Bounding? Piss? Humiliation? Oh this is what peak looks like, adorable little scene where Io runs to clean her mess as soon as she's free.

Also I don't think Misa is as toxic as Io's family, she's not possessive, she is just protective, and needs to understand where the boundaries are and how to handle it. She is just discovering how SM relationships go and I think she's not being overly mean considering that.

Bounding? Piss? Humiliation? Oh this is what peak looks like, adorable little scene where Io runs to clean her mess as soon as she's free.

I know nothing about SM relationships, so I actually felt bad for Io when she ran up crying to clean up. How is that supposed to be adorable? (Genuinely asking, not being sarcastic).

Bounding? Piss? Humiliation? Oh this is what peak looks like, adorable little scene where Io runs to clean her mess as soon as she's free.

I know nothing about SM relationships, so I actually felt bad for Io when she ran up crying to clean up. How is that supposed to be adorable? (Genuinely asking, not being sarcastic).

(CW: actual disscussion of SM topics)
As the M in a SM relationship myself, the part of being a masochist most people miss is that masochism isn't just 'pleasure from physical pain', but can also be also 'pleasure from emotional pain' like shame, embarrassment, etc. I'm not into the waterworks and messing stuff personally (or most physical pain), but the shame is what is hot for the M here. Its the masochist's paradox of crying and hurting while simultaniously being arroused out of your mind.
These two have definitely skipped some boundary setting steps though. Both partners in an SM relationship should take time to openly discuss their wants and limits as equals before doing anything, so this is 100% considered dubious consent imo. The S should not be the tyrant of the relationship without prior consent and safewords being established (look up what Consentual Non-Consent / CNC is for more info if curious), since otherwise thats just toxic and actually going into Non-Con / Sexual Assault territory. The Sadist and Masochist should always be equals at the end of the day for a healthy relationship, and it is something that is often skipped in media depictions of SM relationships.
If this all sounds weird or disturbing, congrats, you're probably not a sadist or masochist.
Regardless, don't just take my word for it, I am but one humble masochist, do your own research if you want to actually understand this topic further ^-^

^ I think the spoiler tagging might be unnecessary considering the work this is being discussed on lol.

^ I think the spoiler tagging might be unnecessary considering the work this is being discussed on lol.

Yeah probably, just a habbit I picked up for discussing kink stuff in general

Bounding? Piss? Humiliation? Oh this is what peak looks like, adorable little scene where Io runs to clean her mess as soon as she's free.

I know nothing about SM relationships, so I actually felt bad for Io when she ran up crying to clean up. How is that supposed to be adorable? (Genuinely asking, not being sarcastic).

(CW: actual disscussion of SM topics)

Thanks for all the explanations, I wasn't aware that masochist could also refer to emotional pain.

As for the CNC (I didn't know that term as well) and for the limits a couple must established in a SM relationship, the way I read it, is that they both discovered with one another that they were into that. So they have no experience and they are discovering their limits/what they are into together. Which makes sense to me. Had I been in a similar situation, I don't think I would have googled what is the optimal way to do it, I would have just go with the flow, even if it means being hurt in the process.

Bounding? Piss? Humiliation? Oh this is what peak looks like, adorable little scene where Io runs to clean her mess as soon as she's free.

I know nothing about SM relationships, so I actually felt bad for Io when she ran up crying to clean up. How is that supposed to be adorable? (Genuinely asking, not being sarcastic).

(CW: actual disscussion of SM topics)

Thanks for all the explanations, I wasn't aware that masochist could also refer to emotional pain.

As for the CNC (I didn't know that term as well) and for the limits a couple must established in a SM relationship, the way I read it, is that they both discovered with one another that they were into that. So they have no experience and they are discovering their limits/what they are into together. Which makes sense to me. Had I been in a similar situation, I don't think I would have googled what is the optimal way to do it, I would have just go with the flow, even if it means being hurt in the process.

Yup, we’ve got two newbie S and Ms here so we can only hope they don’t overstep and hit a landmine. This kind of thing isn’t uncommon IRL when dealing with SM newbies, i was there once, and i was lucky my S actually knew how to approach SM in a healthy manner

Bounding? Piss? Humiliation? Oh this is what peak looks like, adorable little scene where Io runs to clean her mess as soon as she's free.

I know nothing about SM relationships, so I actually felt bad for Io when she ran up crying to clean up. How is that supposed to be adorable? (Genuinely asking, not being sarcastic).

(CW: actual disscussion of SM topics)
As the M in a SM relationship myself, the part of being a masochist most people miss is that masochism isn't just 'pleasure from physical pain', but can also be also 'pleasure from emotional pain' like shame, embarrassment, etc. I'm not into the waterworks and messing stuff personally (or most physical pain), but the shame is what is hot for the M here. Its the masochist's paradox of crying and hurting while simultaniously being arroused out of your mind.
These two have definitely skipped some boundary setting steps though. Both partners in an SM relationship should take time to openly discuss their wants and limits as equals before doing anything, so this is 100% considered dubious consent imo. The S should not be the tyrant of the relationship without prior consent and safewords being established (look up what Consentual Non-Consent / CNC is for more info if curious), since otherwise thats just toxic and actually going into Non-Con / Sexual Assault territory. The Sadist and Masochist should always be equals at the end of the day for a healthy relationship, and it is something that is often skipped in media depictions of SM relationships.
If this all sounds weird or disturbing, congrats, you're probably not a sadist or masochist.
Regardless, don't just take my word for it, I am but one humble masochist, do your own research if you want to actually understand this topic further ^-^

Thank you for the explanation from your perspective! For me, I'm not into bdsm but I've tried to learn for exploration and queer solidarity. This is my main problem with media interpretation of bdsm, it starts with people who don't know but then doesn't let the characters go back to learn how to healthily communicate and learn safe words or boundaries. It stays in the fantasy which is okay for one shots but annoying if there's a plot and canonical Internet access. But I'd love for them to go to a friendly irl dungeon and ask around.

