I do wish, at the end, she hadn't pulled the "I'll be waiting for you if you're still interested when you're grown up" thing, it's kind of groomer behavior.

She told an 18 year old that's leaving on the train for college to sort out her feelings, think about their relationship, and after all of that when she comes back from college if she still loves her they'll see where things go. I wouldn't call the MC a groomer personally, but I guess everyone has different views so maybe we'll simply have to agree to disagree.

I didn't call her a groomer, her actions clearly aren't premeditated enough to be that predatory. I said it's groomer behavior, because it objectively is. It's literally a tactic groomers use.

Telling her she'll be there when she comes back puts pressure on her to wait for her, which cuts her off from other relationships in the meantime. It's a tactic groomers use to keep underage people available until they're legal. "I can't date you now, because it's not allowed, but if you keep me in your heart, one day we can be together for real!" It's unfair to the younger person, because what they should be doing is looking for a healthier relationship. There are so many reasons this relationship is a bad idea, from the age difference, the fact that they don't actually know each other at all, the fact that Aya has been hung up on Kaori's mom for years...Honestly, they should both be looking for other relationships rather than holding on to this thread of infatuation. So while I do think the instinct to respond properly to her confession isn't a bad one, she really should have been trying to find the words to allow Kaori to move on from her, so that she could also move on from Mitsuki.

The only way the "I've got a go talk to your daughter now" thing makes sense is if the mother already knows her daughter fell for her ex.

I mean, it probably doesn't make sense, at least to the mom? We don't really see her react to that line, Aya's out the door before she can really say anything, so it's very possible she's just like "Wait....what?" She certainly looks bewildered enough.

Like, she's not confused when she brings up her daughter, because it seems like she's just reacting to noticing the photo, but the "I have to go tell her something!" (runs out the door) certainly seems to throw her for a loop.

I feel like it the age gap between mc and her ex was greater this story would make more sense tbh.

Eh, they're already like 3 or 4 years apart. I feel like, for you to buy that the younger girl thought it was a requited love, they have to be about that close.

Overall, I mean, people are calling this shallow...it's a 2 shot, it's not gonna be deep. I do wish, at the end, she hadn't pulled the "I'll be waiting for you if you're still interested when you're grown up" thing, it's kind of groomer behavior.

Well this comment didn't age well. I don't want to be mean but it was always really obvious. Mei is someone who wears her heart on her selves. If they had sex she'd be a blushing mess. Plus them having sex would go against Maria's whole point of waiting.

Did it? Like I said before, even though they didn't actually bang, the activities that Mei and Maria got up to that night already crossed a massive line as far as Maria's whole thing of trying to wait and remain professional until Mei graduates.

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like a punchline on its own. "Oh, I can't date you, I'm your teacher, I have to maintain a professional boundary. So I'll just invite you to my beach house for a group excursion then keep you after everybody goes home and make out with you and sleep naked together. But we can't date! It wouldn't be appropriate. Lady, you crossed "appropriate" the moment you staged a beach trip with a bunch of your students so you could seduce one of them.

My dream ending! And I'm glad it wasn't just me being delusional (and deeply biased towards Maria x Mei) about the other pairings being hinted at. At any rate, that scenario doesn't seem too unlikely with how things stand right now.

Yeah, I'm actually a little surprised by how much the chapters after the Beach House trip are cycling through Mei's several suitors all while also repeatedly coming back to Maria-sensei each and every time and how much Mei really wants Maria-sensei in particular. It definitely comes off to me that the series is zeroing in on Maria-sensei as the endgame.

We'll see though!

I don't think so. I think literally the entire point of the series is that Mei is a weak willed pushover who falls for whatever pretty girl is in front of her at that particular moment. (points at the title of the manga)

Sensei was just the first person to offer herself exclusively, which had Mei in a tizzy, but she also rug-pulled after the fact, which has Mei twisting, because she can't wait 4 years. Girl can't even go a day without letting somebody seduce her, she's definitely not going to hang around for 4 years of distance unless something fundamentally changes about her personality and worldview. I mean, in real life, a person like this would keep doing what she's doing, falling over herself for everybody that pursues her until somebody gets hurt, at which point she'd step back and reevaluate. I don't know if this series will get that serious, it would be a pretty big tonal shift, but it would make sense. If it doesn't happen, realistically the other girls would just lose interest when they realize she'll submit to anybody that pushes. Well, at least the ones that care about having an exclusive relationship.

