The timing of Kaoru sending text and immediate phone call from Risako reminds me of a delaying tactic for Reiichi to get his pants back on and hurry back to his house before Kaoru comes back. When Kaoru drops the information about being at the train station, Risako lightens up and Reiichi doesn’t have to hurry back so fast.

That’s a little detail readers haven’t picked up yet.

The state of Risako’s undress is a good clue.

last edited at Sep 29, 2019 9:44PM

The timing of Kaoru sending text and immediate phone call from Risako reminds me of a delaying tactic for Reiichi to get his pants back on and hurry back to his house before Kaoru comes back. When Kaoru drops the information about being at the train station, Risako lightens up and Reiichi doesn’t have to hurry back so fast.

That’s a little detail readers haven’t picked up yet.

The state of Risako’s undress is a good clue.

OMG.

Ideally I'd want to see Reiichi get caught out entirely and given the 3rd degree. I want him to suffer a bit for what he's done.

I wanted to see that around Chapter 12 or so.

26 chapters and counting . . .

I guess next chapter will be another characters drama, Kuroe x Miyabi, then next again, Uta’s classmate’s relationship flashback (I don’t remember her name anymore) then Uta and her mom’s drama, then Uta’s self monologue about her family & unrequited love to Kaoru, then back at Kaoru x Reichii and the mistress drama... then back to Kuroe x Miyabi drama again... then...

tMnR, is that you? lol

last edited at Sep 29, 2019 10:03PM

I guess next chapter will be another characters drama, Kuroe x Miyabi, then next again, Uta’s classmate’s relationship flashback (I don’t remember her name anymore) then Uta and her mom’s drama, then Uta’s self monologue about her family & unrequited love to Kaoru, then back at Kaoru x Reichii and the mistress drama... then back to Kuroe x Miyabi drama again... then...

Totally can see that, lol. How it’s a good writing? Writing is a big mess. Series start interesting and I was fully ready for angst and drama, but than this started dragging like hell. It not a slow burn, it is attempt to stretch this into more chapters. I continue to read this for the conclusion.

The timing of Kaoru sending text and immediate phone call from Risako reminds me of a delaying tactic for Reiichi to get his pants back on and hurry back to his house before Kaoru comes back. When Kaoru drops the information about being at the train station, Risako lightens up and Reiichi doesn’t have to hurry back so fast.

That’s a little detail readers haven’t picked up yet.

The state of Risako’s undress is a good clue.

Nah. Just because she's wearing a black top with spaghetti straps doesn't mean that she's in a state of undress.

And Reiichi is still in his dumpy white T and black sweatpants with bed head. Yeah sure he could have rushed home and put them back on but meh. There was no expectation that Kaoru would leave that day, much easier to fabricate an excuse to be with a mistress when you're already out of the house for "work". I mean, anything is possible, but.... I think that's kinda Reiiching... er, reaching.

I don't think the pace is slow, just people wanting to see the resolution already.

Sorry, not even close. The near-certainty of Reiichi cheating appeared in Chapter 10; it has yet to be confirmed in Chapter 26. And it’s not just slowness—Chapter 14 ends with a cliffhanger of Uta in the process of confessing to Kaoru; we get what happened next spoiler: not much in a flashback in Chapter 17.

And the side chapters with the friends seem to appear at random, with little reference to whatever’s happening (or not happening) in the main story.

So no, complaints about the pace are about both the tempo of progress and the structuring of the presentation of events, not about the need to resolve the plot.

At this point it’s not entirely clear what the plot even is.

(Next time: Kuro and Miyabi argue about kitchen organization!)

I only agree about the friends story being a drag. If you removed them, the pacing for me is good. Just because the cheating hasn't progressed doesn't mean it's slow. Because this is a character based story, and not a plot based. Ever since then, there was a lot of character changing.

It feels like I made a mental note a while back that there seemed to be a lot of guilt over Something Bad that was keeping them all together, but I could be mixing it up with another manga (I have gotten this one and "My Brother's Wife"

I don't think this happened here, you're probably mixing them up. It was only hinted that Uta has issues with her parents, but not that they stay together because of guilt.

last edited at Sep 29, 2019 10:20PM

It feels like I made a mental note a while back that there seemed to be a lot of guilt over Something Bad that was keeping them all together, but I could be mixing it up with another manga (I have gotten this one and "My Brother's Wife"

I don't think this happened here, you're probably mixing them up. It was only hinted that Uta has issues with her parents, but not that they stay together because of guilt.

