i wonder if nakatani nio read this one by chance before she wrote the play in bloom into you

cute story on paper, not even the remotest semblance to reality. of course the comments are filled with the takes of a bunch of lazy bootlickers, history is determined by the winners and all that.

no one born and raised in a capitalist society should be allowed to have takes on historical revolutions, its impossible to separate propaganda nonsense from reality

It's also easy for anyone to stand back and say "you shouldn't forgive that, that's always wrong, break up with that person" when your own feelings are on the line. Especially since Ruki is the only one who can ascertain how hurt she is by something, and whether or not to trust Sachi moving forward. If that's a bridge too far for you that's understandable, but it felt completely in character given their pasts and circumstances.

Really surprised by all the takes saying the main couple shouldn't have gotten together. as though ruki isn't emotionally mature enough to recognize that a former abuse victim might be very easily manipulated, especially given how easily she was manipulated into doing the same thing by the same person. She intended to break off the "relationship" not specifically because of the cheating, but because she had always understood innately that it was a tenuous, one-sided connection that Sachi was only a part of out of convenience and not genuine love. It was functionally dead in the water unless something changed in Sachi.

And why wouldn't Ruki forgive Sachi after she basically got confirmation that Remi coerced her into it? Any resentment that she has towards the situation was pretty much transplanted onto Remi for taking advantage of her. Again that final conversation wasn't "why", it was "I know this isn't working and you're only doing this because I pushed you into it, I'm so sorry." It just happened that Sachi had done her own soul searching and was ready to prove her wrong.

Really vexed by this one, mostly because it can pretty easily be read as an unsettling commentary on the dynamics of abuse... until the final page which is tasteless to the nth degree.

The subtext here is that MC clearly has feelings for her friend that she's too status-obsessed to even begin to come to terms with. She's so desperate for the social attention that comes with acting older, and yet conflicted about leaving her youth behind, and possibly even subconsciously skeptical of the heteronormative beauty standards that she's happy to co-opt for the chance play the "adult". this comes to a breaking point when not only is she raped by an older man, but she literally lacks the maturity to comprehend what has happened to her. the only thing she can do to rationalize this is replicate her own traumatic experience and project it onto the one thing in her life that is keeping her tied to her past self. Her entire life just was altered irrevocably, and her only recourse psychologically is to bring the only "safe" thing in her life down to where she is-- in her mind she rationalizes this as the loss of virginity, but obviously the reality is that she's assaulting her best friend because *she literally has no concept of what sex is outside of her one experience being coerced and assaulted by an old older man.

The problem with this one-shot is that it's so dedicated to centering Hana's POV that Nozomi almost becomes completely lost in the framing. It's deeply disturbing to see a victim sidelined like this, and not in the same way that Hana's story is disturbing, because its a lack of focus that the author is ultimately culpable for. Her pain is clearly rendered in a realistic and upsetting way (unlike Hana, she's keenly aware of what's happening to her and how capital W Wrong it is) but then her emotional aftermath is completely ignored.

I have a strong suspicion that she also has deep feelings for her "friend" (note how she pointedly says she's never thought about having a "boyfriend", how she clings to her like a rock after what must have been the most horrifying and painful experience in her life). But all that is gone forever all because some guy realized how easily he could manipulate and assault this innocent high schooler.

...except that's not what comes through at all in the final page. neither of them are given any room to breathe or process their actions or experiences, and all we're given is some tasteless laughter in the aftermath of a horrific scene. i suspect that nozomi will have been effectively broken by the betrayal of her friend/crush, someone she trusted, but of course feelings don't die easily, and the only person she will be able to cling to will remain an apathetic Hana. Eventually both will come to terms with what happened to them (Nozomi will probably have to make those realizations on her own, maybe Hana's clique will try and talk to her about what they know out of concern). after that point its probably doubtful that they'll be able to maintain any functional relationship, Hana will have to live with what was done to her and the knowledge of how she destroyed Nozomi's life for as long as she lives, and who knows if Nozomi will ever be able to trust anyone again. Hana will probably start engaging in more risky behaviors to cope, and not a single person will be able to understand or help her, except for, unfortunately enough, Nozomi. If they do remain friends or more, it will likely devolve into something toxic or codependent.

But all this is just conjecture because the author cruelly decided to leave them both in this insulting, offensive way. To leave your story off at the most complicated point in any other context would merely be bad storytelling. but when you add an element as heavy and loaded with real-world ramifications as rape into the mix, THAT'S just irresponsible. and it didn't have to be that way, two or three more pages could have adequately contextualized what we just witnessed into something more respectful of the subject matter in spite of the unreliable POV. instead the lingering feeling i have is of having read something that is unfortunately well-observed but really and truly tasteless in execution.

poor girl has mommy issues so bad that it's wrecking her relationship with the girl who's in love with her. of course, the only way to solve this problem is through dubiously consensual sex, being that this is smut and all.

being put off by the sister and teacher stuff is valid but it's only an outright feel-bad story if that's the thing you need it to be. it could just as easily be "twins use sex to pollyanna their way through everyone's unspoken problems and guilts" which.

problematic and fantastical, but far from "what the fuck am i reading" tag worthy

am i misreading this or is it not even half as bad as everyone in this comments section is acting like it is

it's actually kinda sweet in a fucked up way though i suppose that depends on a charitable read of character motivations and the way things go after the last page

real kobeni-type maid there