I am not a big fan of Kyo, thogh. She literally heard "I love XX so much, I just want them to be truely happy, even if that's not with me" and she still runs her ego-trip. I get where she's coming from, but that chapter was from her POV and I was missing a certain kind of self-reflection on her side there :|
Kinda a Judgment of Solomon vibe...

Agreed. She's clearly experiencing a lot of pain, but if she cared enough to think about it, she'd pretty quickly realize that her initial impression of Nika was incorrect. But it doesn't benefit her to accept that Nika might actually genuinely love Kurumi, so she's just unwilling to even consider it.

Truck-kun 'boutta turn this into an isekai

So proud of Nika this chapter. She's the best. This was an extremely cathartic read after so much suspense. I was rooting for these two so hard.

I'm still curious about how Kyouko will come to terms with her feelings. I want her to be happy, despite her being immature and selfish at times.

Okay, the whole suspense about the car "crash" feels really pointless and unnecessary now.

It's possible that's just the sound of Jun dropping his bike, which would be pretty hilariously anticlimactic resolution.

Kudos for the prediction, friend.

im just happy this got another chapter :)

Okay, the whole suspense about the car "crash" feels really pointless and unnecessary now.

It's all about that cliffhanger.

I don't think the car crash suspense was unnecessary, imho. Jun saved her and she was grateful to him for that but it didn't influence her affections at all. She knows, no matter what, now, that she and Jun can be friends but that it will never be more than that. I think, as a literary plot device, it was a tad overly dramatic, yet it also served as a sort of physical manifestation of her acceptance of Jun being nothing more than someone she used to love but has moved on from.

I don't think the car crash suspense was unnecessary, imho. Jun saved her and she was grateful to him for that but it didn't influence her affections at all. She knows, no matter what, now, that she and Jun can be friends but that it will never be more than that. I think, as a literary plot device, it was a tad overly dramatic, yet it also served as a sort of physical manifestation of her acceptance of Jun being nothing more than someone she used to love but has moved on from.

The thing is, the way it cut out framed the suspenseful question as, "Is Nika about to get hit by a car?" which is completely unrelated to the point of the story. If the goal was to create suspense about how Nika would react to Jun, then the chapter should've ended with her diving into the street and him grabbing her arm to pull her back. That would've been far more effective, both literally and symbolically. We'd have her and Jun in physical contact, and we'd have Nika attempting to to recapture the glove Kurumi gave her with Jun holding her back.

Now that would've been a good cliff-hanger. It would've perfectly framed the actual dramatic question of the story in a single picture. In its current form, the cliff-hanger is baffling, irritating, and pointless.

F for Bike-kun

I'm still curious about how Kyouko will come to terms with her feelings. I want her to be happy, despite her being immature and selfish at times.

Yeah, i don't know what she mean by ending her love. I thought bring Kurumi to the park was about confess to her. Did she give up on that ? Did i'm stupid to have forget that ?

F for Bike-kun

I'm still curious about how Kyouko will come to terms with her feelings. I want her to be happy, despite her being immature and selfish at times.

Yeah, i don't know what she mean by ending her love. I thought bring Kurumi to the park was about confess to her. Did she give up on that ? Did i'm stupid to have forget that ?

I think she just realizes that Kurumi doesn't feel the same about her, and that when she confesses she'll get rejected.

F for Bike-kun

I'm still curious about how Kyouko will come to terms with her feelings. I want her to be happy, despite her being immature and selfish at times.

Yeah, i don't know what she mean by ending her love. I thought bring Kurumi to the park was about confess to her. Did she give up on that ? Did i'm stupid to have forget that ?

