At last, we have contact! Michi's gonna have a lot harder time playing off Aizawa-san now, hehehe

Maybe a hot take

A freezing cold take, given that most everybody in this thread but me agrees with you.

Count me in. It's 2 against the world lol.

Me three. I think Hiroko's being a pretty big idiot, sure, but I can understand where she's coming from.

This seems really intriguing; can't wait to see where this goes ^^

But we don't need mind reading powers to see what the real treasure is.

To see why kids love cinnamon toast crunch?

In case anyone didn't notice during Natori's inner dialogue, but those are fox ears, not cat ears.

Which only makes it better.

Indeed! Kinda looking forward to seeing how they factor into things going forward.

I'm starting to doubt whether she was actually a womanizer.

My running assumption is that that's just as much of a false reputation as Ayaka's, yeah.

Oh boy, two cakes!

But seriously, I can't get enough of villainess yuri, there's certainly not enough of it, so I'm more than fine with the generic opening. As others have said, chapter 2 is probably where we'll get the proper indicators of the direction this will be taking. But it definitely seems fun so far. Can't wait to see these two bounce off each other.

Finally caught up on this one, and I really loved it! Super sweet conclusion ^^

Remembered and reread this, and I really hope we get more of it soon.

So the thing about all this is, I could enjoy the story if I could treat it like something along the lines of science fiction--like, what's happening to her is very weird, but it's kind of just a thing that happens. But there's something fundamentally . . . I don't know how to put this. It's internally consistent, but that internal consistency doesn't point to just some kind of supernatural phenomenon, it points to AGENCY. Like, it seems the story is definitely pointing to the notion that some kind of consciousness is involved.

But . . . OK, so suspending disbelief in some weird time loop thing is one thing. Suspending disbelief that some malign, incredibly powerful intelligence has decided to consistently, labour intensively mess with the life of a random toddler for years on end apparently just because . . . I can't do it. It just SCREAMS at me constantly that the story is entirely shaped around the desired effect. I lose connection to the very suffering I'm supposed to be empathizing with.

I'm not picking up the vibe that like, there is necessarily consciousness involved? Like, that's how she put it, but it came across to me as theorizing. Also, where did it say that it was like, picking the worst days for her specifically? Like, the general situation for her, of experiencing all of these versions of the same day and remembering them all, is definitely really bad on her, but like, the specific version that gets chosen seems to be random. Just that in the case of the cat, the last day was the one that went through, whereas the whole thing with the parents basically abandoning her probably repeated through the same events a few times, since this was like, a multi-day plan they had, not a one-off random decision constrained to a specific day.

last edited at May 22, 2023 7:01AM

I remember seeing something that was just like, the first chapter at the time? And it had something to do with like, a girl who had some sort of weird psionic power? But the way it was kinda shown was really unusual and subtle. And then I think the chapter ended with another gal with similar powers showing up? But my memory of the whole thing is pretty fuzzy, so I feel like I may be getting some details wrong.

EDIT: I found it after all, it was a bit further back than I thought. The Story Of Unforgettable Witch, for the record

last edited at May 22, 2023 6:03AM

This continues to be interesting and very fun.

Well, at least this one in particular should be much easier to handle, if the victims are eager to do the thing that will cure them. Might need to keep those energy refills coming fast, though.

It's kind of a shame that I genuinely like the main girls' dynamic so much, but I'm just getting bored to tears reading this because it's very pointedly not the main focus. That plus the glamorization of retail and luxury fashion just kinda leaves a sour taste in my mouth. First couple chapters seemed to be setting up much more of an evenhanded culture clash, but yeah, think I'm gonna have to drop this here. Wasted potential. :/

This is super cute!

I liked the longer hair, just personally speaking, and am not a fan of the like, "changing self just to fit crush's tastes" trope, but I have to admit Ema pulls off the futch look well too. On its own, pretty alright, but I'd like to see more of them

Once they get together and have magic lesbian babies, then there'll be powerful magic in the non-magic noble family. No need to buy their kids' way in like this :3

Reading this second chapter, IDK if this is the intention, but just my interpretation at least, is it reads as a little bit like being in a cult, and the isolation and control tactics used to keep one in it. (Mainly based off that significant shot of the shrine during the talk with the parents in this chapter.) First chapter was an outsider being brought in, initially uncertain, but turned against the outside world; the second is someone of wavering faith trying to get out, only to be foiled in the end.