I made the effort to start to go back through, and lucky for me this was pretty near the beginning. That's what I was talking about, the part where it's said Kaoru seemed to feel responsible for Uta's parents' divorce for some reason. I don't recall it being further explained later but I'm not keen on digging more right now to find out, heh.

last edited at Sep 29, 2019 10:33PM

It feels like I made a mental note a while back that there seemed to be a lot of guilt over Something Bad that was keeping them all together, but I could be mixing it up with another manga (I have gotten this one and "My Brother's Wife"

I don't think this happened here, you're probably mixing them up. It was only hinted that Uta has issues with her parents, but not that they stay together because of guilt.

It’s not surprising people have forgotten about it, but this series once looked like it was going to be all about Something Bad From the Past.

What we know:

Uta and Reiichi’s mother was a medical doctor who was friends with Kaoru’s mom, and who treated her before the mom’s death. That treatment led to U & R’s mother’s medical license being suspended, and the breakup of the family.

We also know the Kaoru confessed to Reiichi several times when they were younger, and he always refused her. But at some point after Kaoru’s mother’s death, he abruptly agreed to marry her.

We don’t know why K’s mother died, or what role the other mother had in her death.
We don’t know why Reiichi changed his mind about Kaoru.
We don’t know why the father is estranged from U & R, or actually anything at all about him or what he does.

So there is a considerable amount of guilt involved between the two families, but whose exactly it is or why, we have had only vague hints, and not even those for quite some time.

last edited at Sep 30, 2019 9:16PM

Although I love Uta's weird pigtail friend, her whole thing is baffling and has no clear thematic relationship with anything else. Is she ace? Is she just emotionally closed off? Like... legit a sociopath? I thought maybe the idea was that nontraditional, weird, idiosyncratic relationships are okay, so she and whatshername can make it work despite her inability to be in romantic love, but now I'm not sure.

Kuro isn't even remotely incapable of romantic love, just unwilling (by this point it's mellowed more to "merely reluctant" tho) due to acute disillusionement with the whole concept on account of her father; this was pretty clearly spelled out in the narrative. The last we saw those two Kuro was trying to adjust her comfort zone to accommodate Miyabi's desire for affectionate gestures and generally be more considerate of her while the latter was trying to adjust her relationship expectations to not push Kuro's limits too much (also turning into a blushing mess at the mention of -shock horror- kiss on the lips...).
Basically they're trying to reach a middle ground both are comfortable on.

I think the problem here then is that it's not really very believable. Plenty of people have messed up relationships with their fathers and then go on to have intimacy issues, but they don't act like Kuro. They don't have weird one-sided, platonic friendships that they let the other person call "a relationship." It'd just take a lot more to explain what on earth is going on.

And then again, thematically, what's this have to do with Uta and Kaoru?

(also shouldn't Kuro and Uta address how weird it is two lesbians became best friends just by coincidence?)

Sorry, not even close. The near-certainty of Reiichi cheating appeared in Chapter 10; it has yet to be confirmed in Chapter 26. And it’s not just slowness—Chapter 14 ends with a cliffhanger of Uta in the process of confessing to Kaoru; we get what happened next spoiler: not much in a flashback in Chapter 17.

I don't think the cheating needs confirmation, personally, it's freaking obvious. But I wish something would happen because of i-(most recent chapter) I wish something ELSE would happen because of it.

And the side chapters with the friends seem to appear at random, with little reference to whatever’s happening (or not happening) in the main story.

So no, complaints about the pace are about both the tempo of progress and the structuring of the presentation of events, not about the need to resolve the plot.

At this point it’s not entirely clear what the plot even is.

(Next time: Kuro and Miyabi argue about kitchen organization!)

I only agree about the friends story being a drag. If you removed them, the pacing for me is good. Just because the cheating hasn't progressed doesn't mean it's slow. Because this is a character based story, and not a plot based. Ever since then, there was a lot of character changing.

Agreed. If the friend's plot had a closer thematic tie to the main narrative, or if it had taught Uta some kind of lesson about her relationship with Kaoru, it even could've served the story. It just drags things out, as it is. It feels like it's just there to assure us that no, Chloe is not Uta's romance safety net.

It feels like I made a mental note a while back that there seemed to be a lot of guilt over Something Bad that was keeping them all together, but I could be mixing it up with another manga (I have gotten this one and "My Brother's Wife"

I don't think this happened here, you're probably mixing them up. It was only hinted that Uta has issues with her parents, but not that they stay together because of guilt.

