I think the mom is more upset that
1 she was lied to about this and her daughter couldn't trust her
2 the friend she thought she had was also lying to her and their own relationship was built on manipulating her .
I think she's more than likely gotten more accepting of her daughters queerness and is hurt shed hide it from her ( even though her daughter has no reason to trust her with it )
Clearly she was wrong about lin and tongtongs relationship effecting her hard work . I think she'll talk to tongtongs mom and come to a realization that she's no longer homophobic .

Being lied to almost certainly the major part of what she's upset about.

Her past depictions were less abusive to me and more overworked and stressed, but while feeling like there was a reason for her to sacrifice that much. With her purpose gone so to speak and the years of her life never coming back, she has to figure out what to do with herself. She also has to live with the fallout of the social skills and network she didn't adequately developed. We know her marriage/romantic life didn't go well.

With the latest chapter, she took all this as a rejection: no one trusted her, no one appreciated her, and now that her daughter doesn't need her anymore her daughter is done with her. This will be a lot of motivation to come around on the gay stuff, especially when she sees her daughter doing better than she is (good grades, social network, etc in addition to a successful relationship). We also know Luxi does appreciate her, which is part of why this is hard for Luxi.

She really needs some time away from Luxi and to hear that she is appreciated. In the mean time, she has Tong Tong's mom to help her figure out what she enjoys and how to live more independently. Really fairly realistic without the mangaisms (the present, the phone calls, etc).

last edited at Mar 6, 2025 7:24AM

Slenderman does seem to be meant to be both comical and someone who likes to make convenient nonsense as they go along. The premise of the story is still Itou learning about normality from the perspective of other outsiders, the monsters. I think we are meant to read into it a little, rather than entirely dismissing Slenderman's perspective.

"Kill the normies" may also appeal to certain demographics for obvious reasons, even if they wouldn't really want it to happen.

last edited at Feb 24, 2025 4:14PM

They're engaged now, so naturally they would be doing things like aquarium visits.

Slenderman may have been trying to draw out the worm to get more information about her abilities, since she could be both a threat and ally to the plan. I'm not sure the last part was sincere. We haven't had a lot of scenes, but it felt out of character to me compared to what came before.

I will say I don't otherwise see hypocrisy. Wanting people to be free to do things like murder doesn't mean you want to be personally murdered. It just means you want people to be free to try. A comparison: I might want someone to be free to tell me their real feelings about me, but then end up being disturbed by how they really feel. This doesn't mean I wanted them to lie to me, as I wanted the truth, but I would have preferred that the truth was something else if that had been possible.

Slenderman clearly is also proposing rules, from what I can tell, to the point even he must be aware of it. His end goal is to create a media human farm. That presumably will involve protecting those humans from monsters that don't value entertainment media. He wants a very different social environment than what exists now, but still is envisioning one.

last edited at Feb 24, 2025 7:48AM

I'm fairly certain what happened is that she had to stop reading due to Luxi coming home early, so she never got past the part about building anticipation. She did this part very well, but eventually Luxi got annoyed about it being drawn out and took over.

last edited at Feb 23, 2025 8:00PM

I agree that police often have good intentions, though what they always have is guns. Most of us have done something we shouldn't when scared or angry, maybe even convincing ourselves we were justified after the fact. There's a limit to how badly this can go if you're unarmed, which I make a habit of being partially for this reason.

Anyway, it does seem like this story is likely to end with the self acceptance route. We have the example of the grandma who is very strange but also considerate, which is something of a middle ground compared to our protagonist. Both the worm and protagonist don't seem very happy with themselves. It would be satisfying seeing them get to the point where they both are okay with themselves while having made their peace with society.

last edited at Feb 23, 2025 7:22AM

US stuff about Trans...Yeah I am not going to touch that with a 10 foot pole but the people representing them as a group in the court/City council...They need better well educated people to represent them...I am starting to think those people are just hired to make the Bi, Queer, Trans etc. group look horrible and stupid. There must be more better and intelligent people part of the LGBTQ group that can do a better job...

You did, in fact, poke it with a ten foot pole.

I wasn't referencing entertainment media anyway, more social/political things like healthcare access, bathrooms, sports, etc. Most people didn't care that much about these topics 20-30 years ago. Of course, trans people didn't have access to what many now have access to it, nor can you call the police on a trans person for simply using the bathroom* in most of the US (except Florida). In the past, many carried around letters from their doctor so that they could explain why they were in the bathroom when the police got called on them. The cultural environment was very different.

None of this was a reaction to trans people per say. Things were set up that way due to cultural norms and legal precedent, which often had been set without being aware of trans people. That 'normal' got challenged once people started becoming more aware that trans people are a thing and once doctors realized there is medical evidence in favor of supporting transition. The average trans person was not trying to make a statement about gender politics, but nonetheless society became forced to consider it.

