It did not really bother me before, but man is this story getting disjointed.
I have actually went back and re-read the whole series and it actually makes a lot of sense if you read it in one go. I am actually amazed (once again) at how Takemiya-sensei manages to weave her storylines together despite the challenges of serialization. So, for those confused, here is as succinct a timeline for this series as I could get it:
The timeline can be roughly broken into four periods (five if you count the original one-shot/ch.1 as a distinct period, rather than just a side story): Yamanaka's Training Era, Taneda's Training Era, Toudou Era, and the current Shunin Ascendancy Era.
Yamanaka's Training Era
This period is only seen in flashbacks (including the entire chapter 5 and parts of chapter 8), and the protagonist refers to herself in as "the old me". Emi Yamanaka is a young, misanthropic career woman in management training, who is also a ravenous lesbian seducing girls left and right without much regard to commitment and whatever. We don't know much of her backstory, nor do we see much of this period, including what caused her "old me" to be replaced by a new, more cautious and laid-back self (except maybe just getting older).
In chapter 5, we see her cheating on her then-current girlfriend with an ex (who has, herself, just been cheated on by her then-GF). Said ex then tells her something that literally key to understanding Yamanaka's later interactions with Toudou and Taneda: Yamanaka is only ever kind to the woman she loves, while everyone else faces the full brunt of her manipulative misanthropy. The same dialogue also very strongly implies that Yamanaka is, at that moment, in love with yet another woman (who is not her girlfriend) but her feelings seem to be unrequited.
Later on, Yamanaka meets Toudou at the Nagomi lesbian bar and sleeps with her, unaware that they are actually already partnered up at work. This starts their years-long friends-with-benefits relationship. I am actually not clear on whether this scene takes place after the double-cheating flashback and Toudou is actually the woman Yamanaka loved back then, but I think this is not the case, because at no point in the manga does Yamanaka show Toudou her kind face -- hence, she cannot be the object of her love.
Original One-Shot
The original one-shot (included here as chapter 1) takes place at some point between Yamanaka and Taneda's respective training. As far as I can tell, it takes place largely outside of the main continuity of the series and, as such, is more of a spin-off than a proper chapter.
At some point in her career, Yamanaka's coworker Mihashi develops a crush on her, but because Yamanaka keeps her distance, hatches the really dumb plan to sleep around with various guys until sempai notices her. The plan backfires when Mihashi becomes pregnant and has to resign amidst the rumors, and on top of everything, Yamanaka denounces her for doing something as stupid just to get her attention.
EDIT: As Gale has just pointed out while I was typing this, it is quite plausible that Mihashi may have actually been the person Yamanaka has been in love with during her training.
Taneda's Training Era
Some time later, a new trainee named Taneda is put under Yamanaka's supervision (who is still uncommitted, despite hanging out with Toudou at Nagomi and, probably, occasionally sleeping with her). It is worth noting at this point, that this entire story arc (chapters 3 through 5 plus the Special) is told mainly from Yamanaka's POV, while Taneda is a perfect mystery: we don't know anything about her background or motivations at this point. I believe, however, that we can safely infer that the boyfriend we first see in chapter 9 is already present in her life at that point (they have obviously been together for a long time before he proposed), and she believes herself to be straight (as do the others, including Yamanaka).
Somehow, however, Taneda discovers that Yamanaka is gay and, with her curiosity piqued, grows interested in her as in some weird animal. After Taneda takes her out for drinks at the Nagomi (chapters 2 and 3), Yamanaka suspects that she just wants to forcibly out her (chapter 4), but this turns out not to be the case. Soon thereafter, Taneda's training is complete, with Yamanaka still treating Taneda like a nuisance.
Toudou Era
Toudou is first properly introduced in chapter 6 and represents Yamanaka's only long-lasting quasi-committed relationship (even though they are still just friends-with-benefits). Although Toudou seems to express interest in Taneda in chapter 6, nothing obviously comes out of it, as she doesn't even remember her name in chapter 9.
Chapter 7 is really where YamaTane starts off, with the two of them actively teasing each other, Taneda jumping into Yamanaka's taxi right after the latter refused to save her from male colleagues' advances. Accidentally, if you re-read that chapter in light of chapter 9, it becomes obvious why Taneda is both unwilling to entertain the guys' affections and lacks the social skills to turn them down gracefully: she is already in a long-term committed relationship and has probably never needed to attend mixers where a girl would normally pick up those turn-down skills.
Chapter 9 is a pivotal one, since it is the first time we actually learn anything about Taneda outside of work context, and meet her boyfriend for the first time. Meanwhile, Toudou informs Yamanaka of her arranged engagement, failing to elicit any kind of emotional reaction (they are still just friends-with-benefits after all), after which they officially "break up" with each other in the morning. This is also the first time we see Yamanaka show Taneda her kind face (seriously, just compare it to the expressions Toudou is getting in the same chapter), indicating to the readers that Yamanaka is actually in love with Taneda, even if she doesn't realize it yet (remember, the only person who gets kindness from her is the one she is in love with).
Chapter 10 is mostly just escalation from the last one. Taneda's birthday is coming up, and her boyfriend points out that Yamanaka has been all she ever talks about lately. He presents her a ring for her birthday, effectively proposing to her, but catalyzes the realization that she has actually fallen in love with Yamanaka instead (how far this wide-eyed bi-curious girl fascinated with that weird lesbian coworker had come). Prompted by this realization, Taneda breaks up with him the next day.
Although this is only shown in the flashbacks, Yamanaka later remembers Taneda cutting her hair shorter in the immediate aftermath of her breakup (although it seems to have grown back to normal over the next years). Change of hairstyle normally signifies a new beginning, but I am guessing that Taneda consciously or unconsciously chose a shorter hairstyle to look more like Toudou, since she suspected that Yamanaka may have been in a relationship with her. This incident also serves as the point where Yamanaka first admitted to herself that she cares for Taneda.
Shunin Ascendancy Era
Two years pass, and we are now in the current era. Yamanaka is up the corporate ladder, with an all-new dapper suit, while Taneda basically inherited her old position, supervising new trainees. She also acts as somewhat of a secretary for Yamanaka and still bickers with her like an old married couple. When Yamanaka invites her over for drinks, Taneda acknowledges that if she only wanted to have a physical relationship with Yamanaka, it would be pretty easy, but she actually wants Yamanaka to demonstrate her interest in her by making the first move instead. She is, of course, unaware that Yamanaka already loves her and is listening to her mumbling. Yamanaka then invites her over to her place and they have steamy hot sex all night.
In the morning, Taneda asks if Yamanaka loves her, to which she replies that she "loves her crying face", which may not seem like much, but actually says a lot in context. Because the preceding story has been painting Yamanaka is an extremely aloof person who is bad at expressing her feelings, probably owed to her messed up early relationships (including that one true unrevealed love from chapter 5 flashback). When she says "I love your crying face", she is actually acknowledges out loud for the first time the first time she had cared for Taneda (see flashback). Of course, Taneda has no idea, but hey, baby steps.
last edited at Dec 23, 2017 3:35PM
