Hey, it's true love. For Ruki anyways. Sacchan, though...

Sacchan wasn't ready for this relationship at the start. Her experience cheating on Ruki has given her a chance to understand herself better. Now she is much better equipped to have a committed relationship. She did a really shitty thing to Ruki, but she isn't apologizing since it's helped her grow. Now Ruki can either forgive her and try to have a real relationship, or she can turn her down. But she's been in love with Sacchan since the series began, so she obviously is gonna give it a shot.

That's what I think, anyways. I'm gonna be really pissed if Sacchan turns out to be just like her old boyfriend. Ruki deserves much better. And you know what? So does Fue. Whatever happened with her, anyways? This series is hard on my heart. I need to go read something nice and fluffy....

Eh... to be honest, If I was Ruki, I would have forgiven Sacchan as well. if she only did it once, and it wasn't anything serious, I'd just blow it off and forgive her for it. I'd be hurt of course and probably a little annoyed as well, but I wouldn't destroy my relationship by telling her to go fuck herself and leave me a lone or whatever. I just don't tend to hold grudges or get in a serious rage over things...

But she fucked Remi every day for a month. I think that's something worth getting pissed about. She could have just slept with her once to have an epiphany about enjoying sex and then gone back to Ruki with her newfound knowledge, but she chose not to while fully aware that what she was doing was wrong and was going to hurt Ruki when she found it. Even how she told her seems worked to cause as much emotional carnage as possible.

Yeah, somehow I think most people would be enraged. Personally I'd rather be alone than with an asshole, who doesn't care about my feelings. Maybe it was the mangaka's intent and something big will happen next??
But it's so strange... it seemed like sacchan did care. But how could she do this to Ruki then? I don't understand :/

Ironically, Ruki only thinks about how she is so weak (which she actually isn't), because Sacchan kind of destroyed her. She even blamed herself for Sacchan's cheating. If this is any realistic (which I hope) this kind of relationship can bring neither of them happiness.

last edited at Feb 22, 2015 5:38PM

it's helped her grow

Apparently not enough to actually regret the hurt she caused to someone she's supposed to care about.

I take back what I said earlier though. Sacchan never set out to hurt Ruki. She just didn't care about Ruki, or consider her at all in her actions. And honestly, finding out you've been caring so much for someone - friend or a lover - who is apathetic towards you in return is more painful in a lot of ways than someone who did it purposefully.

Okay, I'm glad Ruki and Sacchan got back together but I really hate Remi and Sacchan now. Gottverdammt Amano!

I think I see one big problem, here, with people's reactions: they're empathizing exclusively with Ruki. They think Ruki is the main character, Sacchan therefore exists primarily as Ruki's love interest, Remi is the bad guy, and so on. They're expecting a story that was never being told.

Ah god. Only ten pages into this chapter and the author is making it so hard by bringing up all the fond memories. Bleh.

So, I already vented all my anger about Sachi's side of things back when the last chapter was released, and I'm pretty glad I did. I got really worked up about it, but I was able to deal with that stuff sort of on its own. If I'd tried to process that at the same time as Ruki's reactions to it, I think I would've been kind of crushed. She's just given up, at this point. She doesn't ask for an apology because she's just so completely lost and hopeless and drowning in guilt that even the illusion of relief looks like a gift from god. Sachi patently doesn't give a shit ("do you want to go to a hotel", fucking christ) but Ruki's so messed up at this point that even this mild expression of warmth or affection is overwhelming to her. Like, even if Ruki and Sachi got together sometime after this, Ruki is absolutely not ready for a relationship right now. She needs to go home, get some sleep, and try to salvage some sense of independent self-worth, before starting anything with a girl who says shit like "I thought you were cute when you were crying in hopeless desperation over me and what I've done, maybe we could work something out after all if this is what you're like now".

