Why would you wanna be with someone knowing you're always gonna be 2nd choice. Have some self respect :x but then again, this is a manga lol

Aya is a lost cause in more ways than one. It's kind of sad when people let themselves be used and victimized. I pray to the yuri gods that Aya and Sei don't end up together. And for that matter, I hope Haruki can nope herself far away from that mess too before she gets involved anymore and gets corrupted by that nightmare any more than she already has been.

This is MUL but sexier and more toxic lol.

This is MUL but sexier and more toxic lol.

I hope it’ll have a better ending .-.

Aya is a lost cause in more ways than one. It's kind of sad when people let themselves be used and victimized. I pray to the yuri gods that Aya and Sei don't end up together. And for that matter, I hope Haruki can nope herself far away from that mess too before she gets involved anymore and gets corrupted by that nightmare any more than she already has been.

Haruki is Anti-Sei she must realize that in order to save Aya she must accept that they can no longer be together and this is why she must visit Sakai and talk to her. She must come clean tell Aya about her involvement give her the evidence and then let go and walk away only then will Aya realize what Yoru meant with "make Sei happy" she can't the only way she can do so is by leaving instead of playing the savior for tragic romance novel victim Sei.

This manga is a take on toxic relationships and sadly people can stay to long in them once Aya realizes that her only friend & family is gone and she can no longer safely detach herself from Haruki her ulterior motives will fade away and she might realize what love really is.

And I pray for Sei x Mochida!^^

This is MUL but sexier and more toxic lol.

what's mul?

That flashback strongly reminded me of a quote from Carmilla:

"You must come with me, loving me, to death; or else hate me, and still come with me, and hating me through death and after. There is no such word as indifference in my apathetic nature."

Well the author did Endou Yasuko stalks the night which dealt with you guessed it vampires! Endou is Aya and Sei is her Sire! And Haruki is emergency rations!^^

This is MUL but sexier and more toxic lol.

what's mul?

My Unrequited Love, which just ended.

I think if Aya didn't show up, Yoru might've begun to pursue something with Sei. As disturbed Yoru is by Sei's obsession with her, I do think she takes comfort in knowing there's always someone who wants her (that in at least one person's eyes she is their number 1) because all the guys she falls in love with always end up cheating on her.

I think it was very common for Yoru to go running to Sei as a rebound in the past so it's what she's doing here. There's a reason why Sei hasn't been able to let go all these years...I think on some level Sei knows that Yoru still cares for her (or that Yoru is also unhealthily dependant on her as well) so she keeps holding onto the hope that Yoru will come back to her.

Edit: ok yeah rereading the last 2 chapters that is basically what is being implied. Yoru straight up asks Sei what Sei would do if she were to break up with her husband (implying she might be interested in a relationship) and the scene before they graduate with Sei saying she'll always be waiting for Yoru no matter what so Yoru knows she'll always have someone to fall back on when she's hurt.

But if the series is ending soon and Yoru really won't be showing up again, by not giving Aya her contact info, she's finally breaking them out of this toxic cycle (that Sei straight up ranted about in the previous chapter)

It does seem like Yoru recognizes that she and Sei will not be truly happy together because Sei doesn’t really love her. She represents an idea for Sei and Sei feels she will only be happy if she’s with Yoru, unable to comprehend there are other options so she conditioned herself to be perpetually miserable all these years as a way to assure that happiness can only be attained with Yoru.

Yoru might not be in love with Sei but I’m
reading it as though she does care about her to some degree so she’s letting her go completely when she finds out that someone out there might be able to actually take care of Sei in the way she never will be able to.

I wouldn’t be surprised if in the end, we find out Yoru divorced her husband and just chose to be alone as a way to fully bring her arc to a full circle.

Sei has a lot to atone for, not only for Aya and Sakai, but for her self. She needs to completely heal and delete her conditioning but the fact that she’s apologized to Aya and not mock her feelings means there’s some hope.

The problem is Aya now... who believes she’ll never be able to compete with Yoru. She might just use Sei’s unhealthy coping mechanism and start sleeping with Haruki.

