I hope they never talk about this and drag the artificial drama for 80+ chapters of nothing-burgers.

This series doesn’t ever do any one thing for 80+ chapters, so we’re probably safe there.

The “my partner is so cute/suddenly lovey dovey, therefore could be cheating” is certainly a stock joke, and in this circumstance there’s the couple dynamic that when the two of them first met Mitsuki had zero on-panel friends, and Aya tended to stress as Mitsuki became more popular. Now they both have separate friend groups, so there are even more complications in that area.

And of course we know that Aya tends to lose her shit when under academic pressure as well.

That was . . .surprisingly substantial thematically.

Also cute, of course.

Wait until Mama Bear finds out her sweetie is getting dissed . . .

The Person Who Means The Most To Me In The World Is Another Girl But We Don't Have Sex--Don't Even Think About It, Really tag when?

Hinoka remains a wholesome hottie.

Well, I'll give it this, it certainly was the most unique way interrupt a moment...

Seriously. Phone call from work? Nope. Doorbell ringing with a delivery? No. Family pet intervening in the clinch? Not this time.

No, it's that special time of the month!

This one certainly does what it does. There's no doubt about that.

Squee! (Seriously.)

I can't believe it took me this long to find out about this series. It's so good.

On the other hand, now that I've caught up, I don't know what I'll do with my life

might i suggest reading Ke Ran Bing's other series (as artist, different writer for that one), if you haven't already~

https://mangadex.org/title/d9339050-0957-46e9-a30a-4466eaa0a1e8/fugue-across-worlds

Just read a good chunk of it—very nice. Thanks for the rec!

JFC, this story . . . I feel like I should wait ten years until it's finished and read it all at once.

You mean 20 right? Maybe now at least we'll remember the other main character and see her again.

Wait, there was another character? Now I'm all confused . . .

JFC, this story . . . I feel like I should wait ten years until it's finished and read it all at once.

Someone please complete Umi's thought for me. Not exactly sure what she wanted to say.

"I know she loves me too. But even though I know that, sometimes..."

I guess she's going for "sometimes Shou is too physically distant"? Or "sometimes it doesn't feel like Shou lusts after me the way I'm lusting after her"? Lol

She wants Shou to initiate; Shou then does this by asking to hold her hands. That's why we get the pause on Umi's face as an interruption of her thoughts. She's touched. So it ends happily. The "problem" is pretty much resolved there.

Love this explanation. Thanks!!

Right, it's the contrasting match with the scene on page 4 when Shou pulls her hand away. Umi thinks it's about holding hands, but Shou is just self-conscious about the way her hand might smell. But on the way back Shou has gotten over that because of Umi's previous reaction.

@Blastaar: Don't know if you read the novel, but the manga is almost 1:1 to it. The novel is also exclusively from Sorawo's POV and it takes her just as long to come to terms with Toriko's feelings for her.

I have not read the novel, but I don’t doubt your characterization of it. I’m mostly going from comments on other LN > manga adaptations where readers of both conduct a kind of running commentary filling in plot and character details that aren’t shown in the manga, explaining motivations that aren’t given in the manga, or otherwise treating the manga as a truncated version of the LN.

I do think it’s generally true that visual media tend to be good at depicting scenes while prose often does extensive summary more efficiently.

Toriko is absolutely putting in the work to understand Sorawo, the story simply isn't from her POV (and Sorawo won't explain the details of what happened to her).

This is one of the reasons I often find light novel > manga adaptations to be sub-optimal (although I do quite like this one and many others)--each medium has things it does well and less well. In particular, (among other differences) prose can handle deep dives into a character's POV much more economically than a visual medium, and can switch POVs fairly easily as well. So readers often comment that they don't get the insights into the characters they get from the LN.

So let me see if I understand this correctly—they really are glad to see each other. They are excited to spend time together. When they’re together they don’t want to say goodbye. Each one thinks the other looks cute in what they’re wearing. They’re excited to spend time together—wait, I said that already, didn’t I?

If they weren’t both girls, I’d almost think there was something going on between them. The way they’re excited to see each other and spend time together, I mean.

Well, if, yeah. But they're both girls, so nah, couldn't be.

I dunno, the way they’re so excited to see each other every single time, and the blushing and all, I think it must be more than just gals being pals.

Maybe next chapter we’ll see for sure.

Or the one after that.

last edited at Oct 17, 2025 8:51PM

To console ourselves in the midst of all this pining, let us imagine the first time these two engage in something steamy.

Ahhhhh it will be so good....

Godot told us they were going to have sex.

All we have to do is wait.

So let me see if I understand this correctly—they really are glad to see each other. They are excited to spend time together. When they’re together they don’t want to say goodbye. Each one thinks the other looks cute in what they’re wearing. They’re excited to spend time together—wait, I said that already, didn’t I?

If they weren’t both girls, I’d almost think there was something going on between them. The way they’re excited to see each other and spend time together, I mean.

Blastaar posted:

Golly, this is just the fluffiest yuri story, isn't it? lol

Unless...

I got whiplash after the tone of the previous chapter

I'm pretty much loving it. We've seen basically cute stories with somewhat darker overtones before, but this is a freaking master class in messing with audience expectations.

Golly, this is just the fluffiest yuri story, isn't it? lol

This story is like a course in Yuri 101.

I mean that in a good way.

“Her eyelashes are so long”—OK, then, that seals the deal. Gay marriage it is.

I was having a not-great day--nothing serious, just kind of jangly.

Reading this was really nice.

Another sign of the transition from Stage 2 to Stage 3 Aya-form: the hairdo comes down.

Um, I thought one of the most basic premises of the story was that Mitsuki’s chosen “cool” presentation gives off a not-feminine read. But Mitsuki is, in her own mind and in the minds of those around her, a young woman.

It’s true that both MCs have been given an “adult” character-design makeover, but to my eyes hardly a radical one.