wtf just happened?

calling it now; “if your relationship can’t stay the same, you can just change your strategy” is gonna be advice she’ll apply to her relationship with Aya as well

change of strategy: now the tables will turn and Mitsuki will be the one actively flirting with Aya (instead of doing it by accident)

Mystery solved, Mitsuki liked rock since she was a child without the influence of someone

Y’know, the one who gave her all the CDs and encouraged her was probably her Uncle… So… He never said she got to know it all on her own, only that she has liked it for a long time

For the song, we thinking original song or rock cover?

"All Apologies" by Nirvana would be perfect.

Ngl, that would be a “full circle” moment, since Nirvana is the first band mentioned.

And would end all the yuri discourse since Mitsuki would sing “Everyone is gay”

Either that or About a Girl.
Covering that tends to go well.

I think lyric-wise “All Apologies” is the best choice

Also wishing her uncle ponied up for something nice like a vintage Rickenbacker 12 string for her. Oh wait, he said no pricey ones, so probably a used Fender. Can almost guarantee it won't a be a Gibson, just so as to avoid all the Les Paul/Lez Paul jokes.

What?? Fender is still expensive AF.
I think you meant Squier (Fender’s brand, but different nonetheless)

However, this guitar looks an awful lot like a Yamaha Pacifica.
Check the headstock

Here is the guitar:

last edited at Sep 11, 2022 12:56PM

Mitsuki is really lucky to have a parental figure 100% looking out for her and being supportive like that. It's a cliché but feeling like you have someone on your side really makes all the difference in the world when you're a teenager.

Also one willing to shell out 2k$ on you when youre in your moody blues lol

Ngl, having people in your life who are like this is actually pretty nice. Got my first bass like that. No questions asked but “you like that one? cool”.

"Anyway, here's Wonderwall."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I wonder if uncle ever had to do a serenade when he was her age? He seemed like he knew what to do instantly once he started to gather what the actual problem was. Also fantasic coloring as always!!!

Don’t think he knows whats going on tbh. I am pretty sure he is talking about Mitsuki’s relationship with music, not Aya.
So he has no idea what caused Mitsuki to not want to listen to music (which is obviously loosing a friend with whom she could bond over music)

The serenade scene is coming.

Laying the groundwork for this image

oops seems like you beat me to it

last edited at Sep 11, 2022 8:05AM

That ending HURTS

Tag yourselves, I am the girl in the background gripping the boy’s arm as if she was clutching some pearls.

The “Onee-chan! Holy fuck!” gets me every time lol

The story continues at a slow-but-steady clip and I'm fairly confident will have a good resolution, but "A new semester of Don't Ask, Don't Tell" may just take the cake as the most unpleasant chapter title for a yuri manga ever.

Why tho? To me it actually strikes as a nice title to mark the start of “phase 2” of the manga. So far the story has been about omission and miscommunication. Now that Aya knows Mitsuki is lying, it really has become a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” situation. The miscommunication takes new form now.

Kirin DID take some liberty in picking this expression for the TL, but I think it’s fitting.

The og title is 訊けない同士の新学期, which (according to Google lol) translates to “A New Semester Between Us Who Can’t Ask”. Pretty much stating that the new semester means a continuation to their misunderstanding because both parties avoid having a straightforward conversation. (At least for now)

Kind of a bummer that we didn't get to see Kai brutally murder the teacher. That'd be an interesting scene — to see the boy snap.
We just got this last panel, and something tells me this can pretty much be the end of the flashback. Hope I am wrong.

I want to one day click on the chapter and see the "subtext" tag replaced by "yuri" :(

Going by this chapter, it'll happen because Hitomi hooks up with crying-girl (Niwa?)

Yuri (Not the MC)

I'm tired of arguing about the best way to interpret a single line from a single interview. None of us know for sure what Arai Sumiko thinks "yuri" is. What we do know is she hasn't hesitated to show wlw romance in literally all her other works, and there's no reason to think she's suddenly grown cold feet now.

!!!!!!!
Exactly!
Now can we please just appreciate the art and music refs? And that the plot is moving along?