Well I'm glad Haruki is going to meet Sakai soon who will teach her to let go and realizing Mochida is manipulating her since chapter 8 and witholding facts. I honestly want her to derail any attempts of Aya sleeping with her using her to improve her relationship with Sei any further and even when Aya should be succesful after she came clean still cut ties with her and remove herself!

Sei has no other choice but to quit this relationship she projected Yoru onto Aya since the beginning (footlicking/forceful kiss in the first chapter) and withholds crucial facts like what she did to Haruki (!male name! stand in for Yoru's men and her younger self) and she still play's victim.

And Aya must take a page from what Sakai and Haruki did and leave! That is how she makes Sei happy! And will realize whom she really loves! She also is not in love with Sei!

I hope Hosono Sensei is gay!^^ Kindergarten Sei: "Take that Mochi!"

last edited at Oct 21, 2020 11:44AM

I love this manga.

Realism doesn't get better than this. The characters are just like real people dealing with real problems the way it happens in the real world -- that is: thinking stuff by themselves, doing things their own way, and paying zero attention to politically correct tropes and public's choices. Genre savviness fails when trying to guess what's going to happen next: I can't for the life of me figure out how these poor girls are going to sort their (big tangled mess of) feelings and relationships.

This is the best.

I can't wait to see how this turns out because it's obviously hinting at Aya and Sei, but really, it could go either way.

I think we should just list the series as NSFW, already, and give the NSFW Chapters with Sex in them with the "Moderate Amounts of Sex" Tag. Seems like the most logical move considering every other chapter is NSFW and there's like 5 or 6 sex scene

No.

But why not? It just seems like the most logical move to at least label the whole series as NSFW. I also don't see why the chapters with sex in em shouldn't have the "Moderate Amounts of Sex" Tag. It just seems like the most obvious thing, y'know

Yeah, Sei still has a lot of baggage to work through first. In fact, it's so much baggage that it might not be possible for them to be together and Aya might have to just get over it. I'm not sure though. Sei believes herself to be unlovable and broken, and redemption for characters like that is usually something authors prioritize. There's also multiple foreshadowing flags at the end of earlier chapters that say that Aya and Haruki's relationship is never the same again. That could technically be a way of wording around the issue of 'it isn't the same because they eventually became lovers', but I doubt it.

She was getting better, too, ironically. She was almost about to chase after Aya (and was really excited when she thought Aya might have been the one coming back). Then Yoru came in to relight the dying spark that was Sei's interest in her. Now it's a fucking bonfire of desire for Yoru again, and Sei's even worse off than before.

Yoru also just had to mention the divorce right before leaving too, just to rub more salt into the wound that maybe they could have had a relationship together if Aya wasn't there. As shitty as everyone is in this manga, I think I like Yoru the least. She spent years running away from her problems, ran to an old lover for a single night stand in order to run away from her husband, and then fucked up a toxic relationship that was beginning to stabilize for the first time.

last edited at Oct 21, 2020 1:45PM

It's gonna be even messier from now on. This whole story is about detachment; in other words, about letting go. Are the choices for the good, though? We don't know, and they probably won't.

For people saying the characters are bland: no, they are not. Of course there is a little of tropes here and there, but in my opinion, they're being conducted in a very mature way, and very, very slowly. This kind of storytelling isn't that uncommon, but isn't very liked by a lot of readers, for we are used to the standard "plot > conflict > climax > ending" structure.

And the "happy ending" won't be "happy." I'm calling it. I really like stories like this one, messy and bittersweet.

I think so too. The best happy ending for me would be something like... everyone become independent, finally finding theirselfs, and won't stay in their personal shit state. But i think there is also a chance for SeixAya.

last edited at Oct 21, 2020 2:11PM

I think so too. The best happy ending for me would be something like... everyone become independent, finally finding theirselfs, and won't stay in their personal shit state. But i think there is also a chance for SeixAya.

Sei x Aya is the most probably outcome, yes, but I can also see Sei x Yoru. If the latter happens, it would be a helluva refreshing plot twist, proving people sometimes can't detach themselves from the past. Refreshing in the sense it would crush our expectation (given the manga's title) and ESPECIALLY because it would depict reality as it is.

