Oh my god she's conscious of her

I'm glad we got to see what Mao was actually thinking in the epilogue. Because of her trying not to think of Nina as a rebound (and not as a friend to lean on or something), I'm choosing to read it as them being able to have a romantic relationship eventually.

You know what they say... if you imagine your girl best friend as an adorable puppy, it's already too late for you...

2008…2006??? I feel old dude, what do you mean they are not 13??

There's nothing I could wish for more than that people started only thinking this instead of saying/writing it. I'm ten years older and getting this all the time is an absolute bane to my existence.

The actual chapter was lovely though. I accept that "rebound" she offers in her thoughts gracefully. Nonetheless, it would have been great if there had been just a little more room to dwell on it. Their dynamic was interesting.

2008…2006??? I feel old dude, what do you mean they are not 13??

There's nothing I could wish for more than that people started only thinking this instead of saying/writing it. I'm ten years older and getting this all the time is an absolute bane to my existence.

I mean, sorry if it make you feel bad. But honestly that’s something personal (and tbh, without wanting to be rude, not my responsibility) because what I said wasn’t anything bad and I said it because I am much older than them and is still weird to me that anyone born after 2004 is an adult

last edited at May 28, 2026 7:08AM

hmmm i get the whole debate over this being yuri or just subtext and my opinion is... doesn't matter i guess. they both don't end up with men in the end and are clearly the closest with each other so it could turn into them dating in the future so i'm happy

^ yep it’s that type of story. if tagged subtext people would say it’s yuri, if tagged yuri people would say it’s subtext. so yeah, doesn’t matter.

hmmm i get the whole debate over this being yuri or just subtext and my opinion is... doesn't matter i guess. they both don't end up with men in the end and are clearly the closest with each other so it could turn into them dating in the future so i'm happy

That description also applies to Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow and that's subtext. I don't think the bar should be "don't end up with men".

I think offering to sleep with Mao makes it yuri regardless of how romantic the underlying feelings are. If casual sex is subtext we have a whole lot of retagging to do.

Yuri crush has a stronger argument, but as far as I can tell that’s not intended to be used as a spoiler for will they, won’t they stories.

last edited at May 28, 2026 1:13PM

Yay

...And there were SUPER friends!
The End.

hmmm i get the whole debate over this being yuri or just subtext and my opinion is... doesn't matter i guess. they both don't end up with men in the end and are clearly the closest with each other so it could turn into them dating in the future so i'm happy

The first chapters were ambiguous enough to make you think Nina has or will eventually develop romantic feelings for Mao but, for me, the last chapters make it clear it was friendship all along and it will never be anything other than that.

And blushing doesn't count as a confession.

Considering it's just one volume, there was a satisfying arc to the relationship. Nina managed to become the person who Mao turns to for comfort, which was not quite the case when they were in high school either. I'm comfortable with thinking of this as a grey area in terms of "yuri", but this feels like a happy/hopeful ending.

hmmm i get the whole debate over this being yuri or just subtext and my opinion is... doesn't matter i guess. they both don't end up with men in the end and are clearly the closest with each other so it could turn into them dating in the future so i'm happy

That description also applies to Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow and that's subtext. I don't think the bar should be "don't end up with men".

Instead of how plausible it is that they will date in the future, we could focus on what we've seen so far. The relationship status of the leads by the end is important, but I also like to consider how that status came about and how the story frames it. In this case, for example, Mao drops the shitty male FWB thanks to Nina's efforts after the latter has been itching to get rid of him the whole time. Maybe more straight girls would find that aspirational in 2026 than I would expect, but...