From a story structure, most often the long term love interest is the first one you meet, or is somehow singled out from the others. If I were going to guess that anybody was planned to be endgame from the start, it'd probably be the high school friend, because she's set apart from the original 5 in that she isn't associated with a sense, meaning she isn't a token part of the set. She was pining for her before the story started and there's a misunderstanding or miscommunication about her sexual/romantic preferences. But it's also questionable whether she has sexual feelings that she's reflexively rejecting, or if she's in love but sex-averse...There's a lot of unknowns there.

All told, I suspect this whole series is just Tamamusi just using it as an excuse to draw pretty girls kissing and being flirty. I don't know that there's much of a concrete plan at all.

last edited at Jun 30, 2025 8:58PM

I think you're giving way too much weight to the word "gross" in the context of what was going on. Mitsuki is just not used to getting overwhelmed with these kinds of feelings and caught it spilling out visibly. It's likely a face she's not used to seeing on herself often. She's not actually grossed out at anything she's done with Aya or looking at those photos. She's actually getting creatively wound up by thinking about it all.

Aya has shown being insecure about fitting in with Mitsuki's family who all are fluent in English so she's throwing herself into English studies. She's also not creative in the way Mitsuki is and Hime and Narita have their own things too. She's self-imposed goals for herself that she's not meeting and is missing out on having fun in her senior year which is making her feel an artificial distance growing. It's all self inflicted, but not that unusual when you're at an age where everyone is deciding what to do with their lives and some of them are more outwardly talented in something you rank highly. In this case English and music.

Yeah, it seems like they're really overthinking things.

Though do we know if they're third-years? I thought they were second-years for some reason.

Mitsuki you're literally dating--it's okay to grin about your girlfriend ya doof!

Are they dating though? They sure don't act like it.

We didn't get a '' will you'' moment yet, but they're definitely acting like a couple. They might be taking their time I guess, with the exams coming up and all that.

They were literally making out during an at home date like 4 chapters ago.

...And that's why Sensei is garbage.

Seriously, I do not know how you people look at a teacher stringing along their student like this and think there is anything remotely attractive about that. This woman is the worst.

I’m not clear that there’s any cheating going here, or for that matter any lying…

People have different thresholds for what they consider cheating, so milage may vary, but I think almost anybody would classify trying to make out with another woman while married to a guy that is calling you qualifies.

I mean, It gets stopped before going too far, but this is definitely an attempt.

I don't think it's very contemptable, honestly, she and her husband are at least separated at this point, it's not like there's much trust being broken, and she's obviously struggling with emotions she hasn't fully processed. But I'd still call it cheating.

There's a difference between cursing the author and/or the readers for enjoying a story that doesn't comply to common morals, and discussing how a character's actions encourage a behaviour that —supposedly— she herself also condones. The way she approached this does make sense for her character, that's why people are annoyed at her. How she worded her rejection implied that the only thing stopping her from dating her student was the fact that she's already in a relationship. That's not how this situation should have been handled to guarantee that she won't have a problem with this student later on. I liked that she decided to talk to her, but she shouldn't have let her hold on to hope like she did.

What this guy said. Like, no dip, IRL it’s wrong— im more so annoyed by the fact that she’s screwing herself over here lol (I’m expecting major angst and tragedy)

I'm really not. The girl isn't likely to out her, she isn't angry or resentful, and she doesn't know who she's dating. This is a little bit of a risk, outing yourself always is, but there's no signs here that something is going to go terribly wrong.

My annoyance is like people screaming “No! Don’t open that door!” At the screen during a horror movie, ykwim?

Except this doesn't look like a horror movie, to follow your analogy. This is more like somebody shouting "No! Don't open that door!" at a different genre film because they've assumed that all films follow horror movie tropes for some reason.

