Oh, so that hooded lady wasn’t Elsa!

It was her mom.

So you think Elsa is Olivia's daughter? That would explain her demonic traits, but why would Olivia even have a child? She has shown zero interest in anything except magic and her teacher's legacy so far.

I mean, the demonic traits, the natural talent for magic, the strong resemblance, and the fact that Elsa’s caretaker was a demon. It’s possible that Olivia could have had a child during the period between her master’s funeral and her confrontation with Lena, and simply left it to an orphanage (as you said, her only interest seemed to be saving her teacher).

Although, as I say it, I am starting to like the theory stated above that Elsa could be Olivia’s attempt to reincarnate the Sage (either as a direct reincarnation or as a vessel), since that would explain why demonic activity is starting to pick up. The Sage was supposedly using her spirit to seal the Demon King, and if that spirit is now in Elsa…

I would also count that as being as her “daughter,” albeit not quite in the way I originally thought.

Oh, so that hooded lady wasn’t Elsa!

It was her mom.

My suspicion was that she'd send Maron (i.e. Satou's alter ego, not as Satou) to wrap him around his finger as a ruse, but the way I remember it Maron doesn't cater to male customers, so idk. Maybe her study mate, but she's also not really that close to our leads and I'm not sure Makino would think of her as funny and cute.
I'm just not sure what it's gonna be.

I feel like Makino isn’t clever enough and Satou isn’t emotionally stable enough to successfully execute and get away with such a plan. I personally agree with the people saying it’s going to be Rina, simply because her whole character could be summed up as “Makino+”. She might not be interested in men, but since when has Makino thought that far ahead?

I mean, that’s great for her and all, but I didn’t see her clarify anything at any point after he said “so our engagement is established, then,” which sounds to me like he views her taking the card as accepting his offer. Until that little misunderstanding is cleared up, he is going to continue to view himself as her fiancé, which is bound to cause problems.

It takes two people to be engaged and married. He can think what he wants. That doesn't mean he's her fiance. She didn't hear him, in the last chapter because she was enamored by her thoughts of what she'd buy Mashiro. She never verbally accepted, even wondering why he was still around her and didn't disappear. She's just a (mostly loveable) idiot. In this chapter, she made it crystal clear that she did not consider that an acceptance of anything. So he's not her fiance, just a miscommunication or bad assumption on his part. So, it's mostly "great for him and all," if anything. He can tell people he's her fiance but he'd be wrong. The misunderstanding can cause issues, sure but he's not her fiance. I agree that his role is up in the air. He seems too obviously antagonistic to me but he could team up with the mom.

My point isn’t that they’re actually engaged. Maybe I should’ve put fiancé in quotes. My point is that so long as he thinks they’re engaged, he’s going to be an issue, and once he finds out that they’re not engaged, he might start looking for ways to change that. Plus, the perception that they are engaged could be just as problematic as Makino actually having accepted the engagement.

Tags should just be gone. What people want is full on spoiler summaries for complete series anyway, and tags don't actually serve as in their function as cataloguing content anymore, so better ditch them before further devolvement. People need to be untrained from checklist reading. ^^

What are you talking about? They’re still useful. Speaking personally, I’ve found works that I’ve wanted to reread but have forgotten the names of by searching one of the tags I remembered it having. I never would have found some of them if I just had to go back and search through this site’s entire catalog.

Also, what’s checklist reading?

I do wonder what Maximo’s fiancé/piggy bank is going to say about this, though. Scumbags are at their most dangerous when unaccounted for.

He's not her fiance, Makino made it clear again that she doesn't view using that card as accepting anything. But I do wonder what his purpose will be. I have a feeling he'll end up as a friend but maybe the mother's plans will involve him. I don't feel like we'll have two villains, just the mother (although why was the mom so confident, here? Maybe the guy told her something?). Mostly, I just worry for Mashiro. She already been through a lot and Makino's mom is terrible and vindictive.

