Heart? Virginity? So many possible answers to that question

First ones already been stolen from the start!

Going by how long they seem to have been "a thing", I'd be surprised if the second hadn't been "appropriated" by now as well. I mean, look at them, there's clearly years between the first and last page. Years of thirst.

Now that was something else.
HomuMad(o)libs

It kinda gets even crazier if you notice things like the houses in the background on this page...

last edited at Mar 12, 2022 6:37PM

Re-reading the first chapter has shown me how far we've come without moving an inch.
The lines remain just as applicable and representative and the formula still applies.
Koguma be like "If you're okay with me..."
Hino be like "You don't have any obligation to go that far for someone like me." (all the while Koguma starts holding hands with interlocking fingers)
And it all ends with "Hino-san you jerk!"

It's all mostly been recontextualized through ever-so-slow development, but I'd say Hino's shell of self-loathing is starting to crack. She's seen that she can do well academically, her leathercrafting receives positive resonance, she might finally be just about ready to accept herself and their mutual feelings. A little push will be required. You go, little bear!

last edited at Mar 10, 2022 6:31PM

So what are the chances of someone from Hino's past appearing to give us some backstory type of deal situation? Or are we betting on Koguma stumbling upon something by accident or an even more crazy idea, Hino being honest?

Hino's not gonna come out and say it. It's either gonna take Koguma prying or some external source butting in (which I probably wouldn't like as much).

@Blastaar
About hugging and doing stuff with no clothes on... I mean, they kinda already have, just in their usual roundabout ways. It'd be nice if we got to see them earnestly enjoying it, too :D

@Zormau ^

Yes, a perfect Hino-san no Baka maneuver—gave us what we want without actually giving us exactly what we were looking for. As you say, Koguma now knows and Hino knows she knows and Koguma knows that Hino knows she knows, but without the requirement that they make explicit the premise, “We are in love with each other and want to kiss (on the lips) and hug and do stuff, probably eventually with no clothes on.”

So we’ll see where it goes from here. (I guess the question is whether this is just narrative edging or, in the end, orgasm denial.)

Yep, instead of going right to the question the last volume of Bloom into You and the more recent chapters of Can't Defy The Lonely Girl pose ("So we've become a couple... now what?"), they're asking "So we're kinda into each other and know it, but... how do we go about this getting together business?" It sounds really similar to your typical "Will They Won't They", but it kinda feels different. It's also refreshing that "we're both girls" seems to not be a factor.

Hino seems to have a lot of past trauma/baggage. I don't expect any true romantic development before we get a ''Koguma helps Hino come to term with stuff'' arc

Yeah, I mean, it generally is easier to work through issues when you've got someone near and dear helping, and it's been clear from the first volume that there are issues. Tropes generally don't develop in a vacuum. We still don't know any details about them, which is kinda remarkable 96 chapters in, all we have are hints and theories. Hino mentioning her grandma in this chapter stood out to me as well in that regard.

Gooo tell her Elsa!!
also I have a feeling that the girl push her off because she couldn't keep her cool and Evie comes to save the day, I hope not and just make the girl annoyed or something.

If she tries to do something to Elsa and Evie comes by just at that moment, she's probably toast by Evie's hand. If Evie comes by and that girl tries to hurt Evie, she's probably loamy soil by Elsa's hand.

Elsa looks perfectly ready to kill in that panel you embedded :D

So three... Theories? Questions? Thoughts?

First, is that it was Hino's convoluted way of answering Koguma's question. Because Koguma (I assume second-guessing her own question) says that she had to be imagining things when she asked if Hino tried to kiss her. So Hino kisses Koguma (on the cheek) and says she imagined it, admitting to it.

The second is that it was just a weird way of saying "I'm not ready to fully dip my feet into this pool" by Hino. As in not ready to advance their relationship.

Third, the usual, is that it means nothing and was just meant to be a cute scene between two cute dolts.

Whatever it is, I wonder if we're just going back to the usual school shenanigans, since this was supposed to be the "last event" of the summer break.

All three apply. Hino gave a convoluted answer that was indirect, but intelligible. Koguma knows what happened. Hino knows what happened and that Koguma is also aware. Despite knowing this and that Koguma seems to be very much okay with it, she's not ready to outright commit. Likely because, as mentioned in prior discussions, she sees herself as not deserving Koguma, almost pathologically so. She wants to be with her, but thinks she mustn't, so she goes about it in roundabout ways.
All that and it's a cute scene between two cute dolts.

And now that they've established this tentative position, I'm all the more curious to see how they'll go about tiptoeing ever further into lands unknown.

last edited at Mar 10, 2022 7:55AM

HINO YOU GLORIOUS BASTARD YOU DID IT
HALLELUJAH

Nah fam, totally didn't. It's all in your head.

IT'S SO ADORABLE HOW KOGUMA GENTLY GRABS HINO'S SLEEVE AT THE END AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I mean, they're getting there, right? Slowly, but they're getting there.

last edited at Mar 9, 2022 6:43PM

Thanks for the translation.
But wow did that chapter go by fast.

word!

Contains 100% pure fluff. Very soothing.

Aaah, and for a brief moment, everything was alright in the world.
Thanks for this as always.

