I'm pleasantly surprised, this was good.

I get the feeling for Chitose that her life didn't turn out the way she wanted to. If we consider the news report of the 46 year old and Chitose identified with the report closely, her own age is not far off from the person in the report. With her daughter likely 15 this eludes to the possibility that Chitose got married and had children in her late 20's or early 30's which is older than what would be expected. She may have been wanting to build a career, wasn't into men, or the idea of starting her own family wasn't appealing to her and so she put it off, but eventually got married anyway for one reason or another. She is also seems very proud of her surname and quite fond of her first name feeling it a great loss to no longer have these things. This name represents a different life, a life Chitose likely would have preferred. I'm sure she loves her daughter just fine and in many ways is content, but with the start of the story she appeared haggard from the family routine and even sarcastic or resentful concerning her husband being able to just leave for work. Saa-chan showing up again and then calling Chitose by her name, the first to do so in years or even decades, brought the past back, memories of a better time, or a time where Chitose still felt to be herself. It wasn't just a name, but something very precious.

I do think Chitose accepts and also returns Saa-chan's love, but she won't openly state her feelings. By coaxing Saa-chan to be the one to initiate everything this essentially puts the entire responsibility of the relationship on Saa-chan which Chitose can use to defend herself with if they happen to be discovered. As she says herself, Chitose can also use this was a way out and a way to protect herself should things not work out. In essence, Chitose wants Saa-chan, she does not want to let her go, but Chitose will not allow the desires of someone else, even her own desires, to take anything more from her.

last edited at Jun 3, 2017 12:46PM

Even if this is a case of her feeling she's lost her identity, seems like there's better ways to go about it. She wants to obtain happiness, well that would involve destroying her family and marriage all because some young teenager is infatuated with her. Doesn't sound like happiness to me. I'm gonna revise my earlier statement: I feel bad for the husband AND daughter.

Scum of the earth.

I think some people are forgetting the fact that Chitose is the one who gets a jail sentence if their relationship is exposed. I don't think she's a bad person for manipulating Saa-chan because an imbalance of risk is there between them; Chitose has much more to lose should things go bad.

Even if this is a case of her feeling she's lost her identity, seems like there's better ways to go about it. She wants to obtain happiness, well that would involve destroying her family and marriage all because some young teenager is infatuated with her. Doesn't sound like happiness to me. I'm gonna revise my earlier statement: I feel bad for the husband AND daughter.

That's assuming the marriage is a good one and that family makes for automatic happiness. Staying together and forcing faithfulness can also be very destructive to a family. It's clear that mother and daughter have a good relationship, but father and daughter may have a horrible one yet there is no evidence of him being good or bad. All that we do learn of him is that while the morning is chaotic and taxing for Chitose, he sits there calmly reading a paper and then simply leaves for work with no other communication from him which is something Chitose clearly resents. We see no communication between father and daughter either so for all we know he could be a work obsessed father who pays no mind to his family at home and never lifts a finger to help. Then again the view-point is one sided so there really is no way to tell if sympathy should be felt for him or not. All that we do learn is that this family for Chitose is draining not only her spirits, but also her identity as a person. Staying together purely for the sake and ideal of family can be just as destructive to those involved as a separation. And separation itself can greatly benefit everyone involved.

I also see no reason to question the sincerity of Saa-chan's feeling for Chitose. It is stated as love and is shown to have physical interests that have developed over years. This love also spans across a long-term separation so I do not see it as infatuation which itself is a short term admiration of someone or something.

I do not see Chitose as acting in an underhanded manner as while she says she won't state clearly her feelings, she will be open enough to make Saa-chan act fist which is understandable for two reasons; Chitose is protecting herself from further loss and more unhappiness and if the relationship is discovered not only could she go to jail, but Saa-chan would also be harmed as well by this. We can argue the right or wrongs, but I see this as pragmatic. The question is if this sort of pragmatism should be practiced between a 15 year old and someone likely in their 40's?

last edited at Jun 3, 2017 11:18PM

Even if this is a case of her feeling she's lost her identity, seems like there's better ways to go about it. She wants to obtain happiness, well that would involve destroying her family and marriage all because some young teenager is infatuated with her. Doesn't sound like happiness to me. I'm gonna revise my earlier statement: I feel bad for the husband AND daughter.