The way I see it, Sei is an addict and Yoru is her drug. She has a chance to get over her addiction but it’ll take some intense healing sessions.

She may still be headed in the right direction though because when she ran away from Yoru she thought about coming home and seeing Aya there and when Aya left after her confession and returning her key Sei got all excited that Aya might be on the other side of the door. Even while she was having sex with Yoru she, however briefly, thought about Aya and how she should make amends.

For me these are indications that Sei, though she hasn’t fully recognized the extent of Aya’s importance because she’s been obsessed about Yoru for her adolescent and most of her adult life, does see and appreciate Aya to some extent.

I think Aya had unknowingly started to insert herself in Sei’s life as something more than Yoru’s replacement. She started doing it out of the bedroom by being there to listen to Sei’s problems and even going out of her way to cook for Sei and just her being there for Sei to come home to after Sei had another shitty day at work. The domesticity that she brought into their unconventional relationship was something Sei never shared with Yoru and probably something Sei never really thought she’d have for herself.

They were students at the time they were ‘together’ and most of their interactions seem limited to just her listening to Yoru talk about her problems or having sex. I don’t really know what Sei envisioned for her life together with Yoru in their future.

Perhaps hitting rock bottom is good for Sei. Maybe seeing Yoru one last time can help her accept that she doesn’t have to be miserable for the rest of her life because she’s a lesbian. I think her sexuality is the root of her problems. Societal conditioning has led her to believe she simply cannot be happy as she is and believes herself to be a defective grotesque abnormal creature unworthy of love and affection so she’s made certain she’ll live her days out in misery as punishment by going after the wrong person and subsequently going into relationships she knows will never amount to any thing.

Well I'm glad Haruki is going to meet Sakai soon who will teach her to let go and realizing Mochida is manipulating her since chapter 8 and witholding facts. I honestly want her to derail any attempts of Aya sleeping with her using her to improve her relationship with Sei any further and even when Aya should be succesful after she came clean still cut ties with her and remove herself!

Is Sakai arc not closed yet? Because like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if that whole thing turns out to be something else. The author portrays characters a certain way and then gives them backstories that help explain and some times excuse their actions.

Sei has no other choice but to quit this relationship she projected Yoru onto Aya since the beginning (footlicking/forceful kiss in the first chapter) and withholds crucial facts like what she did to Haruki (!male name! stand in for Yoru's men and her younger self) and she still play's victim.

I mean, it isn't just Sei withholding facts. Haruki never told Aya how she found out about Sei and that she went to confront Sei in the first place. She also never told Aya she has a naked photo of her, courtesy of Sei of course, but a good friend would be honest about all these things.

And Aya must take a page from what Sakai and Haruki did and leave! That is how she makes Sei happy! And will realize whom she really loves! She also is not in love with Sei!

I don't think it's just lust though. Because if Aya was just a hormonal teen then she probably would have slept with Haruki, instead I think she was thinking about Sei that night.

Glad I invested in this story, after the disappointment of My Unrequited Loves ending, Detached Relationship is a more cohesive story (even with the ecchi for the sake of ecchi scenes, which are visually pleasing to me anyway so I don't care if it doesn't actually need to be there) and is wrapping up a lot smoother. Looks like the Yoru drama arc ended tidily enough, I'm starving for the bf neighbor drama that's to come though!

last edited at Oct 21, 2020 10:25PM

Well I'm glad Haruki is going to meet Sakai soon who will teach her to let go and realizing Mochida is manipulating her since chapter 8 and witholding facts. I honestly want her to derail any attempts of Aya sleeping with her using her to improve her relationship with Sei any further and even when Aya should be succesful after she came clean still cut ties with her and remove herself!

Is Sakai arc not closed yet? Because like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if that whole thing turns out to be something else. The author portrays characters a certain way and then gives them backstories that help explain and some times excuse their actions.

Sei has no other choice but to quit this relationship she projected Yoru onto Aya since the beginning (footlicking/forceful kiss in the first chapter) and withholds crucial facts like what she did to Haruki (!male name! stand in for Yoru's men and her younger self) and she still play's victim.

