Age gap is pretty vague. Age gap plus lolicon, though, big signal there, even if you keep forgetting what the earlier chapters were like.

college students having a hookup, how unrealistic

college students who already know and like each other hooking up, how unrealistic

/s :)

I've been re-reading the main story, and this time I'm noticing little details, especially of facial expression, or chuckles. Especially from Sayaka, like this one:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/bloom_into_you_special_4#5

She gets a background chuckle a bit earlier when Doujima is asking if some guy is dating their teacher, whom she knows is actually dating the Echo Cafe manager.

last edited at May 15, 2020 7:55PM

Hah, I got into those the other day.

Yuki -> Komachi -> Onee-chan -> teacher

With a side of Onee doing Komachi's hair and calling her "milady".

...if they're twins why are they "onee-chan" and "Komachi"? Do Japanese families really make a big deal out of who was born first by 20 minutes?

Yeah, when a friend was sick one time, I had her over and kept making "lemon tea" for her, just water + lemon juice + honey microwaved to be warm for comfort (and dissolve the honey). And American lemonade is lemon juice + sugar, so voila, warm lemonade.

I know nothing about the source material or characters, but it was fairly hot on its own merit. Though I did wonder, if you've already had sex, do you still go "where are you licking?"

"Kaori asked Kayoko to drop the formalities when talking to her, because Kayoko is older and Kaori wants to be spoiled a bit. So Kayoko switches from "-san" to "-chan", because that's an expression of closeness to someone younger"

But Kayoko had already said 'Kaori-chan'! She jumped from Mizuki-san to Kaori-chan.

I never realized that calling each other by the first name when alone was lewder than hands holding.

I've often joked that using first names was more intimate than sex. Nice to (sort of) see it in action!

"I want you to drop the honorifics." "Okay... Kaori-chan." Didn't drop the honorific. Have to have sex first, I guess. :p

My thoughts on the sisters. Probably nothing new, at least for the first part.

It is a yuri manga so who knows where it might go, but just based on the six English chapters, I'd say Sakura loves her sister/playmate, but in a normal sisterly way. Ashima's actions could be part acting out her reputation, partly unsettling/driving away Sakura, maybe part getting some contact with one of two people she can touch. Sakura doesn't like it and genuinely protests but doesn't view it as a dealbreaker yet, especially with guilt for how her parents treat Ashima. I imagine thoughts like "If tolerating aggressive footsie is what it takes to keep Ashima around, I'll tolerate it."

Spanish chapters: Notably, a naked bath scene with them has no sexual tension whatsoever. After they reconcile we don't see Ashima do anything improper. There's also a flashback of "I was taking my frustrations out on Sakura." We do get the cliffhanger-proximity marriage question, but I think Ashima asks more because she's wondering about Rin's future, and Sakura's reply of choosing Ashima over marriage could just be a middle schooler who has yet to feel lust or fall in love and thus can't really imagine what she's rejecting. From what we've seen I don't think Sakura's really discovered sex yet; Ashima at least thinks about it, though we don't have a solid attraction yet for her either.

Of course, that's the realistic take on the text. Given the metatext that the author chose to put that in a yuri manga, in a short chapter where the MC kisses her love interest, incest fans can still hope.

Totally unrelatedly, I wonder if Chekov's Death By Ocean is on the wall. We've had (tiny spoiler) two different "don't kill yourself!" reactions to someone looking at or standing in the water.

"I love the idea of two fangirls of a popular girl (maybe the school 'prince', or an idol) bonding over their shared attraction and eventually realizing they like each other more."

Macross Frontier didn't go all the way (outside fanfic) but IMO Sheryl and Ranka had a lot more chemistry together than either with Alto.

Felt more rapey than the medical checkup one. Ange was trying to go back but got overwhelmed.

Prediction (spoiler for the later chapters): Touko never had a miscarriage. She seduced Mayumi's fiancee, claimed to be pregnant to break him away from Mayumi, then claimed miscarriage once Mayumi had fled.

Or maybe got pregnant, then had an abortion once her purpose was served, and passed it off as miscarriage.

last edited at May 12, 2020 2:23AM

Finished. Man that reader is slow.

Chapters vary widely in length: chapter 7 is 45 pages, practically an arc by itself; Chap 12 is 13 pages and ends on a cliffhanger. Mangaka no baka!

