Oh, this chapter was a lot tamer than I expected (What did I expect? No clue...) and pretty sweet and hopeful on the other side. Perhaps Niji is done with her outbursts... for now...? And I keep my fingers crossed that Komugi will continue growing and become happier and more assertive and not spiral the second Meguru makes things hard for her again (this sort of development isn't linear after all).

I've been thinking about the interactions between Niji and Remu. At the start of the story Remu says she says that Niji is the first person she thinks of when she wants to be understood... but then, Azuki comes along and Remu shares a much more embarrassing secret with her. Of course, Niji says "You're my number one too", because she's desperate for Remu to love her the most.

In the latest chapters, when Remu is worried about people judging her, the people who come to mind are her mother and sister. She's hardly even thinking about whether Niji still likes her or not, just about whether Niji will ruin her reputation. In fact, when she lies and says that the dolls are for Azuki's sake, she mentally apologizes to Azuki because she hates the idea of using her as a scapegoat.

I wonder how Niji's crush originally developed. Did Niji's feelings develop before or after they became best friends? Was it something like "Niji and Remu kept hanging out, so Niji developed feelings"? Or was it "Niji kept trying to get closer, and so they ended up best friends"

It's really starting to come together now. I fucking love that the characters that represent the prescriptive idea of normalcy have their own weird fetishes and strange feelings as well. God it's getting so interesting.

@Lucca

A lot of is the manga horror panel style framing we've gotten since early on. Meguru messed up Azuki way more in terms of explicit plot events, but Meguru wasn't drawn like a serial killer or eldritch horror pretending to be human so it can eat someone. This is priming people to think "Well, Niji must simply be that bad, given nothing contradicts this reading."

We recently had something similar happen in Lose Bets. A character threw stick of lip gloss over a bridge. Then readers acted like the character had crossed the moral event horizon. The paneling made it look like the character had committed a uniquely terrible act, so people interpreted it that way. Most readers are not detached enough that they will stop to think about why the paneling was set up that way or which parts of the comic are the source of their feelings about the characters.

As for why the author would do draw Niji this way, I think it's to build tension ("What will Niji do next? How far will she go?"), as well as to pull a bait and switch and say "Of course she was another traumatized teenage lesbian all along. Like in universe characters who resent the protagonists, you didn't have all the information and decided to make your judgement based on the parts you could see despite that."

Same may happen somewhat with Remu in the other direction, if she turns out to be quite as nice and well adjusted as she acts for the sake of others' approval. Not that she's evil either, but she's biting off more than she can chew in trying to realize everyone's desires and happiness. At some point that will not go well.

Edit: To build on your point of "If Niji was the protagonist," Azuki could have been drawn in a way that seems extremely menacing, with the whole "longer who obsesses over a past lover from long ago while making headless naked dolls of them" thing. We'd have had people expecting Azuki to commit a murder in that case if we had that drawing style combined with the loss of protagonist POV and most inner thoughts.

last edited at Nov 5, 2025 11:10AM

Chapter 14 is out on the 'dex, which I mention because last time it took a while to be uploaded here. Both are /u/ scanalations.

I was going to say something like that, despite my history of bad takes with various series, I haven't been completely wrong about this one. Instead I'll nudge anyone who wants to read more of this series to check over there. I will wait for more discussion when it gets uploaded on dynasty.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 8:14AM

The jumpcut from Meguru saying "I'm the most disgusting one of all" to Niji blissfully writing RPF about her and the girl she's blackmailing into dating her was low-key hilarious.

I feel like the difference between Niji and the rest of the cast is that on some level, they're aware of how everyone else thinks about them. Even though they feel compelled towards certain expressions of sexuality, that awareness at least makes them pause and reflect on what they're doing. Meguru got a really big dose of that in this chapter. While this is probably only going to make her turn her hatred of sexual expression inwards (at least for now), she's at least aware of how she's hurting other people. Niji, on the other hand, is blissfullly detached from everything. Any time she has reality pointed out to her, she rejects it and substitutes her own. Heck, she's even disregarded the one thing Remu asked her not to do, just for the sake of shipping two people she barely knows. It's kind of hard to see how she grows from here—she's already had her foundations shaken to the core and managed to rationalize them away. It really fits the abusive parent analogy brought up earlier, and if that's any guide, maybe she won't change at all.