No, that's not that far off. It's suggested that Reiichi's mother was found either legally or ethically responsible for the death of Kaoru's mother, which is probably why Reiichi relented to her romantic pursuit despite being into Risako. It's more like they -got- together because of guilt than they're staying together because of guilt. (although guilt informs a lot of Reiichi's character at this point, because he clearly still cares about Kaoru even though he's cheating on her.

This latest chapter just....Uhhhhgh. Kids can be great, but this is not a good reason to have one, and I can't imagine this fixing their problems. It isn't unrealistic, but it is super depressing. I'm hoping things develop in another direction before this really goes anywhere.

(also shouldn't Kuro and Uta address how weird it is two lesbians became best friends just by coincidence?)

This isn't all that weird. People seek like-minded friends, and a lot of times unconciously that can lead people to seek out, if not people who share their sexuality, at least people who seem less likely to judge it. As a consequence, people with atypical sexual preferences often gravitate toward each other. A lot of my friends are gay or bi, and I wasn't particularly looking to make that happen.

Hey we don't forget that reiichi didn't say yes to make the baby and that if risako asks kaoru that now that uta is gone nothing prevents him from making a child it's just a strategy.
Risako seems to be becoming the antagonist of history more than reiichi himself. I even have the impression that now that uta is gone risako will fully let go...
The worst part is that kaoru doesn't even really want to have a baby, it's not going to go far with this brutal desire.
Personally I remain on the idea that the author wants to put at the lowest kaoru and that is where an opening will be possible for the return of uta to "save" it.

last edited at Sep 29, 2019 11:22PM

This is heavier than I expected it to go...
Baby thing is the nasty kind of twist (-_____-""""")

Kaoru is the epitome of everything awful in a side character and I don't want my Uta-chan with this ... in any way whatsoever, let's not talk things through, let's have a baby and bury everything in the past, Kaoru you piece of s***
From now on I'm shiping my Sayaka-sama with Uta-chan even though they're not in the same manga universe, but Godoka will allow it I'm certain

The timing of Kaoru sending text and immediate phone call from Risako reminds me of a delaying tactic for Reiichi to get his pants back on and hurry back to his house before Kaoru comes back. When Kaoru drops the information about being at the train station, Risako lightens up and Reiichi doesn’t have to hurry back so fast.

That’s a little detail readers haven’t picked up yet.

The state of Risako’s undress is a good clue.

Nah. Just because she's wearing a black top with spaghetti straps doesn't mean that she's in a state of undress.

And Reiichi is still in his dumpy white T and black sweatpants with bed head. Yeah sure he could have rushed home and put them back on but meh. There was no expectation that Kaoru would leave that day, much easier to fabricate an excuse to be with a mistress when you're already out of the house for "work". I mean, anything is possible, but.... I think that's kinda Reiiching... er, reaching.

I think the “black top with spaghetti straps” is also known as a bra. As for Reiichi, he’s on his day off, so he can easily saunter over to his mistress’s place for a little nookie, it’s pretty close to his place.

An extra detail is Risako’s hair isn’t well brushed, as if she’s been having a good time with Reiichi before Kaoru sent the text she’s heading home.

last edited at Sep 30, 2019 12:25AM

tMnR reading Citrus:

hm... that's cute...

tMnR reading Citrus chapter 33:

o-ho, that's cute, truly cute ....

tMnR reading the rushed ending of Citrus:

pfhahahahah... that's cute indeed, now watch me Saburouta-sensei, mhwahahahahaha

The timing of Kaoru sending text and immediate phone call from Risako reminds me of a delaying tactic for Reiichi to get his pants back on and hurry back to his house before Kaoru comes back. When Kaoru drops the information about being at the train station, Risako lightens up and Reiichi doesn’t have to hurry back so fast.

That’s a little detail readers haven’t picked up yet.