I think she is the one responsible for calling Nika to the park, when ahe said her love ended I think she already accepted that. She went away for Nika to talk with Kurumi.
If Kyouko didn't tell Nika where to find Kurumi it would be difficult for them to meet right? Maybe she asked Kurumi's mom and Kyou will come back and we will have a big confrontation, but I guess we will habe to wait and see

Heck yeaa

I don't think the car crash suspense was unnecessary, imho. Jun saved her and she was grateful to him for that but it didn't influence her affections at all. She knows, no matter what, now, that she and Jun can be friends but that it will never be more than that. I think, as a literary plot device, it was a tad overly dramatic, yet it also served as a sort of physical manifestation of her acceptance of Jun being nothing more than someone she used to love but has moved on from.

The thing is, the way it cut out framed the suspenseful question as, "Is Nika about to get hit by a car?" which is completely unrelated to the point of the story. If the goal was to create suspense about how Nika would react to Jun, then the chapter should've ended with her diving into the street and him grabbing her arm to pull her back. That would've been far more effective, both literally and symbolically. We'd have her and Jun in physical contact, and we'd have Nika attempting to to recapture the glove Kurumi gave her with Jun holding her back.

You’re basically right, but I think the situation is as much an artifact of serial publication as it is of authorial duplicity or crassness. If this whole story were told as continuous, an author would almost certainly still depict that moment as a “page-turning cliffhanger,” with the “crash” at the bottom of one two-page spread and the resolution on the next page to be turned over.

So since a kind of cliffhanger was in the cards anyway, I imagine making it the end of the chapter seemed like a no-brainer in terms of pacing.

F for Bike-kun

I'm still curious about how Kyouko will come to terms with her feelings. I want her to be happy, despite her being immature and selfish at times.

Yeah, i don't know what she mean by ending her love. I thought bring Kurumi to the park was about confess to her. Did she give up on that ? Did i'm stupid to have forget that ?

I think she just realizes that Kurumi doesn't feel the same about her, and that when she confesses she'll get rejected.

Those were Kurumi's thoughts, not Kyouko's. The entire section in the park is from Kurumi's perspective.

I don't think the car crash suspense was unnecessary, imho. Jun saved her and she was grateful to him for that but it didn't influence her affections at all. She knows, no matter what, now, that she and Jun can be friends but that it will never be more than that. I think, as a literary plot device, it was a tad overly dramatic, yet it also served as a sort of physical manifestation of her acceptance of Jun being nothing more than someone she used to love but has moved on from.

The thing is, the way it cut out framed the suspenseful question as, "Is Nika about to get hit by a car?" which is completely unrelated to the point of the story. If the goal was to create suspense about how Nika would react to Jun, then the chapter should've ended with her diving into the street and him grabbing her arm to pull her back. That would've been far more effective, both literally and symbolically. We'd have her and Jun in physical contact, and we'd have Nika attempting to to recapture the glove Kurumi gave her with Jun holding her back.

Now that would've been a good cliff-hanger. It would've perfectly framed the actual dramatic question of the story in a single picture. In its current form, the cliff-hanger is baffling, irritating, and pointless.

There would have been a better cliffhanger like you said, like having the ending of the previous chapter be longer and actually end right where Jun says “wait.”

However, you should know that mangakas or their management think more about cash lol. They want people to all act out and be frantic and get em talking. Like “buy the next chapter to find out!” Or whatever. So having a fake “crash” at the end was exactly what they thought would have people freak out and talking lol.

You’re basically right, but I think the situation is as much an artifact of serial publication as it is of authorial duplicity or crassness. If this whole story were told as continuous, an author would almost certainly still depict that moment as a “page-turning cliffhanger,” with the “crash” at the bottom of one two-page spread and the resolution on the next page to be turned over.

So since a kind of cliffhanger was in the cards anyway, I imagine making it the end of the chapter seemed like a no-brainer in terms of pacing.

I don't think that's necessarily true. Yes, serial publication encourages cliff-hangers and other narrative tricks to try to maintain engagement, but I can't help but see this as a complete waste of an opportunity.

There would have been a better cliffhanger like you said, like having the ending of the previous chapter be longer and actually end right where Jun says “wait.”

