Thing is, Touko doesn't know what she wants to do.

This part is especially hard on Touko because she’s previously been someone who knows exactly what she wants to do—imitate her dead sister, be in love with Yuu, have Yuu be her campaign manager, put on the play, etc. Her main moment of crisis wasn’t about choosing among several different concrete possibilities, but when she couldn’t see what came next—what would happen after the play was performed.

Touko kept control all those years by keeping herself locked down emotionally and stubbornly sticking to the single principle of being “perfect” on the (supposed) model of her sister. Now she’s broken out her self-imposed constraints, and she’s both more free and more vulnerable than ever.

Yuu, in the meantime, is depressed and hurt. She was afraid of rejection, but she got past her fear by reassuring herself that she wouldn't be rejected, not by accepting the consequences that would come if she was.

Did Yuu really take Touko’s acceptance for granted, though? I thought it was more like she just couldn’t keep going on the way she was. (That “I may be about to do something stupid, but I just don’t have any other choice” feeling was painfully familiar to me.)

I don't mean she took it for granted, I mean she quelled her fears by assuring herself they were unfounded.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/bloom_into_you_ch34#15

"It'll be okay. I'll still be by her side..."

She never let herself actually think through "What do I do if she rejects me outright?" I mean, she couldn't. It'd be paralyzing if she did. All she could do was steel herself, hope for the best, and act.

I'm pretty sure Yuu EXPECTED rejection. She broke the rules, after all. That's why she was so quick to run as soon as Touko said "Sorry" without waiting for Touko to finish speaking and say what she was sorry for. She might have had a glimmer of hope that, after the play and everything else that had happened, Touko might not be so absorbed with self-hate that she cannot bear to be loved, but she knew that was the base level of emotional maturity she was working with.

EDIT: I do get the feeling that the manga is heading toward a conclusion that will be timed to happen within a month or two of the end of the anime, similar to "Your Lie in April", so perhaps the entire story will be covered by the anime? Maybe?

EDIT 2: Oh... I see the posts before and after me are basically saying the same thing about the end of the manga... LOL!

last edited at Oct 1, 2018 2:03PM

Oh my goodness me. This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever read. And now I have to wait for god-knows-how-long for maybw the final chapter...? My heart can't handle it. This manga has made me feel so happy.

Um, I think the manga is coming to its end. The next chapter is in October, I feel probably like last 3 chapters to end? Now just resolution on their relationship.
Doubt the author will go on showing their lovey dovey life afterwards unfortunately. :(

Note to self: Stock up on pitch forks and torches to hand to the angry mob when asakura89's jinx comes true.

Haha, I love this manga, it'll be sad to see it end and not have another one to follow. But all good things come to an end and I'm glad this one will be complete! It's a masterpiece and Nakatani is awesome for her art and symbolism.

And I do apologize for the confusion and worry to some of you; I did indeed confused the manga chapter date with the anime release date.

I do still think though that the manga will end this year with 7 volumes (Seven Seas has license for 7 volumes). If there's one chapter release per month Oct., Nov., Dec. then there's 3 more chapters left until end. Each volume of Bloom Into You have about 5 chapters per volume on average, I think Volume 6 will contain up to chapter 33 which leave 5 chapters for Volume 7. Anime starts Oct. 5 (Fri), assuming 13 episodes the last episode will be aired Dec. 28 (Fri). By past trends manga releases on the 26th of the month so literally we'll have the manga end before the anime end (which is nice considering how a lot of manga adapted anime either left open end or alt. ending kinda). Although wishful, if Nakatani would do a volume 8 with just lovey dovey that would be nice too :)

I had the idea that this would be the last chapter of vol. 6 but I'm not sure where I got that from. It certainly feels like it needs at least five chapters to negotiate this situation.

Oh my goodness me. This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever read. And now I have to wait for god-knows-how-long for maybw the final chapter...? My heart can't handle it. This manga has made me feel so happy.