I mean, that’s great for her and all, but I didn’t see her clarify anything at any point after he said “so our engagement is established, then,” which sounds to me like he views her taking the card as accepting his offer. Until that little misunderstanding is cleared up, he is going to continue to view himself as her fiancé, which is bound to cause problems.

I do agree that I don’t think he’ll be a second villain. At least, not a major one like Makino’s mother seems to be set up as. But he’s also still a pretty new character, so it’s up in the air.

I don't think we skipped anything, the chapter transition from Satou seeing Makino in the jewelry store, thinking "ah so she's getting married after all, liar.", to Makino's mother announcing it, with Satou thinking "yep, here we go." feels consistent.

I suspect we'll get a brief flashback to how it came to this next chapter maybe, when Makino is settling in at Satou's place.

Yeah, it does feel like a sudden transition following the last chapter, but it does make sense either way. It probably would have felt less sudden if there had been another chapter to set up the consequences of Maximo’s actions or show Satou’s reaction, but I don’t mind skipping a bit of drama to keep things moving.

Also, that threat-punch combo was so damn satisfying. Granted, Mama Scumbag’s vengeance is probably going to be ruthless now, but at least that means she’ll probably have another chance to be humiliated.

I do wonder what Maximo’s fiancé/piggy bank is going to say about this, though. Scumbags are at their most dangerous when unaccounted for.

Call me crazy, but is Natori being mind controlled or something? Between that “prisoner” comment and how pliable she suddenly became, it feels like there’s something supernatural at play.

I could also just be misreading things, though.

i actually like the expression of forcing it. progress!

but I like kamiya. Yeah she's a plot wrench but sometimes those are useful. Remember Lonely Girl? The plot wrench became a beloved character because of her fun and chaotic nature. I say give her time. The fact shes so open makes me like her more.

I’m assuming you’re referring to Wakana in Lonely Girl, and if so, the comparison isn’t really apt. Wakana was bubbly, chaotic, and kinda pushy, yes, but she never intended to disrupt the relationship in that story. Heck, she even began encouraging it once she realized that feelings were there.

In this story, Kamiya is actively malicious. She’s blackmailing Minami into doing what she wants, clings to Minami around Yuzu in order to make it look like they’re closer than they are (basically marking Minami as “hers”), and is actively trying to sabotage Minami’s chances of deepening her relationship with Yuzu (both by outright discouraging Minami from trying to take things further, and by inserting herself into situations where Minami is hoping to be alone with Yuzu). She’s doing all this with full knowledge of, and complete disregard for, Minami’s feelings regarding both Yuzu and her. In short, Kamiya’s a creep. A selfish creep hidden beneath a cutesy exterior.

Damn, Kamiya’s a bitch. Hope she gets her heart crushed before this ends.

No Mashiro! It’s not… well… um… well it’s only half what it looks like.

Mmmmmm, idk about that Aya, forcing an introvert in front of a crowd with all eyes on them so suddenly might not go as well as you think it will

Eh, it’s a gamble, but it might just work if she plays her cards right. It’s not the first time Koga’s been up on stage, after all, and she’ll have someone with her this time.

Chapter 1: I Won’t Let Mistress Suck My Blood

Chapter 4: I’ll Let Mistress Suck My Blood a Little

Chapter 16: I Must Have Mistress Suck My Blood

Chapter 69: I Want Mistress to **** My **** **** Blood and **** **** ********* Verily

Huh. So my prediction was wrong. Woo!

^ It took me a hell of a lot of searching, but it’s apparently a power called Ability Drain, which drains a target’s ability score whenever you hit them with an attack. Which makes me wonder what kinda kinky shit they were getting up to.

Oh no. This dude’s giving off scumbag vibes. Making’s going to have her work cut out for her.

Ooh, interesting development. I wonder whether they’re pairing off the spares in preparation for a finale, or working towards some other end goal.

