Emi is 1 dense motherfucker.

I think it goes beyond mere denseness--more like a pathological refusal to grow up and make the move into adulthood, with a bit of psychopathic manipulation of other people thrown in there.

I suspect Yuu will get her sorted.

Honestly, I do not want Yuu to get her sorted. Emi is the kind of not-right-in-the-head possessive asshole any normal person would give a wide berth in real life, while whispering "oh yeah, it is that girl..."

Agreed--I was much happier when I first misread the page as Yuu handing Emi the doll as a symbolic kiss-off gift, before I noticed the implications of the holding-hands panel (again, assuming I'm reading that correctly).

That's why my fallback position was picturing Yuu topping Emi--"Oh, I wouldn't dream of leaving you, my pretty little kitten--you'll have me all to yourself in ways you've never even imagined." :)

I was ready for Yuu to straight up dump Emi like the sack of potato she was. Smh.

angry ranting about Emi redacted

Since the ending is vague as hell for me and therefore entirely up for my own biased personal interpretation. My own take is -

If we take what the terrible friend say about the toy cat at face value: "I have to do it or it doesn't count." If Yuu gives her the cat charm, this relationship is bupkiss. Since I find this "friend" 'utterly unlikable, she got dumped. Yuu is moving on and leaving this moron behind. Shallow take #1.*Yes, I'm entirely avoiding the hand holding panel.*

I'm not sure if either person has the usual romantic feelings towards the other party. (Oh noz, realism in my manga /s) Adult Yuu mentioned in chapter 2 that she gets a bit of superiority complex because of Emi's obsession towards her. And then if you look at the earlier timeline during middle school in chapter 2, when Yuu gets turned down by the guy she went crying to Eimi. What happens here? "*The moment she cried to me, her best friend, I became the protagonist."* I... wha?

Emi likes to feel important/"be of use" to Yuu, but if Yuu leaves her for a romantic partner, Emi is out of the picture. Since Emi is unable to comprehend love, she decides to imitate Yuu's behavior. Usually, imitating someone is a good way to learn things. But since we're talking about love and all sorts of emotional stuff that goes into this, it's not something this dense ass b can comprehend. She steals Yuu's love interests as a way to make sure no filthy men take away the only worthy person she has. While she may start out trying to understand love, but a lot of selfish things got mixed into it and she became a doucehbag.

"I hate things like love."

Because she can't understand it. Doesn't understand it. Won't accept it. It takes Yuu away from her. If she keeps taking the things that Yuu loves repeatedly then maybe she'll finally understand it. I get that concept of love may be different for everybody, but there are ways to go about this without becoming an utter prick.

Here's another reading of the last couple of pages:
Here's your dumb cat -> I'm running the show now -> Takes the lead -> Hand holding scene -> This is just a small payback for all the emotional garbage you made me go through -> Super fitting credit page

Dialing back to an earlier thought, is this love between the two or just weird (none?) friendship thing? I don't mean close girl pals either, I mean really hazy, foggy, indeterminate thing. Since the power dynamics is off. It feels like general insecurity coming from Emi because she feels she got left behind or not being the special number one person anymore. She also doesn't exhibit any of the usual behaviors of someone being in love. No, kicking a guy out of the chair doesn't mean anything. That can just be a possessive thing going on. Being kissed by Yuu only made her feel gross and suffocating. So...?

I was ready for Yuu to straight up dump Emi like the sack of potato she was. Smh.

angry ranting about Emi redacted

Since the ending is vague as hell for me and therefore entirely up for my own biased personal interpretation. My own take is -

If we take what the terrible friend say about the toy cat at face value: "I have to do it or it doesn't count." If Yuu gives her the cat charm, this relationship is bupkiss. Since I find this "friend" 'utterly unlikable, she got dumped. Yuu is moving on and leaving this moron behind. Shallow take #1.*Yes, I'm entirely avoiding the hand holding panel.*

I'm not sure if either person has the usual romantic feelings towards the other party. (Oh noz, realism in my manga /s) Adult Yuu mentioned in chapter 2 that she gets a bit of superiority complex because of Emi's obsession towards her. And then if you look at the earlier timeline during middle school in chapter 2, when Yuu gets turned down by the guy she went crying to Eimi. What happens here? "*The moment she cried to me, her best friend, I became the protagonist."* I... wha?