Um, I think the manga is coming to its end. The next chapter is in October, I feel probably like last 3 chapters to end? Now just resolution on their relationship.
Doubt the author will go on showing their lovey dovey life afterwards unfortunately. :(

Note to self: Stock up on pitch forks and torches to hand to the angry mob when asakura89's jinx comes true.

Haha, I love this manga, it'll be sad to see it end and not have another one to follow. But all good things come to an end and I'm glad this one will be complete! It's a masterpiece and Nakatani is awesome for her art and symbolism.

And I do apologize for the confusion and worry to some of you; I did indeed confused the manga chapter date with the anime release date.

I do still think though that the manga will end this year with 7 volumes (Seven Seas has license for 7 volumes). If there's one chapter release per month Oct., Nov., Dec. then there's 3 more chapters left until end. Each volume of Bloom Into You have about 5 chapters per volume on average, I think Volume 6 will contain up to chapter 33 which leave 5 chapters for Volume 7. Anime starts Oct. 5 (Fri), assuming 13 episodes the last episode will be aired Dec. 28 (Fri). By past trends manga releases on the 26th of the month so literally we'll have the manga end before the anime end (which is nice considering how a lot of manga adapted anime either left open end or alt. ending kinda). Although wishful, if Nakatani would do a volume 8 with just lovey dovey that would be nice too :)

No one can really know if the manga will have 7 volumes or more. There's no way Seven Seas would know either. Are you the same person who said the manga would have 5 volumes because Seven Seas listed 5 volumes a longgg time ago?
The preview of volume 7 (included in volume 6) says volume 7 will be out in Spring 2019 and that's it. That probably means this volume will have 6 chapters as the previous ones did , or at the very least 5. Volume 6 ended with chapter 34 btw.
So yeah, here's hoping the manga will have 8 volumes! Let's pray lol I want to see them happy too.

Eh, the thing is she isn't ready to return her feelings, either, and she doesn't know if she ever will. So imagine she does just what you're saying. "Hey, when I said I'm sorry, I didn't mean to reject you, I meant I'm sorry I didn't notice your feelings and made you feel like you had to lie to me. (Yuu's hopes go up) ...but I'm not ready to be with you, so now I'm -actually- rejecting you."

Thing is, Touko doesn't know what she wants to do. And until she decides she wants to be with Yuu anyway, it is honestly better for her to let the misunderstanding stand. There is nothing she can do right now that won't just make it hurt more except to accept her own feelings so they can actually move forward together.

Probably why I'm forever alone... I'm bad at timing with these things even if my heart is in the right place... -_-II And yeah, hearing a vague reply would likely make Yuu hurt more and much more depending on the end as you say. I'm only thinking that Yuu's concept of love seems rather black and white... though a third party is likely better to show her the nuances.

Sayaka might confess in the process of all this for the sake of her own closure, but I can't see her actively getting in the way of Touko and Yuu. Especially if she sees how much this is tearing up Touko.

I think a lot of solid points have already been made. When Touko says Yuu isn't special to her anymore, she means it in the context that she isn't her one sole sanctuary of self-realization. Yuu isn't the only way that Touko can be herself anymore, and so she doesn't know what Yuu is to her now. But she knows she misses her, she knows she wants to be with her. She follows her without thinking, she is entirely preoccupied with thoughts of her. She is definitely still in love with her, but she has never actually understood what that means.

Yuu, in the meantime, is depressed and hurt. She was afraid of rejection, but she got past her fear by reassuring herself that she wouldn't be rejected, not by accepting the consequences that would come if she was. So she doesn't know how to process any of it. She just feels pain and emptiness and sorrow, and above it all, self-recrimination and regret. It is kinda painful how much I relate.

Mm, great points and I agree with them. I don't think I explained well though maybe part of me thought Sayaka may be a bit forceful, but that gets explained away with her development. In the end I wasn't thinking that Sayaka may step in with a malicious intent against Yuu, but would see it as her chance to be the one next to Touko instead of Yuu.

Oh my goodness me. This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever read. And now I have to wait for god-knows-how-long for maybw the final chapter...? My heart can't handle it. This manga has made me feel so happy.