I mean, it isn't just Sei withholding facts. Haruki never told Aya how she found out about Sei and that she went to confront Sei in the first place. She also never told Aya she has a naked photo of her, courtesy of Sei of course, but a good friend would be honest about all these things.

And Aya must take a page from what Sakai and Haruki did and leave! That is how she makes Sei happy! And will realize whom she really loves! She also is not in love with Sei!

I don't think it's just lust though. Because if Aya was just a hormonal teen then she probably would have slept with Haruki, instead I think she was thinking about Sei that night.

Well they still did not meet Sakai! And while Mochida is withholding facts so she can manipulate Haruki again we still don't know what convinient Excuse Sei had to abuse younger Students. Sei's actions can no longer be excused right at the start of this Manga she still refuses to take proper responsibility and instead talks about how horrible she is instead of changing herself heck Yoru at the end of this chapter grows wiser and chooses to help Aya in her own way before leaving.

Haruki's main arc is that she must stop being a hero turn from a good friend whom Aya uses and abuses instead of thinking for herself thus thinking she is nothing behind Haruki's back and turn into a real friend and real lover who tells the MC that she must brush her own damn teeth instead of having Sei or anyone else do that for her! Have you ever noticed the books in the background during her scenes with Aya? She has to face her fears and accept loss!

The manga description mentions ulterior motives on both sides so forget Sei x Aya! She is still a low self esteem teen who suffers from parental neglect and doesn't understand that what happens to her is abuse so lust still applies via romance novel logic! She herself even says she has no choice there is only one person she can love which is of course BS! So yeah that night she forced herself to think of Sei as the one until Haruki snapped her out of it and choose to go the other route and her inner dialogue is absent so for now we have no idea she cuddles with Haruki in the same way she did with Sei in chapter 4 while talking about escaping reality. How does that link her to Sei? Well have you noticed how she talks of our onw rules to Aya (fully knowing Mochida is listening and not telling Aya?) and says the same to Haruki? Everything has to go according to her convinient script if it doesn't she has to destroy people and their lives! Well since things don't go so well for Aya like they do in her novels her rage builds up and consumes her! Haruki has to leave her.

I also find this article helpful: https://markmanson.net/boundaries

last edited at Oct 21, 2020 11:20PM

Is Haruki really a hero? From what I recall, she helps isolate Aya from other people, ensuring that she can't make any friends. Despite that, she doesn't actually hang out with Aya during classes or lunch, instead preferring to hang out with her 2 groupies.

She seems to be a genuinely negative force in Aya's life, and even her current activity that's sort of noble (breaking up Aya and Sei) is being done for the wrong reason (jealousy).

Despite all this, Haruki is probably the least flawed/bad person in this manga. But that's an incredibly low bar.

Edit: You appear to be 'headcanoning' a lot of things. Sei is not some master planner. She's running purely off emotions, using Aya for release. Her not-so-subtle brag to Haruki (the picture she sent) and letting Mochida listen in to their conversation seems to have been done purely for a (probably sexual) thrill. Aya is mad because Sei cheated on her with Yoru. She knew it was a possibility, but she's still really upset that it actually happened (Aya in Ch16: "I know, but..." in response to Sei's excuse).

It's not more complicated than that.

As for whether Aya is in love with Sei or it's just some combination of lust and jealousy, it appears to be the former based on the amount of non-sexual activities she partakes in with Sei (cooking for her and nursing her back to health twice). But I don't think there's enough information to say for sure either way. You can't just pull a background detail like book-reading out of the story and headcanon an explanation that has Aya at the center of some kind of psychological complex where she can't distinguish fantasy vs reality.

I'm not trying to excuse Sei, either. An adult who sleeps with a minor is still in the wrong even if the minor is in love with them. I'm not saying love would make it right.

