Nope, I almost fell for it with that other series. They're both very similar too. Not falling for it again but hoping for the best.

last edited at Feb 23, 2024 8:49AM

You've missed some subtext, and maybe some text there. I'm absolutely sure Tianli liked Xingyuan, not Wang. That "Why couldn't it be me" isn't about the guy, it's about her. She's sitting there thinking about how Xingyuan explicitly told her she wasn't interested in her romantically, and literally almost texted her "Why don't you care about me?" The girl has it bad, and not only is Xingyuan saying she isn't interested, she's becoming steadily more distant and distracted.

Xingyuan's getting more popular as she gets more successful, and it's distracting her from Tianli, who she takes for granted. Meanwhile Tianli is realizing that she likes Xingyuan and is hurt that she's becoming more distant while also taking opportunities away from her. All of that pain and jealousy and unrequited love overflowed until she did something she regretted.

Not saying it makes her okay, but it's not the kind of jealous spite you seem to think it is.

I wouldn't call it text, there's some stuff we can interpret as potentially a romantic interest, but it could also be wanting to keep the attention of the cool popular girl who used to be very close to her and has left her behind. And those types of motivations can't explain all the elements in the chapter, like Xingyuan pulling ahead of her in the competition to get the study abroad scholarship Tianli's family was pushing her to get, and Wang, the guy she introduced to us as her crush, wanting Xiangyuan's contact info. She doesn't seem interested in him anymore, but that certainly doesn't mean she can't feel bitter about the thought of her best friend succeeding in yet another area where Tianli did not. And when she remembers Xiangyuan talking about not liking every girl, the image is not from that scene but rather Xiangyuan being popular with girls at school.

Is Tianli thinking "why couldn't it be me?" supposed to be her jealous of Xiangyuan being popular and successful and happy, or is it her being jealous of those other girls getting attention from Xiangyuan, or is it "why couldn't I be the girl she likes"? I think that's deliberately ambiguous. I don't think there's any one cut and dry "it's just this and not that" explanation for her actions, because I doubt she could fully tell you. Teenagers are stupid and impulsive like that. But spite or bitterness clearly seemed to be at least part of it. The framing makes it clear that no matter why she wanted to do it, she was doing it in the moment to hurt Xingyuan on purpose, and while she immediately regrets it she can't take it back. That's some real big heavy shit to deal with for them both. Xianyuan might tell her she's forgiven, but will the guilt go away? Will they be friends again? It doesn't seem likely right now.

Well put. Pretty much my feelings on her as well. At least for now. I'm leaning in the romantic direction though.

It's always cute/funny seeing that everyone around them considers them a couple already. Hinata's "family," their friends, and even people who don't know them well (maybe even the whole campus at this point), all know not to interfere with the couple. They live together, sleep together, have nearly died for each other, fight for each other, and are tied at the hip constantly. They're essentially married already. Just have to get Naori over her understandable personal hangups, and they're set.

Damn so Tianli deliberately outed her out of spite, yeesh. "She did better than me in school and the guy I liked wanted her contact info" is a pretty goddamn petty reason to betray a supposed best friend, yeah no shit Xingyuan isn't comfortable around her.

I think it's a bit more than that. She also seemed to desire attention from Xingyuan and was envious of the affection she was giving to others, more than anything. She seemed to feel abandoned in the way she felt abandoned by her family. I'm not sure that the guy really had much to do with it.

yeah it's pretty clear that had Tianli had the courage to send the "why don't you care about me message" that all of this would have gone very different, but ultimately the message she did end up sending to the guy while voicing the exact same frustration was sent to someone she should not have voiced it to.

Like not to say that she didn't do anything wrong, but pretty clearly her goal whether she realized it or not was to get Xingyuan to look HER way again to be HER best friend again, to be HER.....

But then of course she didn't manage to voice those feelings and her frustration with it all got her to write a very bad message to the exact wrong person and now it IS her fault that Xingyuan had to drop out of highschool, has her entire famliy breathing down her neck, and feels like she'll never get to be happy again. And yeah Tianli seems to realize that at least.