Edit: *I should say that people can and do call the police on people in the US for all sorts of stupid reasons, which sometimes leads to violence. Nonetheless, the response in the past would have been both more reliable and more reliably dangerous.

last edited at Feb 22, 2025 6:59PM

Clearly they were both gay, with the story having been written about their presumed straight love interest to try to force themselves to move, and then- hang on, we're not supposed to post these online.

@ Gutterslob

Not to put words in anyones mouth, I think its the original "model" for the figure also having been a real person that sets the precedent that this wouldn't be AS immediately offensive to her.

I think this too. It's obviously different when it's about -you- rather than someone you've never met, but I don't think she would in general think less of someone who did this.

I don't really have a problem with the idea of Japan being more rule abiding. It seems to be somewhat true (albeit I'm simplifying it to the point of absurdity) that following the rules is seen as the way to show respect in Japan, whereas in US it's by letting people do whatever they want.

Despite that, I would agree everything about normality also applies to the US. The standards of the group are simply different (despite significant overlap between all cultures). Sometimes the standards of normality in the US precisely relate to giving people the space to do what they want, even if it's selfish or not strictly a good idea.

Also, I didn't know this one was on dynasty. I'll have to read through the comments at some point.

Edit: I think people may have misunderstood the concept of not getting in people's way to some extent. If, for example, someone sees heterosexual relationships as both standard and correct, having an openly gay relationship challenges their understanding. This manifests as unease - getting in the way of how they want to see themselves and society. Hence you can get in their way simply by existing.

Since people have mentioned trans people, this is really evident in the US right now. Most trans people just want to live their lives. However, if trans peoples' needs and experiences are acknowledged, it invalidates a lot of the traditional understanding and choices around gender. This leads to trans people being subversive by their nature, even if they'd very much prefer to be seen as normal (or even as uninteresting, as far as their gender status goes) and embraced by society.

Many people are trying very hard to change the norms for this very reason, to allow more inclusion and acceptance to a wider range of people. People who don't want to change their understanding feel angry and threatened for this reason, despite generally not being materially threatened in any way.

last edited at Feb 22, 2025 12:50PM

Well, Remu did consent to being the model. That makes a difference with this kind of thing. The nonconventionality of it isn't the part that would be an issue for her.

The public nature of it is indeed the biggest issue, along with her seeming unwillingness to consider that Remu might not like her that. Both of these could create a lot of problems in a way a private journal or even a story with the names changed wouldn't.

It's not clear how recognizable the stories would be, but they seem to involve real places they have been. It potentially could be pieced together by someone. Given that's the most dramatic and harmful possibility, it seems like an event that will happen at some point. At least, that's one way this could go, but it's hard to predict where this story will end up.

last edited at Feb 21, 2025 7:57PM

I don't expect Remu to -like- that Niji is posting these stories. However, the parallel between Azuki's situation and Nijis should be obvious. She has however many years of trust and connection with Niji. She's not going to want to turn Niji into the next Azuki by being shamed by possibly Niji's first love, nor is Remu going to want Niji to be stigmatized like she was.

If we have problems, I expect the it to start on Niji's end, like the art in the bonus chapter art indicates. Niji and Meguru are really the antagonists of this story, as far as specific characters go. They are very sympathetic in terms of their backstories. They are however willing to act out their trauma on others, compared Azuki and Remu who hide or blame themselves.

last edited at Feb 21, 2025 3:11PM

Others posted about this earlier with previous chapters, so it's not really my catch. We do learn this chapter that Niji's version of Remu essentially has a different personality, rather than simply being Remu fan fiction. Remu wouldn't act like that even if she did like Niji. Niji seems to distinguish between real and fictional events, but is hazy on Remu's true personality.

Remu is at least the character least likely to react badly to someone posting this type of fiction about her online. She is fairly carefree and accepting. She also probably prefers this to someone thinking she's strange or bad.

The real question is how Niji reacts to Remu not being interested in her romantically. Remu might like that a lot less, especially if there's a risk of "rival" Azuki being negatively impacted. Anger has a way of making normally reasonable people become unhinged.

It's interesting that all three nonRemus are using models to represent someone in a way that isn't accurate to the real person, while Remu is using Azuki and her models in a way that doesn't validate how Azuki relates to the models. Remu seems to realize some of this, but can't think of anything better to do.

last edited at Feb 20, 2025 7:39PM

The main thing that's weird about Niji is that she's posting it online. Otherwise we have someone with slightly unusual sexual preferences who's overfocusing on someone who's not interested her, like many lesbians have done at some point. Arcane was talking about how the characters' issues are related to how they respond to anti-gay prejudice (the type of love that's seen as disgusting), which is still true with this update.

