I really loved the oneshot so I am so excited it got serialized. The ending to the oneshot was so perfect I'm kinda unsure where it'll go from here, which worries me a bit but also makes me even more excited to see what the author has in store. If it manages to be suitably toxic while still carrying a relatively lighthearted tone we may get a successor to I Love Amy!

I see we’re locked in on the “player is actually a bottom” path

Asako steadily becoming more butch and/or assertive as Nagi gradually becomes more and more submissive is one of my favorite parts of the manga lol

Hana seems to be projecting her own self-hatred (and possibly internalized misogyny?) onto Sadako, who for her part seems largely amused/curious lol. Looking forward to seeing how Sadako punishes Hana's shitty friend!

This sm

I called it! Though I was surprised that Hana loves cutesy things when she's alone.

Also, I'm not really sure if Erika is trying to break the triangle "without hurting either Koto or Aya." She knows very well that the breakup she always wished for hurt both Koto and Aya a great deal. Of course, from an objective perspective, the breakup was necessary regardless. But Erika still knew her plan would result in this pain, and she went through with it anyway.

I’m not following this last part at all—what “plan” of Erika’s did she “go through with”? That phrasing implies that Erika has played an active role in causing Koto and Aya to break up.

She's given them valid, reasonable advice. It's also advice that she intentionally framed in a way to encourage them to break up.

Talking about Koto hating herself, it's interesting how both Koto and Erika hate the distorted version of themselves in their self perception and how their actions reflect that. Koto hates the version of herself without Aya, including the version of herself who's spent half her conscious life separated from her, and thus obsesses over Aya and endlessly loops an impossible wish for her past to change. Tragically, the events that traumatized her, due to their supernatural nature, will surely only encourage her indulging in fruitless magical thinking.
Erika meanwhile views herself as a selfish bitch and thus prioritizes everyone else and neglects herself, with the most prominent hints of that neglect when Aya first sees Erika's apartment, which she's left as a pigsty since the only person who would benefit from her cleaning it is herself. Once Aya has moved in, there's zero sign of Erika being messy, and now that Aya's moved out I fully expect that apartment to go to hell again.
You could also add Aya to this for true parallelism amongst our main characters, as she clearly hates the version of herself who is a powerless dependent child reliant on the choices of others to dictate the course of her life, and so desperately struggles to be an island, to the point of doing things like spending money renting a dorm room and even feeling insecure about her "dependence" on her boss at work. Hopefully Aya doesn't fall for any get rich quick scams like crypto investment now that's she's alone. She missed a lot of development of the Internet era and is thus vulnerable to scams. If she got contacted by a Nigerian prince she'd believe him.

I largely agree with your post, and good job drawing the link to Aya too; her flaws are a lot less obvious than Koto's and Erika's so it's good to analyze her in relation to them. It's notable her extreme aversion to being "dependent" stretches back to her pre-time leap self as well, it seems to be the lesson she learned from her mother's abandonment and it certainly doesn't seem like she ever asked anyone for help in treating her senile grandfather. I would like to, not disagree with, but add to your analysis of Erika though. It's not just that she neglects herself, but as I argued in this post, her self-hatred has kind of become a self-fulfilling prophecy and caused her to actually become a more selfish and resentful person.

I don't know what's so complicated about Erika. She just wants Koto to chose her over Aya. That's her "desire". That would resolve all her inferiority complexes and longing.

For that, she wants Koto to be clear headed about Aya and not wallow in her obsession, so she's trying to "break the triangle" in her own way, without hurting either Koto or Aya.

I don't think Erika only wants Koto to choose her over Aya. She's had a massive inferiority complex about Aya ever since she was 14, and them being love rivals is only one part of that -- a major part, but still only one part. In chapter 2, Erika stated that "The [Aya] of back then was an existence I could never hope to catch up with," and that she was "always a few steps ahead of me," and we can see that jealousy starting to come back when Aya starts acting again in the present day. And I don't think this jealousy is just about acting, either, it's about everything. Erika idealizes Aya just as much as Koto does.