Or it might just be about how small towns kinda suck lol

last edited at May 16, 2023 8:15AM

Is it bad that I skimmed those spoilers and just got even more interested? Idk, I'm enjoying the trainwreck, don't quite get why people are so up in arms. Again, may just be personal experience talking, but this feels like a "reality is unrealistic" sort of thing.

last edited at May 14, 2023 6:03PM

I think it's more of a dramedy, somehow. It makes me smile but and I love it but I don't find it super funny. It just makes me wonder what sort of thing Ayaka will do next to try to get Hiroko haha. I love seeing Hiroko flustered because she thinks it's accidental haha. Idk maybe I'm weird. But yeah, it's not supposed to be exactly funny I think.

Seconding this

I think Tomoe-chan's my favorite character tbh. She was just fun.

Idk, I don't wanna be too negative, especially after the overreactions earlier in the thread, but this really kinda felt to me like the Monkey's Paw outcome of that "I wish this really nice oneshot got a serialized continuation" feeling. I can sorta see what the author was going for, but something about the execution just didn't sit right with me.

To be honest, all the commentors getting upset with Ritsu kinda threw me for a loop, because at least for the first half, I was very frustrated with Kyouko, and how she felt like an exaggerated, hypocritical version of how she had been presented in the oneshot. In the oneshot, she was like, yes a drunkard who slept around a lot, but still ultimately really thoughtful and trying to piece together her response, along with like, shutting down the shitty homophobic gal she was talking to. But then in the series, she came across as like, even more immature, throwing temper tantrums, getting roasted by her new friends in a way that felt simultaneously way too mean-spirited but that the narrative kept backing up as justified, and just being genuinely unpleasant with the controlling, jealous attitude well before there was any real justification for her to act that way. The last part may just be a Me Problem, since like, that sort of thing really rubs me the wrong way so I'm more sensitive to it, but like, some of their exchanges in chapter 1 and 2 made me sincerely hope this would end in them breaking up. That scene in Chapter 1 where Tomoe asked what Ritsu liked about her and all she could come up with was "a pretty face?" after flashing back to all her most obnoxious moments felt really emblematic of that, and kinda ties into another issue I had. But yeah, I loved her in the oneshot, but after that she felt flanderized beyond likability.

At least, until the chapter that took her POV again, at least, and then it was like, she's back to being a real human being again, her jealousness was (mostly) portrayed as reasonable insecurity rather than toxic posessiveness, and I found myself kinda rooting for her again, which made the Drama Chapters(tm) more bearable. On the whole, despite the first few chapters really making me dislike her, I ended this mostly on her side and willing to chalk that early toxicity up to authorial mistake.

And then on the other side of things, a lot of people were really upset with Ritsu, but honestly my feelings about her throughout was a pretty consistent "meh." Again, she was decent in the oneshot, but after her initial confession, it felt like her... interestingness, for lack of a better word, got disposed of along with her hair. As the aformentioned "A pretty face, I guess?" scene kinda exemplified, the story felt like it undercut any real sense of interest she had in Kyouko that the oneshot had established, and then failed to really bring any of that back. So I can sorta see how it might have come across to people like she lost interest, but to me at least, in combination with the lack of development of that supposed middle school crush, and how Kyouko suddenly felt super controlling and stuff, like her interest in her was really just a shallow infatuation all along with no real basis, and then the rest of the story did nothing to really dissuade that notion. Also why her interest in Makoto didn't really feel to me like a "cheating heart" situation, because the story made it feel like emotionally at least, there was nothing there to really cheat on in the first place. On top of that, the story set up the senpai and by extension the big sister as this big mystery to investigate, which was at least a cool and interesting new direction to take, until they did nothing interesting with it and just made it about Kyouko's jealousy again, leaving Ritsu with nothing really going on in the end. I didn't hate her or anything, I just didn't give a shit about her.

While we're on this, it felt like Makoto's characterization did shift a slight amount too, from a somewhat daffy but ultimately harmless person with some evident face blindness, to this sad, slightly sketchy person trying to use Ritsu as a replacement for Akane. Which was alright, I guess, but I don't like how it basically justified Kyouko's paranoia, (even if ultimately the point was to then counteract that with Ritsu turning her down) and I just enjoyed her characterization right up until the kiss much more.

