like to...

I don't buy the whole "she did it for his own good" nonsense. While she may be thinking it is for his own good, who is she to decide that? Who is she to decide his future? His happiness?
It's like a parent literally forcing their child into beauty pageants or sports they don't enjoy "for their own good." Great, now whomever it is can be somewhat socially and/or financially successful but still miserable.
Rejecting him because she's honestly not interested is perfectly okay but rejecting someone "for their own good" is just BS. His "own good" is whatever makes him happy. If being with her makes him happy then that is what is for his own good.

I'm still rooting for Kurita, regardless of however certain I am something stupid is going to happen and he's gonna end up with that cold-hearted, arrogant tomboy.

I'm still waiting for a non-fantasy/sci-fi manga in which the male lead actually sticks with one girl (at least one at a time). I wouldn't mind him opening up to Kurita if he'd at least stop going after Ichinose. Why must male leads so often be so ambivalent?

I hope you guys don't mind my translation style for this manga. I tried my best to make sure the raw emotion transfered to English because that is the draw of this series. I think I mostly accomplished it in such a way that it punches you and steals your breath away. I tended to tear up a bit as I pictured the lines being spoken in my head.

Kurita is pretty nice

@pizzach He is talking about Altair meaning Eagle in arabic, the main character in the first game is Altair, and eagle is a common theme in the series.

@Liar What line reminded you of Assassin's Creed? I never played the game so I didn't translate the chapter that way intentionally.

I would like to see both, regardless of whichever comes first.

Agreed, Liar. For Kurita, Tsutsumi is kind of a mixture: He is (guy from Tokyo = glamorous, not-a-hick), (guy going back to Tokyo = my ticket out of this dump, represents freedom), and also he is (this pretty nice individual). Sure, the fact that he's from Tokyo is a big factor in how she sees him, but even there it's not a cold thing--her reaction to his Tokyo status is a gut emotional thing, it resonates with all her frustrations and aspirations and needs. I won't say she's completely unmanipulative . . . she's not shy about pushing him in the direction she wants to go. But that's also partly because she genuinely can't imagine how it could be anything but a completely disastrous mistake to stay in hicksville, the dead-end place that's bored and frustrated her all her life, when he could be going off to be somebody in cosmopolitan exciting Tokyo.

And even for him, there is an open question--his confession to Ichinose is fine and dandy, but is it OK for him to stay there just because of her? Has he really come to an appreciation for the beauty of the place, the calmer town lifestyle, the people, or is he in some way just giving up, settling, using Ichinose partly as an excuse? He needs to deal with questions of what he wants to do, not just who he wants to do it with. Her answer to him was really harsh, and she's ducking some emotions of her own . . . but it's true that he was putting a heavy responsibility on her, that if he stayed just for her it would leave her wondering if she held him back.

I don´t buy this crap that she did it for his sake. I think that was really bad and unforgivable.. Go with other girl to Tokyo!!

Hmm... Kurita's Intentions seem off track often from love.. hmm.. Ichinose do care for him a lot, its just that she doesnt want him to suffer and take responsibilities like her, she juz wishes if she wer in his shoes n wer free like him.. So isnt this more like asking him to achieve wot she actually dreams of..? uh.. ???