Well the obvious implication of "a teacher cannot date their student" would be "well then I'll try to get with her once I graduate", which people understandably also object to.

All this goes to show that MC is flawed. She’s got good intentions— but those good intentions make the student think “I have a chance still” which imo, giving false hope, is worse than coldly turning them down.

There's no false hope here, she's in a relationship. That is a perfectly valid reason to turn someone down. Hell, even if she wasn't in a relationship, she has feelings for someone else, and wants to stay faithful to that. That isn't an "in", that's a rejection, hands down.

She turned her down explicitly and gave no ground when it came to a "last memory" or whatever. She shot her down in a way that explicitly says "This is not happening" but still doesn't invalidate her sexuality or patronize her.

Also, there may be (definitely are, in fact) many different reasons she's turning her down, but she chose the one that's most important and that she thought the girl would be most likely to understand and respect. I actually thought this was a very elegant solution.

Giving someone hope only to take it away later just seems more cruel than setting the record straight while their expectations are nonexistent

If somebody says "I'm not going to date you because I'm in a committed relationship and my feelings for them are serious" and you take that as "So you're saying there's a chance!" that is very much and very certainly a you problem.

last edited at May 28, 2025 9:08PM

''Normal''??? wth

Y'know, it's exhausting being something that most people regard as strange or unusual, especially in a society like Japan where conformity is such a pivotal part of social dynamics. Wanting to "be normal" doesn't necessarily mean you want to not be gay, but normal people get to just casually express interest in the opposite sex. Romance isn't a minefield for them, people naturally assume that if they're close to someone of the opposite sex there might be some kind of attraction there, so if they confess, it's pretty unlikely to blow up their entire life, ruin their friendships and family relationships, or get them ostracized at work.

Like, here there's this girl. She thinks she's cute and cool and awesome, she's crushing hard, she joined the theater troupe just to meet her, but she has to be terrified just telling this girl that she's gay, much less that she's into her. That sucks! It's hard. The director being openly gay helps, but a lot of people are fine with the opposite sex being gay, because they feel like it doesn't involve them, so coming out as a lesbian to this girl is still really hard for her.

A lot of people in the west take gay acceptance for granted. I've run into that myself at times. And we've made great strides! But it's not a given, by any means. Every little coming out is a risk. It'd be really nice if it wasn't.

It's pretty typical to long for that kind of normality. Maybe she means she wishes she wasn't gay, or maybe she just means to wish that being gay was normal in her society, we'll have to wait. But either way, the sentiment is pretty relatable.

I think Aya just wants to fit in with Mitsuki's family and future and she's decided all on her own that she MUST learn English to do that. She wants to understand the lyrics. She picked English as her focus for university. The three people she really likes all can do it. This might be the first time she was trying for something she wants that much. It doesn't seem like they know exactly how bad she's feeling about it because she is having fun with Mitsuki otherwise.

It looks like Mitsuki is currently happy in the moment and thinking everything is great while Aya wants to be happy, but is mentally stuck in plans/scenarios as she's done in past chapters. Before she was focused on ways Mitsuki could stay with her and now that Mitsuki seems to be in a good place, cooler than ever even, she's decided she has to do this to stay with her because that's how she's wired to be.

Yeah. I mean, Joe is definitely moving to America at some point, she's probably assuming Mitsuki will go with him, and she feels like she has to be able to thrive there herself in order to stay with her. And for a girl her age, who has probably kind of undervalued academic studies up until this point, that's a lot of worry and stress to put on yourself.

Not sure if it's Nao or whoever, but some character is about to have a fucking gay panic induced heart attack.

I'm thinking Kaoru, V-E's most dedicated Player. Mayoi is going to step up her game.

I dunno, Kaoru's pretty fixated these days. I'm pretty sure she just straight up doesn't notice anybody but Mayoi anymore, at least sexually.

Maybe Kishi-sensei will finally pull the trigger on Nao. Can't have an exhibition without an audience.

Or maybe we just think Kase is a bad girlfriend? Or have you already forgotten about the stupid race?