Um, I think the manga is coming to its end. The next chapter is in October, I feel probably like last 3 chapters to end? Now just resolution on their relationship.
Doubt the author will go on showing their lovey dovey life afterwards unfortunately. :(

Note to self: Stock up on pitch forks and torches to hand to the angry mob when asakura89's jinx comes true.

Haha, I love this manga, it'll be sad to see it end and not have another one to follow. But all good things come to an end and I'm glad this one will be complete! It's a masterpiece and Nakatani is awesome for her art and symbolism.

And I do apologize for the confusion and worry to some of you; I did indeed confused the manga chapter date with the anime release date.

I do still think though that the manga will end this year with 7 volumes (Seven Seas has license for 7 volumes). If there's one chapter release per month Oct., Nov., Dec. then there's 3 more chapters left until end. Each volume of Bloom Into You have about 5 chapters per volume on average, I think Volume 6 will contain up to chapter 33 which leave 5 chapters for Volume 7. Anime starts Oct. 5 (Fri), assuming 13 episodes the last episode will be aired Dec. 28 (Fri). By past trends manga releases on the 26th of the month so literally we'll have the manga end before the anime end (which is nice considering how a lot of manga adapted anime either left open end or alt. ending kinda). Although wishful, if Nakatani would do a volume 8 with just lovey dovey that would be nice too :)

I would think chapter 34 would be the last chapter in volume 6. It is a natural cliffhanger ending for the volume. Chapter 33 is just... to short and too inconsequential to end a volume on. It's great that her sister is telling her she's on her side, but it's not end of volume material. The confession scene with Yuu running away and Touko being unable to run after her? THAT'S a good cliffhanger!

That COULD mean that volume 7 will be short or have a special epilogue chapter or something to fill out the pages, or maybe a short or something. Or it could be ending in the issue that comes out in January, so the anime would have the ending before the manga. That wouldn't be too bad. It's not like she couldn't provide the story to the screen writer ahead of time...

EDIT: Well... we should be able to find out what the last chapter in volume 6 is! It shipped on September 27th in Japan, supposedly!

last edited at Oct 1, 2018 2:07PM

Oh my goodness me. This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever read. And now I have to wait for god-knows-how-long for maybw the final chapter...? My heart can't handle it. This manga has made me feel so happy.

Um, I think the manga is coming to its end. The next chapter is in October, I feel probably like last 3 chapters to end? Now just resolution on their relationship.
Doubt the author will go on showing their lovey dovey life afterwards unfortunately. :(

Note to self: Stock up on pitch forks and torches to hand to the angry mob when asakura89's jinx comes true.

Haha, I love this manga, it'll be sad to see it end and not have another one to follow. But all good things come to an end and I'm glad this one will be complete! It's a masterpiece and Nakatani is awesome for her art and symbolism.

And I do apologize for the confusion and worry to some of you; I did indeed confused the manga chapter date with the anime release date.

I do still think though that the manga will end this year with 7 volumes (Seven Seas has license for 7 volumes). If there's one chapter release per month Oct., Nov., Dec. then there's 3 more chapters left until end. Each volume of Bloom Into You have about 5 chapters per volume on average, I think Volume 6 will contain up to chapter 33 which leave 5 chapters for Volume 7. Anime starts Oct. 5 (Fri), assuming 13 episodes the last episode will be aired Dec. 28 (Fri). By past trends manga releases on the 26th of the month so literally we'll have the manga end before the anime end (which is nice considering how a lot of manga adapted anime either left open end or alt. ending kinda). Although wishful, if Nakatani would do a volume 8 with just lovey dovey that would be nice too :)

No one can really know if the manga will have 7 volumes or more. There's no way Seven Seas would know either. Are you the same person who said the manga would have 5 volumes because Seven Seas listed 5 volumes a longgg time ago?
The preview of volume 7 (included in volume 6) says volume 7 will be out in Spring 2019 and that's it. That probably means this volume will have 6 chapters as the previous ones did , or at the very least 5. Volume 6 ended with chapter 34 btw.
So yeah, here's hoping the manga will have 8 volumes! Let's pray lol I want to see them happy too.