Awesome happy ending, you guys. This was a super sharp and realistic depiction of how shitty and destructive relationships can lead to more shitty and destructive relationships, and all you need to get one started is to figure out which partner is better at using people and which partner is better at being used! So romantic, not aggressively tone-deaf or emotionally hollow at all.

last edited at Feb 22, 2015 3:02PM

I think I see one big problem, here, with people's reactions: they're empathizing exclusively with Ruki. They think Ruki is the main character, Sacchan therefore exists primarily as Ruki's love interest, Remi is the bad guy, and so on. They're expecting a story that was never being told.

I don't really care who is the main character, in these last chapters, Ruki is just the only one I can empathize with. Remi is a selfish girl who do whatever she want, of course priority to things that hurt her friend because it's fun not being a sadist, I don't find her really likable and Sacchan just don't give a fuck about her friend, she does whatever she can to "learn about herself"... and once again priority to things that hurt her friend the most.
The only thing that could be held against Ruki would be to try dating Sacchan and have sex with her while Sacchan clearly didn't gave a fuck about her... but here, Sacchan never once said one thing to make Ruki stop expecting something and Ruki never imposed on her or did anything that would harm anyone. On the contrary, she nice and care for everyone...

last edited at Feb 22, 2015 2:31PM

Coming from someone who has no problem reading yuri that is not fluff and has been ensconced in this one from the beginning, this was horrible. For reasons that people have already iterated. I hope that Ruki (and Fue) end up happy.
Of course, the mangaka is entitled to write her story any way she wishes. It's not like she 'owes' fans anything. LOL
I don't have to like it all though. :P

I think the only satisfying thing for me in this manga will be Masa et Meru relationship... this is something I would never have believed at the beginning x)

YES. I think there should be a follow-up of those two in the conclusion. Would make for a much-needed antidote to see one happy couple out of all this. :D
Plus, i think the manga requires it because with everything else having fallen apart, it's something that did work out in the end. I think that if a narrative has nothing but a series of let-downs then eventually the reader/audience/whatever will give up on caring eventually, plus while real life is often not fluffy like most yuri, if it were to only be a series of disappointments with nothing working out then that would not be a realistic portrayal either.

I think I see one big problem, here, with people's reactions: they're empathizing exclusively with Ruki. They think Ruki is the main character, Sacchan therefore exists primarily as Ruki's love interest, Remi is the bad guy, and so on. They're expecting a story that was never being told.

I think for Sacchan, she fell into the trap of going for a rebound relationship with Ruki. And she's certainly not the only one who's ever made THAT mistake.

I thought it was pretty realistic. I can understand what Ruki is feeling, and Sachi comes out as a different kind of person than expected. At least she knows she's cruel.

This reminded me of a part toward the end of Maison Ikkoku. Towards the end, Godai gets called by Akemi to a love hotel because she got abandoned and couldn't pay the check to get out. Of course, Kyoko sees them leaving and thinks that Godai was messing around with Akemi, and she gets in a fight with him about it. She then accuses Akemi, who says something like, "So what if we had sex? We're not children. Does that change who Godai is? Does that really change what you think about him? Just grow up!" Now, the situation isn't exactly the same (since Kyoko and Godai were never officially together until later in the story), but it does come to mind.

If you're really in love with someone, you're not going to stop loving that person so easily. Ruki isn't going to stop loving Sachi because of the cheating. I can see why she forgave her.

The whole point of this arc was they weren't playing by the same rules because they didn't view the relationship the same way. Sachi saw it unseriously, while Ruki was playing for keeps the whole time, desperately trying to make it work. Sachi didn't understand because she was trying to view it from the "normal" perspective, in which it DOESN'T make sense. In a girl-girl relationship, who's the "guy"? Who takes the lead? Who's the "strong" one? You can say "relationships don't have to be that way", but this is obviously a key issue or there wouldn't be the whole butch/femme thing. Ideally a relationship should not need these type of fixed roles, and I think in most longer relationships this dichotomy breaks down to a greater or lesser extent (can't say for sure because my relationship experience is basically nil), but it IS an issue.