Especially since Tianli brought back up Xingyuan's line about "don't worry just because I like girls, doesn't mean I like any girl" while she was remembering Xingyuan with these new girls. I personally think Tianli resented it when Xingyuan said that line earlier. Then add on your "why don't you care about me" line and it feels more like Tianli was resentful of the attention Xingyuan was giving others. It reads to me like Tianli liked Xingyuan romantically back then and didn't handle her feelings well.

last edited at Feb 22, 2024 10:55AM

Damn so Tianli deliberately outed her out of spite, yeesh. "She did better than me in school and the guy I liked wanted her contact info" is a pretty goddamn petty reason to betray a supposed best friend, yeah no shit Xingyuan isn't comfortable around her.

I think it's a bit more than that. She also seemed to desire attention from Xingyuan and seemed envious of the affection Xingyuan was giving to others, more than anything. She seemed to feel abandoned in the way she felt abandoned by her family, wanted to separate Xingyuan from those people and wanted to harm Xingyuan for neglecting her (they were now asking for Xingyuan's contact info) and all of that led to a reflexive bad decision. I feel like she weaponized Xingyuan's sexuality as a method of getting those girls and others to leave Xingyuan alone. I'm not sure that the guy really had much to do with it, but I haven't done a close reading yet.

last edited at Feb 22, 2024 10:54AM

anyone who has read 99 and SS, are both of these side stories/future stories compared to the main LN? Last I read was volume 11 and want to know if adashima 99 comes right after it or just a collection of short stories in the universe.

99 is the collection of DVD short stories but with 2 new additional stories. SS is a collection of short stories as well. All in universe, for both.

last edited at Feb 22, 2024 5:57AM

What it isn't a cliché at this point ? Everything you read is a cliché of some sort and it's not even like this one is particularly common.

Yeah, there's nothing that hasn't been done. I think the execution is more important and the execution of this series has been pretty good. There's some nuance to how she reacted and what she has issues with. Just the subversion of the "jealous sabotaging friend" idea is worth some discussion. Looks like her advice/warning wasn't completely unwarranted.

last edited at Feb 21, 2024 1:37PM

"not serious enough" eh? Even he friend saw through your bullshit Xiaoen....
Could just be to protect herself. Maybe just to "act mature".
Or there might be some hidden meaning to it but... I sure didn't enjoy that.

A lot of you seem to have forgotten the last convo Xiaoen and Xingyuan had on the subject. Xiaoen said in very clear terms that she only wanted a summer fling!

The problem was that Xingyuan couldn't stay longer than a month or two; after that she would leave and be gone for good—she was going to go to college and stuff. Xiaoen said that it was fine bcs she was ok with a short romance and some fun sex that would last only a few weeks and then be over. (She even seemed proud of herself as if this way of thinking seemed really super adultlike and mature to her!) Xingyuan gave her an ambiguous answer iirc and Xiaoen said she would keep pushing to persuade Xingyuan to have a fun and meaningless summer fling.

And this is what Xiaoen meant when she said she was not serious about Xingyuan! Her "official" position is that she only wants a short affair and Xingyuan's not gonna make her call an u-haul.

Sure, all that’s a given, but my original question stands: short-term or long-term, what does Xiaoen achieve by saying that to a person she sees as—and who she is treating as—a potential immediate rival?

She's insecure about the situation and the nature of her relationship with Xingyuan and is also putting on a front. She's a bit conflicted and that leads her to speak out of both sides of her mouth at times, depending on her mood.

last edited at Feb 20, 2024 1:06PM

I really don't get what horrible crimes people are Fuuko committing, unless you take some kinda sin-based perspective. Oh no, the devil woman is tempting me to sin, it's all her fault! Lol. I don't even know why people think she doesn't actually love Yuni, we've had her inner monologue and seen her cry over her. Just because she's smart and resourceful in trying to make her dreams come true does not make those dreams false, that would be silly.
I really just want the best for Fuuko, but we probably can't have that so I'll have to settle for her getting the failgirl she wants with Yuni. And I actually do genuinely believe that Fuuko x Yuni (Fuuni? Hmm) could actually work out long term. Fuuko would make Yuni feel confidently loved while also being capable of materially keeping her useless ass alive, and Yuni obviously makes Fuuko feel like a superwoman. Their compatibility is really good. Even if Fuuko works out of the house while Yuni stays at home I bet they'd still work out, because Fuuko acts in exactly the way Yuni wants when they're together to keep her going when they're not. And the things Fuuko wants that Yuni can't give her, like someone to talk about her fungus book with, she can get online from Internet friends. Win/win, 100% compatibility.... as long as they don't fuck it up by adding a third in there lol