Everyone in this manga is heavily flawed, and that's what I like about it. Even the ones that aren't flawed in a large number of ways (like Mochida) end up taking horrific actions (well, if she goes through with outing Sei, that's one of the most horrible things you could do to somebody).

last edited at Oct 21, 2020 11:54PM

I think we should just list the series as NSFW, already, and give the NSFW Chapters with Sex in them with the "Moderate Amounts of Sex" Tag. Seems like the most logical move considering every other chapter is NSFW and there's like 5 or 6 sex scene

No.

But why not? It just seems like the most logical move to at least label the whole series as NSFW. I also don't see why the chapters with sex in em shouldn't have the "Moderate Amounts of Sex" Tag. It just seems like the most obvious thing, y'know

Because not every chapter has nudity in it. Some chapters are relatively okay to read in public, and those chapters don't need the tag. For Dynasty, NSFW is only applied when there is nudity in the chapter.

Is Haruki really a hero? From what I recall, she helps isolate Aya from other people, ensuring that she can't make any friends. Despite that, she doesn't actually hang out with Aya during classes or lunch, instead preferring to hang out with her 2 groupies.

"She offers her a table right in the first chapter but Aya declines multiple times by the way! She calls Aya out on isolating herself and skipping formalities it's Aya who claims that people drift apart from her when in truth she is the one who doesn't wanna grow up she is the one who is using Haruki who has been taking care of her instead of her family and since she doesn't live up to her expectations anymore and Aya doesn't wanna do anything for herself or talk about some serious problems than live in lies and her stupid romance novels she decides to kick her out of her life! Sei sexual assault is the breaking point!"

She seems to be a genuinely negative force in Aya's life, and even her current activity that's sort of noble (breaking up Aya and Sei) is being done for the wrong reason (jealousy).

"Aya is her very own problem she sticks to a person that doesn't exist and treats her like trash saying she "loves" her when nothing could be further from the truth ironically getting a similar harsh treatment to how she ignores Haruki and now pretends she doesn't exist! Haruki goes through puberty and doesn't realize at first that she is a homosexual and wrestles between love and lust! Which leaves her suceptible to manipulation by both Sei (blackmail material) and Mochida (feeding her half-truths)! She makes mistakes and has to abandon her Savior persona or Aya is screwed!"

Despite all this, Haruki is probably the least flawed/bad person in this manga. But that's an incredibly low bar.

Edit: You appear to be 'headcanoning' a lot of things. Sei is not some master planner. She's running purely off emotions, using Aya for release. Her not-so-subtle brag to Haruki (the picture she sent) and letting Mochida listen in to their conversation seems to have been done purely for a (probably sexual) thrill. Aya is mad because Sei cheated on her with Yoru. She knew it was a possibility, but she's still really upset that it actually happened (Aya in Ch16: "I know, but..." in response to Sei's excuse).

"What do you mean headcannon? She is a manipulator and a skilled liar she destroyed Yoru's life behind her back making sure she stayed miserable! She still manipulated Aya and isolated her behind her back as well from Haruki so she could easier control her (oh those cute cups^^) while living out her past. Notice that with both Haruki and Mochida "Our own rules" are mentioned which in reality are Sei's rules. Aya is still unable to leave her victim image of her and sum up the courage to leave her because Sei still withholds facts from her!"

It's not more complicated than that.

As for whether Aya is in love with Sei or it's just some combination of lust and jealousy, it appears to be the former based on the amount of non-sexual activities she partakes in with Sei (cooking for her and nursing her back to health twice). But I don't think there's enough information to say for sure either way. You can't just pull a background detail like book-reading out of the story and headcanon an explanation that has Aya at the center of some kind of psychological complex where she can't distinguish fantasy vs reality.

"The manga description mentions "ulterior motives" she hopes to gain something out of this relationship hoping all her hard work will eventually pay off but the only lesson that gets repeatedly hammered down her head is that she has no other choice but to leave. In chapter 2 she compares herself to the protagonists of her romance novels in chapter 4 she even says she wishes to escape reality together with Sei instead of going back to her boring reality."

I'm not trying to excuse Sei, either. An adult who sleeps with a minor is still in the wrong even if the minor is in love with them. I'm not saying love would make it right.

