Yikes, I just caught up with all the recent stuff, and I strongly dislike the way things played out between Mio and Shizuka. The thing that bothers me the most is that in their confrontation, Shizuka -lied- about her feelings for Kaoru. Mio obviously saw through it, but it really bothered me that she decided to lie on top of everything else even after being caught. Then, to make matters worse, she flips the conversation to be about how unfair Mio is being for speaking her mind instead of just giving in immediately. The worst part is that this tactic is successful, and thought that Shizuka has when entering the room "I'm sure Mio will forgive me because Mio is kind" ends up being correct. She suspects Mio will be such a pushover that they can get back together, and she's right.
In fact, Mio begins to blame herself for the anxiety attacks in the next two chapters caused by Shizuka's betrayal. On top of that, Shizuka hasn't given any promises or even really tried to set her mind at ease. Even simple reassurances like "I promise I won't leave you or kiss other people" would go a long way. She's also not bothered to explain Kaoru to Mio (sure Mio hasn't asked, but she should volunteer that now).
I hoped there was going to be some more development here where Shizuka actually had to take some responsibility for some of the huge amount of emotional trauma she has dealt to this girl, but apparently no, we're going to treat it like Mio's fault for having the unmitigated gall to trust the word of somebody she loves.
The fact that the latest Mio chapter is a kiss montage with everything fully back to normal irritates me strongly. I want them to stay together, but I feel like Shizuka needs to understand just how badly she hurt this girl first. She clearly doesn't.
The irony of this whole thing is that Shizuka did to Mio the same thing that Kaoru did to Shizuka back in middle school. She fooled around with another girl and showed no value for their relationship. Shizuka broke up with Kaoru for that. Mio forgives her, and she doesn't seem to show enough gratitude for this.
There are ways the author can salvage this story, still. I'm just pretty disappointed that this situation was basically dropped after the talk in Chapter 157.
last edited at Jan 4, 2020 12:56PM