No, I didn't predict anything until now (finally came out of lurker mode). Lol. This is the climax time for the story; I'm super excited. Yes, hope for more!

last edited at Oct 1, 2018 4:06PM

Oh my goodness me. This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever read. And now I have to wait for god-knows-how-long for maybw the final chapter...? My heart can't handle it. This manga has made me feel so happy.

Um, I think the manga is coming to its end. The next chapter is in October, I feel probably like last 3 chapters to end? Now just resolution on their relationship.
Doubt the author will go on showing their lovey dovey life afterwards unfortunately. :(

Note to self: Stock up on pitch forks and torches to hand to the angry mob when asakura89's jinx comes true.

Haha, I love this manga, it'll be sad to see it end and not have another one to follow. But all good things come to an end and I'm glad this one will be complete! It's a masterpiece and Nakatani is awesome for her art and symbolism.

And I do apologize for the confusion and worry to some of you; I did indeed confused the manga chapter date with the anime release date.

I do still think though that the manga will end this year with 7 volumes (Seven Seas has license for 7 volumes). If there's one chapter release per month Oct., Nov., Dec. then there's 3 more chapters left until end. Each volume of Bloom Into You have about 5 chapters per volume on average, I think Volume 6 will contain up to chapter 33 which leave 5 chapters for Volume 7. Anime starts Oct. 5 (Fri), assuming 13 episodes the last episode will be aired Dec. 28 (Fri). By past trends manga releases on the 26th of the month so literally we'll have the manga end before the anime end (which is nice considering how a lot of manga adapted anime either left open end or alt. ending kinda). Although wishful, if Nakatani would do a volume 8 with just lovey dovey that would be nice too :)

I would think chapter 34 would be the last chapter in volume 6. It is a natural cliffhanger ending for the volume. Chapter 33 is just... to short and too inconsequential to end a volume on. It's great that her sister is telling her she's on her side, but it's not end of volume material. The confession scene with Yuu running away and Touko being unable to run after her? THAT'S a good cliffhanger!

That COULD mean that volume 7 will be short or have a special epilogue chapter or something to fill out the pages, or maybe a short or something. Or it could be ending in the issue that comes out in January, so the anime would have the ending before the manga. That wouldn't be too bad. It's not like she couldn't provide the story to the screen writer ahead of time...

EDIT: Well... we should be able to find out what the last chapter in volume 6 is! It shipped on September 27th in Japan, supposedly!

Both 33 and 34 would be a good stop; I just kinda divided the number and didn't really look which chapter they're.
Or hopefully a really long last chapter? But a special epilogue chapter in Jan or Feb would be nice too.

Manga ending before anime is highly unlikely in most cases. And it won't be the case here. Volume 6 was out on September 26th yeah , and it shows chapter 34 was the last of that volume. And yeh like I said, volume 7 planned for Spring 2019. It says so at the end of volume 6.

Oh my goodness me. This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever read. And now I have to wait for god-knows-how-long for maybw the final chapter...? My heart can't handle it. This manga has made me feel so happy.

Um, I think the manga is coming to its end. The next chapter is in October, I feel probably like last 3 chapters to end? Now just resolution on their relationship.
Doubt the author will go on showing their lovey dovey life afterwards unfortunately. :(

Note to self: Stock up on pitch forks and torches to hand to the angry mob when asakura89's jinx comes true.

Haha, I love this manga, it'll be sad to see it end and not have another one to follow. But all good things come to an end and I'm glad this one will be complete! It's a masterpiece and Nakatani is awesome for her art and symbolism.

And I do apologize for the confusion and worry to some of you; I did indeed confused the manga chapter date with the anime release date.