However, you should know that mangakas or their management think more about cash lol. They want people to all act out and be frantic and get em talking. Like “buy the next chapter to find out!” Or whatever. So having a fake “crash” at the end was exactly what they thought would have people freak out and talking lol.

I think when you're this obvious about it, it causes more frustration than anticipation.

last edited at Feb 17, 2020 3:07PM

F for Bike-kun

I'm still curious about how Kyouko will come to terms with her feelings. I want her to be happy, despite her being immature and selfish at times.

Yeah, i don't know what she mean by ending her love. I thought bring Kurumi to the park was about confess to her. Did she give up on that ? Did i'm stupid to have forget that ?

I think she just realizes that Kurumi doesn't feel the same about her, and that when she confesses she'll get rejected.

Those were Kurumi's thoughts, not Kyouko's. The entire section in the park is from Kurumi's perspective.

I guess it's "I'm stupid to not realise that" option for me then.

What is this? None of the characters are particularly bad people, and it's not as if they have done anything that wrong. But somehow I don't want any of them to end up with each other. Maybe it's just this author that writes characters where it seems like the best ending would be for the ferris wheel to fall over on them.

What is this? None of the characters are particularly bad people, and it's not as if they have done anything that wrong. But somehow I don't want any of them to end up with each other. Maybe it's just this author that writes characters where it seems like the best ending would be for the ferris wheel to fall over on them.

That's funny - I feel the opposite. None of them are perfect and they've all been a bit immature about it, but I can't help but really root for everyone. I want them all to be happy. They all feel well rounded and excellently characterized.

I think she is the one responsible for calling Nika to the park, when she said her love ended I think she already accepted that. She went away for Nika to talk with Kurumi.

I agree, there's literally no way Nika could find Kurumi like that in a big park on her own.

And the long bathroom trip? Not by accident that it perfectly coincides with Nika's arrival, eh?

Poor Kyouko! She should find someone better than those two anyhow... I like 'side-character ships' a lot actually :-)

last edited at Feb 18, 2020 1:48PM

I think she is the one responsible for calling Nika to the park, when she said her love ended I think she already accepted that. She went away for Nika to talk with Kurumi.

I agree, there's literally no way Nika could find Kurumi like that in a big park on her own.

And the long bathroom trip? Not by accident that it perfectly coincides with Nika's arrival, eh?

Poor Kyouko! She should find someone better than those two anyhow... I like 'side-character ships' a lot actually :-)

I'm thinking differently, Kyouko told Nikaidou that they go to the park when Nikaidou come to ask her advices so Nikaidou know they were here. I believe that Nikaidou have gone to the park after finishing talking with Jun then see Kyouko that have understand the situation and told her where Kurumi was.

WTF. You guys thought last cliffhanger was bad? Well, new one is on another whole level of terrible. I feel so stupid for hoping for them to just happily date now without more annoying drama. They just can't catch a break. Being lesbian is suffering.

EDIT/ Removed spoiler marks.

last edited at Jun 4, 2020 7:06AM

WTF. You guys thought last cliffhanger was bad? Well, new one is on another whole level of terrible. I feel so stupid for hoping for them to just happily date now without more annoying drama. They just can't catch a break. Being a lesbian is suffering.

Oh well

WTF. You guys thought last cliffhanger was bad? Well, new one is on another whole level of terrible. I feel so stupid for hoping for them to just happily date now without more annoying drama. They just can't catch a break. Being lesbian is suffering.

Let me take a wild guess: They're about to kiss at the end of the chapter, and then an out-of-control cotton candy cart, unmanned, appears out of nowhere and is about to hit one of the main characters.

Edit: Would a more apt manga title be: Between Suffering and Eros? Or Between Bad Cliffhangers and Suffering?

last edited at May 22, 2020 6:57AM

^ Well, at least we got some mildly funny comments out of it.