Everyone in this manga is heavily flawed, and that's what I like about it. Even the ones that aren't flawed in a large number of ways (like Mochida) end up taking horrific actions (well, if she goes through with outing Sei, that's one of the most horrible things you could do to somebody).

last edited at Oct 22, 2020 12:02PM

"She offers her a table right in the first chapter but Aya declines multiple times by the way! She calls Aya out on isolating herself and skipping formalities it's Aya who claims that people drift apart from her when in truth she is the one who doesn't wanna grow up she is the one who is using Haruki who has been taking care of her instead of her family and since she doesn't live up to her expectations anymore and Aya doesn't wanna do anything for herself or talk about some serious problems than live in lies and her stupid romance novels she decides to kick her out of her life! Sei sexual assault is the breaking point!"

Haruki is far from an altruistic heroine. Haruki’s motivation has always been jealousy. She’s pea green with envy.

Yes she invites Aya to lunch with her friends but she knows Aya will just say no and she only joins Aya for lunch out on the roof, away from her friends, after she discovers Aya has met someone else. She even admits to being selfish and says it’s Aya’s fault. Aya had always been accessible only to her up to that point and that made her feel special. Given what we know of her background, a home that’s always filled with others, it’s understandable why she’d always go to Aya’s for peace and quiet. Even her message to Kuro ,“Don’t take her from me”, is proof of her selfishness. Aya is not her possession. That whole “Don’t make her change.” – that right there is proof that Haruki also doesn’t have Aya’s interest in her mind. She doesn’t want Aya to change, to grow, because the previous version of Aya was just hers. Aya was her safety net just as much as she was Aya’s.

"Aya is her very own problem she sticks to a person that doesn't exist and treats her like trash saying she "loves" her when nothing could be further from the truth ironically getting a similar harsh treatment to how she ignores Haruki and now pretends she doesn't exist! Haruki goes through puberty and doesn't realize at first that she is a homosexual and wrestles between love and lust! Which leaves her suceptible to manipulation by both Sei (blackmail material) and Mochida (feeding her half-truths)! She makes mistakes and has to abandon her Savior persona or Aya is screwed!"

Who is the person that doesn’t exist? Sei? How has Aya pretended that Haruki doesn’t exist? We saw them walking home from school after Haruki’s confession and right now, she’s busy with Sei and Yoru so we haven’t had a chance to see further interactions with them. As mentioned prior, Haruki’s not saving Aya for altruistic purposes, she’s taco blocking Aya from Sei because she wants Aya for herself. She was even willing to rob Aya of her choice. She goes behind Aya’s back and tries to intimidate Sei – telling Sei to stay away, wanting to take Aya’s choice away and control whom Aya spends her time with. A choice was something that Aya never believed someone like her could have and here was Haruki, actively taking it away from her without giving thought to what Aya wanted.

"What do you mean headcannon? She is a manipulator and a skilled liar she destroyed Yoru's life behind her back making sure she stayed miserable! She still manipulated Aya and isolated her behind her back as well from Haruki so she could easier control her (oh those cute cups^^) while living out her past. Notice that with both Haruki and Mochida "Our own rules" are mentioned which in reality are Sei's rules. Aya is still unable to leave her victim image of her and sum up the courage to leave her because Sei still withholds facts from her!"

I think the staunch difference between how we’ve read is that Sei has come off as this diabolical villain but for me, I’m seeing her as someone who’s been spiraling out of control. She’s readily awaiting, causing, and welcoming her destruction.

Yoru had been going out with married older men and teenagers who didn’t care about her and only used her for sex. Yoru herself recognizes that she kept chasing after crappy men, even before Sei had outed her to her then boyfriend (you know, the one who belittled lesbianism and proudly declared he was just playing with Yoru).

Aya was isolated long before Sei came in the picture. Aya didn’t do it on purpose per se. We saw her interaction with Haruki and her friends. She was uncomfortable. Her lack of social skills is what made her reach out to Sei but Aya clearly has made her own choices and contributed to the ‘rules’. As far as I know, Sei doesn’t tell her to come to her house all the time, only extends an open invite by giving her a key. It was her choice to run there after her fight with Haruki- something Sei did not control because it’s not like she told Haruki to harass Aya. Just like it’s Aya’s choice to stay away when she felt things were getting too intense (that Sunday night when Sei texted and asked why she wasn’t there). It was also Aya’s choice to reject Haruki’s advances and remain monogamous to whatever she had with Sei. It was her choice to follow Sei and Yoru around and ultimately confront Sei and Yoru, just like it was her choice to pull Sei away from Yoru.

