I thought I kind of understood what was going on in this one, and then I read the comments and realized I'm missing 100% of the relevant information. According other people in this thread, Shiki and the nurse are not in any kind of romantic relationship, and are instead people who commiserate over their respective unrequited lesbian crushes. Then what the hell is going on in chapter 10? When I read it, I was like, "Oh, this is revealing the fact that their implied romantic relationship is something which Shiki is pushing for and not the other way around. Maybe she is blackmailing the nurse?" Except they don't have a romantic relationship at all and they're actually friends. So why does Haijima-sensei want to keep Shiki away from herself? And why is Shiki making that face on second to the last page? Maybe this would all make way more sense if I just read the original work.
In fact, if there's no romantic relationship between the nurse and Shiki, then what's the point of half of these chapters? I was assuming that the second half of this story would be a big conflict centering on Tachibana realizing that Shiki was dating the nurse, and that the relationship is messy (something like Shiki is blackmailing the nurse, or the nurse is emotionally manipulating Shiki, or their relationship is inherently toxic because of the age gap but Shiki begs Tachibana to keep it a secret). And then Tachibana has to grapple with whether she should "save" Shiki from that relationship, and with whether she could actually do so if she tried, which causes her own feelings to come to the front. But if that's not the case, and we're meant to know that their relationship is entirely benign and platonic from the beginning, then where on Earth is this story going?
What was the point of building up all this tension around the relationship between Shiki and the nurse? Is it all just dramatic irony? Are we meant to go, "Oh that silly Tachibana, she's getting all worked up over this relationship she's imagining between Shiki and Haijima-sensei when there's really nothing going on. Ha ha ha! As soon as they talk about it, she'll feel like such a fool! Maybe that will make her reveal her crush?" Except, that isn't at all the direction chapter 10 seems to be leading, so what's up with that?? Shiki is acting like there IS something suspicious and concerning about their relationship. I'm so confused.
The "tension" that's building up is within Tachibana, and not necessarily something that is supposed to be shared by the reader, at least those who have read the original series.
It's pretty clear that Tachibana is incorrectly reading into the relationship between Shiki and the nurse (as is the health club president). She's right that there's something going on beyond a mere student-mentor relationship--they are out as lesbians to each other and are aware of who the other one likes--but (as far as we know) she's profoundly wrong that the nurse is manipulating Shiki.
The nurse, it can be inferred, thinks it would be a good idea for Shiki (who is seriously asocial) to have a friend her own age to talk to rather than an adult teacher--the two of them do need to keep the "special" nature of their relationship under wraps, even though it's not up to this point a romantic one. Shiki's final reaction may suggest that she's developing feelings for the nurse, or it may just be an indication that she's closer to the nurse than a student in her position ought to be.
EDIT: shadesan's tip ^about the relevant OG chapters was useful in this context, since Chapter 45 features:
the nurse telling Shiki to stop trying to interfere with the relationship between the music teacher and the music boy on her behalf, specifically saying, "You must simply stay away from me," (i.e., stop messing in my business).
the nurse modeling an appreciation of her crush's cute expressions without any anticipation of a reciprocal relationship, just as Shiki thinks the nurse is "adorable," and as Tachibana sees Shiki's expression that she was first attracted to.
last edited at Apr 10, 2023 10:54AM