None of us have forgotten, but people fuck up sometimes, you deal with it and move on. It was clear by the end that Kase was just trying to avoid hurting her friend's feelings and that she wasn't willing to compromise on her actual relationship or the idea of moving out. And ultimately Yamada wasn't upset about it. They understood each other, which is really the only thing that actually matters.

So I wrote a reply to this, then saw the post after it, and decided to restructure this a bit. If anybody saw the other post, please ignore it, I was missing an important piece of context.

I know people online love to inmediately paint the other party as a bad person to win the argument but if you take the time to read my previous comments you can see why I said that. Also, you and I are strangers, please refrain from making assumptions about me.

I can turn that last sentence around on you, though. I wasn't trying to paint anybody as a bad person, and I wasn't trying to "win the argument," because we weren't arguing. To be frank, I wasn't actually regarding you as worth engaging with directly, because I honestly thought you were just trolling, but I've changed my opinion on that. I also wasn't trying to paint you as a bad person, I just was regarding you as someone who had presented a bad position on a single topic. I try to reserve judgement about people as a whole until they have thoroughly shown their full character to me. But I was misunderstanding you, and I apologize for that.

I'm sorry, but it's just that Yoru does not seem upset by Hime-chan's unhealthy needs, rather she seems sad for being ‘unable’ to respond with the same intensity as Hime-chan

At the time I posted, this is all I had to go on as your justification for your comment about Yoru being trans, and the thing is, this doesn't give a justification for Yoru being trans? It doesn't lead there at all. Even if it were true, and I don't really think it is, it doesn't have anything that hints to why that specific "inability to respond" had anything to do with transness. It seemed pretty non sequitur to me, to be honest. Though with the comment below, I actually get where your mindset was coming from:

Yep, I get your point but it was a joke, that’s why I added the lol at the end. I was thinking about that meme with the lesbian who continues to make their partners realize that they are trans men

The lol is what actually gave me the sense that you might be trolling, TBH. It's practically the mating call of the wild internet troll. But it's also common outside of that, so I gotta be wary of false positives. The comment that you were thinking about a meme about that specific subject actually does a lot more to clarify where your mindset came from than anything you posted before. That being the case, I definitely was assuming too much, and I'm sorry for that, too. I run across a lot of bias and prejudice and I've spent a lot of time recently with my guard up, for reasons most people in these forums probably understand well. (looks at the political landscape)

last edited at May 23, 2025 10:23PM

Yeah, I'm with Kase on this, Yamada should've taken a stand against her employer. They can put a sign on the door for a couple hours, their business isn't going to collapse if they have an unexpected closing for a small part of one day.

• They both being still available is... not a coincidence; is more or less obvious it would be the case. One of them (Rei) is stated to be horribly bad at scoring at lesbian bars- errr, I mean, to have a long history of not finding partners. The other has quite recently discovered she likes women; she still being alone right after a divorce is... quite realistic. Both of them not finding a couple in a while is quite aceptable.

Gotou also was probably explicitly waiting for this specifically.

Gotou san, I personally think that you aren't taking advantage. You cooked meals for her too. See, she could only eat bread for breakfast when you left laughs

Yeah, but the important thing is that she felt like she wasn't a functional person. She needed to be able to stand on her own before she could stand with someone else.

needed to get her shit together on her own, without Reis help; if they had been in contact, that wouls0t have been the case.

I dunno, I don't see how having phone calls or social media or even coffee dates would compromise her going independent.

The reason she left in the first place was because if she stayed, she didn't think she'd have the willpower to resist relying on her.

I do think she could have been more direct about "I'm going to go home, divorce my husband, and get my own shit together" but I do feel like she probably was worried about making Rei wait for her.

The fact that they happen to cross in the street is a coincidence, but it's a deliberate one. It's how they "got together" the first time, so it's reinforcing that sense of fate. I saw the TV saying "You can get married now" as just for our sake, you could already see from Miki's post on social media that Rei's gay friends are starting to marry off in the aftermath of the law, so it's not like it's news to them.

I dunno, it's a little clunky, but I don't have any serious problems with it.

I have a feeling Yoru is going to 1) come out as a trans man and they are going to break up or 2) come out as ace and they are going to break up lol

Uh... How do you think that?? Because there's nothing in this manga that indicates either of these.

