Perhaps it's worth mentioning. Along with the asset bubble crash in 91-92, the rest of the SE Asian economy would collapse with it in 97-98. All the best indicators of societal contentment in Japan would fall during their own crash, and fall again in 97-98 due to fallout effects, putting a point on "The Lost Decade." It would take 26 years for Japan's (nationwide average) annual land prices to rise again. While growing economies would go on to recover almost immediately, Japan's economic model has never truly returned to its relative performance in the 80's.
In short, even if MC had reached out, there's plenty of reason for pessimism over whether their relationship could've survived all of that hardship. Pretty brutal manga.