This interview came out so long ago, the heck

I could translate the chapter titles Amarrez didn't translate, but I would be able to update them only on Dynasty.

Edit: done.

Thanks Kirin!

New side ship just dropped, huh...

When did Aya holler about not wanting to go to school tomorrow?
I must have missed one of the previous releases. Chapter and page plz?

She didn't say it anywhere.

How I interpret this first page is:

1.Both Aya and Mitsuki kept going to school during summer vacation for their committee work and Aya, despite being sad/pissed off, said out-loud next to Mitsuki that she did not want to go to school the next day (for the new semester), probably complaining that they had to keep coming to school until the end of vacation.

We don't know at what point in their summer vacation Chapter 18 happened, but as people pointed out, with the three party planners already having a list with equipment and with Aya crossing items from the checklist, Ch.18 probably happened with like two weeks left of their vacation.

In other words: Chapter 17 (end of term and they get picked for committee work) -> Probably 20+ days of committee work -> Chapter 18 (Aya finds out and is sad) -> Few weeks -> Chapter 19 page 1.

1.1 Mitsuki's comment on page 2 about her (out of work) and Aya not talking at all during summer vacation probably refers to the fact that prior to Chapter 18 they only talked about committee work (weren't friends after all), and for the remains of it seemed like Aya was ignoring her on purpose (which she was lmao).

Then why is Mitsuki so surprised that she's being ignored all of a sudden? She should've felt the same throughout all school meetups during summer vacation too.

As I said, they were talking only about committee work. After Aya finding out they probably only had little exchanges like this one on page 3 with Aya being dry af and avoiding Mitsuki.

For the first week or so Mitsuki might have not noticed this, since they were not close. Mitsuki obviously hoped they'd be able to become friends and talk about music, just like Aya said she wanted to on Chapter 17.
But like, if this goes on for too long, and the person in front of you is stomping and avoiding your gaze at all times, you start to think it's personal, even if you are not super close.

Guessing after Ch.18 she stopped coming to the store, but I chose to assume that not a lot of time has passed for Mitsuki to think it's weird she's no longer stopping by (it's they vacation, not going to the story during her free time for around two-three weeks is not something that would raise any suspicions.

2.First day of the semester happens, Aya really did skip school, but Mitsuki thought she would at least visit "Onii-san" since there was apparently no reason why not.

I thought she would at least show up today = she didn't show up to school but I hoped I would at least get to see her at the store

Yeah, but according to the drawing on the first page, the new semester began AFTER Aya didn't show up at the store as Mitsuki was hoping for. This is really very confusing.

Not necessarily tho. Just because the page itself ends with "And a new semester began" doesn't mean the afternoon at the store is not on the same day their classes started for the new term, which I am guessing it is, for narrative sake.

I choose to think that this scene at the store is Mitsuki thinking "I know she said she wouldn't show up at school (and that did happen) but why did she not come to the shop?"
And then when Aya comes to school and they are doing committee work again, Mitsuki is catching on her attitude towards her (at school). Maybe she just noticed at that moment, Aya could have been pretty good at hiding it (the time-skip really doesn't help) so far.

Mitsuki's disappointment at the shop is probably because Aya coming to talk to "Onii-san" was a given. Aya not talking to school Mitsuki is not something uncommon since they are just classmates.

---

I'm just trying my best to make this make sense, I know I am not doing a good job lol
Sorry about that

The time skip ... really doesn't help the coherence of that chapter. I don't know. Maybe it's meta, like "feel the disjointed feelings of the two girls as a reader", that sorta thing ;)

How would that work?

People who are saying it ending in chapter 20, that's a joke, right? The author hasn't said anything about it ending, right? Please no.

Joke. The author didn't say anything and I doubt they'd stop working on this right now since it is extremely successful.

I personally think the chapter title translation is extremely clever, definitely a lot more fun than a literal translation ("A new semester for those who can't ask") would be.

Agreed.

When did Aya holler about not wanting to go to school tomorrow?
I must have missed one of the previous releases. Chapter and page plz?