Now that Sachi realizes she can BE the strong one, that she likes Ruki even though she's weak and awkward - even partly because she's weak and awkward - they've restarted their relationship seriously... Does Sachi deserve it? I'm not even going to go into that territory. I have a friend that cheated on her fiance with 2 guys (at the same time, as in threesome). It came out before they were married but in the end they stayed together and have been happily married for many years (and I'm pretty sure she hasn't done anything like that since). Who's to judge?

Ugh, I don't know what to think about this...
First of all, Ruki is suuuper cool! How come they say she's not cool?! Okay Maasa might be the coolest one (-) but ugh, what?! Ruki was the second coolest... She might not look super cool in this chapter but everyone has a delicate side, if you hurt them that much they are not going to be able to take it!
And I just want to slap Saachan! She did what she did and she doesn't even show the slightest hint of guilt! And I don't understand her, she doesn't even seem to love Ruki, you wouldn't hurt someone you love and act so calm about it, she seriously seems totally disturbed!
I don't know, is this supposed to make people upset? Is this why it's called "the feelings we must all endure"?! =.=

Yup, Ruki is cool, basically because she is a good person. She always tries to do the right thing, even if it's not always the smartest thing (e.g. she should have slapped Remi imo, and perhaps Sacchan, too).
But what they mean in the story is that cliched "cool". Aloof, tough and so on. Also assertive, which she definitely wasn't in the last few chapters.

I'm not so sure about Sacchan, though. You're right, she doesn't "show" guilt, but I don't think she feels no remorse, perhaps just in a more complex, not easily put into words kind of way. What she said holds surprisingly deep insight. She learned about herself, I'm convinced about that.
Up until the cheating, she was always a person that let herself be controlled by others. Her ex, and then Ruki. Of course we, the readers, rationally know that's stupid. But she herself didn't see that (as we probably wouldn't see it if it was about ourselves). By acting egoistically for once, she realized that this suits her more, she says so herself. However, that doesn't mean she'll treat Ruki (again) badly in the future. I read it as her realizing that she has to take responsibility for her actions and that she can only do so if she decides what she wants herself.
Look at it this way: Ultimately her just casually letting Ruki have sex with her (i.e. without "wanting it for herself") resulted in Ruki being hurt in the first place (even before the cheating the relationship was "going nowhere", Ruki felt uneasy because she had the impression Sacchan was indifferent, which she was).
Now having learned that she can also want stuff for herself, Sacchan wants to start a relationship (or "restart" in this case) out of her own intention.

Of course you could disagree with Ruki's choice to go for it, but ultimately that's her matter. I've seen this stuff in real life and actually I think this is one of the few scenario where forgiving an affair and using the opportunity to start again on better terms, better understanding of oneself and the other, can be worth it.

Even with all the drama and rage-inducing decisions characters make, I like this series. I find the characters believable (some you can realistically despise, some you just love, and sometimes one turns into the other, just like with real people) and enjoy how new facets of them unfold over time. Plus I've made some stupid and not so stupid love-decisions myself so I can relate (and yes, decisions that after the fact make you go "why the HECK would I ever have done that???")

Yes, that´s the type of cool I meant as well, I mean she does seem cool to me. She felt so protective over Saachan and she was quite serious in the beginning of the series but she was also caring, I think that made her cool...
And I understand how Saachan felt but she still seemed very emotionless about it... She turned out to be a completely different person... but I guess it makes sense since the author wanted her to be "violent"... I'm not really sure though... Um, I think her transformation was too fast, she used to be kind and emotional and now she's just cold and emotionless... And I sort of don't really like the type of person she is now... I think she was better when she was insecure. I don't understand why she started having a sexual relationship with Ruki when she felt nothing for her... I think it might have been because she was unconsciously thinking of cheating on her in the first place, just to find out how it felt like. That's pretty disturbing though...

Nah, can't read this s-t anymore. "I cheated on you cause I wanted to know how it'd feel-" "WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?!" "Let's hug!"

Exactly! she seems like a total sadist!

