looking at this chapter again, has Aya been ungyarufied...?

It was over the moment she had her nails clipped, though Mitsuki appreciates that.

^ You're correct. The fridge discussion happened at the start of their third year, right after Kanna came to Japan and before the school trip to Okinawa.

every mf out here whining about how weird that chapter is and i'm here just thinking these haircuts are downgrades

They're more or less Joe and Kanna 2.0.

The sudden time skip REALLY came out of left field though. Really could have used at least a panel or two of establishing the new setting, like a “X years later” or “We’re in university now” or SOMETHING instead of just time skipping so suddenly like that. Especially since the last chapter gave no real indication of this coming; it wasn’t even focused on the main couple!

As doughnatsu said, the author drew an illustration yesterday that prepared for the timeskip: https://x.com/agu_knzm/status/1971919056929452229 It's still meant to be a surprise, but with this in the volume release the presence of a break will be clearer.

As for the timeskip itself, it should be around a year since Aya notes the callback she makes to predicting Mitsuki buying furniture behind her roommate's back happened two years ago and it happened right after they entered the third year of high school while we last saw them on high school graduation.

^ She had also drawn these designs a few months ago: https://x.com/agu_knzm/status/1936628584208294314

Why would she be worried about her bringing a girl home? Saying roommate over girlfriend... I get the vibe they broke up but remained friends?

I'm...confused? This is our main couple right...? Sudden time skip and they're not acting like a couple...or what's happening?

Blastaar was right, if two girls don't carry a sign with "we're girlfriends" written on it at all times, there will be people who won't be convinced they're dating even after it's been explicitly spelled out.

Let's slowly go through it then. The first use of 'roommate' by Aya is there to narrate to the audience that her and Mitsuki's living situation has changed since we last saw them. Her assuming Mitsuki brought a girl home is a comedic reaction to Mitsuki being caught off-guard by Aya walking in while she's setting up the home theater because Mitsuki feels awkward about having bought it without Aya's permission. The second use of 'roommate' by Aya is said in this context because expenses like that should be managed by both. When Mitsuki acts cool to shake Aya's nagging off, there's a drawing of an arrow piercing Aya's heart, showing she loves Mitsuki no matter what. I hope this helps.

I wonder if they're living in Joe's house above the records store. I guess we'll know soon.

With the upcoming five episodes/movie, they'll go beyond the manga so they're fine with adapting directly from the novels. These 17 episodes cover the first four novels and the eighth just came out, so there's already enough material for another season. There are even two collections of short stories if they need even more material.

Joe is the most moe character in the series.

Wait, you’re telling me we started this series when they first entered high school, and now they’re graduating? Wow… I feel like crying. T~T

They were already second years at the start.

Is there any news on when volume 2 releases?

https://x.com/inee/status/1963895733414998033

So, no chapter this month, but they'll release the booklet from Comitia 150 online for free with more content, and next month's chapter will be double the length and conclude volume 2, meaning the volume should also release next month.

Also volume 1 is getting a second reprint ahead of that: https://x.com/inee/status/1963190896733868043

Has Mitsuki even said she wants to chase the music industry in that way? It's been a while so maybe I've forgotten.

No. Thus far she's only been making music for herself and lately for Aya. She only decided to go to the Christmas party at Hime's house to meet her music producer father after being pushed by Aya, uncle Joe and Kanna, and she ended up ditching it anyway. It's very likely she'll eventually go that route since she did end up meeting Hime's father later and he noticed she's a diamond in the rough, but as of now she hasn't expressed the wish to go pro yet.

Don't worry, it stays pure fluff.

^ Volume 4 should end in 10 or so chapters so it would have to all be wrapped up by then. I don't think that's likely, but we'll see.

I'd love if this continued past high school with Aya and Mitsuki living together. As long as the author still wants to keep it going of course.

Someone in the comments was still worried about the possibility of Mitsuki moving to the US after graduation, thankfully uncle Joe is taking that (hopefully only metaphorical) bullet for her.

^ I doubt he's in the group of friends who were already in the know about Aya and Mitsuki. Narita did introduce him to Aya at the prom, but Narita was the prom organizer so anyone would've gone to him first.

Anything can happen off-screen, and I think on-screen confirmation is important. Also I think they went with the flow and the mood of the kiss, where they were dating without saying it until now. It seemed obvious to them and the people close to them, but actually saying it outloud now is important in my opinion.

I'm not contesting that, I myself wanted to see it and I think the author waited to create a moment that would make it particularly memorable. I'm just arguing that Aya and Mitsuki must've already clarified it between the two of them beforehand, otherwise one could start overthinking this moment and argue that Mitsuki put Aya on the spot without confirming whether she'd want their relationship to be announced publically or not which is clearly not the case.

Even though that shares overlap with dating you can do those things without dating. That said I do think they've been dating since the Prom kiss, but until now they never actually verbalized it by officially acknowledging that they're dating via verbal communicated confirmation. At least personally I think this is an important step in their relationship.

There's no way they hadn't clarified to each other they were dating offscreen before now. Even Joe, Kanna, Narita, Chizuru, Mao and Hime are already in the know going by what they told them and how they've been acting in some of the previous chapters. Aya's mom figured it out too though she did it on her own. Mitsuki asking Aya in this chapter was just to spread it around and prevent others from getting the idea to hit on them.

There’s also the further fact that Aya was explicitly described (in a standalone character sketch) as having “no interest” in guys, so even if the two MCs weren’t in a relationship an intervention into (poor doomed) Ono’s attempt to hit on Aya would be an appropriate friend move.

Without having to refer to character notes, during Ono's previous attempt to hit on Aya at the prom she made a pretty unsubtle observation about her preferences through her musical taste: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/the_guy_she_was_interested_in_wasnt_a_guy_at_all_ch113#3

She was nice in the grand scheme of things, she embarrassed the guy so that everyone would know and avoid making the same mistake with her or Aya later.

Humiliation ritual, as the kids say.

^ Doesn't Mitsuki simply use watashi?

^ Don't forget that Mitsuki is making Aya a dedicated CD, that's going to be quite the reward if she's close to being done.

That's more a tackle than a hug.