TLDR? Oneshot was cute and good. Chapters 1 and 2 felt like they undermined everything the oneshot was doing to create a new setup where Ritsu is in a onesided relationship with a toxic controlling flanderized version of Kyouko, while working together with her friend to dig into the mystery of her sister, through a somewhat daffy Senpai with face-blindness. Chapters 3 and 4 then turned the tables on Kyouko's characterization back around to her original version, but failed to course-correct Ritsu or do anything interesting with the new direction. That kiss scene in 4 also did Makoto a bit dirty IMO. And the pacing throughout was so breakneck that none of this felt like natural character progression or evolution, just weird sudden swerves, even the stuff that feels like it should work on paper. So in the end, 5 and 6 felt like an insincere and unearned happy ending after everyone became less than the sum of her parts. Except for Tomoe-Chan, who was fun. I really feel like it should have stayed as a oneshot.

All that being said, thank you Daphie for the work you did on this; despite my feelings on the story itself, you did good with it, and I enjoyed your notes at the end of each chapter a lot ^^

last edited at May 12, 2023 3:13AM

Aww, I was really enjoying myself until like, the last few chapters, which suddenly felt like, super rushed. Alas, the axe has no mercy. At least the bonuses were nice. Just kinda felt like the subplot with the senpai and Sui like, barely got to happen at all, that immediate 180 on Sui's part felt weird. And yeah, the dad twist was neat, but I still feel like the actual confession and stuff felt like kind of a nonevent after all that buildup. Also wasn't sure what was with the maid. On the whole I still enjoyed it, but that was a rough landing.

Hmmm, wonder what that co-worker's trying to do there. Backfired help trying making Hiroko jealous, or run interference and keep her denseness intact?

I was kinda half-expecting the mask reveal to show something more... dramatic, I guess? Like a scar or something, that might have been why she was so shy about her classmates. So in that regard, I was a bit amused by that not being the case. On the other hand, I still liked this direction, too; sometimes it's not all that dramatic, and people are just living their lives. Plus, covid. So yeah, short and sweet, would love to see more of these two, but what we got was good already.

last edited at May 12, 2023 3:05AM

I'm still enjoying it, tbh. Ayaka's struggle as a straight-passing lesbian with such a strongly misunderstood reputation, is... actually surprisingly relatable? It may just be unique personal experience talking here, but this honestly doesn't feel that hard to suspend my disbelief. Even the bathroom scene happened while she was extremely drunk, so yanno, it's easy to dismiss her actions. Idk. This was one of the rare series I favorited on chapter 1 because I'm so confident in its direction, and so far it hasn't let me down.

last edited at May 9, 2023 10:17PM

I haven't caught up lately, but saw the tag on the most recent chapter and was concerned. On one hand, I don't think depicting the rape is itself an inherently terrible idea; as Clueless1 said, this is the risky dark side to this line of work, and if handled well it could feed into some interesting commentary or like, mark a big shift in the story's direction, being the last straw that leads to her trying to finally untangle herself from this mess.

On the other hand, given what I read of the story's general tone so far and how the comments have painted this chapter, it sounds like that's probably not what's happening here? So uh, yeah, in that case, fuck this.

Tbh, after the whole "Hey, check out my cat!" "I don't care about you as a person, let's just have sex already" exchange, I'm kinda glad it ended the way it did. Like, I feel for Akina, I do; clearly her ex dipping out like that is going to cause some abandonment issues and need for validation, so the "well I want you to come to like me too" bit was an interesting reflection of that. But (speaking as someone who's usually a sucker for the more romantic route these usually take) I find it refreshing in this case that the outcome was so realistic; she may have "fallen for" Rikako, but did she really? Or is it just that the good sex propped up her shattered self-esteem and she wants more of that? Without coming back to the cat conversation it's ambiguous whether her feelings have really changed as significantly as she thinks, but I come away from this with the vibe that they haven't. Rikako is an emotional salve to her, not her own person with her own life. And Rikako herself probably has to deal with a lot of her clients becoming infatuated like this, and seems a deft, experienced hand at managing and balancing maintaining distance and maintaining retention with these sorts of people. (Or at the very least, didn't let herself forget that insult from earlier.)

While it could be possible for the relationship to change over time, and I would enjoy seeing Akina actually coming to see her for her, I feel like ultimately, this is a case where it turning genuinely romantic sometime down the line just wouldn't feel right; them remaining friends and occasional bedpartners but finding long-term girlfriends elsewhere feels like a good way to go. Ultimately all that is kinda beyond the scope of this oneshot, but just like, again, I respect that they didn't go the easy route, and painted such a picture of the dynamic that I can extrapolate and speculate like this, without needing to see a continuation directly. Good stuff.