Emi likes to feel important/"be of use" to Yuu, but if Yuu leaves her for a romantic partner, Emi is out of the picture. Since Emi is unable to comprehend love, she decides to imitate Yuu's behavior. Usually, imitating someone is a good way to learn things. But since we're talking about love and all sorts of emotional stuff that goes into this, it's not something this dense ass b can comprehend. She steals Yuu's love interests as a way to make sure no filthy men take away the only worthy person she has. While she may start out trying to understand love, but a lot of selfish things got mixed into it and she became a doucehbag.

"I hate things like love."

Because she can't understand it. Doesn't understand it. Won't accept it. It takes Yuu away from her. If she keeps taking the things that Yuu loves repeatedly then maybe she'll finally understand it. I get that concept of love may be different for everybody, but there are ways to go about this without becoming an utter prick.

Here's another reading of the last couple of pages:
Here's your dumb cat -> I'm running the show now -> Takes the lead -> Hand holding scene -> This is just a small payback for all the emotional garbage you made me go through -> Super fitting credit page

Dude I love your summary. It is absolutely fitting and hilarious.

sigh And here I thought we gonna get some interesting multi-chapter series and bang, the author just drops it after 3 chapters. I was so distracted with chapter 3 (thinking it was a filter chapter) that I only noticed things like "isn't it uncomfortable kissing in glasses?" and "oooooh, don't think I didn't notice your matching nails" also "one of you guys should really cut your nails short" a ha ha ha. After that I obviously had to reread... I really hate these kinds of open endings that don't really give you space for positive imagination. The relationship just seems so...toxic, no matter how you look at it T.T

That's why my fallback position was picturing Yuu topping Emi--"Oh, I wouldn't dream of leaving you, my pretty little kitten--you'll have me all to yourself in ways you've never even imagined." :)

Lol. It might not be too far from the truth though. Well, the general sentiment at least.

At one point, Emi compares "One try a day" to not letting Yuu be with anyone. Like she's putting off the future. The status quo she resigned to, was that she would never get the cat. And that became the whole point of her once a day exercise, not to get the cat, but to put off the process.

For that reason, I think Yuu getting the cat is like her forcing Emi to move forward. The hand holding at the last page seems like a throwback to when Yuu first dragged Emi out of the corner, guiding her forward.

Also, I've always thought this relationship revolved around Emi's feelings, but that might not be wholly accurate. Emi says Yuu shines like the main character of a story when she's in love with a guy. But Yuu says she feels like the protagonist when she confides in Emi. Yuu's been sticking around Emi because she wants to, despite everything that Emi's done. She mentions wanting to be like an older sister to her and has an odd sense of accomplishment from being at the receiving end of Emi's obsessive tendencies.

Oõ what? Boo, bad ending!

HUh? That's not even a resolution...

So funny to see the comments prasing this manga for its set up back when chapter 2 was released and now after the new chapter everyone is just like "wait a sec"

After this I've come to a conclusion. Some artists better just stick to doujin or oneshot.

Indeed. Most of them to be honest...

I think Yuu explained the ending perfectly in the second chapter: She's known Emi is strange for a long time, none of this is a revelation to her. The reason she's still holding Emi's hand at the end is because, like she said, she also enjoys the attention/fixation, but it's not because she cares for her. Just as Emi's side of the relationship is driven by an unhealthy fixation and possessiveness, Yuu's is driven by an unhealthy sense of self worth that being idolized/coveted gives her.

The confrontation wasn't because she really wanted Emi to stop, but because the result of Emi's obsession was beginning to annoy her. She basically just wants Emi as a status symbol, a trophy to place on the mantel and bask in, rather than an actual friend or lover. Somewhat ironically, Emi's the one who explained this bit in chapter 2. She said the men who Yuu fell in love with only wanted her for her face and didn't really care about her, so they were happy to barge right in. This is exactly what we see Yuu do with their kiss scene. She decides she's going to go for it and just barges in, kissing Emi.

