Well, this was a pretty average story. I guess the only thing that stood out for me was the ending since I suspected they either wouldn't get back together or at least end without any kind of confession.

The credit page is what I enjoyed the most, I won't lie.

It's weird to see a one-shot where the best part was bullying and reactions to it.

Usually you see bully getting slapped around to submission or "learning their lesson", but not here. Which is exactly how it goes in 99% of the cases. When target becomes too hard to go after, they just whine, drop it and bully someone else, with little to no introspection on why they're even doing it in the first place.

I needed this today T_T

To me that was a bad way to handle that situation, even if they continued being close, I don’t see anything about their situation changing. The two, especially Aki will keep getting harassed. Iku had a perfect opportunity to take a picture of the two bullies shoving Aki. That would’ve been good evidence of bullying the two would have a hard time talking themselves out of if she showed it to the teachers or principal. And if she didn’t want to do anything directly, she could blur out Aki’s face and post it on social media to put the girls on blast, and let social media vultures do their thing. I just really wished they did something to deal with the situation.

Am I the only one who got 0 emotions from this? Like the characters felt so dead and the story was so bland

Good read, very uninspired.

Am I the only one who got 0 emotions from this? Like the characters felt so dead and the story was so bland

Same. It just felt like it was going through the motions lol.

This kind of story would be more emotionally satisfying if it was longer but as a one shot I don’t feel much

To me that was a bad way to handle that situation, even if they continued being close, I don’t see anything about their situation changing. The two, especially Aki will keep getting harassed. Iku had a perfect opportunity to take a picture of the two bullies shoving Aki. That would’ve been good evidence of bullying the two would have a hard time talking themselves out of if she showed it to the teachers or principal. And if she didn’t want to do anything directly, she could blur out Aki’s face and post it on social media to put the girls on blast, and let social media vultures do their thing. I just really wished they did something to deal with the situation.

In most of the cases school & adults do nothing till something really bad happens, they think its only "kids beings kids" till someone get truly hurt or worse.
We don't know in which year this story is set, it could be before social media, usually stories like that only get notice after something trully bad happen :(

Book published: May 18, 2012 to Sep 18, 2014

So kind of old school

It's not like I was expecting Happy End For You v2.0, but I really disliked seeing the bullies keep getting away with their shenanigans. Maybe that's why I can't appreciate it lol.

Cute.

Am I the only one who got 0 emotions from this? Like the characters felt so dead and the story was so bland

Same. It just felt like it was going through the motions lol.

Same. Basically glanced at every page.

Book published: May 18, 2012 to Sep 18, 2014

So kind of old school

That at least gives it something to stand on. This feels like a decade old story with tropes just as old. Not really interested in this anymore

The credit page on the other hand is exquisite, especially bottom left.

last edited at Feb 28, 2023 8:40PM

Book published: May 18, 2012 to Sep 18, 2014

So kind of old school

Ah this makes so much more sense now. I forgive the heavy use of classic tropes lol

i really don't get everyone's reactions here. the story defies a lot of the "saving someone from bullying leads to romance" tropes. aki doesn't fall in love with iku-chan because iku-chan is saving her over the years. iku-chan just realizes she already loves aki when aki made some distance to save iku-chan with the bullies. no magic or heroic comeuppance came for the bullies, but staying by someone's side when they're being bullied really is all you can do sometimes. overall the story is understated in a pretty nice way.

i really don't get everyone's reactions here. the story defies a lot of the "saving someone from bullying leads to romance" tropes. aki doesn't fall in love with iku-chan because iku-chan is saving her over the years. iku-chan just realizes she already loves aki when aki made some distance to save iku-chan with the bullies. no magic or heroic comeuppance came for the bullies, but staying by someone's side when they're being bullied really is all you can do sometimes. overall the story is understated in a pretty nice way.

I see what you're saying about the story subverting a few tropes, but it really didn't occur to me that the author might have been attempting to do that until I read your comment. I understand how you could find it refreshing, but I personally don't feel that the aforementioned tropes are all that bad or clichéd, so avoiding them doesn't do much for me, at least in this case.

I really agree with what others have said about the story feeling lifeless. Think about Aki as a character: she's essentially a semi-mute doormat, except for the one time she stands up for Iku-chan. Iku-chan feels a little more developed, but it's hard to find her very compelling when we aren't given any reasons for why she loves Aki. The dialogue is pretty bland. To call the art average would be generous. To me, this story is just forgettable. If I read it in an anthology, I'd probably just hope the next one would be better and quickly turn the page, rather than stopping and reflecting on it as I've done here. Putting the story under a microscope certainly doesn't do it any favors.

It was a nice quick read. If I hadn't read so much yuri with similar plots, I'd have probably loved this story even more. It does kinda pique my interest in the other stories from this collection to see how tropey they can be