The state of Risako’s undress is a good clue.

daaamn. nice catch. definitely missed that the first time.

here i thought kaoru was reacting the way she was because she knows risako is lying about the day she fell, but there is a good chance she might be picking up on a what you noticed. the flashback might be a hint to the fact that she believes their affair is still going on.

maybe the whole baby thing is a way of her pushing him to see what he does. like, maybe she's hoping he'll have to deal with the fact that he doesn't want to get completely stuck in a relationship he's not really enjoying at all. if he balks, its just more evidence.

he seems to be the type of man who thinks that carrying on in a dead relationship is for the best as he doesnt want to hurt kaoru. the social repercussions, shaking up her life, and maybe even the fact that he feels guilty about what happened with their mothers. it isnt that he doesnt care for kaoru, but he doesnt want to be with her either. pretty shitty, but typical. its hard to see that ending things clearly will be much less painful than dragging on the failing relationship.

my guess is that there are like 2-3 more volumes of them finally getting divorced, uta getting into college and then she and kaoru move in together and get hella gay. i hope at least. if this has a tragedy ending i will be sad. i doubt it will, and it would certainly be a bold move by the author, but i still want this to end the obvious and happy way.

edit: also, i really enjoy when i can read a bunch of chapters at once of a new-to-me story. when a new chapter comes out in a month or so, i won't still be super involved with the story/characters as i am now and it won't have the same impact as reading it thru in one shot.

last edited at Sep 30, 2019 1:45AM

expectation:
kaoru: we need to talk abt many things im feeling uneasy in our relationship

reality:
kaoru: me baby go make it

jokes aside
the fact that reiichi is so aloof abt his wife’s state of mind is so annoying sjdkdkdks 90% of the time it seems he doesn’t even like (or care) abt her. i honestly dont even remember the last time he hugged her? or kissed? or just gave her comfort in general. he’s not an antagonist just a bad husband. what is worse is everyone excusing his behavior as just “reiichi is like that” and kaoru is always like “haha yeah i guess” honestly where is the side character that tells the harsh stuff so they can to put some sense in kaoru’s head

sometimes i think if this story would be better if kaoru and reiichi were at least mildly shippable and the whole angst were abt “my husband is such a good man but here i am lusting after his lil sis” or something

last edited at Sep 30, 2019 1:58AM

I think the problem here then is that it's not really very believable. Plenty of people have messed up relationships with their fathers and then go on to have intimacy issues, but they don't act like Kuro. They don't have weird one-sided, platonic friendships that they let the other person call "a relationship." It'd just take a lot more to explain what on earth is going on.

Not sure what you aren't getting here, it's spelled out pretty clearly in the narrative. Kuro's gone and derived from her family circumstances some extremely cynical and skeptical ideas about romance (debatable to what degree her intimacy issues stem from this, and not really important anyway) and it's taking her some time and discomfort to revise them is all pretty much. Ch 23-24 is just about entirely about her and others reflecting on it and how she's changing.

And then again, thematically, what's this have to do with Uta and Kaoru?

My guess for the authorial intent there is "compare & contrast" - specifically how the brats are proactively trying to make their relationship work by talking things out and trying to adjust for the rough patches (in practice mostly amounting to Kuro being rather difficult girlfriend material but hey, she's trying) versus the adults conspicuously failing to even try any of that, instead bottling things in and generally failing to confront and address their various issues.

last edited at Sep 30, 2019 2:07AM

Mehhhhh, I find this annoying the way they're trying to make this husband such a bad guy just so it's easy for her to ditch him. Like yeah let's make him this awful neglective husband but also give him the possibility of being a cheater

Like these two really need to just talk. I honestly don't see the problem with the guy just wanting to have a day to laze around considering he spent his only other day off doing a lot of work, but kaoru just takes it like (uta would never do that to me) but uta doesn't have a full time job and neither does she, so it is different

I don't think I've seen kaoru and her husband ever have a proper honest conversation, it's just kaoru angsting over things. And now this development is just out right ridiculous. She's having all these doubts so clearly the obvious thing to do is suggest having a baby. wtf karou

You guys should just TALK but no clearly instead we should just make this guy even more awful because then it'll be a nice clean resolution

Hey train-kun or truck-kun I hope you're reading this. See this is what you are going to do. You need to run over this dumbell known as Kaoru. She's going to jump out in front of you. You're gonna be all like WHAT THE FUCK oh not this shit again. Then que Uta is walking down the street heading over to Kaoru's place. She hears the nitty gritty news from her own mom that Reiichi the stupid fuck of a brother cheated on Kaoru with that nasty ho Risako after receiving a well deserved bitch slap to the face. Big fat red hand print with a dash of discarded marriage ring straight to the forehead. Make that pig bleed!

Kaoru: KAMI-SAMA I'M COMING FOR YOU!

Uta: BAKA!

Uta's best impression of a linebacker tackling Kaoru out of the way from truck-kun or train-kun. Both of them are on the ground crying.

Truck-kun or Train-kun: K, byeeeeee! Just going to honk at you two to make it seem legit.