Yeah, I'm on the same page mostly. I feel like we're moving towards Yuni and Fuuko ending up back together but we'll see. Unless things change, Yuni continues to notice that as she and Nanase get closer, they seem less and less compatible. That could change but so far it's been a consistent trend. Add on the mother's quote, Yuni's comparing Fuuko to her dead cat whom she misses and wondering about her crying, etc. It seems like a picture is being painted but I'm not sure yet how it plans to follow through. I think we won't get a good hint as to where it's going until Yuni and Fuuko meet again. I want to see how they interact now.

last edited at Feb 19, 2024 4:50PM

i was kind of hoping the series would start turning into a direction i'd actually enjoy, but i guess we aren't off the "will they won't they" train just yet... i'll check back in a year and hope that there's some actual development by then

Their not being together seems to be the entire premise, so I'm starting to get the feeling that you'll be waiting for a bit or that it'll end soon after they get over it. Would be nice to be wrong though. They are sweet though, even if this recent thing is very, very, very contrived.

last edited at Feb 19, 2024 11:21AM

So this is the "promise" alluded to all the way back in chapter 57. Love the world building in this. Really intricate and clearly pre-planned. Will reread once it's all over to fully catch everything in motion.

last edited at Feb 18, 2024 3:06PM

No kidding, she is blushing all the way through and people think she will react negatively ? Even at the end she is still blushing.

The fact that she won't react negatively is part of the problem. I don't think anyone genuinely thinks she didn't like the kiss. It's that her actions don't make sense given that it's obvious she did like the kiss or at least likes her back. If you kissed someone and they immediately ghosted you, you wouldn't think they liked you back would you?

last edited at Feb 18, 2024 8:30AM

That went about as expected. It's been dragging this out forever in nonsense ways, so of course it would drag it out again. I'm just slightly surprised with how they chose to do it, this time.

last edited at Feb 17, 2024 11:11PM

Does someone know if this manga is in hiatus or cancelled and where to buy the raws, please? I need this ship like I need the air I breathe.

It's been completed for a while now.

Who's the new girl? Maybe I don't remember, but I don't believe she's been introduced before

She was introduced 1 or 2 chapters ago, beyond that I don't remember what's been revealed about her relationship to Shen and Jiang yet at this point, so I can't speak on that. You can get an idea of what their history might be based on the fact that she knew them both and thinks it's karma that she's meeting them again (and compares meeting them again with meeting her ex).

last edited at Feb 13, 2024 10:47AM

That revealable information is hilarious. Also, Jiang's natural (and oblivious) romantic pressure is too much to handle. Of course Dir. Shen would cave so quickly.

last edited at Feb 13, 2024 9:40AM

lol "inappropriate intentions"

Well, that's certainly one way to word a confession.

Ren Xing: LEGEND

Even more so after today's chapter. :-)

Already living the married life and her SO hasn't fully caught on yet (or won't admit it yet). Smooth is an understatement. And now she's giving out good advice!? Too much power for one person.

last edited at Feb 14, 2024 8:41PM

What's Shimamura's deal exactly? Why is she the way she is? Could someone explain it to a dummy like me?

I'm a bit lazy so these 3 quotes from the LN might help a bit (last 2 are light spoilers that we'll likely get to very, very soon but are vague enough):

(1) I wasn’t really a…considerate sort of person, for lack of a better word. I was no pure-hearted saint. As a result, I hated feeling indebted to anyone, because that would mean I owed them kindness in return. But it was wrong to perform kindness purely out of obligation—at that point, it wasn’t truly kindness anymore. I stumbled over this paradox over and over until eventually it began to affect my well-being. I knew maintaining strong interpersonal relationships was an important part of living a good life, but if it kept causing problems every time…

(2) For some reason, Adachi came to mind. Maybe I saw a common thread between her and the dog sleeping wearily beside me. She always looked so defeated whenever things didn’t go her way… She was the kind of girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, which I could appreciate. It really helped me understand her. If I were to sum it up, Adachi just…didn’t have much experience dealing with people. But that was exactly what made her so interesting to me. Speaking as someone whose overexposure to social interaction had left me numb to it, she was my polar opposite…and every now and then, I found myself tempted to protect her the way I wished someone would have protected me.