No misunderstandings here, finally. Would have liked it if Koguma had taken the initiative now and sealed the deal properly, but this works as well.

Aaah, the regular dosis of weird has arrived. Still sticking to the "Maho goes missing in the second half" formula, I like it.

They're holding hands in bed while sleeping...

Isn't that like insanely lewd?

Yeah, I think we've basically reached peak lewd.

oh god, I feel so stressed today

I fear things may have gotten worse since you wrote that last week. At least, more reason to stress.

I didn't get nearly the amount of enjoyment out of the announcement of Spice and Wolf's new anime output yesterday, despite that being one of my all-time-favorites, nor from the announcement that A Yuri Manga That Starts With Getting Rejected in a Dream discussion is making a comeback, heck, not even from the new chapters of Hino-san, Can't Defy the Lonely Girl and Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess! or even Elden Ring. Still, I don't think I'm falling into depression, but it's just so aggravating...

Not that I wasn't stressed last week (work reasons) as well, but this week the rest of the world really is kind of a downer.

Good news! Hijiki just said on twitter that she's working on new chapters for this series but it's going to take a bit longer since she got a new yuri series serialized!

A surprise, for sure — but a welcome one.

Well that was kinda unexpectedly tame, but I love where this is going.
Also I'm not surprised she's unaware of Wakana and Yuina, they've been keeping it down relatively well IIRC.

Here's hoping Koguma won't let her get away with any made-up excuses. It does seem that she's now pretty much aware of what's going on with Hino and is trying to give her that little push.
I think her thoughts in the last panel on this page seriously support this idea. Also note that Koguma's blushing all the way to the back of her head.

Thirsty Elsa is so cute.
Yvonne is still scared there might be bugs and wants to be held/not sleep alone I guess? Sounds like a win to me!

lol, wtf am I reading.
This kinda reminds me of that female Tauren joke from WoW that they removed last year:
"I once laughed so hard that I milked all over the floor."

More Itou Hachi. More goodness.
I read a chapter that's largely about food while my lunch is in the oven, now I get to eat as well. Good timing.

Jeebus doods, scummy-chan just heard dollar signs being given to her (from her perspective) unprompted and took the deal

It's a super standard younger sibling move

Can't argue with that.

The MC's action suck, she is awful. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy the story but please do recognize that this sort of behavior is not, in fact, good.

I mean, one of my favourite series is Warikan, exactly because the characters are awful. I love me a good train wreck drama series, but ScummyGap was rather light-hearted comedy so far, and this kinda clashed with that.

That doesn't mean that we won't get more hilarious hijinks out of it. (edit: oopsie, wrote that wrong)

Come to think of it, though, IIRC Makino had considered using her knowledge of Maron/Satou's moonlighting as leverage before, hadn't she?
Edit: no she hadn't. quite the opposite :D

last edited at Feb 19, 2022 8:11PM

This chapter gave me the same sort of uncomfortable feeling as previous, but it also is the first really scummy thing she's done. I think the issue is that her scumminess is established as being fairly harmless, but then this less than harmless blackmail is being treated the same. You start with something like this and establish that the character is shitty, then give her an arc to not be, but this is so out of nowhere and seems like it'll be treated the same as everything else.

Yeah I think that hit the nail on the head. The issue isn't her being "more scummy" than before, but it being (so far) presented in the same way. I'm coping with it, if you will, by having convinced myself that she'll eventually get her comeuppance. So far she would in all likelihood have gotten away with a slap on the wrist, but now... oh boy.

@Blastaar
... sorry ;D
Also: kids will be kids, but Makino's a high school graduate who hasn't realized that she's basically an adult now. Not that I could ever relate to that in any way whatsoever! I totally didn't live off my parents' money for years on end after graduating from secondary education.

last edited at Feb 19, 2022 4:57PM

Edit: actually, blackmail is a crime IIRC, so there goes that.

While her actions certainly fit the technical definition of blackmail, I would expect that most siblings' threats of "Give me money or I'll tell Mom" go unprosecuted and unpunished.

Indeed, unreported.

They'd in all likelihood only pertain to petty sums and be dropped regardless, not deal with hundreds of dollars like in this case. Dat sleeping course ain't cheap.
It's like the punchy tsundere: it's only cute if no one really gets hurt.

Also: An action doesn't become a crime once it's reported. It either is or it isn't (with "crime" obviously having degrees of severity), regardless of whether it's discovered, reported or prosecuted.

last edited at Feb 19, 2022 4:43PM

Edit: Also to clarify some of my thoughts, the MC instead of bonding with her sister over being gay, or being excited to have a family member like her, instantly uses the opportunity to get money from it. She doesn't hear her sister say "I'll do anything", and respond with saying it's okay she has her sister's back or anything. The narrative cheaply uses her sister being gay as blackmail...so the MC can buy more sex.

Oh I wholeheartedly agree that this would have been the more reasonable approach, but she's not acting like a reasonable person. She's, again, acting like a drug addict, barely shy of actually committing crimes to get her fix.

Edit: actually, blackmail is a crime IIRC, so there goes that.

last edited at Feb 19, 2022 4:29PM