I think this story is still interesting from other stories with these themes and I'd love for it to get official releases outside Japan (for me in English and in print). Just minorly frustrated that ppl will inevitably cling to their britches and claim this and bdsm perpetuates harm and abuse and lack of consent even though that is the very struggle the characters are trying to work through. But those people aren't interested in being open minded in the 1st place.

Back to chapter 20, I can't get over how the 1st thing I did when released was clean her pee. The author is a genius.

There can be some real world harm from some readers thinking they can skip communication irl. On the other hand, it would be boring for every story to devote months of updates to asking around dungeons and being taught the same US centric BDSM terms and ideology.

It's also common for people in stories to not explain their plans until the last possible second, even though that makes no sense at all. Stories are not real life and follow different conventions, at least most of the time.

I know nothing about SM relationships, so I actually felt bad for Io when she ran up crying to clean up. How is that supposed to be adorable? (Genuinely asking, not being sarcastic).

Also, I didn't find that part particularly adorable on an emotional level. However, it was good characterization in terms of showing Io has these hangups around getting things dirty that she is willing to push past for Misa. The implication is that's why she was licking the floor earlier, for instance, as she felt bad about getting the food Misa gave her on the floor. We also see Misa acting in a caretaking way toward Io, so it's mutual from both of them that they are trying to act in each other's welfare.

A person's willingness to deal with difficult things for the sake of one's partner is generally viewed positively. It can lead to the couple feeling closer while trusting each other more. Part of why people like BDSM is because they can intentionally create these types of situations in a safe way. It can be moving to the dominant that someone would trust them that much, while the submissive can have a sense of safety from feeling it's okay to be vulnerable and trust someone.

There is this whole dynamic of Io getting to experience that she doesn't have to be like the perfect person she was raised to act like and Misa learning it can be safe for her to get attached to someone and open up to them. That really can be adorable.

Re: pee and Io specifically, Io has been shown to react to this in a sexual way in the earlier arc where Io peed herself and Misa cleaned Io. Io generally reacts to embarrassment in a sexual way, at least when it comes to Misa. It's also possible that someone might like something even if they didn't react to in a sexual way for the reasons I described earlier, but that's very much not the case here. Then the earlier comment does apply.

last edited at Sep 27, 2026 4:40PM

Authors are not obligated to teach the audience about BDSM. If someone reads a fictional story and think it's a manual, that's on them. I don't need the characters to explain safewords and consent like kindergarten teachers - I see that in fanfics and I hate it. I'm here to see the characters fuck.

Authors are not obligated to teach the audience about BDSM. If someone reads a fictional story and think it's a manual, that's on them. I don't need the characters to explain safewords and consent like kindergarten teachers - I see that in fanfics and I hate it. I'm here to see the characters fuck.

I agree when it feels out of place or out of character. Some series make it very obvious that "this is a teaching segment" and it can ruin story immersion, especially when the lead up to the teaching moment is hamfisted. This story is one I also wouldn't expect the characters to have substantive discussions like that. If a chapter were dedicated to explaining concepts, it would take me out. There's a lot more the story is dealing with; it's not the focus. The rest is the normal reading comprehension needed to understand these characters are not experts and are flubbing about things.

last edited at Sep 28, 2026 4:53PM

I do think it makes sense that people who like reading those types of explanations and discussions would feel frustrated that this is so rarely a focus in bdsm fiction. Certainly it's a valid preference to have, the same way someone could like reading characters discussing detailed plans before they execute them.

We also probably shouldn't entirely eschew author responsibility for how readers react to their story. Stories matter because they have some type of impact on the reader, which is bound to have some sort of social impact in turn.

In this story, we do see Io and Misa getting better at communicating and reading each other. If we compare to earlier chapters, it was much more of a mess between and we have at least a couple instances of Misa just going way too far. Despite some criticisms toward Io, like that Misa is the one doing everything for Io, I think Io also tries to encourage Misa and show Misa that it's okay for Misa to be herself. Misa has a lot of fears around disappointing Io that Io has tried to alleviate.

The story isn't some kind of relationship manual, but there is good info in there.

rainbow8 also pointed out some people say there is more of a focus on intuiting the other partner's needs in Japanese BDSM:

https://dynasty-scans.com/forum/topics/20745-a-face-you-shouldn-t-show-discussion?page=18#forum_post_971396

Emphasizing that doesn't seem entirely bad to me. Compared to what we see in the story, I would definitely hope there would be more communication beforehand, as well as an agreed upon way for either partner to communicate to stop everything (ie a safe word or similar). Otherwise, what we see seems to be getting closer to what a healthy relationship dynamic would look like, at least in between all the pre-communication and safe wording.

last edited at Sep 28, 2026 5:36PM

A lot of BDSM manga is two people (often teens or other newbies, as here) just tumbling into the dynamic, which may not be the safest way to do it but is probably real for a lot of people, and also hot to read for many people. You could have one of them have Done The Research and stop to do things right, but that'd often be unrealistic, plus slow things down, like porn not showing condoms or lube.

Arioto is an interesting case: I think Aya is winging it a lot more than she leads Mari to believe; she has some sexual experience (thanks, Karen!) but is not a BDSM Master or even Initiate, apart from her own consumption of manga and porn. But in one of the later novels she clearly has been doing some reading, and does bring up having a safeword.