THE RIDE NEVER ENDS
THE RIDE NEVER ENDS
THE RIDE NEVER ENDS

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 2:52PM

Whether one views Niji as a villain or not, she's made it clear she's no mastermind. She is basically attempting to simplify her situation with all the nuance and forethought of grabbing two people she's never met and going 'now kiss'.

Whether one views Niji as a villain or not, she's made it clear she's no mastermind. She is basically attempting to simplify her situation with all the nuance and forethought of grabbing two people she's never met and going 'now kiss'.

The endgame for all shippers

I was feeling devastated today , this manga always gets my mind off other things

Niji's issues are very external and she doesn't seem to care. That's what makes her different from the others and makes her dangerous. This is a perfect example of that. Her issues necessarily involve people other than herself.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 3:22PM

Whether one views Niji as a villain or not, she's made it clear she's no mastermind. She is basically attempting to simplify her situation with all the nuance and forethought of grabbing two people she's never met and going 'now kiss'.

She thinks she knows what kind of “story” they are in and as a “writer” can just move things along. They aren’t people. They are characters in the way of her favorite character. She doesn’t realize that’s not what is actually playing out between them. Just like how she doesn’t really care to understand her bff either and just wants her to fit in a box.

Bro I'm bouta teach this bitch firsthand the meaning of defenstration.

Oh hey we did get it uploaded on here fast. Thanks for the upload!

Anyway, it confirms that Niji does believe that what she's doing is helpful, and that she is motivated by protecting and taking of Remu, even though much of her true motivations are more selfish.

I didn't expect Meguru to be asexual, but I was surprised with how not asexual Meguru's motivations are and how self aware she is. She was ready to retraumatize Azuki to make herself feel better, but it didn't take much to get her to step back.

@kinseijoshi

The jumpcut from Meguru saying "I'm the most disgusting one of all" to Niji blissfully writing RPF about her and the girl she's blackmailing into dating her was low-key hilarious.

I feel like the difference between Niji and the rest of the cast is that on some level, they're aware of how everyone else thinks about them. Even though they feel compelled towards certain expressions of sexuality, that awareness at least makes them pause and reflect on what they're doing. Meguru got a really big dose of that in this chapter. While this is probably only going to make her turn her hatred of sexual expression inwards (at least for now), she's at least aware of how she's hurting other people. Niji, on the other hand, is blissfullly detached from everything. Any time she has reality pointed out to her, she rejects it and substitutes her own. Heck, she's even disregarded the one thing Remu asked her not to do, just for the sake of shipping two people she barely knows. It's kind of hard to see how she grows from here—she's already had her foundations shaken to the core and managed to rationalize them away. It really fits the abusive parent analogy brought up earlier, and if that's any guide, maybe she won't change at all.

This is good insight. One reason she hasn't been discouraged is that, so far, it's working out for her. She has a compliant and friendly Remu who fits her fantasies, Remu is still very invested in their friendship, and there's been no kind of negative consequences for anything she's done.

If we use the parent metaphor, a lot of parents only start to rethink their behavior once the kid moves out and has the choice not to interact with them. Even in more extreme cases, like parents who disown their transgender child, they often around if they see the child living a happy life without them. Going from abusing others to true change is hard and perhaps rare, but it's common to see the behavior moderate some extent once they are being held accountable.

Since Niji is a teen girl and not someone decades into abusing others, I'd say her chances of reforming are good. Not guaranteed if she were a real person, but even then kids shouldn't be written off for life so quickly. I also missed this until now, but both Meguru and Niji's issues stem from their parents in addition to their sexuality. Niji realizing she's enacting some of the mom's problematic behaviors on the person she cares the most about would be a wake up call for her.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 4:43PM

Okay Niji girl i see you spicing things up

My girl Niji always working on the plot.

Meguru's kink is kinkshaming? How disgusting! She should be ashamed of herself!

Cinema

relatively normal fetishist
needs therapy
needs more therapy
needs a restraining order

I would like to change #4 to "needs involuntary commitment".
I would also re-affirm Meguru as "more therapy".

That said, it was funny to see Niji go "I must make these people meet, despite Remu" when they have in fact already met. Hopefully this crashes and burns nicely.

@Lucca

A lot of is the manga horror panel style framing we've gotten since early on. Meguru messed up Azuki way more in terms of explicit plot events, but Meguru wasn't drawn like a serial killer or eldritch horror pretending to be human so it can eat someone. This is priming people to think "Well, Niji must simply be that bad, given nothing contradicts this reading."

