Yeah, I think this is a big chapter for explaining Shimamura's viewpoint. She's just scared.

I'm not sure how the fact she's not enthused about the possibility of Adachi having a crush on her means she's just scared. It's equally possible and actually more likely she just doesn't want Adachi to put the moves on her because she doesn't feel the same way.

Yeah, I think this is a big chapter for explaining Shimamura's viewpoint. She's just scared.

I'm not sure how the fact she's not enthused about the possibility of Adachi having a crush on her means she's just scared. It's equally possible and actually more likely she just doesn't want Adachi to put the moves on her because she doesn't feel the same way.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I think she's just slow to come around and also terribly uneasy. Denial can be VERY powerful. I like the way the author is portraying that, because it feels realistic to me. (Same thing happened with me.)

last edited at Jun 27, 2019 4:30PM

^ It really doesn't look like denial to me. Yuu from Bloom Into You was in denial; you could tell because her thoughts and her actions where somewhat at odds. Shimamura seems more like she's just not interested.

last edited at Jun 27, 2019 4:39PM

That's because Shima seem to doesn't care about what other people think and maybe deosn'tn care about love too. She is also way too much dense, a lot of people could guess that Adachi is giga gay for Shima.

doesn't care about love too

That seems more likely.

To be fair, it's also more like Shima doesn't care about a lot of things

"Seeing her so incredibly delighted once again caused me to grow suspicious. No, stop. I shook those thoughts away."

She's totally doing her best to deny that Adachi might like her, and completely not prepared to deal with what that situation would entail. She's not been terribly overt about any sort of reciprocal stuff, but since Adachi is the one on her mind so much, and she has thoughts about playing with her lips and stuff, to me it's just her comin' round to the whole idea.

I remember she gave the thought way back https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/adachi_and_shimamura_ch04#19, i use the mange version because i don't have the patience to find it in the LN, but here Shima was already questionning if Adachi was into girls and what she will do if Adachi said she love her.

^ It really doesn't look like denial to me. Yuu from Bloom Into You was in denial; you could tell because her thoughts and her actions where somewhat at odds. Shimamura seems more like she's just not interested.

But Shimamura's thoughts and actions are at odds. If she wasn't at all interested in Adachi then there wouldn't be much stopping her from simply hanging out with her less and allowing that distance between them to quietly widen like she's spent a bunch of time thinking about with other people. It's not like Adachi's pursuing her that actively - look how hard it was for her to work up the courage just to ask her out. But Shimamura doesn't cut Adachi off at all. Adachi's too important to her. But she's scared of letting things escalate because she's afraid of having this turn into a relationship that actively asks things over, that she can't just engage with lazily and on her own terms and walk away from or forget about like she's allowed herself to do with everything else. So Shimamura cares about Adachi too much to simply rebuff her advances, but is too afraid of what might happen if things escalate to engage with that idea directly, so we get these long sequences of her inner narration of why This Thing We're Doing Is Totally Normal, Definitely Isn't That Other Thing It Kind Of Looks Like so that she can make it into something that's safe for both herself and Adachi.

...Or something. I think. Still early. We'll see how I feel in another chapter or two.

last edited at Jun 27, 2019 5:40PM

Well, she feel relieved that Adachi didn't yearn for her especially but just another person, probably she will have feel akward to say yes if Adachi was asking only for her.

God this is sooooo good.
1. I love how everyone in the comments started using "Shima" without anyone batting an eye.
2. I'll have to agree more with shadesofgreymoon, since we seem to think the same way with Shima throwing those possible "gay Adachi" thoughts on the back burner of her mind. Also, a certain alien girl interrupted Shima's thoughts there and most importantly interrupted their hand holding.
3. OMG Nagahino wasn't just some tease, this ship has sailed for me and I expect great (gay) things from those two from now on.
4. Still an amazing job with the translating team on this series, a few mistakes here and there but still gold.

Well, she feel relieved that Adachi didn't yearn for her especially but just another person, probably she will have feel akward to say yes if Adachi was asking only for her.

That ties into what I was saying, tho. Shimamura cares about Adachi and wants to be there for her, but she's afraid of having to actually invest in Adachi in a way that constrains her own aimless, easygoing lifestyle. If Adachi wants to spend Christmas with "somebody" then that's easy for Shimamura because she can just decide to do it out of the goodness of her heart and not think anything more of it and it can be a one-off thing if she wants it to be. If Adachi wants to spend Christmas with Shimamura specifically, suddenly Shimamura has to start worrying about whether she has any more lasting obligations or commitments to Adachi - that's what I think she's afraid of.

last edited at Jun 27, 2019 5:54PM

Still an amazing job with the translating team on this series, a few mistakes here and there but still gold.

sneikkimies does all the translation. :)

That ties into what I was saying, tho. Shimamura cares about Adachi and wants to be there for her, but she's afraid of having to actually invest in Adachi in a way that constrains her own aimless, easygoing lifestyle. If Adachi wants to spend Christmas with "somebody" then that's easy for Shimamura because she can just decide to do it out of the goodness of her heart and not think anything more of it and it can be a one-off thing if she wants it to be. If Adachi wants to spend Christmas with Shimamura specifically, suddenly Shimamura has to start worrying about whether she has any more lasting obligations or commitments to Adachi - that's what I think she's afraid of.

And THAT all ties in to what I've said, lol. She's backpedaling HARD. And we've had several hints that the reason that she keeps her distance, in general, with all her relationships is because she's had some sort of falling out with friends or peers in the recent past. (Since her mother revealed that Shimamura stopped bringing friends home after she entered high school.)

last edited at Jun 27, 2019 5:59PM

Shimamura seems less like she’s clueless/doesn’t reciprocate and more like she’s scared/in denial IMO

She's had some bad crap go down with friends or classmates in the past I think. That's why we've gotten little snippets of commentary that seem to point to that, why she's forced herself to pretty much avoid socializing with anyone to the point where she was skipping classes. So she's gotta work through cracking open that personal shell before she can work on opening that closet door.

