Keiko having a boyfriend was a real shocker. It was never implied that she had one (or maybe I just didn't catch any implications that she had one), except for the ex-fiancé, unless they're talking about the same guy.
...
So many questions, why does Keiko have to move away (it can't just be about her job), who was the boyfriend she broke up with, why can't we just have a Keiko x Ran end.
The last panel with Ran really pulled at my heart strings.
I keep seeing people assume that Keiko has a boyfriend but there's not really any indication that she does? The obvious explanation is that she's moving temporarily for work - previous chapters suggest this, and it's not a terribly unlikely thing. Keiko finally broke up with her ex-fiancé, in part because Ran was pushing her to do it. Ran is living on her own because she (presumably) can't move with Keiko. I can't imagine a med student being able to commute that distance every day and it seems like it would be hard for her to find a new school there, so it's not like it's easy for either of them to go 'hey, let's go together'.
EDIT: In a sense, it's kind of 'right' for a lot of this stuff to happen off-page. Things between Keiko and the ex aren't really Ran's business and she's been very circumspect about the subject, so it makes sense that she wouldn't find out directly how things went. Their discussion before was pretty abstract in this same 'we both know what i'm talking about, but it's not my business' fashion.
Keep in mind that one of the reasons kids living in the family home with absent parents is so common in anime/manga is that for a salaryman it's not unheard of for your company to have you move temporarily for work. If you're curious about that, http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/11/07/doing-business-in-japan/ mentions that and some other aspects of full-time employment culture in Japan.
last edited at Oct 1, 2015 2:04AM