This is intriguing, looking forward for more.

Huh, I don't agree with all those interpretations of it being time travel.

Most likely has relations to time. The beginning talked about how the stars we see at present are from the past, and showed the current time when midschooler Aya and college student Koto met. Koto wondered if Aya was the same thing, a star from the past. Moreover, Aya asked Koto about a place she was thinking of, and this place has full of memories. The past is full of memories. It's time-related. Either past Aya went to the future, or future Koto went to the past. It also has themes related to Tanabata where the two stars can meet once a year.

It could be one of those confusing consequence of time travel thing. Koto could have went back to the past first and met Aya on Tanabata day way before the start of the story (the ending where they met), hence why Aya was fixated about this secret "place" in the first place and the idea of being able to go back to the past. Aya's disappearance on Tanabata day could've been triggered by this initial time travel event as well.

last edited at Sep 4, 2023 8:23PM

Yeah so Aya really was just spirited away to seven years in the future. Gotta say I really like Erika looking at Aya who has not changed and thinking "wow she's so different now that I'm looking at her from the perspective of a 20-something adult as opposed to when we were still the same age"

Really giving me hope that this series is just going to be all about how Erika and Koto's perspectives on Aya change/have changed due to the time-gap and how Aya is going to have to change to deal with missing seven years in response.

Especially with how Aya just straight up says she's going out with Koto now and like... Yeah I suppose you started going out with Koto yesterday, Koto however uhh, has been forced to take seven years of trying to move on, so we'll see if that relationship holds up.

last edited at Sep 5, 2023 4:03PM

Gotta say that Erika still gives me some bad vibes. I still think she is going to be the antagonist. And I find it interesting that she might have been the last person who saw Aya before she disappeared.

I like how subtle this is, but I am for sure going to have to go back and read the first chapter again.

Yeah I suppose you started going out with Koto yesterday, Koto however uhh, has been forced to take seven years of trying to move on, so we'll see if that relationship holds up.

I would be willing to bet that Koto's feelings for Aya are as strong as ever though.

Erika still feels like the rival character, not the true love interest.

I'm sure there is some twists here.. it wouldn't be a triangle if Aya doesn't have feelings for Erika, right?

Okay so this page and the next
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/how_to_break_a_triangle_ch02#28
Gives us a few pieces of the puzzle. Aya was last seen the day of the Tanabata Festival, but Aya remembers it being the day before the festival when she ends up in the future. Erika supposedly had a conversation of some kind with Aya on the day of the Tanabata Festival, and may be the last person who saw her before she disappeared. But, Erika is also curious about what Aya did after leaving said conversation, so it's unlikely (but NOT disproven) Erika was directly involved.
Very interesting.

I feel that Aya is more likely to be a manifestation of unresolved feelings both Koto and Erika have. She is not 'real' in the sense that she will stay on and have a happily ever after with one or both of them.

Hard to specify what makes me so sure of the above, but 1) she only appears when they return to their hometown and 2) she is not the personality she used to be, but more a projection of what Koto and Erika think a 14-year-old girl should be. Very 'psychological ghost'-y.

I foresee that Aya's reappearance will force Koto and Erika to figure out themselves, then Aya will disappear back into the great unknown.

Of course, being the author, Kabocha-san can do whatever they want.

I have a very strong indication that Aya is immortal or just ghost with no past. This manga is certainly off to a great start.

Gives us a few pieces of the puzzle. Aya was last seen the day of the Tanabata Festival, but Aya remembers it being the day before the festival when she ends up in the future. Erika supposedly had a conversation of some kind with Aya on the day of the Tanabata Festival, and may be the last person who saw her before she disappeared. But, Erika is also curious about what Aya did after leaving said conversation, so it's unlikely (but NOT disproven) Erika was directly involved.

Good catch. Given the Tanabata theme, it could be a wish Erika wrote and hung up on the bamboo. She must have been tormented with guilt ever since, in that case.

This reappeared Aya seems to be fully functional and capable of independent feeling and thinking, and also corporeal enough for a check up at hospital, so I think we can rule out the "ghost" and "Koto's and Erika's projection" theories.

This reappeared Aya seems to be fully functional and capable of independent feeling and thinking, and also corporeal enough for a check up at hospital, so I think we can rule out the "ghost" and "Koto's and Erika's projection" theories.

I initially thought the same as you, but remember that we've only heard about the checkup & dad's permission from Koto and Erika's lips. We've never actually seen anyone besides Koto and Erika interact with this new Aya. I'll believe it when I see it.

Edit: It just occurred to me that Japan takes spirits a bit more literally than the typical Western model. They run around and play tricks and do things. Sometimes even fall in love with mortals and have kids. So Aya may be corporeal, but I doubt she will stick around for longer than it takes for the other 2 to resolve their feelings.

last edited at Sep 5, 2023 8:07PM

Wow, I'm really looking forward to this one!
Thanks for the update!

I just want Erika to have a girlfriend, okay

And to solve the mystery or whatever

This whole chapter is pretty intense

Wow, jeeze, that's rough for everyone involved.

Is it just me or has it been left ambiguous just which of Koto and Aya that Erika was/is in love with? (If not both. Can it be both? I think both is good.)

This is so juicy!!

Did the translator decide not to use honorifics? It sounds as though Aya briefly decided to use "-san" on Erika due to her being older than her as a result of whatever happened, but the translator decided to use the rough English equivalent instead.

setting aside whether the thing going on between these three was a "true" love triangle or not, I will say grabbing one of the characters and tossing them forward through the space time continuum is definitely a good way to break it

very interesting... high hopes for this

My guess is Koto is dating the current friend right now and with Aya reappearance this will cause some sort drama. Will she choose Aya or her current lover kinda angst.

I would love it if that were true but it really doesn’t seem like that’s the case unfortunately

Let's do the time warp again!

Did the translator decide not to use honorifics? It sounds as though Aya briefly decided to use "-san" on Erika due to her being older than her as a result of whatever happened, but the translator decided to use the rough English equivalent instead.

Yeah, I decided against using "san" for this particular exchange.

I felt it would have been awkward in English, because Erika's using a specific expression (さん付け) which means literally "attaching san to someone's name".

While I think it's acceptable to add -chan, -san or -sama when it's an address, because it clears up the level of relationship between the characters, I think in this case it would have have introduced too much Japanism in the conversation.

Anyway, if we have to look for clues, I guess it would be in the Tanabata theme.

It all points to the summer triangle (vega deneb altair) and the legend of Hikoboshi and Orihime. Also, Tanabata literally means "the seventh evening of the seventh month"

Tanabata always falls seven days after the New Moon at the end of seven full lunar cycles.

Aya reappeared after seven years.

Etc, etc. The number 7 is particularly important in the Tanabata myth.

Maybe Aya and Koto are Orihime and Hikoboshi and the one separating them/keeping Aya from coming was Erika (did Erika confess loving one of them? It's still unclear).

But they're reunited after a 7 years cycle because fate wouldn't allow it.

And their ages are 14 and 21. More sevens.

seeing these theories about this manga is really thrilling and fun to read !! please make more