Yeah, that's what I assumed. I can't wait for the flashback chapter. Maybe I should finally take duolingo seriously and I wouldn't have to wait.

I feel like Shimamura just hit puberty and stopped being as social as she was before, rather than having some dramatic falling out with her friends. It just wouldn’t fit the mood of the story. Shima is definitely displaying some gayness towards Adachi though (pro tip: no straight girls thinks about playing with another girl’s lips), although she’s definitely so deep in denial and fear that it will take a while for her to come to terms with it (as some other comments confirm as well). I was pretty much the same way. Managed to convince myself for a while that I hated a girl, when I really just had a crush on her, and i was way too scared to admit when other girls liked me. I can really relate to Shima on pretty much all accounts, including her views on relationships and how they seem like burdens. To me, it seems she’s just scared of expectations and the burdens of being in any meaningful relationship, let alone one with a girl.

it really isn't actually one sided but Shimamura is going through it at a much slower pace.

It is one-sided. There is no hints that Shimamura feels anything remotely romantic for Adanchi at this point. I'm sure that will change. But right now it's 200% one-sided.

I disagree, there's been many times through the LN and this chapter as well where it shows that Shima not only cares for Adachi more than she lets on, but also small moments and lines where it shows she may feel something else besides just friendship , only to backtrack on her own mind, get into denial mode and do many mental hoops just to make the situation seem like nothing special or that it's something "else". if there really wasn't anything at all there wouldn't be any need for half the thoughts she goes through when something with Adachi happens.

last edited at Jun 27, 2019 10:58PM

it really isn't actually one sided but Shimamura is going through it at a much slower pace.

It is one-sided. There is no hints that Shimamura feels anything remotely romantic for Adanchi at this point. I'm sure that will change. But right now it's 200% one-sided.

I disagree, there's been many times through the LN and this chapter as well where it shows that Shima not only cares for Adachi more than she lets on, but also small moments and lines where it shows she may feel something else just friendship ,only to backtrack on her own mind, get into denial mode and do many mental hoops just to make the situation seem like nothing special or something "else", if there really's wan't anything at all there wouldn't be any need for half the thoughts she goes through when something with Adachi happens

Remember when she went into that sauna with a dumbass plan to try and get Adachi's mom to treat Adachi better? Remember how even she was like "oh god what am I doing this isn't like me oh man"? lol

Remember when she went into that sauna with a dumbass plan to try and get Adachi's mom to treat Adachi better? Remember how even she was like "oh god what am I doing this isn't like me oh man"? lol

She's had quite a few moments like that! In this chapter it was "I'm not usually direct about stuff like this, buuuuttt I'm just gonna straight up ask Adachi WTF is up with her weirdness AND I am not going to let her escape".

Like, we can argue about whether her feelings are specifically romantic in nature or not yet all day, but for my money it's basically impossible to deny that Shimamura cares for Adachi in a way she doesn't - and takes a certain amount of effort not to - care for anyone else we've seen so far. The distinction between romantic and platonic affection is vague and kinda arbitrary anyway.

The distinction between romantic and platonic affection is vague and kinda arbitrary anyway.

It's because it's the first time Shima is so close to someone so she doesn't know how to act and doesn't seem to understand the affection of Adachi for her.

"Seeing her so incredibly delighted once again caused me to grow suspicious. No, stop. I shook those thoughts away."

She's totally doing her best to deny that Adachi might like her, and completely not prepared to deal with what that situation would entail. She's not been terribly overt about any sort of reciprocal stuff, but since Adachi is the one on her mind so much, and she has thoughts about playing with her lips and stuff, to me it's just her comin' round to the whole idea.

Yeah, Shimamura just seems like her denial is a lot stronger than Adachi. And shit, even Adachi is still kind of refusing to admit to herself that she's gay, even as she's asking a girl she likes out on a date. Shimamura's whole narrative is her immediately understanding how Adachi means the date request, getting nerves, and then desperately searching for some explanation for why it'd be no homo for her to accept a date with a girl. But also it never really occurs to her to turn Adachi down.

Like she's obviously nervous about their relationship getting more complicated, and then there's an undercurrent of gay self denial, where she's like struggling to contain her thoughts and contextualize things. She cuts off various too real lines of thought like 3 or 4 times, and she knows that the line about just wanting to go out with anybody on Christmas doesn't hold water, but she latches on to it as a reason why she can say yes without then having to like, redefine herself and her relationship with Adachi.

...Also, big yikes with the whole Mom walking in thing.

I guess I just don't like thinking of Shimamura as clueless or uninterested, since that's such an anime/manga cliche that exists only to draw things out longer.

Whereas with this series I feel like the writing is doing a good job of characterizing Shimamura as being in denial, and having reasons for it. She's not just an idiot.

I guess I just don't like thinking of Shimamura as clueless or uninterested, since that's such an anime/manga cliche that exists only to draw things out longer.

Whereas with this series I feel like the writing is doing a good job of characterizing Shimamura as being in denial, and having reasons for it. She's not just an idiot.

Yeah, I definitely agree. Shimamura having hangups -even minor ones- that make it hard for her to get into a serious relationship and that the story examines in some detail would be a way way way more interesting story than if she were just another Incredibly Dense Romance Lead.

w’ErE nOrMaL fRiEnDs

vol 2, ch 3 pg 128, "it might have be better" -> "it might be better"?