Takamine is. So cute
Part of it is bc of Fukaumi Kon's art style
But pouting and the "try my best" hands panels are just. Too. Fucking. Good

Thank you for the chapter!! I've been fed

And yeah, a dreamy girl who likes to read isn’t exactly a rare personality type nor an imaginative stretch for a young writer to come up with.

Especially since a writer might well be a dreamy girl who likes to read.

'Bad books on writing tell you to "WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW", a solemn and totally false adage that is the reason there exist so many mediocre novels about English professors contemplating adultery.' - Joe Haldeman

Sakura blushing down to her feet is utterly adorable. But also, girl, your gay is showing.

I also love the theatre club commentary like "her face is just so nice...it's like a weapon...". Takamine out here attracting all the gays.

Oml that was so cute I think my heart exploded.

They're so cute my goshhh

...Since Sakura also has some writing background (and this girl is struggling to write an end), I also wonder if she'll become involved in some way.

Feels like this is exactly where the plot is going...

I kind of feel the same, with how Sakura is juxtaposed with/against the goings on. Please please please please let be the case. It'll be everything.

In any case, oh my god what a cute chapter. The blushes! The pout! Lots of funny bits as well. Loved Hinata just popping out after Takamine's story and the various reactions to Takamine.

Please let Sakura be get involved. Use it as a chance to relight her own fire and develop her character. Go big! Finish the play with an explicitly implicit confession, why the fuck not? God, I'm looking forward to the next chapter so much.

As an aside, I really, really like Fukaumi Kon's art style. I'm not sure what happened, but this chapter generally feels significantly prettier than the previous ones (which were not bad by any stretch). Like, there were a few paticulalry stunning frames, my favorite being dejected Sakura. No clue why, but very much a fan.

last edited at Jul 13, 2024 9:36PM

Hinata is such a likable goofball, it was fun seeing the girls make a huge deal about her big rock-paper-scissors win and her basking in all the glory :P Feels like Hirose is just naturally caring and perceptive, she's definitely a good listener and she tends to notice when people are down about something. She's been the under the radar MVP of this manga in my opinion.

oh my god she noticed her PRETTY HANDS

Nice to see the side-characters get a lot of development.

Finally, tall-san centered chapter. I just want to see her get a lover, perhaps Hirose (eyes emoji)

last edited at Aug 1, 2024 12:46PM

There's not a single character that I don't like
They're all written so well

Thanks for the chapter!!

These chapters are always so calming. The pacing of this manga is perfect for it; reading it is like a nice reset from whatever I was worried about beforehand.

Finally chapter 18!!
Thank you for the translation. I have read the raw in forever and couldn’t wait for this chapter to come out.

Hatori x Hirose is my favorite duo and this chapter creates a lot of development for them both.

Hirose is really a gem - super perceptive and kind (even though she doesn’t show it in action). She knows what is going on with people and reads the room very well.

Same for Hatori too, but Hatori’s perceptiveness has always been Hirose-related for a lot of moments since the beginning.
Probably from admiring Takamine and Hirose giving it their own to developing a slightly preference towards one of them like how it is going now.

Hatori’s behaviors are also another great piece that I like about this manga. Each of the character in Takamine’s group has distinctive personalities that you can relate with at least one. And I relate a lot to Hatori’s perception of “putting too much of your feelings into things hoping that it will always work out” aka fear of failure in some way.
Rather expecting too much and falling off of it, Hatori sets up a line with her interests and her interactions with everything. Only be enough and done. This is exactly the opposite of Hirose. Hirose is the most passionate person in Takamine’s friend group - even Takamine couldn’t be like her.

If I have a spectrum of gauging how passionate they are to their interests, it goes like:
- Hirose 10/10 (100% focus on volleyball - that she may murk her like to a person over her like towards volleyball)
- Hinata 9/10 (she is passionate to the things that she can hang out with more people and have fun. She doesn’t have a die-hard, long-term commitment like Hirose’s for volleyball)
- Sakura 9/10 (she is trying to find her way back to liking and sharing literature like her first year, not that she is not passionate, she just can’t share about it like before)
- Takamine 6/10 (trying to find the joy of liking something again, very indifference to stuff until Sakura appears and ignites her passion for anything literature-related.
- Hatori 1/10 (nearly zero passion towards anything now because of what happened to her friend) -> probably the turning point is to have Hirose help her get back into her long-forgotten passion for music (piano (?)))

Anyway, this manga never disappoints!! Can’t wait for more

last edited at Aug 1, 2024 7:05PM

NO TROUBLE IN PARADISE, NOOOOO

She's almost too gay to function

There are two ways I'm reading Sakura in the end there. Firstly, in a way, lamenting how she's had to give up on her club, but now Takamine says she's having fun in hers (though I'm fairly certain she isn't formally part of the club, though that doesn't really matter). Secondly, and very much tied to the first, she sees a person with whom she grew very close flowering before her eyes, all the while feeling that she's stuck in place and has not moved in a long time, perhaps even wilting. It's kinda symbolically displayed in the train scene at the end, with Takamine moving onward and Sakura being stuck behind. In a way she hesitated to move, and in a second everything "collapsed" before her eyes. Be it Takamine moving forward and leaving her behind, or herself leaving behind the things she cared about for whatever reason.

I'd like to throw in a joke and say that I agree with the commenter above who says "she's almost too gay to function", but also I think that in actuality that is part of the issue. I'm very much excited to see how this unfolds, but also holy fucking shit this chapter was too fucking short.

Also, as sort of an aside, Takamine playing the prince with Sakura was precious. I think that the placement of the scene and its juxtaposition with the following unfolding conflict is deliberate, but I cannot exactly pinpoint in what manner and why.

Ah yes, time for Aaaaaangst

Well that's a whoopsie, stay away from the door when it's closing, even if you happen to be wallowing in sadness at the moment

The opening story of the chapter hints at the potential roles our two MCs are playing here. The Brother, The Prince and the Lonely Girl.

The key question to me: is Takamine the supportive brother being taken away, or is she the savior prince, in the story? Will she end up being both at different times? The answer to that will say a lot about where Sakura's headspace is at.

Rather than the prince, I'm assuming Takamine (at least in this chapter) actually represents the supportive brother, being "taken away;" and as a result, Sakura, the "lonely girl" is possibly shutting herself off, like in the play--the train doors literally close between them. Interested in seeing where this goes. I really like the potential setup!

last edited at Aug 27, 2024 10:43AM

I'm getting so tired of the prince trope...

...these idiots have each others' phone/Line contacts by now, right? Takamine's friends made it happen?

It's kinda hard to read Sakura's expression at the end, but I think it's safe to presume that she's starting to feel left behind and a bit scared that Takamine will just grow past her. Now I wonder if the latter will actually notice this and try to reassure her or if it's going to go completely over her head. Takamine does tend to be a bit of a dumb-dumb , so I'm not sure what to expect (^^)

...these idiots have each others' phone/Line contacts by now, right? Takamine's friends made it happen?

Yes and they're also presumably meeting next day on the train, since this was how Takamine wanted to give her tickets in the first place so I'm not sure that this separation is much more than a bit of narrative symbolism but who knows, maybe Sakura will mysteriously get sick :P

I bet the train is the flower fairy.

The meanest train conductor