That went better than expected! There was no outright rejection or ongoing confusion that would reduce my respect for the characters. Ririka acts incredibly strong while Fuyu acts as a flighty animal.
The character roles are backwards and I love it. Ririka is proactive and at this point the clear protagonist of the romance plotline, the POV is just broken because Fuyu is a dolt and Ririka is too flawless to have much internal conflict. Even the fortuitous Tanabata bamboo slip face-slap is a product of Ririka's agency, previously established patterns, and intentions. It's still random but less so from her perspective than the reader POV. If Fuyu won't assert herself about love and fails to be a mob, then she can only be a heroine and Ririka takes the lead role.
Fuyu is all monologue and no action, she wishes so hard to not be a romance protagonist that I can't help but see her as a love interest in Ririka's story. From what Luna said before, Fuyu comes off as a suspicious small animal, so she failed to be an inconspicuous mob a long time ago because of being an opticamo wallflower, and sometimes romantic mediator and voyeur. She went so far as to attend a school perfect for projecting her ideals of girl's love onto others but is in denial she could be loved. Even her long hair used to be arranged in a less mob-ish fashion, an aesthetic confirmation of the massive damage that brought on her self-deception. (Cue the Mika chapter.) It makes sense for Sana to have apathy for this outwardly-shy avoidant girl but I hope that changes. What delectable contradictions. Fuyu turned out to be more of a wreck than I expected.
That was a lot of antiquated dialogue, it was fitting for the genre but the code-switch was a bit rough on my groggy brain. Is that antique versus modern style difference in the original? I feel like I've seen the trope and it's too much for just separating formal and informal speech in the English translation. If that's present at the school then I'd like a translation note.
last edited at Jun 5, 2022 7:44AM