akira rules and it's interesting how much more psychologically striking this chapter's tone is than the equivalent in the old version despite not really varying much in what happens, you can get a way better feel for asuka's "i am way over my head here" internal tension and it feels tonally closer to the later volumes of the old version. also despite understanding what rui was going for i could not help but laugh at an entire page questioning why akira would spend all her time hanging out with grade schoolers
It's been too long. Is my memory at fault or did Mom date Atsushi in the original, and through him got to know Akira? While here it seems she knew Akira first.
I don't think there's any explicit confirmation Akira knew Ayako during university in the old version, though Keiko definitely did (as she's the one to talk about Ayako's old demeanor) and I think there's a line somewhere confirming Akira does also have a pharmacy degree (she's not just coincidentally working for a pharmaceutical company with some other degree due to being in HR). Taiyaki doesn't seem to have had a solid idea of Akira and Ayako's prior relationship early on -- though it's just pseudo-canon omake, the volume extras kinda imply Akira's on the same level of familiarity to Ayako as the unnamed Morii parents at the time Asuka was born, which seems ... dubious?
So since they're similar ages, in the same program, and Akira has no problem approaching pretty girls, "they knew each other already" seems a reasonable assumption even in the context of the old version. Like, conceivably Akira could have put up a "please help my moron little brother not bomb his exams" flier at their school and met Ayako while she was tutoring (definitely not dating, given her demeanor and reaction to Atsushi's offer) Atsushi, but "we already hang out, you're better at academics than I am, would you mind trying to help out my brother (ps this probably won't determine the direction of the rest of your life)" seems more natural.
last edited at May 20, 2026 5:23PM