I do still think though that the manga will end this year with 7 volumes (Seven Seas has license for 7 volumes). If there's one chapter release per month Oct., Nov., Dec. then there's 3 more chapters left until end. Each volume of Bloom Into You have about 5 chapters per volume on average, I think Volume 6 will contain up to chapter 33 which leave 5 chapters for Volume 7. Anime starts Oct. 5 (Fri), assuming 13 episodes the last episode will be aired Dec. 28 (Fri). By past trends manga releases on the 26th of the month so literally we'll have the manga end before the anime end (which is nice considering how a lot of manga adapted anime either left open end or alt. ending kinda). Although wishful, if Nakatani would do a volume 8 with just lovey dovey that would be nice too :)

I had the idea that this would be the last chapter of vol. 6 but I'm not sure where I got that from. It certainly feels like it needs at least five chapters to negotiate this situation.

Yes. That would be nice so as not to rush the conclusion. :)

Thanks

Manga ending before anime is highly unlikely in most cases. And it won't be the case here. Volume 6 was out on September 26th yeah , and it shows chapter 34 was the last of that volume. And yeh like I said, volume 7 planned for Spring 2019. It says so at the end of volume 6.

I won't complain for either possibility. :) And as zensunni said Nakatani would have already know how she wants to end it and anime would have the end first.

last edited at Oct 1, 2018 4:09PM

Manga ending before anime is highly unlikely in most cases. And it won't be the case here. Volume 6 was out on September 26th yeah , and it shows chapter 34 was the last of that volume. And yeh like I said, volume 7 planned for Spring 2019. It says so at the end of volume 6.

I knew someone would know what chapter actually was the end of volume 6! That is the logical one to end the volume with... it's a killer!

Having Volume 7 come out in Spring basically puts the last chapter of that volume in the magazine happening in the March or April issue, so February or March... Whether it's the actual end of the manga or not is still unknown, but it really feels like the story is coming to a close... If not, she's either milking it for all it's worth or it will change to a story about them moving forward as a couple dealing with Touko's insecurities, Yuu's family, Sayaka's jealousy, etc...

But anything we say here is pure speculation...

"these feelings have nowhere to go"

damn
that hurt. I knew all too well.

I love how the author adds these lines to the beginning and end of the chapter making sure the reader is feeling the correct emotion.

Manga ending before anime is highly unlikely in most cases. And it won't be the case here. Volume 6 was out on September 26th yeah , and it shows chapter 34 was the last of that volume. And yeh like I said, volume 7 planned for Spring 2019. It says so at the end of volume 6.

I knew someone would know what chapter actually was the end of volume 6! That is the logical one to end the volume with... it's a killer!

Having Volume 7 come out in Spring basically puts the last chapter of that volume in the magazine happening in the March or April issue, so February or March... Whether it's the actual end of the manga or not is still unknown, but it really feels like the story is coming to a close... If not, she's either milking it for all it's worth or it will change to a story about them moving forward as a couple dealing with Touko's insecurities, Yuu's family, Sayaka's jealousy, etc...

But anything we say here is pure speculation...

That's good, although I guessed, it's purely just a guess for fun. Haha. I would totally go for volume 8! :)

"these feelings have nowhere to go"

damn
that hurt. I knew all too well.

I love how the author adds these lines to the beginning and end of the chapter making sure the reader is feeling the correct emotion.

Exactly !

I remember being neutral on this series- but now I'm really hooked.

last edited at Oct 1, 2018 7:02PM

I need help. Perhaps someone could either agree with how I feel or help me understand my confusion.

On page 18, I'm a little confused and frustrated with Touko's words.

"I can't answer Yuu's feelings."

The way I'm reading this puts Touko in a bad light. She's already told Yuu that she loves her. I don't think she's incapable of returning love. I think she's incapable of accepting love. Otherwise, I have to believe that Touko was lying and abusing Yuu for her own selfish emotional needs. I mean, just look a couple panels above and you see Touko in a dominant sexual position over Yuu. If what everyone says here about the author's visual clues are true then I would perceive Touko's thoughts as acknowledgement of her using Yuu for her intimate desires with no strings attached.

I don't want to have ill feelings toward Touko so, I would have rather it said,

"I can't accept Yuu's feelings."

It would make more sense to me, and I would have a little more sympathy for Touko.

I remember being neutral on this series- but now I'm really hooked.