The failing to distinguish between the Remus is also strange, but without that it would never really impact Remu. It's the twist we need for her to be sufficiently weird to be a manga character. It's also not new information, but this update we find out that at least she is still aware there is a difference.

last edited at Feb 20, 2025 3:22PM

I thought it was pretty clear that Fuuko isn't as emotionally strong as she acts. That's why her behavior can be unhinged and why she ends up being a driving force of the weird sexual behavior. It's part her finding a way to work through her emotional issues and part that her experiences with Yuni are now her formative sexual experiences. She is trying to become for Yuni what she lacked in her life, hopefully gaining some peace and self acceptance in the process. That might happen if this weren't a manga.

We don't know exactly what happened before Yuni got there, but plot wise we likely need the flushed reaction. Yuni's reaction will be key to the immediate developments in the story. Fuuko crying while having a bloody nose would get a very different reaction from Yuni than what we saw, even if both are equally nonconsensual. Whatever got that reaction is less important, though I'm sure we will still be getting more information.

last edited at Feb 20, 2025 9:04AM

I really hope Yuni does right by her next chapter instead of going "oh you're clearly together with that person who you obviously are refusing consent to so I'm going to act hurt and leave you alone with them".

She’s 100% gonna misunderstand, bet. Literally every character in this story lacks common sense + MC gets jealous easy and is hella moody, it’d be OOC if she suddenly gained sense now

It does feel unfortunately likely, but, like... She very clearly heard Fuuko saying no and stop and enough. She can see Fuuko very clearly being distressed by this situation. So I don't think it would be OOC for her to put these very obvious signs together... But it is sad that we're doubting her to begin with lol

I bet on her understanding it's nonconsenual, getting upset anyway, and being upset with herself for feeling that way despite it not changing how she feels, leading to some type of strange sexual situation. That's not counting the whole dynamic of her not committing to Fuuko while wanting the reverse. She will also realize this is unreasonable without being able to change the feeling.

I was trying to keep my post simple, but people do see what they expect to some extent. I'm reminded of one of Terry Pratchett's novel I'm rereading. It's a running joke that people can't see Death (the grim reaper) because it doesn't parse that a skeleton could be casually walking around outside with them. He doesn't have to disguise himself, use magic, or anything like that. I could give less extreme examples from my own life.

With this story, I'm also not very convinced that they're the same person, though I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of connection. For example, she could be the sister of Io's mom that the mom abandoned. It would be fine for them to be unrelated, but it's interesting to think about how this could tie in.

last edited at Feb 17, 2025 7:13PM

This place is incredible. I feel like I have a place, with the people I banter with, the people I see in the same comment sections as me, talking to each other in this big interconnected web of community. I don't feel as lonely anymore. I can always look at pictures of women in love feeling safe and happy and loved together and know that I'll be in a relationship like that someday. And that's all because of you all, that feeling of safety, of community. Maybe some people hate you, but they don't matter. There are so many more people that love you. hehe, i'm getting a little emotional. whatever.
You do so much work every day to heartwarm and entertain people, all for free. And you deserve all the happiness in the world. Thank you.

Personally I'm just here for the How to Break a Triangle flame wars. /s

Misa had no idea who Io was and Io is famous, albeit more recently. We've also never seen Misa show any interest in celebrities. It seems like the kind of thing Misa wouldn't know. Speaking as someone who has no idea who the vast majority of celebrities (especially actors) are, for me it's a believable level of ignorance.

Or in her own words, women she can't have sex with are boring. Misa has her priorities and it's not pop culture. She even claims to only sleep and eat in her apartment. That could be an exaggeration, but it's not clear how much media she consumes in the first place.

Edit: Also, she hasn't seen this person in around a decade, so not recognizing her while googling would also be believable for me. People look different after that long while memory gets foggy.

last edited at Feb 17, 2025 5:34PM

This was a nice chapter with support Misa. The author is good at portraying how Misa wants quickly became someone who wants to take care of Io, with all her behavior stemming from that to some extent. If anyone still wasn't sure how she differs from Hase, this chapter should make it clear. It also explains her level of self denial in past chapters since she doesn't want to deal with the vulnerability of feeling that way. And we have Io becoming a bit more independent, but also really suffering from the burden of needing to do that in her current environment. The way she totally let down her defenses as soon as she saw Misa says a lot about how she relates to Misa.

The mom does look very similar to the person from Misa's flashback - maybe a different hair color, but it looks like the same color as Io's hair. I could def see flowerchild going there. It would tie a lot together, with the mom having set off both these situations, and be part of why Misa had that instinctual reaction to Io back when they first met. It could also explain why the mom is confident in being able to break them up if she thinks she still has influence over Misa. It would also make the mom a little more sympathetic if she's been through a lot of difficult situations herself, enough to avoid the 'cartoonishly evil' problem so that she's only mangaishly evil.

