Wait, are they both dead...or...???

No, Sachie's friend Rika died. Our MC Rika saved Sachie just before she jumped in front of a train, technically in exchange for saving her from her own suicidal thoughts a little while before that.

I know that, but the last sentence implies something other than MC Rika wanted to die but changed her mind later on. I just feel like it implies that this is the same Rika or something like that.

I don't see any implication that this was the same Rika. It's not some sort of supernatural story about the ghost of Rika appearing as a prostitute to safe Sachie's life. If it was Rika-the-Porn-Star's ghost, Rika-the-Prostitute wouldn't need to look up the Rika-the-Porn-Star's information on the internet to see if she really looked like her before rushing off to save Sachie's life, would she?

It is an outrageous coincidence that a girl who is 8 years younger than Rika-the-Porn-Star who happens to have a similar physical appearance and goes by the same name (at least at the club... we don't know for sure that Rika is her real name... I mean... would you use your real name if you were working as a hooker?) and, due to crappy life circumstances, is working as a prostitute to make ends meet. If you look at the extra it shows them going to Rika-the-Porn-Star's funeral and lists their ages:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/chandelier#25

What I meant by my statement is that I, for some reason, thought that her line "You need to see me tomorrow" made me think that everything we saw wasn't true and that she is indeed the same Rika as MC Rika. Especially her line "She looks just like me". It gave off that kind of vibe for me and that's what I was thinking. This leads me to question whether or not they truly are alive, the last picture also made me think of it more.

How I understood that line was in relation to her earlier request for Sachie to return or see her again.

Shizuku did tell her in person on page 30. The small bubble says "I love you" https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/kimi_to_tsuzuru_utakata_ch31#30

Same reply, I know they did. What I meant is that it would have been better, for me at least, if they could have say it using spoken words rather than written words. I do get the point of written but it's not the same.

The one on the linked page IS spoken.

To me, I like the fact that they didn't "progress past pining". It feels realistic, and on some level, I feel like it would have lessened how special everything that happened before was. Shizuku and Kaori don't need to shout their love for each other from the rooftops (that wouldve probably killed Kaori faster), the summer they had was enough.

What would have sped this up a lot: if she'd remembered that she cursed the child of the girl that left her for a boy, in the womb, to fall in love with her. It's a tried-and-true method that has never failed.

Reminded me of that gem. Off to reread it now!

the "plot" adds a lot of unintentional comedy

it adds garbage, wasn’t funny since this is an hentai any way, it took from the what was supposed to be hot sex but the author needed to add some weird “we are eating cake with friends while we toe fuck one another”

not sure why you're implying hentai can't be funny

Some of the funniest things I've ever read were hentai.

And isn't not this. This is the bizarre.

The bizarre can be funny as well though.

This was a really good story, but leaves a sour taste in my tongue because I don't like Kae as a character. I know she works hard but it also feels like she has massive mary sue energy. Still, pretty cute. Would never want to interact with a person like Kae irl tho

I have mixed feelings about this.

I was the same as the others here. I came into this manga thinking it was the story of how these two managed to make it after escaping the horrible situation they were in. There were parts of the story where it genuinely felt like that's where they were headed, that they'd carve out a home in a small community away from the hectic chaos of city life despite the difficulties. Until it wasn't that anymore.

I really appreciate the bleak realism portrayed here. It's sad to think about, but this is how it is for a lot of us. My personal work life is doing well, but even I dream of escaping somewhere rural where every day isn't just corporate work. But you just know it won't work unless you get incredibly lucky. What a depressing wake up call.

Haaaaaaahhhh. I guess, just wishing the best for all the corporate slaves in the world. Hopefully even a few of us manage to get a Stardew Valley ending instead of a Throw Away the Suit Together ending.

ever since i've read you are my angela and by my side, i just ended up assuming that each of murasakino's pieces are metaphors but i just can't point out what's this supposed to mean.

but i'll never get tired of saying how much of a great storyteller they are :)

the metaphor is co-dependence

nah, I'm just kidding, I'm not smart enough to know what it is

Might not be too far off. But yeah, I love their storytelling.

This just felt like tragedy for the sake of tragedy. Pretty disappointing.

Huh. Why does the ending seem so abrupt? Did the author plan for more but the story got axed or is the pacing just really off?

Do... people only want sickly sweet wholesome stories? There's so much anger in this thread, it's kind of surprising (but maybe I just don't read the threads much). But for me, I really like the realism of the story. Dating coworkers, especially when you're the senior, isn't recommended for a reason. It can be super messy.

I wonder if the path moving forward will be that there's been a change in the office's culture as more of the "old guard" was removed and the new people are a bit more open.

I'll take that bet, since Ayaka already said she doesn't like Risa to her face, after Risa confessed.

....... "Doesn't like?"
You only like the people you want to fuck rn?
I'll take in that case that you don't like your father, you don't like your mother, you don't like your brothers and you don't like your sisters.

Well, either that or your family life is Taiyaki-level of interesting.

Man I read through the thread and if you even had a semblance of context, you would realise that "like" here was in a romantic sense. Why do you have the logic of high school manga characters where there needs to be cherry blossoms and sparkles in the background and a bold, italicised "like" before they understand that context?

Geez why do people have their panties in such a twist over this.

But I do agree with Mr Jones. Conflict is one of the key parts of storytelling, and we're seeing some surprisingly realistic ones here (the self-sabotage, the fear of coming out, the very real consequences to your work life if you come out AND date a coworker). The direction the manga is taking with Hiroko is incredibly interesting and I'm excited to see more.

Sal Jiang's art is so good. The emotion is insane. And I really love the direction this is going in. What a treat!

Pretty typical story but I love Belle's facial expressions here.

This is... meh. I dunno but I just find the MC to be so off putting.

I feel like this could've had more of an emotional impact but the pacing of the story was just too disjointed for me.

I'm conflicted. I like the premise of this story still and a previous comment had some spoilers that I honestly would love to read... but there are some depictions and content in the recent chapters that are just... uncomfortable.

Maybe the way to beat the system is for every love interest to end up with someone other than Elsa , and once there's no possibilities left the system just stops
With 50 in the game it's gonna take a long time though. We're gonna have to ship them together for efficiency xP

A pretty cool idea! Maybe they'll go for the "most popular" ones instead though.

Didn't expect to see them smash so soon, but I'm glad I've seen it

this is "a significant amount of time after ch.57" aka it's a flash forward to a time when they're finally smashing, whenever that will be. Not currently as of ch57+

I know. I just mean I didn't think it would actually be shown in the story so soon. I expected there to be a lot more chapters in between us seeing them get together and us seeing them in bed. Not that I'm complaining.

I think it was because a ko-fi goal was achieved?

Gods I legitimately choked when I read that "God you work fast" line xD

the mangaka is a real person with her own circumstances and other stuff to do(like the other serialisation) so can you please stop complaining about the page count like some kind of an addict

Whaddya mean "like" some kind of an addict?

nothing in particular, I got mad because I expected comments about the chapter, but got page count complaints instead

It's like watching a tv series that is normally 1 hour long per episode and suddenly getting a 12 minute episode. People are naturally going to talk about it and complain. Agreed with the other responses to this as well.

It was a meh story but the entertaining comments it generated bumped it up to good for me.

Kronii may be holding the leash but we know who's on top in that relationship.

I definitely like this nerd look on Kiara