Just as Yuu knows exactly what Emi is about and doesn't really see her as a friend but as a source of self importance, I think Emi has Yuu's number. She knows Yuu's not a good person, just like those guys, and the two aren't really good friends at this point, but her obsession gives her something. Maybe it's a sense of stability, maybe it's more a fear that with out Yuu she'll go back to being on her own. Regardless, they're both using each other and they both know it and they'll probably keep doing it. Maybe the specifics will change a bit or maybe they won't and they'll just cycle through periods of Emi trying to isolate Yuu in more and more disruptive ways until Yuu finally blows up on her and the reset.

The ending wasn't the most satisfying, but it was very well set up. This Kayako called their shots and hit them dead on. The three chapters have a nice progression from mostly normal cute/angst in the first, to cracks showing in the second, to a deconstruction in the third. Each one sets the stage for the next and tells you what's going to happen, if you know what to look for. It's like the Sixth Sense, except instead of Bruce Willis being a ghost, both girls are terrible.

I'm not sure if I like it, but I can't deny it's well written and I do think stories like this should exist.

I'm not sure if either person has the usual romantic feelings towards the other party. (Oh noz, realism in my manga /s) Adult Yuu mentioned in chapter 2 that she gets a bit of superiority complex because of Emi's obsession towards her. And then if you look at the earlier timeline during middle school in chapter 2, when Yuu gets turned down by the guy she went crying to Eimi. What happens here? "*The moment she cried to me, her best friend, I became the protagonist."* I... wha?

Just a quick correction, those thoughts belong to Yuu. The line is "The moment I cried to to my best friend I became the protagonist. This is the first example of Yuu using Emi's focus/obsession to make herself feel more important and combines with the second instance, where she tells us she knows Emi's behavior is abnormal but it gives her a strange sense of superiority, to show the current dynamic has been going on for a while.

Yuu's been sticking around Emi because she wants to, despite everything that Emi's done. She mentions wanting to be like an older sister to her and has an odd sense of accomplishment from being at the receiving end of Emi's obsessive tendencies.

Similarly, the line here is "a bit of a superiority complex*". Emi's attention doesn't make her feel like she's done something good or succeeded at a task, it makes her feel superior to others and/or Emi.

last edited at Oct 29, 2018 2:15AM

???

That protagonist line reads like it belongs to Emi's though? Unless Yuu decided to start doing inner monologue in 3rd person all of a sudden. Did the original read differently?

Emi's obsession towards Yuu is very obvious, but Yuu's view of Emi as source of self-importance/trophy...? I already reread through this short story several times to the point I'm getting sick of it and I still can't find more evidence to support that. Unless it's the ending pages where Yuu kisses Emi and then gives her the cat. Insert credit page reaction Yuu's attitude towards Emi in adult years seem more annoyed rather than "imma keep this ho around to make myself feel better." If she does perceive Emi as a way to inflate her ego, wouldn't she be smugger in general and less confrontational in the 3rd chapter? 3rd chapter's drama didn't kickstart until Emi had that explosive moment with whatshisname. Yuu calls Emi out on her bullshit and worst friend ever behaviors.

Nice ending. Bye Emi!

???

That protagonist line reads like it belongs to Emi's though? Unless Yuu decided to start doing inner monologue in 3rd person all of a sudden. Did the original read differently?

I've looked at the original Japanese, and that line is definitely Yuu's thoughts. Just like rest chapter 2, those pages are from Yuu's perspective.

For more details, the line reads: けれど　親友に泣きつく私　そのときは主人公だった. "Cry to" is an intransitive verb taking the indirect object "best friend", and that verb phrase forms an attributive clause modifying "I", which acts as the subject (this is consistent with the previous sentences, where "I" was the implied subject). For a phrase-by-phrase translation, you'd get something like "but I, crying to my best friend, at that time was the protagonist," or more naturally, "but when I cried to my best friend, I was the protagonist". I'm not an expert by any means, but I think "I who cries to my best friend" has to be identified with "protagonist".

