Touko gave Yuu the shit end of the stick and then dumped her with it the moment it became inconvenient...
Dumped her? That wasn't how I read her apology--
"I took advantage of her."
"How many times have I forced her to silence herself? How many lies have I forced her to tell?"
True, her fear kept her from clearing up the misunderstanding, but I did not read this as a rejection at all; rather, this felt to me like the first time Touko truly acknowledged Yuu.
When I was saying that I was mostly illustrating it from Yuu's perspective. As the audience we get to see Touko's thoughts on the matter which Yuu doesn't.
Yes, I think we as readers tend to lose sight of how the whole lead-up to and aftermath of the performance plays out from Yuu’s perspective.
At the training camp, Yuu senses Touko’s distress at learning that her image of her sister was seriously incomplete. Yuu invites Touko to her room, where they make out and Touko warns Yuu against falling in love with her (which Yuu finally—almost—admits to herself has already happened). They go on their day-long aquarium date, including multiple acts of unprotected hand-holding. Yuu puts herself and their relationship on the line by initiating the rewriting of the play, and then doubles down with her heartfelt rooftop confrontation with Touko.
All this is intended to help Touko overcome her emotionally crippling secret insecurities, and, almost miraculously, it seems to work. Touko passes the crisis point of the play being over, she opens up more by allowing herself to join the acting troupe, and she’s generally relieved and happy.
So as Yuu sees it, the two of them are closer than ever, and even more importantly they’re closer to being on equal terms—Touko is the senpai but Yuu was the life guide who led Touko to the right path for moving ahead with her life.
Then comes the confession, and boom (as Yuu sees it) they’re back to (literally) the exact place they were in Chapter 10. And while she’s mistaken about the meaning of Touko’s apology, she’s not wrong about Touko’s continued unwillingness to accept Yuu’s love.
Then throw in the fact that Touko also seems to have taken advantage of her new-found (Yuu-inspired) emotional confidence to move on to new friends in the acting troupe, and Yuu very reasonably could see Touko as being nothing but selfishly opportunistic in their relationship.
Fortunately for Touko, Yuu is the opposite of a bitter and cynical person.
(Communication, people—sometimes it’s hard, but it’s always necessary.)
Great summary. What I feel as well. Can't wait for the climax/resolution. At least with volume 8 we know it's not going to be a rushed ending.
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