There were variables that were out of Sei’s control – like Aya cooking for her, caring for her when she’s ill, Aya being all domestic with her, how Mochida’s actually investigating what happened with Sakai, and Haruki’s involvement. Sei had no way of knowing how Haruki was going to react by sending that risqué picture. They’d never met before, only chatted. Haruki could have handed her over to the police or at the very least, told a teacher, or Aya’s parents, or even Aya her self, for all Sei knew. Insinuating that she’s some sort of mastermind is a little farfetched to me.

Especially since it’s clearly not manipulation when she breaks down and declares how pathetic she is when she remembers Yoru. I guess if I hadn’t seen how she is with Yoru, I could see how it could be interpreted as her wanting pity from Aya as a means to get Aya to stay. But her desperation to have Yoru is genuine when she runs off after finding out Yoru was back in their old town. Also, how in control of a situation is she when students make fun of her for her sexuality? How in control was she of Sakai when that whole thing about them got out any way? Or even how Math teacher dude keeps chasing her down and even tricked her into going out with him – unless of course Sei knew no one else was going to be there and just went so she could text Aya and make her worry for her? I mean it’s possible but there’s no proof that Sei knew it would just be her and math teacher going out for dinner. She seemed genuinely put off by the whole thing so right now I’m reading her as a being who’s running on emotion rather than method.

"The manga description mentions "ulterior motives" she hopes to gain something out of this relationship hoping all her hard work will eventually pay off but the only lesson that gets repeatedly hammered down her head is that she has no other choice but to leave. In chapter 2 she compares herself to the protagonists of her romance novels in chapter 4 she even says she wishes to escape reality together with Sei instead of going back to her boring reality."

Everyone has an ulterior motive for their actions and 16 chapters in, it’s clear what they are and why. Mochida wants math teacher. Haruki wants Aya. Aya wants Sei. Sei wants Yoru. Yoru wants someone.

Yes, Aya wanted to use Sei to escape her reality but it became much more when she started caring about Sei. She tried so hard not to by restricting intimacy, the whole not sleeping over after doing the do (which was something Aya chose even though Sei was letting her know it was okay to stay) or just getting Sei to shut up about her past. If it really were just lust, she wouldn’t have stuck around for so long. She wouldn’t stick around to watch Sei cry or take care of her when she’s sick or even break out of her shell and confront those two girls who pushed Sei if it were just lust. If Aya were just a horny teen, she'd have slept with Haruki the first time Haruki tried to kiss her.

What Aya hoped to gain was escape but she ended up with something much more – a love she feels that will never be returned.

That’s the reason why she wanted to cut herself off from Sei after her confession. If it were just lust, she would have just kept sleeping with Sei to pass time until something better came along but it hurt her deeply that Sei wasn’t calling out for her because it meant that she was only Yoru’s replacement for Sei. That’s where the emptiness comes from- her body is satisfied but her heart is not. It’s a deep well of pain and loneliness because Sei is within her reach but at the same time is galaxies away from her.

Everyone in this manga is heavily flawed, and that's what I like about it. Even the ones that aren't flawed in a large number of ways (like Mochida) end up taking horrific actions (well, if she goes through with outing Sei, that's one of the most horrible things you could do to somebody).

Second that! That's why this manga is so interesting for me. Everyone has been relatable and their motivations have been believable so far.

"I can't... detach myself from you"

How strange. My impression was that this relationship was of the more distant variety. Detached, if you will...

last edited at Oct 22, 2020 11:53PM

"I can't... detach myself from you"

How strange. My impression was that this relationship was of the more distant variety. Detached, if you will...

pffft I was wondering if anyone was gonna note the really bad title drop and make a pun, I was not disappointed