The line is linking back to the previous line about how Yuu's unceremonious rejection felt like a failure of a shoujo manga. So I'm pretty sure Yuu is commenting on her complex relationship with Eimi—on the one hand, she feels trapped by Eimi's meddling in her personal affairs, but on the other hand she's secretly happy about Eimi's obsession with her. It makes her feel validated to have such a cute and popular friend so fixated on her and her alone. So those lines are consistent with the rest of chapter 2 and the developments in chapter 3.

last edited at Oct 29, 2018 8:18PM

???

That protagonist line reads like it belongs to Emi's though? Unless Yuu decided to start doing inner monologue in 3rd person all of a sudden. Did the original read differently?

The line isn't in third person.

"*I* was easily shot down. [...] I cried to my best friend. I became the protagonist." The 'I's are Yuu and the best friend is Emi. Remember, Yuu is the one who regularly gets rejected, while Emi lands boys she doesn't want.

Emi's obsession towards Yuu is very obvious, but Yuu's view of Emi as source of self-importance/trophy...? I already reread through this short story several times to the point I'm getting sick of it and I still can't find more evidence to support that. Unless it's the ending pages where Yuu kisses Emi and then gives her the cat. Insert credit page reaction Yuu's attitude towards Emi in adult years seem more annoyed rather than "imma keep this ho around to make myself feel better." If she does perceive Emi as a way to inflate her ego, wouldn't she be smugger in general and less confrontational in the 3rd chapter? 3rd chapter's drama didn't kickstart until Emi had that explosive moment with whatshisname. Yuu calls Emi out on her bullshit and worst friend ever behaviors.

The line we were just talking about has Yuu saying she uses Emi to feel like "the protagonist," while Ch. 2 Pg. 11 takes place when they're older and has her explicitly thinking "Even I think it's strange. And because of that it gives me a bit of a superiority complex."

Yuu confronted Emi after her obsession publicly exploded, and thus became troublesome for other aspects of Yuu's life, rather than when she first became aware of the problem because Emi made it a public problem and escalated too far. Again, the latest incident is only new in that it was very public and, thus, disruptive. It started to damage Yuu's appearance.

The reason she's not smug, but is confrontational, is because she wants the validation of Emi's obsession, but doesn't actually care about Emi enough to want the work, nor does she want it becoming too public, which might make her look bad to others.

Pretty sure Yuu is commenting on her complex relationship with Eimi—on the one hand, she feels trapped by Eimi's meddling in her personal affairs, but on the other hand she's secretly happy about Eimi's obsession with her.

That's an interesting thought, since it's Emi who talks about love feeling painful and suffocating, while Yuu is happy to force it on Emi, if it gets her what she wants. At the same time, Emi's actions definitely put more obvious constraints on Yuu, so she is the one we'd expect to feel trapped.

last edited at Oct 29, 2018 8:19PM

Pretty sure Yuu is commenting on her complex relationship with Eimi—on the one hand, she feels trapped by Eimi's meddling in her personal affairs, but on the other hand she's secretly happy about Eimi's obsession with her.

That's an interesting thought, since it's Emi who talks about love feeling painful and suffocating, while Yuu is happy to force it on Emi, if it gets her what she wants. At the same time, Emi's actions definitely put more obvious constraints on Yuu, so she is the one we'd expect to feel trapped.

For most of the story, Eimi's the one who deliberately attempts to isolate Yuu by targeting any rivals in love. Yuu clearly resents her to some degree for stealing all of her potential boyfriends. But Yuu clearly still cares about Eimi or she would have cast her aside. And in the end there is the reversal, where Yuu decides she's in love with Eimi and forces her feelings upon her for a change, and Eimi is still unable to accept her feelings.

Or that's one interpretation, it could also be the case that Eimi is just a really obsessive friend who can't let go, and at the same time someone who's never fallen in love. But I think it's more likely that Eimi loves Yuu and can't admit it. I think there are a number of hints that point in that direction.

Here’s a question that I mean sincerely—is this one worth it?

Are we dealing with subtle, or just vague and underwritten?

Can’t make up my mind just yet.

Here’s a question that I mean sincerely—is this one worth it?

Are we dealing with subtle, or just vague and underwritten?

Can’t make up my mind just yet.

I think this story contains everything necessary for a reader to reach the natural conclusion. Eimi's behavior throughout speaks for itself, and then in the last chapter her thoughts (especially regarding holding hands) betray her true feelings far better than her repeated mantra. The little bit of symbolism with the toy is just confirmation.

