I usually hate when a second love interest is introduced in stories, but Max and Joy's chemistry was so lacking that I was about to drop this before Esther and Max's relationship started being explored.
Unfortunately the way it's been set up, feel like there's no way it's ending with Max and...
I was thinking it could be a reincarnation angle, but she's a year younger than Hiro and the last panel showed her mother was still alive when Hiro was 3.
I assumed they were gonna be trans, not gay. Since chapter one said "sexuality and identity" when it showed the two characters. Maybe i'm making connections that didn't exist in the original Japanese.