She lacks empathy. She notices Aya hides her pain behind a smile, but she doesn't really care and immediately thinks about how to exploit the opportunity. She comes off as calculative and cold, even though she's racked with guilt. She admits to herself that the breakup made her happy.
It's like the fact that Aya is a 14 year old without any family, who's struggling to survive after losing everything is totally abstract to her. It's like she never considered Aya as a friend, even in middle school. Only as an obstacle she can finally push aside and forget.
Not just Aya, I think the same could be applied to Koto too, Erika's love toward Koto is kind of weird. The idea of Aya coming back to give Koto false hope, then leave her again is incredibly cruel to Koto. Yet why would Erika want that to happen? Because to her, Koto's - the girl she supposed to love - well being is not as important as herself having her damn chance. I feel like to Erika, it's not about Koto, but herself and her chance to win Koto over.
I get that being selfish is very human or reality etc, but it's still bad and Erika feeling guilty about it is not undeserved at all.
If there's anything l would criticize this manga is Kabocha loves Aya too much, which seriously impact the balance of the love triangle story. Despite truly loving Koto, Aya is willing to let her go if it's for Koto's well being. She knows it's not right to keep Koto stuck in the past, even though that Koto would undoubtedly "love" her forever. In Erika's case, she also wants Koto to move forward but for another personal selfish reason. In brief, she wouldn't give two shits if Koto could just fall in love with her.
As a reader, l love Aya the most and don't actually care about Erika, but I don't really like the comparison. Just like defeating a villain who is cartoonishly bad and stupid is fucking boring. Not to mention Erika is also one of the protagonist. My beloved Aya deserves a better rival than this.
last edited at Nov 12, 2024 5:10PM