A work that is so open to interpretation that multiple stories could be read into it as equally valid is vague. To me, this manga conveys a singular story where certain details need to be inferred. I wouldn't even call it "open-ended". The ending has everything necessary to know what will happen next.

Here’s a question that I mean sincerely—is this one worth it?

Are we dealing with subtle, or just vague and underwritten?

Can’t make up my mind just yet.

I wouldn't call it vague, but it's also not a story with final and happy ending.

There's definitely room for interpretation, but it's the well supported kind-of interpretation that most well written works can have, rather than the kind that's filling gaps in not enough information. You can see that schuyguy and I seem to have rather different takes on the ending, with mine being quite a bit darker, but we're both pulling stuff from the story to support our conclusions, rather than just talking about how it ended on a cliff hanger and should have gone on.

If you're just looking for a story where the lesbians get to yuri, then it's probably not worth it. If you're a fan of well written stories that invite analysis, even if they don't have happy endings, then it probably is. The art's good either way.

why can't humanity just be lesbians

because real life lesbians are often ugly orcs , lesbians are ok if both of them are cute

If you're just looking for a story where the lesbians get to yuri, then it's probably not worth it. If you're a fan of well written stories that invite analysis, even if they don't have happy endings, then it probably is. The art's good either way.

The art is pretty good, and no, I don’t need a yuri-confirmed payoff. I’ve read this one more than a couple of times, and like you folks, I can get a coherent story out of it, although I’m not entirely sure it’s the story the author meant to put in there.

So far I’m firmly convinced that Emi is cute but a pretty big asshole, and cute-in-her-own-way Yuu is probably at least a bit of an asshole herself and maybe more than that, and they’re now going forward together.

Not sure I’m going to dig out my secret literary decoder ring and try to parse out a great deal more than that.

Edit: Since the forum rejected my whole write-up, I outsourced the main part but I’ll put the wrapping here.

I’m not sure what’s up with all these super negative interpretations of the story, assuming malice wherever possible, with the characters manipulating or using each other. I’ve seen this in the comments on other series as well, commenters judging relationships as “unhealthy” or “doomed” when that’s just one possible and sometimes not even likely interpretation. Positive interpretations in turn seem to be shunned as if the Dynasty Reader is some kind of dystopia where every fluffy story must be countered by two tragedies. Even though I’m not exactly a happy person, this prevalence of negative interpretations when positive interpretations are just as likely, if not more likely, strikes me as odd.

If you want a positive (but lengthy) interpretation with a helping of personal experience and the application of Hanlon’s razor, read on.

Since my interpretation got so lengthy that this forum refused to accept it, head over to Pastebin to read the whole thing.

Is this the correct interpretation? Who knows. Probably not. Does it take everything into account and explain everything? Probably not either. Is it less likely than the other interpretations in this thread? I don’t think so. Based on my friend’s and my own experience, I actually find it more likely. I’m really curious what the author says in her afterword, but I fear that we’ll never know because most translators shy away from walls of text, especially when they’re not part of any publicized chapter.

For me, the story had a good end. No doubts. Stories are (usually?) written to be enjoyed, I guess. Reading the story with this interpretation made me enjoy the story, so that’s a win in my book.

tl;dr: How do two lesbians get together if neither of them realizes she’s in love with a woman and one of them is demi-romantic?

Another special thanks to @shadesofgreymoon because I really want her to see it and this site lacks a private message function.

last edited at Oct 30, 2018 3:06PM

Oh joy. The site apparently thinks that lengthy interpretations are spam. :<
If you want to read a positive (but lengthy) interpretation of this story, head over to Pastebin for now.

Also, special thanks to @shadesofgreymoon for enlightening me.

I much prefer your interpretation, I must say. Emi's behavior in this may not exactly be admirable, but I really don't understand why everyone is demonizing her so badly.

Ah. Ok. Reading the process of the original line now it makes more sense that Yuu is indeed the speaker. So I can see where that Yuu feels superior thing is coming from. The English line read like it was from Emi, ("She cried to me, her best friend.") the thought bubbles also seem to hover around Emi, hence the confusion.

