Imo, the whole manga is about a romantic relationship, but more about finding yourself and how that journey affects your loved ones.

To clarify, I think liking music is an allegory for self expression of being queer, which I believe is also the general consensus. Reframing the post-timeskip in this light, Mitsuki and Aya found a queer space to express themselves, in the past, Aya was more open about being queer since she found kinship with Mitsuki. Now, they made a bar as a safe place for people like themselves. Things aren’t always that great as Mitsuki tries to find additional groups (bands) to be a part of, but she doesn’t fit in to those specific communities. With the last group, they’re superficial when Mitsuki craves depth of appreciation for what she loves and her identity. Drained and lost, she’s afraid of losing the one person that makes her feel seen when the world can’t match their wavelength. She can’t fool Aya, who sees that Mitsuki lost her true self.

last edited at May 17, 2026 5:44PM

My takeaway for this chapter:
Mitsuki is aimless and has been since the beginning. Sure she took steps towards reaching for her dream of playing music by working for a bar with a stage and band hopping, but nothing feels right. There’s no sign of joy she once felt when she was in high school. The fear of showing this side of her is stronger than being vulnerable to Aya because it’s the one thing that connects each other. She knows Aya can see right through her like the last concert she preformed at. If she comes to terms that she “lost” her passion for music/preforming, which she is just in a rut atm, she believes could lose that connection with Aya and even lose Aya herself.

Bringing up past chapters to help illustrate how both characters think and how it frames the recent chapters since I believe previous arcs go half resolved.
Chapter 6: “… even if we did talk… won’t she be disappointed to find out how boring I really am?” Chapter 9: “You tend to forget… what was all the rage for a bit.” She’s afraid of being boring, people leaving her, and being forgotten. All she has is music whom she most likely inherited from Joe. Chapter 20, she stops listening to music because it’s draining and “Music is all I have… so if I lose it.. it’s really scary.”
I think this is where sex to avoid talking about her problem comes in. In the same chapter, Joe says, “If your relationship can’t stay the same as before.. then you just need to change strategy.” Obviously he meant to help Mitsuki work through her problems by trying a different approach, but some advices could be used for quick fixes instead, hence, making out with Aya to avoid talking about it twice.
There is so much more about Mitsuki’s insecurities, but I don’t want to make my post too long.

Anyway, on Aya’s side, her problem with Mitsuki is that Mitsuki can freely tell her problems to other people and not to herself directly. Chapter 21: “Why can you tell it to that guy… and not to me?” She felt deceived when Mitsuki didn’t tell her upfront, but would’ve accepted her even if she initially lied. What she really was upset about is Mitsuki not having deeper/interpersonal conversations. In terms of the recent chapter, she’s fed up with Mitsuki constantly avoiding negative conversations. Chapter 22: “Koga-san, you’re running away, you coward!”
There’s more to Aya, but again, too long post.

I hope these chapters will finally help Mitsuki’s avoidance issues. She retreated to music when things got too hard as a child and now even that’s painful. So far, Mitsuki making up with Aya in early chapters fixed temporary problems, but not underlying issues. Imo, the whole manga is about a romantic relationship, but more about finding yourself and how that journey affects your loved ones.

Swapping bodies and kissing each other seems like they’re kissing a mirror