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

That's why people calling Aya the real MC and it's kinda true, not officialy but still... so not a suprise. It's her story and most importantly it's not just a simple love manga but a lot of complicated things are goin on besides that. Would be hard to care about the love triangle when it's Erika -> Koto <-> Aya.

Not to mention Erika is also one of the protagonist. My beloved Aya deserves a better rival than this.

Just curious, but what do you think about Koto then? If you think Aya deserves a better rival than Erika, do you think Aya deserves a girlfriend like Koto? I mean at this point, not in several previous chapters, where we don't have as much information about her character.

Would be hard to care about the love triangle when it's Erika -> Koto <-> Aya.

I feel like it's not what really going on here, when there's a lot of people rooting for Erika over Aya. They dislike Koto, but would love to see Erika dating Koto anyways, and I can't see any reason behind that other than wanting Erika to "win" against Aya.

last edited at Nov 13, 2024 2:58AM

I don't want Erika to date Koto, I think all three should just be friends and find somebody new without the childhood baggage to pursue romantically.

At some level I understand the “horse race” way of reading romance manga, but it’s just not the primary way I think about reading stories—I’m mostly interested in what the author is doing with the pieces of the narrative and how they’re doing it. In this case, I think it’s fascinating how the strange premise, especially the 7-year gap with characters at this age (these ages), sets up so many unusual emotional complications.

Sure, as imaginary people, Aya is the “best” of the lot—brave, forward-thinking, trying to do the best with the bizarre cards she’s been dealt—while Koto and Erika are both stuck living in the past in different ways and not doing too well at it. But it’s hard for me to see the characters as the equivalent of sports teams, where I’m “rooting” for one over the other.

Every few months, I'm stopping by one of the library in Tokyo with the largest yuri selection to buy some of the latest yuri release, and I was gladly surprised that the first volume of the manga was out in a physical release! I completely miss any announcement about it, but I remember Kabocha mentioning that a physical release would only happens if the ebook had decent sales, so I'm really happy for her!

The first volume has a few exclusive extra pages at the end. The ebook version as well, but the extra pages of the ebook are not in the physical release and the one in the physical release are not in the ebook version.

Support the author if you can!

last edited at Nov 21, 2024 8:35AM

somehow SPOILER ALERT! Don't read it.

As I noticed, I was right on the spot with my theory. ( the team "against" Erika too) Go check what I wrote 2 weeks ago, if you're curious about the oncoming happenings. LOL... I unconsciously spoiled it with my theory.

last edited at Dec 3, 2024 11:48AM

somehow SPOILER ALERT! Don't read it.

As I noticed, I was right on the spot with my theory. ( the team "against" Erika too) Go check what I wrote 2 weeks ago, if you're curious about the oncoming happenings. LOL... I unconsciously spoiled it with my theory.

You just delayed the next chapter for a month.

Would be nice if you know, there was a way to hide text in case you want to spoil.