That's assuming the marriage is a good one and that family makes for automatic happiness. Staying together and forcing faithfulness can also be very destructive to a family. It's clear that mother and daughter have a good relationship, but father and daughter may have a horrible one yet there is no evidence of him being good or bad. All that we do learn of him is that while the morning is chaotic and taxing for Chitose, he sits there calmly reading a paper and then simply leaves for work with no other communication from him which is something Chitose clearly resents. We see no communication between father and daughter either so for all we know he could be a work obsessed father who pays no mind to his family at home and never lifts a finger to help. Then again the view-point is one sided so there really is no way to tell if sympathy should be felt for him or not. All that we do learn is that this family for Chitose is draining not only her spirits, but also her identity as a person. Staying together purely for the sake and ideal of family can be just as destructive to those involved as a separation. And separation itself can greatly benefit everyone involved.

I also see no reason to question the sincerity of Saa-chan's feeling for Chitose. It is stated as love and is shown to have physical interests that have developed over years. This love also spans across a long-term separation so I do not see it as infatuation which itself is a short term admiration of someone or something.

I do not see Chitose as acting in an underhanded manner as while she says she won't state clearly her feelings, she will be open enough to make Saa-chan act fist which is understandable for two reasons; Chitose is protecting herself from further loss and more unhappiness and if the relationship is discovered not only could she go to jail, but Saa-chan would also be harmed as well by this. We can argue the right or wrongs, but I see this as pragmatic. The question is if this sort of pragmatism should be practiced between a 15 year old and someone likely in their 40's?

You're right, we don't know enough. From what I get, she would easily destroy her family and marriage to feel good from the infatuation of a 15 year old. Yeah, the dad might not have helped in the morning, but that could just be a cultural thing. He's going to work to provide for his family. It's not his fault she can't handle something as simple as morning breakfast. If something like helps her have an existential crisis, then she might not be that great of a person if she might get to the point where she's unfaithful.

Can someone explain the last bit. From the speech, i get that Chitose wont ever state her feelings or ask for anything, but make Saa-chan say them for her and make her ask for the things they both want. But the small back text i just cant understand. That is NOT a proper sentence.

As I understood it, Chitose's basically manipulating Sayuri into making all the moves to initiate a relationship by holding back just enough that Sayuri will have to pursue her. She seems to be doing it so that she'll feel less predatory that way, although I wonder how well it'll work for her when she knows exactly what she's doing and why.

to add to this, Chitose is also doing it to give herself an out. because after all, she never actually said that she loves sayuri or agreed to going out with her.

But I never said we could go out or anything! She just sort of wound up in my bed by accident! Honest!

Even if this is a case of her feeling she's lost her identity, seems like there's better ways to go about it. She wants to obtain happiness, well that would involve destroying her family and marriage all because some young teenager is infatuated with her. Doesn't sound like happiness to me. I'm gonna revise my earlier statement: I feel bad for the husband AND daughter.

That's assuming the marriage is a good one and that family makes for automatic happiness. Staying together and forcing faithfulness can also be very destructive to a family. It's clear that mother and daughter have a good relationship, but father and daughter may have a horrible one yet there is no evidence of him being good or bad. All that we do learn of him is that while the morning is chaotic and taxing for Chitose, he sits there calmly reading a paper and then simply leaves for work with no other communication from him which is something Chitose clearly resents. We see no communication between father and daughter either so for all we know he could be a work obsessed father who pays no mind to his family at home and never lifts a finger to help. Then again the view-point is one sided so there really is no way to tell if sympathy should be felt for him or not. All that we do learn is that this family for Chitose is draining not only her spirits, but also her identity as a person. Staying together purely for the sake and ideal of family can be just as destructive to those involved as a separation. And separation itself can greatly benefit everyone involved.

I also see no reason to question the sincerity of Saa-chan's feeling for Chitose. It is stated as love and is shown to have physical interests that have developed over years. This love also spans across a long-term separation so I do not see it as infatuation which itself is a short term admiration of someone or something. But even then why should we consider her to be a horrible person? It ends this way, because everything else goes ignored.

I do not see Chitose as acting in an underhanded manner as while she says she won't state clearly her feelings, she will be open enough to make Saa-chan act fist which is understandable for two reasons; Chitose is protecting herself from further loss and more unhappiness and if the relationship is discovered not only could she go to jail, but Saa-chan would also be harmed as well by this. We can argue the right or wrongs, but I see this as pragmatic. The question is if this sort of pragmatism should be practiced between a 15 year old and someone likely in their 40's?

