Don't know why people have to read so much into this. This is just a chapter fully establishing Mitsuki and Aya's relationship in front of everyone (As if the official peak art by Arai Sumiko isn't enough) it doesn't have to get any deeper than that, it is still a fantastic chapter though. :)

The original question was not about "why did the characters within the story announce that they were dating?", but "What exactly did readers who, before this chapter occurred, were somehow unsure if the characters were actually "dating" need for the story to show in order for such readers to be certain that the characters were dating?"

Man, people like to read way too much into things...

eh, this is just another Tuesday

Totally disagree: it’s Monday. Lol

I know that this is a “dramatic work” (and hence the Idiot Couple tag is out of bounds), but the angst and density here is reaching close to humorous levels. Their advice-giving female friends are at the “Just fuck already!” stage, and even sad-sack Hario is like, “At least she’s at a hotel with the woman she’s in love with and not dead in a ditch somewhere.”

And I’m loving it.

There’s someone out there for everyone.

To the audience is clear what their feelings are but to them the clarity and reassurance is probably nice.

Except for the part of the audience that says, "I wondered if they were dating."

Their feelings being clear and them officially dating aren't necessarily the same thing. I don't think anyone thought they didn't like each other. Hearing them verbalize things means something to a lot of people and to Mitsuki, apparently. I love Futaribeya, so I've been in these discussions before.

That was my original question: what exactly does it take for two fictional characters to be considered "officially dating"?

Apparently the answer is: a public announcement consisting of the words, "We are dating."

To the audience is clear what their feelings are but to them the clarity and reassurance is probably nice.

Except for the part of the audience that says, "I wondered if they were dating."

Turns out that the concept of "dating," (like that of "NTR" or indeed of "yuri" itself), seems to be as multifaceted and elusively ambiguous as the iridescent color of a butterfly's wing, an enigma only brought into palpable existence by the incantation of the words "we're dating," regardless of how much face-sucking, hand-holding, and generalized mutual togetherness has previously taken place.

last edited at Aug 25, 2025 4:00PM

I was wondering whether they were dating too.

I'm rather curious as to what criteria for "dating" are required that would not be covered by make-out sessions while painting each others' nails. (See Chapter 126.)

Also the whole "back off, she's mine" moment is kind of a romance cliche that often isn't intended to say anything negative about the character

Right. I think comments about behavioral “red flags” in stories often gloss over or elide the fact that we’re seeing character beats and tropes, not a documentary of someone's 24/7 real-life behavior. Scenes in narrative media tend to be, literally, larger-than-life (more immediate, more sharply focused, and often more exaggerated) because we can only see select bits and pieces of a world and of certain lives within it.

It’s easy to forget that the opening chapters were all about Mitsuki worrying about not being good enough to be Aya’s friend or interfering with her life, so this scene is (as people have mentioned above) primarily about Mitsuki’s growth as a person.

There’s also the further fact that Aya was explicitly described (in a standalone character sketch) as having “no interest” in guys, so even if the two MCs weren’t in a relationship an intervention into (poor doomed) Ono’s attempt to hit on Aya would be an appropriate friend move.

last edited at Aug 24, 2025 10:36AM

So now this is officially yuri, right? Oh, wait . . .

I don't know, what about interlocked fingers? I thought that was the gold standard.

Point.

Ono was right, though—Aya’s prom dress was incredibly cute.

last edited at Aug 24, 2025 5:58AM

So now this is officially yuri, right? Oh, wait . . .

I really do like the way the tone here varies from Kasumi just being a thirsty little unaware baby lesbian to a significantly damaged self-loathing depressive. To me it doesn’t read as an erratic or uncertain tone, because the story makes both aspects of her character quite convincing. (That image of the “Dark Kasumi” with her negative self-talk was pretty chilling.)

And some top-notch lewd chin-tilting in this chapter too—Haruyo may look cute and be a bit naive about how their skinship is affecting Kasumi, but she’s got some real top energy too.

It may be Moderate amounts of sex but it’s Unlimited quantities of sexy.

This is possibly my favorite manga on the site, and I've been here a while! And while we are making predictions, I'm surprised no one is talking about the graffiti rose that so conveniently happened to be at their new meeting point. I keep thinking, are the odds really so low that someone else saw their letter exchange in that book? Maybe they've got an ally, could even be painting girl. But of course, that's just speculation for now

Good point. I certainly noticed it and wondered, but I don’t know what to link it to except the MC’s name and her use of rose-themed stationery.