And I love Hime-chan and her dramas lol.

They think because Yoru is drawn with a guyish appearance they can't possibly be intended to be an actual girl. It's just shallow appearance standards and gender conformity bullshit.

Or they're trolling. One or the other.

... Shouldn't Mitsuki already know how long nail polish takes?

Mitsuki probably uses the quick-drying stuff, while Aya's probably painting her nails with slower drying polish that has a prettier finish.

Not sure if it's Nao or whoever, but some character is about to have a fucking gay panic induced heart attack.

Ow my cavities

Part for me laments that the author didn't just make this story set in an American high school. They very clearly wanted to theme the story around that setting, and I often get a little surprised when I'm reminded this story is supposed to be set in Japan. They story also feels somewhat limited by this, as the author needed to make some kind of excuse for why a Japanese highschool would be hosting a prom, so I wonder why they didn't just change the setting.

I feel like the only other yuri story I've centered around teens in the US was I Love Amy, so it would've been cool to have such a unique setting for this series.

The entire point of the story is that Aya and Mitsuki feel like outsiders in their own culture, because their music preference is a metaphor for their queerness.

The story is not subtle about the metaphor.

Things like the prom and their friends getting into their music basically represents their culture and friends learning about their differences and accepting them.

last edited at May 4, 2025 12:30AM

This chapter made me realize, that despite dating, they aren’t on a first-name basis with each other.

HOOOOOW??

Mitsuki fr missed the chance to Oosawa as “Aya”! Is this kinda thing normal for relationships in Japan?

日本です。

I don't know if it's because of the somewhat sporadic releases or the fact that I haven't reread this one at all, but lately I have a hard time following the events in the story. Why were they fighting? Were they even? What's going on with Mu Xiaoen? I have no idea. It feels like the author is really trying to say something here and I have no idea what the hell is happening.

Xiaoen's biological mother gave her up so they could have another child under Chinese law, because they wanted a son. That son, Xiaoyang, turned out to be a trans girl, which is something her family won't recognize because they want to have a son and China isn't great with trans issues. Xiaoyang looks up to and relates to Xiaoen because she's honestly kind of amazing and because Xiaoyang relates to her being cast aside for gender related reasons.

Biomom, therefore, is just kinda awful, but she also is still Xiaoen's mom. She has cancer. Xiaoen hates her, but is sad that she's dying.

Xiaoen's adopted mom, who raised her, is also currently going through testing because it seems like her cancer might be back. She's trying to downplay it but it's weighing on her.

She resents her little sister because she was literally cast aside so they could exist, and she views their trans identity as them casting aside the thing that would have allowed Xiaoen to be a cherished member of her biological family. Meanwhile, she's mad because her girlfriend, Xingyuan, is bonding with and sticking up for the little sister, because Xiaoyang's actually pretty cool and nice and they're close together in age and have good friend-chemistry, and because as somebody whose dad is not okay with her queerness, Xingyuan identifies with and sympathizes with Xiaoyang.

Xiaoen hates her sister, but knows it's unfair and that she shouldn't. She hates her mother, but is sad that she's dying. She's stressed out because her mom is sick. She's frustrated that her girlfriend isn't on her side, but also is aware that the things she loves about her are exactly why she's not. She's pouring all her energy into trying to rebuild this town that was practically dead because it's the only home she ever had that treats her like actual family, and it's just a whole, whole lot and she's been bottling it all up to keep moving forward.

Edit: Whoop, I was misremembering, it's the adopted mom who's sick, which is way worse for Xiaoen.

last edited at May 2, 2025 9:54PM

I was so for team Sensei but idk they pissed me off with how she essentially led Mei on and when she finall reciprocates she goes “sorry no nothing can happen for four years MAYBE if we’re also still single by then” like that’s essentially a white flag and immediately killed that ships momentum dead. Felt like I just wasted my time getting invested. I feel like every relationship is gonna end up like this now I kinda don’t wanna get to invested in any of them.

Never trust a teacher that's willing to schupp their own student. That is a person with absolutely no ethics, and they can't be trusted to do anything other than what the whims of the moment entail.