(3) “You don’t have to worry, dear. You’re already a kindhearted person.” I looked back at her and shook my head. “No, I’m really not.” Was she just saying it to be nice? Even I could tell I wasn’t the considerate type. I was missing that soft, gentle quality that actual kind people had. Then she whirled around to face me and said, “Hougetsu, you’re a real perfectionist, you know that?”“…I am?” No one had ever said that to me before, and I wasn’t sure how to react. “You don’t have to live your whole life in symmetry with everyone around you.”

“You try too hard to keep your relationships perfectly even. When there’s an imbalance, you start feeling uncomfortable. Frankly, you’re so sincere, it’s hard to believe you’re related to my daughter at all!” Setting aside the casual diss toward my mother—me, sincere? I thought back to how I handled the phone call at the river and found myself perplexed. “I don’t really get it,” I replied, like the ignorant child I was.

last edited at Feb 9, 2024 7:53AM

"Why does nothing go the way I expect it to..."

Because you act and think like a shitty person and a shitty parent, so your expectations are correspondingly shit. If you were less shitty at either of those, things would go your way considerably more often. :-)

I mean, Makino is the same and things are going pretty well for her.

Even disregarding the fact that Makino (no doubt because of her upbringing) often exaggerates how much of a scumbag she actually is, the key difference between her and her mother is that Makino does not have children and does not abuse her parental and financial authority over them. Being a shitty person and a shitty parent is a lot worse than just being a bad person, so I don't find it surprising that things are going better for Makino. :-)

Disagree. I don't think Makino's upbringing or her not being a mother somehow lessens or downgrades her shittiness or how scummy she has consistently been, her mom is awful too but I don't see her as worse than Makino (or better. They are just shitty). The only real difference is Makino got lucky and fell for a person who needed someone like her as a partner.

Makino has not been that bad to others, without provocation.

last edited at Feb 7, 2024 3:07PM

Shimamura being naturally introspective and self reflecting is definitely a pretty key part of her character.

The one girl makes stoic seem positively ebullient, revelling in detachment.

As alluded to in this chapter, she's named after it, so that fits (especially in the novels). I love her introspection and general outlook, though. She takes things very calmly, at her own pace and is honest about herself. She's also quite nice and thoughtful. A very intentional and unique character.

last edited at Feb 6, 2024 11:41PM

Is it something I did?” Given how much this story likes to oscillate between angsty drama and mushy sweetness, I feel like it could go either way.

No you're right. It doesn't take itself very seriously. I doubt anything really bad happens but I wouldn't be surprised if she tries something again.

I’m thinking/hoping it’ll be the first option. This chapter at least shows that she cares enough about Makino to help her even after she refuses to come home, so she seems to at least care about her daughters in her own shitty way. She even apologized to Makino after realizing how much her recent actions had hurt her.

Should she be pat on the back for that? This is the bare minimum for a parent. It's not not a compliment to think, "Wow, looks like she does actually care for her daughter!?" That should have been a given. The floor for her is beyond low. Her feelings can be whatever, it's actions that matter in the end. Her actions have been terrible, misguided or not. If she didn't apologize and visit her own daughter in the hospital, she would have been a whole different level of trash.

She'll need to do a lot more than that and I'm not holding my breath. Her response to a previously aimless daughter finding a partner she loves, a place to live independently and confidently stating that she'll continue to study hard and succeed, is to wonder why things don't work out like she wants. It's still a negative to her. She's still just as self centered.

last edited at Feb 6, 2024 11:18AM

Really nice short. I love Yadokawa in general though. Who wouldn't swoon over free/discounted sweets?

kind of incredible that the TL note literally states that the title is a reference to how people signal having a girlfriend and it's about two women yet let alone yuri, this isn't even tagged subtext.

Oh, I didn't notice the tags. You're right, even without the TL note, this one is clearly at least subtext (especially since the title seems to be from the perspective of our MC). The dialogue about the boss, was pretty heavily suggestive, if not outright screaming at us.

last edited at Feb 5, 2024 10:37AM

This is all really interesting. I don't feel like that final smile was genuine. Also, considering how much is left, I really wonder how this will all pan out!

Another amazing chapter. Everything the story has built up is used to characterize the interactions between the 3.