Sacchan is so fucked in th head and Ruki is delirous

Uff, what was that? Looks like Ruki got herself a real asshole girlfriend. Pretty much the equivalent to an asshole boyfriend like sacchans ex. This is the first time I think this with a couple, but I hope they break up. Else Ruki is always going to be weak.
Really, really hate the message in this chapter. I also think I'm very weak. And I work hard and it often backfires, but whatever will come you should never stop trying. I hope Ruki will try and not be bossed around by Sacchan. Thats a character developement I totally didn't expect.

I hope so too! Ruki wanted to protect Saachan so I don't think it's going to make her very happy if Saachan starts acting all (sadistically) protective around her... I mean um, I don't really think Saachan is Ruki's type at this point. But this is "The feelings we must all endure" so, it's likely that... they... will break up, even if it doesn't show it.

violent

Not violent, wrathful. There's a distinct difference.

I get that Saachan needed to figure things out with herself, but I really don't think it was necessary to sleep around while in a relationship. It really does feel like a repeat of what Saachans ex did, though I do doubt that she would continue to do it after this point?

Personally if this happened to me I wouldn't be down for the relationship anymore. But then again I'm pretty bitter from past relationships haha.

violent

Not violent, wrathful. There's a distinct difference.

Oh okay! I wonder if that sort of means that she wanted to take it out on Ruki for having being cheated on by her ex-boyfriend.

violent

Not violent, wrathful. There's a distinct difference.

Oh okay! I wonder if that sort of means that she wanted to take it out on Ruki for having being cheated on by her ex-boyfriend.

Lil bit. Wiktionary defines it as 'extreme anger' and I always think of it as lashing out in all directions, wanting to inflict pain on others because you can, out of some real or imagined slight. Ruki is just an unfortunate sod who got caught up in it.

This made me cry. This is all so fucked up and wrong in my option ..

To quote Erica Friedman:

I am unremittingly in love with this series. The characters are imperfect, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, sometimes annoying as hell – in other words, realistic. The art is exactly the style I like best. The story-telling is quiet, understated and unpreachy. There’s no drive to pair everyone up, but the potential Maasa-Meru pair gives me hope for both of them. Maasa’s tender side is safe with Meru, and Meru’s fragility is safe with Maasa. In any other series Fueko and Asuna would have reunited, but not here. Like life, relationships are sometimes messy.

Got nothing to add but: I wish I was a "handsome, rich girl with talent" like Maasa, so I could date Amano Shuninta

last edited at Feb 22, 2015 4:00PM

Come on my comrades, we need support every type of pure yuri
Our true enemies are a bad men no bad girls

idk what to think anymore >_<" but hmmm... at least she did tell the truth to Ruki........

"I wanted to know how it felt to be the one cheating. I now realize I'm a cruel and awful person. Oh you say you've been hurt too much already? Ok cool, no need for me to apologize or anything. I'll be the one to protect you now. Since you are small and weak and your crying face is cute. And because my cheating is totally not an indication of my hypocrisy and potentially empty promise."

And of course, Ruki will just accept this because she's desperate and does not care about personal growth and character development. Yes this makes total sense. I can see a beautifully blossoming relationship taking shape here.

Honestly though, I only hope that things work between them in a distant future we will (thankfully) never be privy to.

last edited at Feb 22, 2015 5:14PM

I'm not even going to bother quoting every single IDIOT that says "cheating is a mistake". No. Spilling milk is a mistake. Cheating is a deliberate action taken by people who are completely self-centered, who sometimes blame it on a lack of self-control.

People don't just WOOPS trip into someone's arms naked and WOOPS accidentally because of gravity have sex with them.

"Wah waah it's hard for the cheater too, having to struggle with guilt knowing they're a class A piece of shit, oh look how the relationship can struggle through how amazing".

Some relationships shouldn't be continued. Keeping one on life support to keep the status quo when there are people out there that won't treat you like a piece of shit is pathetic behavior by someone who has been shocked so badly they don't know how to respect themselves anymore and if they never wake up from that it's even worse.