I'd give anyone who tries to forcibly decide what's the best for me a wide wide berth. Emi gets a lot of downvotes because she's doing all these things without ever talking it out with the other party who is directly affected by this: Yuu. It's not good behavior. It most certainly is not a BFF thing. It's selfish. It's all about Emi's feelings, but she didn't consider what Yuu might need. You can be selfish, but you also need to consider what your actions' effects on other people. Keep in mind, Emi's been doing this thing for years. Time is indeed a factor. People mature and learn from experience with age. What did Emi learn? Nada. I already get plenty frustrated when I read mainstream titles where the main protagonist does not mature one bit at all hundreds of chapters later. That's one of my biggest no no when it comes to a story.

Exploring concept of love and what it is is fine. But all this other nasty stuff that comes with it? Yeah don't do that. If you got questions and issues, you freaking communicate without doing all this roundabout love interest hijacking. I know this is a yuri community and all that, but there's no need to vilify all men in the story. Although drama sempai got what's coming to him in this case.

I’m not sure what’s up with all these super negative interpretations of the story

Relationship is hard. Drama is fun. It's easier to assume the worst possible situation rather than the reverse. We've also got a lot of heavy hitting drama and feel trains going on lately. Tone of the story also didn't help with whatever positive theory that may float people's boat. Tragedy/negativity and yuri stories also seem to be an extremely common combo, so... Blame it on past experience rather than the audience.

I'd give anyone who tries to forcibly decide what's the best for me a wide wide berth. Emi gets a lot of downvotes because she's doing all these things without ever talking it out with the other party who is directly affected by this: Yuu. It's not good behavior. It most certainly is not a BFF thing. It's selfish. It's all about Emi's feelings, but she didn't consider what Yuu might need. You can be selfish, but you also need to consider what your actions' effects on other people. Keep in mind, Emi's been doing this thing for years. Time is indeed a factor. People mature and learn from experience with age. What did Emi learn? Nada. I already get plenty frustrated when I read mainstream titles where the main protagonist does not mature one bit at all hundreds of chapters later. That's one of my biggest no no when it comes to a story.

I feel like the part you hate is kind of the whole point of the story. Eimi has acted selfishly for years, hasn't learned anything, hasn't matured at all, but Yuu has and now she's turned the tables on her. After years of being trapped by Eimi's selfishness, now Yuu's making the calls. And apparently she's decided that she wants Eimi, and isn't going to accept no as an answer.

It's a lovely story where the two characters cannot resist the pull of their emotions, fall into destructive behaviors, and by the end, when they end up together, they sort of deserve each other, but in different ways. It's a classic tale of a love that, rather than being doomed to fail, is doomed to succeed.

@Grail said:

Keep in mind, Emi's been doing this thing for years. Time is indeed a factor. People mature and learn from experience with age. What did Emi learn? Nada.

Figuring out some things can be hard. Even if you keep thinking about it, you might not be able to find an answer if you don’t have the right information available, especially if the information you do have available points the opposite way. As I mentioned in my interpretation on the previous page, which I invite you to read if you haven’t yet, it took one of my friends ten years to figure out that she’s lesbian and it took me 20 years to figure out that I’m demi-romantic/sexual. Does that mean that I failed at maturing? I don’t think so. I certainly tried to figure it out by myself all this time and I’m sure I matured along the way, despite not being able to reach the final conclusion without an external push in the right direction.

Eimi also unsuccessfully tried to figure things out by herself all that time but ended up needing an external push. She has my full understanding.

If you got questions and issues, you freaking communicate without doing all this roundabout love interest hijacking.

It’s hard to communicate if you haven’t figured out what the problem is. You can’t ask questions if you don’t even know what questions to ask.

I already get plenty frustrated when I read mainstream titles where the main protagonist does not mature one bit at all hundreds of chapters later. That's one of my biggest no no when it comes to a story.

I agree that perpetual lack of character development across hundreds of chapters is completely boring to read. It’s not unrealistic, though. If you look at this story from that angle, it was probably better for it to be this short. I still would’ve liked to see more of it, though.

Wait, this is all? lol