You're right, we don't know enough. From what I get, she would easily destroy her family and marriage to feel good from the infatuation of a 15 year old. Yeah, the dad might not have helped in the morning, but that could just be a cultural thing. He's going to work to provide for his family. It's not his fault she can't handle something as simple as morning breakfast. If something like helps her have an existential crisis, then she might not be that great of a person if she might get to the point where she's unfaithful.

Being a housewife is a lot more than just making breakfast and when combined with all the other duties of the home, breakfast is no longer a simple task. The housewife is an occupation in itself that is a lot of work and no less than what a husband does at work. Culturally speaking there are the sayings that "being a mother is a thankless job" or "a mother's workday never ends". And both are true for many families that follow the cultural standard found around the world where the duties of the mother and those are the father are kept strictly separate, but simply being a standard does not mean the mother should just keep quiet and continue her "simple" job, especially here with the mother in the story. A mother who is clearly shown to not only resent that her husband appears ungrateful or unhelpful to her, but that she is also losing her entire identity. And in the end all of this has little to do with a single meal.

Yes, the father is working hard as well, I never said he wasn't. But if is ineffectual at home to the point that his wife is wasting away, what happiness is there in this family? He may not even be that bad of a guy and it may be the demanding role of a housewife simply is not for Chitose-san, but the manga shows that even if this may be the case, she does a lot of good for her family.

I do agree that for Chitose-san to find herself and some happiness in her life again, this is not a good option for her. And I am not condoning cheating, but the clear perspective here is that Chitose's family life is draining so much from her. This is to the point as I said before that she is willing to find comfort in a minor and even coax in the minor along into a relationship. Going behind her families back as well to achieve this is also not best way to seek a different life, but as the final statement in the manga makes clear, people will see it as being underhanded or that Chitose-san is a bad or "not so great of a person" because that is what they want to see in her. Meanwhile, few people will acknowledge how the situation even came about. All the while the fact that she is a hard working stay-at-home mother despite ending up with a life she may not have wanted. We can not blame her for how she feels nor her motivation, but we can question choices to remedy her situation.

last edited at Jun 5, 2017 6:23PM

I'm Korean and I've never once heard my parents call each other by their names. It must be the same in Japan.

Tell it Hokuto! Japan seems fairly guilty of, though I guess most countries still are, the wife as second class citizen or house servant.

Still feel sorry for her daughter

The recent chapter doesn't do anything to make Chitose less of an adulterous slut and just makes me feel more bad for her husband. Basically, marrying the person she loved and having a child wasn't enough to make her happy I guess. Sucks to be her daughter, not only having your mom do her best to ruin the family, but also having a best friend that knows your feelings, but intentionally flirts around in front of you, and makes out with your mom in places where its easy for you to notice.

And I'm sorry, but I just can't get on board with her being alright with all of this because there's "love" involved. Seems like she's just resigned herself to what is happening and is waiting for everything to come crashing down, which it will.

The recent chapter doesn't do anything to make Chitose less of an adulterous slut and just makes me feel more bad for her husband. Basically, marrying the person she loved and having a child wasn't enough to make her happy I guess. Sucks to be her daughter, not only having your mom do her best to ruin the family, but also having a best friend that knows your feelings, but intentionally flirts around in front of you, and makes out with your mom in places where its easy for you to notice.

And I'm sorry, but I just can't get on board with her being alright with all of this because there's "love" involved. Seems like she's just resigned herself to what is happening and is waiting for everything to come crashing down, which it will.

Fuck yes man. You said all the things I wanna say. Fuck the mom, fuck the best friend and fuck the dad. Yukiko deserves better.

The recent chapter doesn't do anything to make Chitose less of an adulterous slut and just makes me feel more bad for her husband. Basically, marrying the person she loved and having a child wasn't enough to make her happy I guess. Sucks to be her daughter, not only having your mom do her best to ruin the family, but also having a best friend that knows your feelings, but intentionally flirts around in front of you, and makes out with your mom in places where its easy for you to notice.

And I'm sorry, but I just can't get on board with her being alright with all of this because there's "love" involved. Seems like she's just resigned herself to what is happening and is waiting for everything to come crashing down, which it will.

Why speak of the sequel in the prequel's thread? It's not that horrible since it's a little series, but come on...

How is this cheating.. Are they still dating. I mean the mother is grooming her kids friend which is pretty abhorrent behaviour, but it's not cheating.. is it?