Sisters: Still friendly and kissing-free. Sakura (the legit and happy one) wants them to go away for high school so they can live together. She also just said that she would rather stay with Ashima than get married. They're middle schoolers, but hey, it's cute.

Touko: Lies. Negs. Forget yandere, she's just plain abusive (psychologically.)

Mayumi and Rin: Tormented by the thought that Rin might get married, Mayumi kisses Rin. Rin pushes her away, but looks ambiguous on the last page. Given that they're in the front seat of a stopped but non-parked car, with her 3 year old niece sleeping in the back, and it was a sudden assault, I imagine Rin could push her away even if she generally wants to jump Mayumi's bones. Which we don't know, though she's still been touchy-feely, and said how it's a lot easier to raise Hinata (niece) with Mayumi around.

last edited at May 11, 2020 11:24PM

Hey, my Spanish is good enough to get something out of the translation (with some Google help). The reader site is slow, though!

As of the start of chapter 9:

Sisters: So far the sisters are doing fine, though the incest seems to have fallen off. Sakura wanted to run off with her, they reconciled, Mayumi nearly drowned, and Ashima is now living at Seagull. Sakura comes visit a lot to work on homework so they can go to boarding school together.

Touko: It feels like she's been deliberately isolating Mayumi since high school. Non-violent yandere territory.

LOL next page had an ad for MUL.

last edited at May 12, 2020 2:51AM

"I think the real issue about incest is how easy it is to result in power imbalance and therefore abuse. It can happen in relationships between siblings, since you've been raised together and your entire network of family relations is connected to your sibling as well. Think things like "if you don't do this I'll tell everyone about us" and harming your relations with family members after a breakup."

Yeah.

Even in something like Citrus, where they met at age 15 or so and share no genes, they're living together -- sharing a room and bed, even. So if they hook up and then break up, it can be massively awkward -- same as why dating your co-worker can be extra risky even if there's no power imbalance.

I feel no shame about incest as a fictional kink but I can still recognize that in reality it raises various kinds of bad-idea flags, depending on the circumstances.

Amusing how the doctor is always eating something.

I wonder if Yasuko knows about either Sunako's abuse, or her own mother paying Sunako for housework. I suspect not, in either case.

Edit: oh, looking back at Ashes, "I wish I'd been adopted into the Hosoda family", yeah I'm pretty sure Yasuko is totally out of the loop. I'm not sure she even thought much about why Sunako is living with them beyond "our dad died".

last edited at May 9, 2020 1:04AM

AIUI Japan is oddly specific: buying "penis in vagina" sex is illegal. All other acts are okay. And in a "pre-existing relationship" even transferring money for PIV may be legal. OTOH the local age of consent is probably 18, so big problem there.

But yeah, this started out as "compensated dating" without anything physical until the schoolgirl pushed things, so it was okay...

"For once the president of a major company isn't a man."

Yeah, reminds me of that logic puzzle about the surgeon and son. I fell for it here, too, being surprised the president was the mother. Good job, mangaka!

"Honestly this is like the test case for moral incest. There is no chance for any genetic problems in their children, nor is there any power imbalance at work considering they didn't know they were half-sisters before they started dating"

Plus they're not living together, unlike "A Love Smeared in Ashes", so you don't have that complication (which can apply to unrelated step-sisters as in Citrus). It really is a pure case of "welp, we share a lot of genes, but so what?"

looks at Nao
suddenly understands what "useless lesbian" means

At least the stupid drama didn't last long. Yay for happy ending.

last edited at May 6, 2020 11:03PM

I liked it. The second part really completes the original.

Cried at "help me", and Yasuko's tsundere "welp you're family now".

Big kudos to Yasuko-mom for stepping up like that.

Nurse could be an problem, though. :O

Nice to re-read but ahhhh the money.

And the earlier money, buying a $300 bouquet then throwing it away.

From the bridge she was probably throwing away at least $1000, easily $2000 or more, depending on how many 'dates' she'd accumulated, at $300 per date...

"Chihiro is visiting in August (for Obon), Natsu's feet are always very conspicuously hidden."

Are Japanese ghosts not supposed to have feet? Anyway, we do see her feet on page 10. Okay, the toes are hidden, but there are definite heels.

"Ghost" wasn't obvious given Natsu's physical interaction with the letters.

But yeah, well done with the conversation.

Nice story. Glad I got to read both parts. :)