It's a slow burn and there is a surprising amount of subtlety to the story telling which I think puts a lot of people off at first, but most of the people I know who stuck with it came to love this series.

I need help. Perhaps someone could either agree with how I feel or help me understand my confusion.

On page 18, I'm a little confused and frustrated with Touko's words.

"I can't answer Yuu's feelings."

I don't want to have ill feelings toward Touko so, I would have rather it said,

"I can't accept Yuu's feelings."

It would make more sense to me, and I would have a little more sympathy for Touko.

I was wondering about that too--it's the most troublesome line in the chapter, and I thought perhaps there's some connotation in the original that might clarify her meaning there. Touko's train of thought gets interrupted at that point by the acting teacher, so we don't get any further development of precisely what she means. When she resumes her thoughts, she thinks about Yuu as having supplied "a place to belong" rather than as person who she has loved. (But she ultimately returns to the feeling of missing her, of course.)

I don't think there's any indication that Touko has been intentionally exploitative, though--although that "clinch" panel seems to have been newly drawn rather than pasted in from an earlier chapter, the closest previous image to that one is in Chapter 22, p. 7, where Touko is literally saying, "Don't fall in love with me, okay?" In other words, she's remembering and feeling guilty about a particular moment when she was not considering Yuu's feelings.

On an entirely different matter, I happen to have binge-read a number of different manga series recently, and the pacing of this one, excruciating as it is to wait for each new installment, makes for a very satisfying read as an overall work. A lot of series try to cram too much event into a single chapter, which leads to a lot of repetitive scenes in the overall story as the basic conflict gets rehashed. This story is pretty remarkable for slowly setting up and building towards its big emotional moments rather than spending a lot of energy going round and round but not getting anywhere in particular.

I need help. Perhaps someone could either agree with how I feel or help me understand my confusion.

On page 18, I'm a little confused and frustrated with Touko's words.

"I can't answer Yuu's feelings."

The way I'm reading this puts Touko in a bad light. She's already told Yuu that she loves her. I don't think she's incapable of returning love. I think she's incapable of accepting love. Otherwise, I have to believe that Touko was lying and abusing Yuu for her own selfish emotional needs. I mean, just look a couple panels above and you see Touko in a dominant sexual position over Yuu. If what everyone says here about the author's visual clues are true then I would perceive Touko's thoughts as acknowledgement of her using Yuu for her intimate desires with no strings attached.

I don't want to have ill feelings toward Touko so, I would have rather it said,

"I can't accept Yuu's feelings."

It would make more sense to me, and I would have a little more sympathy for Touko.

I definitely agree that Touko's problem isn't that she is incapable of loving another, but rather she is incapable of accepting being loved back. She has really serious identity and self esteem issues complicating and ruling her life, but having said this I still believe Touko's been quite self centered in her relationship with Yuu.

She really needs to sit back and do some painful self reflection. She is not a bad person or a sadist so I am sure it was never her intent to hurt Yuu, but she has ended up doing just that due to her mental problems and obliviousness to Yuu's feelings. Tuko was looking for unrequited love and what she stumbled into was something much more frightening and outside of her control.

last edited at Oct 1, 2018 8:50PM

I don't think there's any indication that Touko has been intentionally exploitative, though--although that "clinch" panel seems to have been newly drawn rather than pasted in from an earlier chapter, the closest previous image to that one is in Chapter 22, p. 7, where Touko is literally saying, "Don't fall in love with me, okay?" In other words, she's remembering and feeling guilty about a particular moment when she was not considering Yuu's feelings.

Ah! Thank you! I had forgotten about that scene, and the fact that Touko originally turned down Yuu's invitation, because she might take advantage of Yuu. However, Yuu was fine with it.

It making better sense to me. :)

I need help. Perhaps someone could either agree with how I feel or help me understand my confusion.

On page 18, I'm a little confused and frustrated with Touko's words.

"I can't answer Yuu's feelings."