As you say, the art girl almost can’t be just a random detail, but at this point what she’s about is totally unknown.

I thought the fact that the hidden letter was in volume 2 of the collection was a nice little touch—it’s unlikely that anyone who didn’t care for the S-class theme would have picked up that specific book. (Library books notoriously can have years or even decades between one checkout and the next.)

Someone pointed out that bottom left panel on page 22 looks like hanging and now I can't unsee it.

That is an odd one (although I think you mean the right panel?). We’ve seen the overhead lighting in the corridors before, but I believe that previously the pendant lamps have always had those round globes. It’s hard to tell the exact shapes of the lamps in the bottom two panels on page 22, but the panel with Haruyo makes it obvious that they aren’t the usual globes. So the “hanging” effect very well could be subtly symbolic—there has been similar imagery in this series before.

On the other hand, Igarashi doesn’t seem to be entirely consistent about the details of the school’s architecture—sometimes in exterior views all the windows are arched while other times the bottom story’s windows are rectangular and only the second story windows are arched.

The varying treatment of backgrounds is one of the things I really like about the visual storytelling here. Lots of backgrounds are entirely blank, other panels have figurative or expressionistic textures, some scenes have extremely detailed backgrounds, and sometimes details are dropped out for compositional effect, as on page 24, where the ceiling lamps are omitted entirely.

I’ve said before that this series combines some world-class fluff with more than a bit of dark themes and sinister visual subtext. Maybe it’s time to start a list of “hanging” imagery, and see if anything eventually comes of it. I’d almost be inclined to include this one:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/dear_flowers_that_bloom_in_days_of_yore_ch07#1

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/dear_flowers_that_bloom_in_days_of_yore_ch07#7

GOSH I HAVEN'T READ SUCH A GAY PAGE IN

...maybe like a few days. To be fair, I'm on Dynasty every other day, so I have the privilege to be able to think that pretty frequently.

BUT THIS IS SO GAY. Not even in a dirty way (though admittedly Ch8's Kasumi does actually say she means it in a somewhat dirty way), it's just that it's so... loaded. She's embarrassed not only by the physical action, but by the role switching, by embodying in real life what they'd kept up in letters for so long... it's precious. Page 9 is a treat too, she's so smug.

Also woah, they didn't break character even in thought bubbles in the first half of Ch8?! Dang... but that implies she did in the second half, right? Saying something in a way, but thinking of it in another.

Lol, yeah, this isn't at all what places like Mangadex mean when they tag something as "SUGGESTIVE," it's just incredibly, um, suggestive.

Answers the question, "What if the Marimite 'straightening the little sister's school ribbon' trope was NSFW?"

Also did you fucks seriously bully temp off here?

There was some disagreement with temp's writing; I don't think it came anywhere near bullying.

I believe that person’s username may have indicated how long they intended to engage in this forum.

just chiming in to say thanks so much for the in-depth notes on the translation/background details of the series! the care put into it is really on display (not that this is any less true of the translation itself!) and they're always very interesting to read

I feel the same way. The translator's note for this are extremely helpful for understanding the nuance. It's like the translators are wanting us, the casual reader, to enjoy it as much as they do. Nice.

Totally agree. I’d think it would be hard enough for manga translators to decide standard problems like the “first-person pronoun,” “like/love,” and honorifics issues, but a story where the changing registers of Japanese speech are so central to the story itself must be a truly daunting project.

I really appreciate the stellar work being done on this very interesting and enjoyable series.

This series is the bomb.

(Um, wait—do people actually say something is “the bomb” anymore? If not, whatever people now say instead of “the bomb,” this series is that.)

Twitter Extra up on MD.

Yuzu: “Let’s do a cute and lovey-dovey thing.”
Mei: “No.”

Latest chapter available elsewhere. It’s cute.

last edited at Aug 11, 2025 7:44PM

Did Aya only JUST figure out that between her and Mitsuki, they've given their friends the western music bug?

That was my question too. I haven’t re-read the relatively recent chapters to see exactly when and how that “we’re all hanging out together listening to Western music” thing happened, but I did think it was well-established by now.

Maybe Aya has just been so besotted with Mitsuki/stressed about her exams that her wider situational awareness was impaired.

Bare underarms. L E W D ! ! !

I have never had an underarm fetish. But perhaps now I understand those who do a bit better.

“I can’t tell if I’m sweating or getting wet” is god-level NSFW cosplay dialogue.