We recently had something similar happen in Lose Bets. A character threw stick of lip gloss over a bridge. Then readers acted like the character had crossed the moral event horizon. The paneling made it look like the character had committed a uniquely terrible act, so people interpreted it that way. Most readers are not detached enough that they will stop to think about why the paneling was set up that way or which parts of the comic are the source of their feelings about the characters.

As for why the author would do draw Niji this way, I think it's to build tension ("What will Niji do next? How far will she go?"), as well as to pull a bait and switch and say "Of course she was another traumatized teenage lesbian all along. Like in universe characters who resent the protagonists, you didn't have all the information and decided to make your judgement based on the parts you could see despite that."

Same may happen somewhat with Remu in the other direction, if she turns out to be quite as nice and well adjusted as she acts for the sake of others' approval. Not that she's evil either, but she's biting off more than she can chew in trying to realize everyone's desires and happiness. At some point that will not go well.

Edit: To build on your point of "If Niji was the protagonist," Azuki could have been drawn in a way that seems extremely menacing, with the whole "longer who obsesses over a past lover from long ago while making headless naked dolls of them" thing. We'd have had people expecting Azuki to commit a murder in that case if we had that drawing style combined with the loss of protagonist POV and most inner thoughts.

Yep, I agree with all you said. If Azuki was the “antagonist” character, people would say she never loved Meguru, because the dolls never had a face, it was just lust, and how that is creepy and that Meguru has valid reasons. etc.

People calling Niji dangerous because she snitched is hilarious to me, she is acting like a annoying know-it-all spoiled brat, nothing more. If it's about harm, emotional damage, etc. Meguru has done more than Niji has.

People don't need to justify their dislike for Niji, the story itself paints her that way (like Kira from Death Note, that type of edgy villain lol) but it is obvious that if she was the protagonist people would not see her as “dangerous” as a “abuser” etc. people would sympathize with her.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 6:21PM

@Lucca

A lot of is the manga horror panel style framing we've gotten since early on. Meguru messed up Azuki way more in terms of explicit plot events, but Meguru wasn't drawn like a serial killer or eldritch horror pretending to be human so it can eat someone. This is priming people to think "Well, Niji must simply be that bad, given nothing contradicts this reading."

We recently had something similar happen in Lose Bets. A character threw stick of lip gloss over a bridge. Then readers acted like the character had crossed the moral event horizon. The paneling made it look like the character had committed a uniquely terrible act, so people interpreted it that way. Most readers are not detached enough that they will stop to think about why the paneling was set up that way or which parts of the comic are the source of their feelings about the characters.

As for why the author would do draw Niji this way, I think it's to build tension ("What will Niji do next? How far will she go?"), as well as to pull a bait and switch and say "Of course she was another traumatized teenage lesbian all along. Like in universe characters who resent the protagonists, you didn't have all the information and decided to make your judgement based on the parts you could see despite that."

Same may happen somewhat with Remu in the other direction, if she turns out to be quite as nice and well adjusted as she acts for the sake of others' approval. Not that she's evil either, but she's biting off more than she can chew in trying to realize everyone's desires and happiness. At some point that will not go well.

Edit: To build on your point of "If Niji was the protagonist," Azuki could have been drawn in a way that seems extremely menacing, with the whole "longer who obsesses over a past lover from long ago while making headless naked dolls of them" thing. We'd have had people expecting Azuki to commit a murder in that case if we had that drawing style combined with the loss of protagonist POV and most inner thoughts.

Yep, I agree with all you said. If Azuki was the “antagonist” character, people would say she never loved Meguru, because the dolls never had a face, it was just lust, and how that is creepy and that Meguru has valid reasons. etc.

People calling Niji dangerous because she snitched is hilarious to me, she is acting like a annoying know-it-all spoiled brat, nothing more. If it's about harm, emotional damage, etc. Meguru has done more than Niji has.

People don't need to justify their dislike for Niji, the story itself paints her that way (like Kira from Death Note, that type of edgy villain lol) but it is obvious that if she was the protagonist people would not see her as “dangerous” as a “abuser” etc. people would sympathize with her.