More plot arcs were set up too. I'm looking forward to future chapters.

last edited at Feb 17, 2025 11:33AM

Come on guys, you're being too hard on Niji. She hasn't done anything that bad yet.

By the way folks, I'm taking bets on how many more chapters until Niji stabs someone. I give her 3.

(this post is a joke)

Well that final page of the melonbooks extras is...ominous.

I'm wondering why Meguru has that expression. Niji definitely has some strong feelings for Remu, but Meguru doesn't seem particularly attached to either of them right now.

Meguru's feelings I think are clearly complicated. It's likely she hasn't been as close to any other person as she has to Azuki and we see her being very happy with Azuki in a flashback. In current times, we only see her talking to her dolls like a 4 year old and she still is afraid they might have some kind of sexual feeling. She seems like a very isolated and fearful person. Unlike Meguru, she may be functional enough to have friends, but we would expect her to fear them more than her dolls.

From that perspective, Azuki's relationship with her step sister would be incredibly weird and off putting to her. We also don't know how she would feel about Azuki healing and moving on in the first place, given that Meguru clearly hasn't moved on from her childhood. It's possible she still wants the type of relationship she had been seeking with Meguru when she was younger, so Azuki finding a relationship that doesn't reject sexual feeling (even one as nonconventional as hers with Remu) could be threatening.

last edited at Feb 13, 2025 12:09PM

In this case, I think the bet is just cover for the girl's pride. She doesn't want to accept help, so framing it as like a bet or competition means it bothers her less. If they're interacting, will be under the pretense of the bet. That will be less stressful for her than trying to interact as friends while not being sure how to act or what the other person's true intentions are.

The actual bet doesn't matter because either they both win or they both lose, so it's obviously not a real bet if examined for a few seconds. They both should be aware of this.

last edited at Jan 19, 2025 4:19PM

You do seem to be able to read. I find myself very impressed with the better light novel authors' ability to tell complex stories in simple language. Even though I've been reading adult novels since I was a child (just don't ask me to talk irl lol), it's clearly legit skill that can reach more or at least a different subset readers.

I don't read Miyagi as autistic as much as someone who low efforts her interpersonal relationships, so she's not as good at reading people as Sendai. Even if you're not autistic, you won't be as good at it if you don't do it as much. She does relatively well with her friends and has never displayed any sensory issues, motor coordination problems, etc.

With Sendai, I think she does have real friends who mutually value each other. However, Sendai feels like she must please them and go along with their whims, so she has more stress and resentment toward them. Since Miyagi only does what she wants and her friends are still with her, she can relax more with them.

We will see what happens when Sendai enters college. Lots of friendships don't survive the transition, so any of Sendai's surviving would suggest more authenticity than maybe even Sendai herself realizes. I think Sendai feels like she would be ejected from the group if she doesn't please her friends enough partially because of her history with her parents emotionally abandoning her. Her friends might still be with her if she didn't read every magazine, watch every TV show, etc.

last edited at Jan 15, 2025 7:35AM

The way I speculate this is that Hase is reenacting some of what she's experienced with Io's mom. It seems to be imbalanced in the sense that Hase likes Io's mom much more than the reverse. This was likely the case with Hase and Io, where Io saw Hase as a trusted person and Hase saw Io as a tool to please Io's mom.

In terms of "warming up", this is very unlikely. Io has experienced someone who actually likes her and would sacrifice a lot for her well being, whereas Hase has been destroying Io's trust in her. Hase's efforts are doomed in that sense and, if anything, Hase is also someone who needs help. Hase is nonetheless going to pull some stuff. While Misa is the type to act out in response to conflict, Io is likely to shut down emotionally if things get too bad. There may be some degree of physical or emotional reaction to what Hase then does, even if it goes into Io's "unwanted sexual assaults" list, that can be used to guilt Io or try to discredit her to Misa.

I do think Io is different with Misa than Hase, which is why I said she looks similar. Her feelings are clearly much more intense with Misa, she trusts Misa much more, and she (mostly) seems to be enjoying herself in a way she never did with Hase. Not surprising when they are the real pairing and Hase is the villain of this arc. I don't see this changing for the entire story, at least without some major new plot developments that it's too early to predict.

Edit: What I think will be interesting will be see if Hase and the mom's relationship was once more positive and became like this over time. Io has a similar fear of abandonment with Misa as Hase does with Io's mom and Io is willing to do anything to keep her relationship going. Misa has not asked Io to do anything that would negatively impact other people, so how Io would handle that is an open question.

I could see Io becoming more willing to act unethically over time if that were Misa's goal, though of course it never has been. Misa does have a vindictive side, at least in situations where the other person started something first.

last edited at Jan 14, 2025 10:15AM