You know something really frustrating in manga and media in general? Confessions. They’re a double edged sword; most times, they just need to happen to keep the plot going (in the best case scenario. In the worst, the confession has been the whole damn climax the story has been building since the beginning and as soon as it happens, the audiance doesn’t even feel the need to keep reading/watching). And confessions aren’t bad per nature, but because of the way the’ll be executed. When between two poeple who clearly like each other, there will be a misunderstanding, wrong words will be used, and individuals perfectly capable of forming sentences will suddenly forget how to use their tonges, and when between Main Character and Best friend-who-has-been-in-love-them-since-the-beginning, there’ll be tears, some heated forced kiss and them something like “I was by your side FIRST! How can you love somenone else! How dare you have your own preferences and feelings!”. Sad, but it’s the way things usually go.
But this is Yagate Kimi Ni Naru, this is Nakatani Nio-sensei, and even when these kinds of cliches appear, they’ve dealed with such care and respect for the characters that you ask yourself why the cliche was unlikable in the first place. Koito-san running away, just like Nanami-san being too scared/confused to reach out for her, are action that do not break the characters nature. It was all in there: Nanami-san’s disturbed/unidimensional views of love, and Koito-san’s lingering fear that as soon as she admitted her feelings, the girl she loves would instantly love interest in her. It all makes sense, because the knows them, and as much as both reactions were to be expected, they’re neither boring nor forceful.
The same thing goes for the new chapter. And I’m sorry, Saeki-san/Nanami-san fans, but if there’s something that would be out-of-character is the idea that Nanami-san could reciprocate Saeki-san’s feelings. Nothing on any previous action of hers lead us to believe that she felt anything beyond friendship. This isn’t the kind of Yuri where fall in and out of love with other girls that easily (not saying that they’re bad. Simply unrealistic). Nanami-san loves Saeki-san, for certain, but not like this, it doesn’t how we hope that she could. Like the manga itself says “I feel like a I could be with Sayaka (okay, depends on the translation, but the meaning is basically the same)”... “But”, and this “but” is the very essence of one of the most irrational (and wonderful) things about love: you can’t chose when and with whom it happens. Nanami-san loves Saeki-san, and clearly wouldn’t be opposed to date her (and maybe fall in love with her afterwards) but it’s not that simple, because Koito-san exists.
And even so, the rejection isn’t overly dramatic nor frustrating on some soap-opera level. It’s sad, that was inevitable, but happens between two girls who have known each other for a long time and that are ready to talk about their thoughts face-to-face. The confrontation doesn’t last long (two chapters? Neat.), because it doesn’t need to. Nakatani Nio-sensei handled both of the main confessions in her story with mastery, and considering how Yagate Kimi Ni Naru’s great storytelling made the fandom kinda greedy over time (Mea culpa Mea culpa), I’d say it did not disappoint.