No I'd see her the same. "Dangerous" here also means harmful to others, willingly and actively so. Most of the other girls don't share the same qualities. They regret and feel shame; they worry and most of their issues are internal. Niji not so much, at least not as she's been presented so far. Her specific delusions could quite easily spiral and become intentionally harmful in a way that feels more likely than the others. Her delusions involve puppeteering people, wanting them to act in her ways or she grows frustrated. What happens when everyone doesn't play the part? I guess we'll find out eventually. I think we also have to remember the way she put pressure on her "friend" when she thought things weren't going her way, or weren't "as they should be." I imagine that also colors how people see her. I think the author is drawing her differently because she's a bit different.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 6:40PM

@Lucca

A lot of is the manga horror panel style framing we've gotten since early on. Meguru messed up Azuki way more in terms of explicit plot events, but Meguru wasn't drawn like a serial killer or eldritch horror pretending to be human so it can eat someone. This is priming people to think "Well, Niji must simply be that bad, given nothing contradicts this reading."

We recently had something similar happen in Lose Bets. A character threw stick of lip gloss over a bridge. Then readers acted like the character had crossed the moral event horizon. The paneling made it look like the character had committed a uniquely terrible act, so people interpreted it that way. Most readers are not detached enough that they will stop to think about why the paneling was set up that way or which parts of the comic are the source of their feelings about the characters.

As for why the author would do draw Niji this way, I think it's to build tension ("What will Niji do next? How far will she go?"), as well as to pull a bait and switch and say "Of course she was another traumatized teenage lesbian all along. Like in universe characters who resent the protagonists, you didn't have all the information and decided to make your judgement based on the parts you could see despite that."

Same may happen somewhat with Remu in the other direction, if she turns out to be quite as nice and well adjusted as she acts for the sake of others' approval. Not that she's evil either, but she's biting off more than she can chew in trying to realize everyone's desires and happiness. At some point that will not go well.

Edit: To build on your point of "If Niji was the protagonist," Azuki could have been drawn in a way that seems extremely menacing, with the whole "longer who obsesses over a past lover from long ago while making headless naked dolls of them" thing. We'd have had people expecting Azuki to commit a murder in that case if we had that drawing style combined with the loss of protagonist POV and most inner thoughts.

Yep, I agree with all you said. If Azuki was the “antagonist” character, people would say she never loved Meguru, because the dolls never had a face, it was just lust, and how that is creepy and that Meguru has valid reasons. etc.

People calling Niji dangerous because she snitched is hilarious to me, she is acting like a annoying know-it-all spoiled brat, nothing more. If it's about harm, emotional damage, etc. Meguru has done more than Niji has.

People don't need to justify their dislike for Niji, the story itself paints her that way (like Kira from Death Note, that type of edgy villain lol) but it is obvious that if she was the protagonist people would not see her as “dangerous” as a “abuser” etc. people would sympathize with her.

No I'd see her the same. "Dangerous" here also means harmful to others, willingly and actively so. Most of the other girls don't share the same qualities. They regret and feel shame; they worry and most of their issues are internal. Niji not so much, at least not as she's been presented so far. Her specific delusions could quite easily spiral and become intentionally harmful in a way that feels more likely than the others. Her delusions involve puppeteering people, wanting them to act in her ways or she grows frustrated. What happens when everyone doesn't play the part? I guess we'll find out eventually. I think we also have to remember the way she put pressure on her "friend" when she thought things weren't going her way, or weren't "as they should be." I imagine that also colors how people see her. I think the author is drawing her differently because she's a bit different.

People are very much not calling NIji dangerous Because she snitched. They are calling her dangerous because of the reasons Why she snitched. Which is the fact that she wants reality to conform to a fanfiction she's been writing and she is concerningly aggressive about doing whatever it takes to make that happen.

She didn't snitch because she's concerned for Remu or because she truly cares about Azuki and Meguru and wants them to work through their history. She snitched because she wants Remu to be the version of her that Niji designed, and to achieve that she is trying to get rid of a 'distraction' that makes Remu act 'out of character.' I guarantee you she'd be acting this way even if Remu got into a perfectly happy and healthy relationship with one of their classmates because that'd be just as 'out of character' to Niji and she cannot stand that.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 7:51PM

@SirNevik

No I'd see her the same. "Dangerous" here also means harmful to others, willingly and actively so. Most of the other girls don't share the same qualities. They regret and feel shame; they worry and most of their issues are internal. Niji not so much, at least not as she's been presented so far.

The point here is that, if Niji were the protagonist, you would have a lot more information about her and a lot less about Azuki. Azuki's regret and shame is often expressed internally and we know about it because she with Remu is the protagonist. It's not subtext, but explicitly expressed. That gives context a creepy image of someone in a dark room with headless dolls wouldn't give.