Kaoru: You should of just let me die Uta.

Uta: Nah, you're too stupid to die in this manga. Also I'm going to hit you right in the feels again. Daisuki da yo. BAKA BAKA BAKA!

Kaoru: Me too. I'm sorry I was born with a limited amount of braincells (severe lack of life experience). I love you too.

They kiss (& fuck, big IF but probably not gonna happen, i don't care at this point) THE END.

last edited at Sep 30, 2019 6:27AM

Maybe I'm hecka sleep deprived, but didn't Kaoru think that Risako wasn't lying? That made me think of a scenario where Kaoru imagined Risako was with Reiichi, and that made her trip and fall. Sure imagined it cuz she wants out? Or where's too obsessive? Like the whole reason they're together, it sounds like Reiichi just got worn down by Kaoru's begging for him to love her. And I think if the person you love doesn't really love you, it can make you crazy and miserable because you don't trust them.

Maybe I'm hecka sleep deprived, but didn't Kaoru think that Risako wasn't lying? That made me think of a scenario where Kaoru imagined Risako was with Reiichi, and that made her trip and fall. Sure imagined it cuz she wants out? Or where's too obsessive? Like the whole reason they're together, it sounds like Reiichi just got worn down by Kaoru's begging for him to love her. And I think if the person you love doesn't really love you, it can make you crazy and miserable because you don't trust them.

Risako is a pathological liar. Kaoru knows this deep down but has yet to act on it.

Maybe I'm hecka sleep deprived, but didn't Kaoru think that Risako wasn't lying?

No. She was commenting on how great Risako was at lying, so great that she sounded 100% truthful, but Kaoru knows better from experience. First she had a momentary flashback to high school where Risako was lying to her about Reiichi not being her type (they dated in high school so clearly he was her type) to bolster the opinion that she was a professional level liar. Then of course she caught her in a lie about not seeing Reiichi since the wedding, though clearly Risako has no idea she was seen so didn't create a diversionary lie to explain herself.

And I will have to agree to disagree that Risako was over banging Reiichi or vice versa. She's not in a bra, and she doesn't have bed hair imo, she's just casual and chilled out. She's also not in Reiichi's apartment because the layout is different, and I don't think Reiichi would be stupid enough to go to his mistress on his day off when his wife could come home any minute without warning, especially when it is so much easier to skulk around with a vague "late at work" or "away from town for work" sort of excuse like we've seen him use...

Although I love Uta's weird pigtail friend, her whole thing is baffling and has no clear thematic relationship with anything else. Is she ace? Is she just emotionally closed off? Like... legit a sociopath? I thought maybe the idea was that nontraditional, weird, idiosyncratic relationships are okay, so she and whatshername can make it work despite her inability to be in romantic love, but now I'm not sure.

Kuro isn't even remotely incapable of romantic love, just unwilling (by this point it's mellowed more to "merely reluctant" tho) due to acute disillusionement with the whole concept on account of her father; this was pretty clearly spelled out in the narrative. The last we saw those two Kuro was trying to adjust her comfort zone to accommodate Miyabi's desire for affectionate gestures and generally be more considerate of her while the latter was trying to adjust her relationship expectations to not push Kuro's limits too much (also turning into a blushing mess at the mention of -shock horror- kiss on the lips...).
Basically they're trying to reach a middle ground both are comfortable on.

I think the problem here then is that it's not really very believable. Plenty of people have messed up relationships with their fathers and then go on to have intimacy issues, but they don't act like Kuro. They don't have weird one-sided, platonic friendships that they let the other person call "a relationship." It'd just take a lot more to explain what on earth is going on.

And then again, thematically, what's this have to do with Uta and Kaoru?

(also shouldn't Kuro and Uta address how weird it is two lesbians became best friends just by coincidence?)

Kuro acts more like an asexual than just a person with intimacy issues although I suppose it could be argued either way. Have you ever seen a real world asexual relationship? Often, but not always one partner is asexual and the other is not and it looks a lot like what those two have going on except Kuro seems to have some non-sexual intimacy problems on top of that.

I'm not sure two lesbians becoming friends coincidentally is particularly weird, maybe a bit uncommon. In my high school group of friends all but one of my close female friends ended up being bi just by coincidence. That was 3 out of 4 and the one that "wasn't" admitted to finding some other girls attractive but never actually got together with anyone beyond a drunk kiss, I mean the odds on that have to be pretty rare but it wasn't really something we talked about at the time.