Also, I’m obliged to agree that yes, the events of this chapter were wrong in all sorts of ways…

…

On the other hand, there isn’t much about this series that is morally “right” to begin with, so- as an old meme once said- let’s keep going and see what happens.

last edited at Aug 21, 2023 2:11AM

Oh brother. Is this going to be the next volume? Forced into the service of a rapey dominatrix with a punchable face?

last edited at Aug 20, 2023 7:30PM

Alright, who wants to bet that big sis is in love with the childhood friend? Especially with that little blush on pg. 6.

Honestly, most of the series is pretty good, despite the monologues of the last few chapters, but this ending feels so anticlimactic. We got the fight between Gina, Hibai, and Rose, yes, but just about everything else the story is building up to either feels unresolved or is resolved in a bit of an unsatisfactory manner. For example, while we did get to see Benika find out about Rose’s work, we never really got her reaction to it (all of the time that she would have had to react was taken by Hibai and Gina’s joint monologue about the relationship, and then by the subsequent fight).

I don’t know if the series got axed, or if the author just ran out of time, or if they’re just really bad and concluding what they start. but it’s a shame all the same. They did a pretty good job building everything up, but just jumbled it near the end. This whole thing just feels like it needed more time. But who knows? Maybe we’ll get a sequel series with Rose and Benika murdering and politicking their way up the city’s ranks while dealing with the fallout of this story? A guy can dream.

last edited at Aug 16, 2023 3:51PM

Just to make sure, the cause of Sakura's death hasn't been revealed, has it?

Not the exact details, but they mentioned an accident a couple chapters back, so I imagine that she was hit by a car, or something to that effect.

Sorry but, fuck this chapter
All commentary and no actual character sense. According to this chapter Rose really did only play around with Benika

Same. I get that the story is coming to an end soon and that the author might want to make their message a little clearer before then, but to rush through an entire chunk of the story, including seemingly handwaving away the fates of two fairly important characters, just so they can take half a chapter to have one of the characters deliver their message with all the grace of a sledgehammer is just… lame. Like, there had to be a better way to incorporate all that into the last few chapters.

It’s not even a bad message- that strife and chaos is inevitable so long as the people with advantages keep willingly reaping the benefits of society’s abuse of the disadvantaged. The author was doing a good job of building up to it this entire time, and then they just up and dropped the ball at the very end. Hopefully they can recover with the last two chapters, but right now, this is starting to feel a bit rushed.

Welp, now we're getting into truly unknown territory. I had no doubt that Rose would come on top, but what happens next ? If Gina and/or Hibai turn, what will be the cause, and how ? That's an... interesting look Gina got at the end.

It seemed that Gina really believed in Archbishop's acceptance of Benika's queerness so now when he shows no qualms about blowing Benika up, she has a good reason to revolt. I'm pretty sure her mission said nothing about hurting Shirafune's daughter, after all.

I really don’t think that the Archbishop’s homophobia is the sticking point for Gina, here. She probably a bit more upset about his willingness to kill 2 innocent people, as well as anyone else caught in the blast radius, to get what he wants. The fact that she was also considered expendable probably doesn’t help things, either. I’m not even sure if she realizes that his show of acceptance was a lie in the first place, though she’ll probably start to suspect it now.

Yeah, I don't like the ending. I understand what others are saying about them "learning what really matters," but it honestly still feels so disappointing. Like, at the start of this we're shown two girls who have been absolutely beaten down by the world they're living in, and who resolve to find a place where they don't have to live under the weight of those expectations. It felt like it was as much a rebellion as it was an escape. To end it all by effectively saying, "the problem wasn't their situation, it was their attitudes," feels so lame.

I don't know, maybe I just came into this story with the wrong mindset. Maybe this story was always meant to be a pragmatically "realistic" story with some fluff. Maybe the author always intended to subvert audience expectations and turn a tale of romantic escapism into a realistic tale about finding what really matters. All I know is that it is not what I was reading this manga for, that the ending does not vibe with me, and that I won't be rereading it or picking up any official releases anytime soon.

Thanks to the scalation team for their hard work, but yeah, not for me.

last edited at Aug 5, 2023 6:58PM

There’s desperation, and then there’s slitting your own wrist in order to use your blood as a weapon. Jesus Christ, Hibai.