I recommend reading Ani no Yome to Kurashite Imasu, a looooooot better, similar theme but slice of life, not yuri or het yet (maybe never) and the husband died.

GREAT rec here—I just plowed through all but the latest four chapters ‘cause I want to save some.

Very good storytelling, and if it’s not Yuri subtext yet it’s teetering on the edge in at least two places.

Thanks!

Seems to me that the mom coming back is essential actually. Because of the situation Uta has been considering moving out once University comes, basically running away. Now that mom is back to take her away, she actually has the option to choose between living with her painfully unrequited love or her horrible mother.
It's an exercise in how far she will go and whether Kaoru and Rei-kun have the guts to actually draw her back in. We always knew their family situation on both sides was pretty bad since the early chapters. This little haven they built is clearly fragile as hell, not just because of internal conflict.

Uta's finally got her confession out of the way and got exactly what she expected, so it's pretty annoying to see her act this way. It's not easy dealing with rejections I guess. Now we just need to see if she will rather jump in the arms of her shark mother than face that pain.

It's not easy dealing with rejections I guess.

It is not.

It's not easy dealing with rejections I guess.

It is not.

Even so, she prepared herself for that for a long time. Wasn't it her who said she would rather share her feelings and be done with it than to keep holding it in? I'll be sympathetic only so far...

Imagining something isn't the same as actually going through it. It seems that Kaoru brushing off her feelings so casually hurt Uta much more than Uta expected it to. And to top things off their horrible mother shows up and starts messing with Uta's emotions even more which causes Uta to be unable to control her outbursts.

last edited at Aug 28, 2018 10:57AM

It's not easy dealing with rejections I guess.

It is not.

Even so, she prepared herself for that for a long time. Wasn't it her who said she would rather share her feelings and be done with it than to keep holding it in? I'll be sympathetic only so far...

Sympathize however you see fit, but as anyone who’s ever gone through a “I really value you as a dear friend” situation has experienced, there’s no real “preparing” yourself for rejection—there’s only putting off the inevitable.

It's not easy dealing with rejections I guess.

It is not.

Even so, she prepared herself for that for a long time. Wasn't it her who said she would rather share her feelings and be done with it than to keep holding it in? I'll be sympathetic only so far...

Sympathize however you see fit, but as anyone who’s ever gone through a “I really value you as a dear friend” situation has experienced, there’s no real “preparing” yourself for rejection—there’s only putting off the inevitable.

I went through that myself once (although not as severe), so I understand that much. But in this particular case it was sheer impossible and also way more problematic for the one who was confessed to. Uta is being incredibly selfish after all. She can grieve over it as much as she wants, I just would prefer she did not hurt Kaoru more in the process.

Imagining something isn't the same as actually going through it. It seems that Kaoru brushing off her feelings so casually hurt Uta much more than Uta expected it to. And to top things off their horrible mother shows up and starts messing with Uta's emotions even more which causes Uta to be unable to control her outbursts.

There are certainly many factors putting pressure on her at once, I admit. Everything related to her mother is fair game from what I've seen.
It would simply not do to make Kaoru suffer for Uta's selfish love though. She needs Uta more than she lets on - but as a sister. If Uta really loves her, she should understand this eventually.

You sure have high expectations on an emotionally bruised teenager.

You sure have high expectations on an emotionally bruised teenager.

Perhaps. Thing is, all the characters in this story have some emotional issue. And despite Uta's sad unrequited love I feel that she is comparetively well off to Kaoru, who just wanted a happy family, but that keeps crumbling away.
At least until the mother returned anyway. Now Uta has a serious challenge ahead of her.

Kaoru is an odd case to me. It seemed pretty obvious in flashbacks that Reiichi liked Risako and not her, but suddenly his mom is responsible for her mom dying and he asks her to marry him. That right there should've set off alarm bells that he's not marrying her out of love. In fact, if he's really cheating with Risako it's because Risako is the one he really wants to be with.

Kaoru is an odd case to me. It seemed pretty obvious in flashbacks that Reiichi liked Risako and not her, but suddenly his mom is responsible for her mom dying and he asks her to marry him. That right there should've set off alarm bells that he's not marrying her out of love. In fact, if he's really cheating with Risako it's because Risako is the one he really wants to be with.

From what her friends said, Kaoru and Reiichi seemed to have been in a on-again-off-again kind of relationship until they married. Risako also seems like the type who really doesn't care about romance, but only career. I'm not entirely buying into that "affair" just yet.
There was also that scene during Christmas. I can't honestly say that I think Reiichi lied when he told Kaoru that he loved her there. The question is if that "love" sprung from his protective instinct rather than pure romance. The fact that Kaoru was all on her own and seemed to have furiously been fighting for Reiichi's affection over years, essentially making their family her only anchor, might indeed play a role in his decision. It almost feels like he wants to keep his family together in his own way...