She didn't say it anywhere.

How I interpret this first page is:

1. Both Aya and Mitsuki kept going to school during summer vacation for their committee work and Aya, despite being sad/pissed off, said out-loud next to Mitsuki that she did not want to go to school the next day (for the new semester), probably complaining that they had to keep coming to school until the end of vacation.

We don't know at what point in their summer vacation Chapter 18 happened, but as people pointed out, with the three party planners already having a list with equipment and with Aya crossing items from the checklist, Ch.18 probably happened with like two weeks left of their vacation.

In other words: Chapter 17 (end of term and they get picked for committee work) -> Probably 20+ days of committee work -> Chapter 18 (Aya finds out and is sad) -> Few weeks -> Chapter 19 page 1.

1.1 Mitsuki's comment on page 2 about her (out of work) and Aya not talking at all during summer vacation probably refers to the fact that prior to Chapter 18 they only talked about committee work (weren't friends after all), and for the remains of it seemed like Aya was ignoring her on purpose (which she was lmao).
Guessing after Ch.18 she stopped coming to the store, but I chose to assume that not a lot of time has passed for Mitsuki to think it's weird she's no longer stopping by (it's they vacation, not going to the story during her free time for around two-three weeks is not something that would raise any suspicions.

2.First day of the semester happens, Aya really did skip school, but Mitsuki thought she would at least visit "Onii-san" since there was apparently no reason why not.

I thought she would at least show up today = she didn't show up to school but I hoped I would at least get to see her at the store

last edited at Sep 4, 2022 6:06PM

She may be scummy, but if I had parents like that, I probably wouldn't have turned out the best either...

Makes you wonder, is she truly scummy or just has shitty parents? Parents putting too much pressure on children will only get you two results, I think: deep down they don't trust/like you + are overachievers (her sister) or they don't trust/like you + ended up hating studying/work and thinking they don't fit it (MC)

Considering the title and their thoughts, I'm assuming a certain girl spent the whole summer like 'fuck, am I gay?'

Both did, probably.

Kind of a weird chapter, feels like there's a page of transition missing

Downsides of being a twitter short

‘A New Semester of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ means we’ll have 18 more chapters of the girls not communicating properly before they become “very close friends”??????

i dont understand her last comment - does she mean she'll stop pursuing onee-san? or she'll confess asap?

I think she will confess, and probably take up her friend’s offer to get another place to live for some time. Don’t expect it to be on chapter 14 tho, maybe 15 or 16. She can probably try to get over her feelings first.

To me, the last pages are Miyako saying she doesn’t think it’s right to “force” Suga-san to live with someone who has second intentions (romantically) without her knowing, specially since their living situation can easily be compared to that of a couple (“domestic partnership” as Hato-san said lol) and if the other party is not comfortable with such, the interested one can’t keep making them play a part in that.
In other words, she doesn’t think Asako would feel comfortable living with someone interested in her if she doesn’t reciprocate it. So if those feelings were found out rather than told, it would put the older woman in a tough spot (“I can’t believe I acted as such and such to someone attracted to me”).

Also the power dynamic of landlady/tenant might stop Asako from protesting against the other’s requests (even the not ill-intented) or even make her feel like she owes something to “Miss Landlord” and force herself to please the person who can kick her out of her house on a whim at all costs (getting in a relationship even if she doesn’t really want it).
Not that Miyako would do any of that or that Asako would jump to such conclusion. But the reality is that she recognises the fact she holds power over the one she loves does not place them as equals and therefore a resolve regarding those feelings would never be truly reached.

Aww... How did this chapter go from really cute and fluffy to sad in two damn pages. I'm glad she's realized her feelings and all but that ending hurt Asako seems to be the generic oblivious as fuck main character though. I mean Myiako didn't flat our flirt or anything but the sudden change in demeanor should have at least had her question why Myiako was doing what she was doing.

Given how she can be at times, she probably chalked it to her eccentricity.

Agreed

Wait... Age gap, roommates, comedy?
How the fluke did I miss that one until today?
Gotta read it soon

Welcome aboard!