i've been re-reading this from the beginning and honestly, the second part of chapter 5 vol 1 perfectly captures why adachi and shimamura's dynamic is so equally pure, fluffy and heartwrenching. also, to go on a bit of a tangent, something about shimamura's character in the early volumes is so captivating to me. her whole philosophy around how she lives her life and her strange mix of maturity on some things (especially as an older sibling) and childishness on others, mixed with her slightly inconsistent but prevalent sense of self awareness is very authentic and real. i personally feel that both characters are really relateable in their own ways but shimamura has always been my favourite and she's deeply interesting and unique (despite the fact that she would probably immediately object to that characterisation of herself). i know others may see it differently, but from my perspective she's the "main character" (if there is even a point in designating any one as such) and her development feels like the driving factor of the novel to me, and adachi almost feels a little bit two dimentional compared to her (not to put down adachi as a character, i love her too and her character also gets pretty deep, it's just that sometimes i honestly feel like adachi acts as a plot device to push shimamura out of her comfort zone). shimamura's character has genuinely had an impact on how i see things and approach things, which is strange and not something i can say about pretty much any other fictional character. in a sense, she acts like some sort of patron deity of mine; sometimes i look up to her and she gives me a cryptic answer to one of the thoughts that the cogs in my brain get stuck on. it's weirdly theraputic to just read through her thought processes on things. anyways, this novel may be the best work to come out of this genre.