The way I'm reading this puts Touko in a bad light. She's already told Yuu that she loves her. I don't think she's incapable of returning love. I think she's incapable of accepting love. Otherwise, I have to believe that Touko was lying and abusing Yuu for her own selfish emotional needs. I mean, just look a couple panels above and you see Touko in a dominant sexual position over Yuu. If what everyone says here about the author's visual clues are true then I would perceive Touko's thoughts as acknowledgement of her using Yuu for her intimate desires with no strings attached.

I don't want to have ill feelings toward Touko so, I would have rather it said,

"I can't accept Yuu's feelings."

It would make more sense to me, and I would have a little more sympathy for Touko.

What she meant was not "I can't love her back" but more like "I can't enter into a formal relationship with her." & this is due to the fact that she can't accept others' love, like you and everyone else have said. As for the panel, indeed it is a callback to ch 22 when Touko told Yuu that she hated herself so she should not love what she hated. We have had discussions on whether Touko had been intentionally trying to emotionally manipulate Yuu (& also Sayaka) or not, and most agree that she hadn't--not intentionally, at least. That panel is simply another extension of this. After Yuu confessed, Touko is starting to realize just how inconsiderate she had been and how much pain she had put Yuu through because of their relationship. That panel is simply showing how she is still feeling guilty over it.

I need help. Perhaps someone could either agree with how I feel or help me understand my confusion.

On page 18, I'm a little confused and frustrated with Touko's words.

"I can't answer Yuu's feelings."

The way I'm reading this puts Touko in a bad light. She's already told Yuu that she loves her. I don't think she's incapable of returning love. I think she's incapable of accepting love. Otherwise, I have to believe that Touko was lying and abusing Yuu for her own selfish emotional needs. I mean, just look a couple panels above and you see Touko in a dominant sexual position over Yuu. If what everyone says here about the author's visual clues are true then I would perceive Touko's thoughts as acknowledgement of her using Yuu for her intimate desires with no strings attached.

I don't want to have ill feelings toward Touko so, I would have rather it said,

"I can't accept Yuu's feelings."

It would make more sense to me, and I would have a little more sympathy for Touko.

This is what I was talking about with idioms a couple pages back.

To "answer someones feelings" is a common way in japanese to refer to responding to a confession. She's literally saying that she doesn't know how to respond, and because she doesn't know how to respond, explaining the misunderstanding could end up being cruel in itself.

Y'all are overthinking it with Touko IMO. Her epiphany with the play didn't magically make her altogether stop hating herself - it just opened her eyes to the possibility of not having to hate herself. She still isn't entirely convinced that she's worth loving, and she's still terrified that, to paraphrase her own words "saying you love me now just means that if I ever change you'll stop loving me, right?" She still loves Yuu and wants to be with her, but her own immaturity makes it hard for her to really understand that, and her profound fear of rejection in response to change has her too afraid (for the moment) to try and patch things up with Yuu - especially now that Yuu's (understandably) shut herself off and made things harder.

I think/hope Touko'll wind up getting a push from Riko/Miyako. Sayaka's got too much baggage to advise her properly and she knows it, but she might nudge Touko in the adults' direction. I definitely don't think Sayaka would make a move on Touko in this situation - she's gotta be able to tell that Touko isn't happy with this state of affairs and she respects Yuu way too much to do that to her while things are still weird like this.

I'd be stunned if Rei doesn't notice what's going on with Yuu and try to talk to her on that end. Maybe Koyomi too. I don't see Maki having much advice, his whole deal even aside from being aromantic/asexual is that he's much more comfortable spectating on other people's relationships than participating himself - I would think that would extend to advice too. Although I guess I could maybe see him going "hey Yuu I know you're telling yourself that you're aro to make this hurt less and all, but I know what aro is and you're not it." Can't see Doujima or Akari having much to say in this situation either, they're too tertiary, and after that we start really running out of characters that we actually know.

last edited at Oct 1, 2018 10:37PM

Oh jeez, this is what happens when a chapter comes out and there is 4 pages of comments to read. My 2 cents: Yuu's reaction was very normal, Touko was kinda unrealistic. How can she not know, Yuu is hurt and that she needs to clarify what she meant? Ugh