This was really incredibly good, I thought the pacing was really tight and the emotions were conveyed very strongly. It felt a bit like a volume-length oneshot, almost. It's really interesting to see people feel Ayame's turnaround was rushed, I thought the atmosphere of the story and the expressions she makes at different points set a really strong groundwork, where it felt like Ema's tearful face after the kiss punched her right in the gut and she knew EXACTLY what Ema had been expressing in all those other situations that she had ignored.
Sometimes moments like that bust right through your accustomed daily life and thought patterns, and it felt like once Ayame could actually recognize Ema had been in love with her all along, she had a really good head on her shoulders and knew what direction to go, and went through an emotionally realistic amount of trouble to figure her shit out. I love that by the end, she knows the shape of her own feelings, and where she wants to be in her life, even if she hasn't had the time to fully sort out her feelings. Sometimes life is like that, and the way they talked it out was so genuine. To me the hug at the end was more satisfying than if they had kissed. You solidly know where you need to be, and it's by this person's side.
It's really cool seeing a realistically emotionally intelligent character like Ayame who has very specific blind spots based on her own issues, and once they get beyond them realize they've fucked up and what they need to do to make it better. I love how much intentional effort she is to not hurt Ema or leave her stuck in that terrible uncertainty. She confessed in a public place, and told Ema she had turned down the guy that asked her out: she showed Ema she's facing it head-on, and her vulnerability and room to grow into her emotions are real but are not uncertainty. It needs to be very clear she's not doing this out of pity, and she's not going to force it and pretend to be at a place she's not yet. She's a good gal.
I really enjoyed this whole story, so tightly-written and well-executed.
Hard agree, I really don't think we needed more time to wring out the 'realisation of feelings or whatever'. Ayame felt very emotionally intelligent and she was already kind of getting to the point herself when her friend went "yeah chasing normality will get in the way of your happiness", it's less of a revelation for someone who has no fucking clue and more of a reinforcing the conclusion she was coming to herself. Ayame knew being with Ema made her happy and she knew that she'd hurt Ema and why she'd hurt Ema, she just needed to talk her feelings out with a third party and get a little push.
I do think that there's almost an expectation that characters that haven't reconciled their own sexuality should go through the wringer, take their time, or even earn their revelation. But honestly sometimes people are wired such that they just need to actually start asking the question before they can see the answer, and that's how this felt. Honestly it was genuinely nice to see a character not drag it out and just go oh, this feels right and natural now that I've established where we're at, why wouldn't I pursue this?