Risako's words about Reiichi while Kaoru was in the hospital seem to show that he isn't a reliable person in her eyes.

One of the latest volume bonus chapters had young Kaoru encouraging Risako to look cuter while at the same time looking envious of her attractiveness on the cover. That implies some tension Kaoru feels toward Risako.

And lets not forget Reiichi's mom's comments this chapter being completely surprised Kaoru and Reiichi married, while Reiichi puts up a flimsy denial that things are going well and they're happy.

I'm not entirely buying into that "affair" just yet.

As with so many things in this story, we have more hints than hard facts, But Reiichi claimed to be staying an extra day on a business trip when he was actually with Risako.

There are possible innocent explanations, as people have previously mentioned here. But for an innocent guy he’s racking up an awful lot of “it’s not what it looks like” points to explain away.

Wow, didn't expect such drama from this angle of the family.

Kaoru is getting on my nerves. This chapter was really good (one of the fewer we have abt “explanations”), but the more it passes, the more i hate Kaoru’s personality.

Her desperate need to “keep” a family is just ruining everything by her lack of communication and thinking that if she just ignores everything then its gonna be alright. Uta is supposedly the person she loves (in a maternal/sisterly way) and she decided to ignore the fact that Uta confessed and romantically loves her in order to keep her image of family. Her presence is bad for Uta and instead of acting like the adult she is, she just... pretend nothing happened. When i read the first page “we both need to change” i got the hope that Kaoru will eventually stops being so passive with her feelings and actually confront her problems. also this housewife life she lives is just sad. she doesnt do anything, i kinda feel bad. i would say she is the burden and not uta LOL

last edited at Sep 1, 2018 1:36AM

Kaoru is getting on my nerves. This chapter was really good (one of the fewer we have abt “explanations”), but the more it passes, the more i hate Kaoru’s personality.

Her desperate need to “keep” a family is just ruining everything by her lack of communication and thinking that if she just ignores everything then its gonna be alright. Uta is supposedly the person she loves (in a maternal/sisterly way) and she decided to ignore the fact that Uta confessed and romantically loves her in order to keep her image of family. Her presence is bad for Uta and instead of acting like the adult she is, she just... pretend nothing happened. When i read the first page “we both need to change” i got the hope that Kaoru will eventually stops being so passive with her feelings and actually confront her problems. also this housewife life she lives is just sad. she doesnt do anything, i kinda feel bad. i would say she is the burden and not uta LOL

That's not necessarily fair. She lives at home and maintains a house for two people (other than herself), she cooks and cleans despite having an injured leg that isn't entirely healed. We know she meets with friends, we know she just recently left a part-time job in order to concentrate on her jewelry crafting business that she runs out of her home. Everything that's wrong with her life actually stems from the fact that her husband married her, evidently, more out of guilt than out of love. I wouldn't expect that to stay under the radar much longer, either.

last edited at Sep 2, 2018 5:49AM

The mother is sure a piece of work.

Finally caught up on this series. I hate Kaoru already, she is so bland and boring, and so is Uta. Can Miyagi and Kuro be the MCs? I don't understand, is it just me or side characters in these stories tend to be the actual interesting people? (Bloom Into You excluded, since Yuu is freaking awesome)

Also: am I the only one kinda thinking it's not healthy for Kaoru to develop feelings for a girl she has seen grow up? It would be different if she didn't see Uta as a child, but she has...

Also: am I the only one kinda thinking it's not healthy for Kaoru to develop feelings for a girl she has seen grow up? It would be different if she didn't see Uta as a child, but she has...

I don't know dude , i also fell in love with a girl i holded in my hands when she was a baby it's been allmost 18 years and i still im love with her.
I think feeling change towards a person by time once they grow up a little as a person in mind and body , like that little girl you didn't care about in school and then you feel attracted to her years later when both of you grew up

You are probably right. Still it feels weird to me...In any case, I really want to know how the author is going to fix this mess. Kaoru doesn't seem into Uta at all, I don't think she could be any more in love with her husband at this point. The fact he has cheated or thinking of cheating, feels like an excuse for us to cheer for Uta to successfully seduce Kaoru rather than hope Uta finds someone else as it would likely be better. I mean, even if Kaoru falls for Uta won't it seem like our poor MC is just plan B? lol

last edited at Sep 13, 2018 8:29PM

Ooh, who's ready for chapter 18 of "Not Much Happens"? :))

https://imgur.com/a/vNwi0ie Raws.

Clearly everyone in this series suffers from unrequited love. Uta, Kaoru, Miyagi, the brother...jeez. Series should be called "My Depressive Life"

So many chocolates...

I'm glad people are finally getting sick of her shit and telling her to stop being such a fucking pain.