Meguru engaged in pupeteering as well, but did it in the past. That's why Azuki is like this now, which Meguru is only regretting much later. Niji in contrast is just getting started with her pupeteering and has a long way to go to get the possible regret phase. This may take the form of the older characters helping the younger characters avoid their mistakes, or at least letting the younger characters learn from them. How Meguru reacts to finding out about the clay dolls or relationship with Remu is an open question.

Also, I should say that I at least don't think -no one- would be this critical of Niji if Niji were the protagonist. I don't want to sound like I'm insulting other people, but you tend to have particularly thoughtful readings that involve noticing small details. I have still seen audiences excuse much worse behavior in a protagonist, so I don't think what you responded to is wrong if we are describing general trends in responses.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 7:57PM

@SirNevik

No I'd see her the same. "Dangerous" here also means harmful to others, willingly and actively so. Most of the other girls don't share the same qualities. They regret and feel shame; they worry and most of their issues are internal. Niji not so much, at least not as she's been presented so far.

The point here is that, if Niji were the protagonist, you would have a lot more information about her and a lot less about Azuki. Azuki's regret and shame is often expressed internally and we know about it because she with Remu is the protagonist. It's not subtext, but explicitly expressed. That gives context a creepy image of someone in a dark room with headless dolls wouldn't give.

Meguru engaged in pupeteering as well, but did it in the past. That's why Azuki is like this now, which Meguru is only regretting much later. Niji in contrast is just getting started with her pupeteering and has a long way to go to get the possible regret phase. This may take the form of the older characters helping the younger characters avoid their mistakes, or at least letting the younger characters learn from them. How Meguru reacts to finding out about the clay dolls or relationship with Remu is an open question.

Also, I should say that I at least don't think -no one- would be this critical of Niji if Niji were the protagonist. I don't want to sound like I'm insulting other people, but you tend to have particularly thoughtful readings that involve noticing small details. I have still seen audiences excuse much worse behavior in a protagonist, so I don't think what you responded to is wrong if we are describing general trends in responses.

As long as she took the same actions there's no explanation that would change my worries. Understanding someone doesn't change how I'd view their behavior and there are plenty of unreliable and morally confused protagonists. She'd be one based on things so far.

Besides hypotheticals, the main issue is her behavior and thoughts about her behavior is different than the other girls to me and feels more potentially harmful to others, currently. I can't speak for what the girls might have been in the past; I'm only commenting on who they are now. I also haven't said she couldn't be redeemed eventually; I doubt she'll have no depth. I don't think she's a monster or anything.

It's just if you look at these 4 girls, which of them would you say seems more likely to cause (non-physical) harm to the others right now? I'd say Niji very confidently and I could see her do so with little remorse so long as she got her way. The others aren't in that same mental place at the moment and much of their issues are internal. For Niji to get her way, all the other girls get involved in her play.

I also don't think I'd characterize Meguru like that. She only just came to realize why she behaved how she did back then. I don't think she was intending things in the same way Niji is now. She seemed genuine in her disgust and is only now understanding how complicated her feelings are. She's also been regretful, hesitant and unsure throughout (which are major things). That doesn't seem like intentional puppeteering and not in the same way Niji has been doing. We might just see her a bit differently.

last edited at Nov 18, 2025 8:37PM

The discussion on Niji is some insane "I just figured out how a narratives basics work" lmao of course if she were the protagonist things would be framed different. The same goes for every single other character in every single story.

I don't get why people are arguing in her "defense" like she is some misunderstood antihero. You can like her as a character and at the same time admit she is not a good person/has good intentions currently, for whatever reason. The whole point of this manga is to deal with prejudice in many forms, especially sexual, and how that can cloud your view on who someone really is or how that defines their character/morality, i.e., having a "disgusting fetish" makes them a horrible, awful person (which was very well shown by Remu's flashbacks).

Like many others have said here, the way Niji deals with her issues directly hurts the other characters and she doesn't care/is not aware. She does not have Remu's best interest in mind. Even if she were the protagonist and we saw from her POV only, the main thing that would change is that she would become an unreliable narrator, because she is constantly gaslighting herself on her own fantasies. If you really still think she has any real care and affection for Remu right now, you're basically in the same headspace as Niji is ("I'm doing what I think is best for her based solely on my opinions and ideals and never consult her wishes on it").