I'm not here to be a Sachi apologist years after the fact, but I do think she has a gotten a far worse rap than she probably deserves. It definitely didn't sit well with me after I had just finished reading, but I also realized I originally did so under the assumption that this is a gay manga where everyone is gay and also with the view that Ruki is the protagonist of the story. After going back and rereading the last few chapters with Sachi's thoughts in mind, it actually gave me a different perspective.

To start out with, Sachi clearly considered herself straight up until Ruki confessed her love to her. And even then, we can tell by what is said later on in the story that Sachi was just going along with Ruki, like she thought she should do, and without really considering her own feelings or sexuality. And this doesn't really seem to change for a while. The fact that she thought "it's different from a guy, but it'll calm her down either way" when having sex with Ruki for the first time again demonstrates that she's willing to just be pulled along without taking stock of her own emotions (something that Ruki later gets upset with her for: "I thought you'd say no"). At this point, Sachi has really been nothing but a passenger in Ruki's relationship with her, and while we can tell she does have some form of feelings for Ruki with the whole "introduce me" incident with her ex, we also know that they are unclear to her. This is compounded by the fact that Remi kisses her immediately after she takes her first real step to affirming her feelings for Ruki, instead just making everything more muddled (as Remi planned).

So now we're at the part in the story where Sachi seems to start doing some soul searching with the help of Remi, who of course sees no problem with using her position has a trusted friend to take advantage of Sachi's uncertainty. She gets her smashed, takes her home, and proceeds to get even more inside Sachi's head. The fact that Remi also left a kiss mark on Sachi's arm specifically to upset Ruki lets us know that she is very much in knowing control of the situation. Remi's next move is to tell Sachi that she slept with Ruki (introducing even more doubt into their relationship), before offering to do the same with Sachi. At this point, I find it hard to see Sachi's initiation here as anything more than a manufactured response as the result of being emotionally manipulated and taken advantage of by someone she trusts. Even after the deed is done, Remi doesn't miss a beat and sets about convincing Sachi that she shouldn't feel bad for hurting Ruki and that not only is it natural, but that her relationship with Ruki is just a phase. Of course, a nice side effect of this is that if it really means nothing, then they can keep having sex, which unsurprisingly benefits Remi...

From there it's a pretty straight shot to Sachi's confession of what happened. I don't think the line "I wanted to see how it feels to be the cheater" is untrue when Sachi says it, but I also don't think she would've actually done it had Remi not wanted it to be so. I also think that Sachi is genuine in her confession to Ruki, and while every thing up to that point was an absolute shitshow, that Sachi actually managed to find her true feelings for Ruki in all of it. This can be further seen in the "don't you think we would have gotten together somehow" line in the bonus chapter. Those are not the words of someone who lacks confidence in their relationship. The Sachi who was just going along with Ruki would have simply shrugged.

I also would like to contextualize the Remi/Sachi interaction in the bonus chapter by reminding everyone at that point Sachi and Ruki had been seriously dating for over two years and been with each other for over three. And that Remi would have been there the entire time. I truly believe that Sachi's reaction was intended to get under Ruki's skin in a playful way and not in any way a serious consideration of sleeping with Remi.

To sum it up, yes, Sachi behaved in a pretty shitty manner. However, a lot of people miss exactly how much of it is attributable to Remi being human garbage who puppeteered the entire thing for both her own amusement and to prove a completely incorrect point (that Sachi was straight).

last edited at Oct 25, 2020 11:35AM

Hmmm... not the biggest fan of the direction this went in. I'm sure Canno will find a way to get it to where it needs to be for the poly end, but the journey could have been better. If I may backseat write for a moment, this is the way I was hoping things would go after Ch 5:

Chapter 6 - Akira calls Mayuki out to play basketball with her and, after a while, ends up confronting her about her lessons with Rin. Both of them, of course, know nothing about how Rin truly feels at this point. She hits Mayuki with her spiel about how she is abusing her position by asking Rin for "lessons". Mayuki contemplates and ends up agreeing internally that she is in the wrong, but also ends up thinking about her failed "date" with Akira and realizes that she needs to take the initiative. Mayuki agrees to stop, but only on the condition that she can kiss Akira instead (complete bluff ofc). Akira accepts and then you just roll into the Ch 7 kiss scene, where Akira realizes she's in over her head.

Chapter 7 - Rin goes to tutor Mayuki as usual, only for Mayuki to put an end to their extra lessons. Rin is very hurt, but chooses to hold it all in and continue supporting Mayuki. She predictably has a harder time dealing with it than she thought and ends up relying on Akira, who is more than happy to get closer to Rin. Akira meets with Mayuki later and notices that she is out of it, and pieces together that there was clearly feelings between them.

Chapter 8 - Akira continues her relationship with Mayuki, while also successfully pursuing Rin. As her relationship deepens with both of them, she begins trying to understand her own feelings. This culminates in a conversation with Mayuki. She asks Mayuki if it's okay to love more than one person, Mayuki tells her yes. Akira shows a bit of reluctance to the idea and Mayuki hits her with the iconic "who decided you can only love one person?" Akira realizes that she wants to be with both of them, but that they aren't truly happy with the way things currently are. As the one who broke Mayuki and Rin up, Akira decides it's her responsibility to help them get back together.

Chapter 9 and on - Akira gets them all in a room together, and they figure out that they are all gay and all love each other. They lay out rules and boundaries, and the story can run from there.

I feel like shifting the triangle from Mayuki to Akira helps the readers get a lot more comfortable with her position in the dynamic, which has been an issue as Akira was the outsider for so long. It gives a much more natural development for Akira as the only one who was not open to poly, which also makes forming the triangle much simpler.

But at the end of the day, I'm just here for girls kissing, and DAMN am I getting that. It's enough to make a girl sweat.

last edited at Sep 16, 2020 7:58PM