Also, I'm not really sure if Erika is trying to break the triangle "without hurting either Koto or Aya." She knows very well that the breakup she always wished for hurt both Koto and Aya a great deal. Of course, from an objective perspective, the breakup was necessary regardless. But Erika still knew her plan would result in this pain, and she went through with it anyway.

Finally, I'd like to say that, while Erika certainly wants Koto to choose her, it's equally (if not even more) important that Koto chooses her over Aya. When Koto asked her out years ago, Erika refused because "That place is nothing more than Aya's place. In the play I acted as a stand-in for her, I'm sure everyone thought, 'If only Aya were here.' Ever since that day, I've been Aya's stand-in." Erika doesn't just want to date Koto, she wants to defeat Aya, and that victory would be meaningless if it were only by default. That's why she wished for Aya to come back. Which is why it's so important for Erika's development that she's starting to see Aya as a person and not an unreachable opponent slash ideal.

Does she actually, seriously think she can just date Koto now and everything will be okay?

My guess is that she knows that “now” is still currently off the table. But Erika has always been playing a very long game in regard to her feelings for Koto—she turned her down when Koto brought up the possibility of the two of them dating after Aya had gone missing, because she knew Koto needed to somehow resolve her feelings about Aya first.

From Erika’s point of view, Koto trying and apparently failing with Aya is a necessary precondition for the two of them getting together, however long it might take for that to happen.

(I think that Koto is actually too deeply damaged for a relationship with Erika to ever be feasible, but that’s my read of Erika’s thinking.)

I would've agreed with you before chapter 15. But after her whole "I'm not an understudy anymore, I have my own words I want to say" spiel there, and her very deliberate word choice of "You need to shed your dependence or you won't be able to face anyone" statement in this chapter, I get the impression she's actually preparing to confess her feelings fairly soon. As you say, she had this grand plan of Koto and Aya dating and then breaking up, but I think from Erika's point of view, that plan has succeeded and now she's in the last step.

And it's not just that Koto is still in love with Aya but that her thoughts are still dominated by the trauma of Aya's disappearance, even after her return. Erika was hoping that the reversal of the trauma trigger would reverse the trauma and Koto would come to her senses finally, realize she isn't actually interested in dating a child, and be open to Erika at long last. Koto instead has regressed, or seemingly maybe WANTS to regress? And is farther from both Aya and Erika than ever :( Even having Aya in her life now didn't overcome the pain of the seven years of absence that Koto wants to erase. Aya returning has, if anything, reopened old wounds and made Koto worse, at least so far.

That's a good insight that Koto wants to regress, and I think this chapter may give us some clues as to why: Koto despises the person she's been the last 7 years, ever since Aya's disappearance. To Koto, those years aren't just completely worthless, they're also evidence of her own intrinsically bad character. It's not just that the last time she was happy was when she was 14, it's that (in her view) the last time she was a good person was when she was 14. (This is a contrast to Erika, who even at 14 hated herself lol.)

Erika points out in this chapter that, even though Aya is back and shows no signs of disappearing again, Koto is still consumed by fear and anxiety. That's because what she wants, ultimately, isn't to date Aya. It's to be 14 years old again. Aya growing up means her final connection to that time is going away, and that's what she's unable to accept.

Those last pages legitimately shocked me, damn. I never expected Kumagaya to be so directly involved in the main plot. Excited to see where it goes from here. Presumably Kumagaya knows someone who went through what Aya did (Aya's male friend, perhaps) -- or maybe it's Kumagaya herself who was "spirited away"?

Erika and Koto's conversation was tough to get through because, even after Aya broke up with her and explained exactly why, she still hasn't changed. Demanding to know why Erika didn't force Aya to stay at her place was fucking wild lol. I don't hate Koto but this woman needs some serious psychological counselling before she's ready for a romantic relationship. For as much as Erika seems to understand her, it forces one to wonder just what kind of future Erika is envisioning. Does she actually, seriously think she can just date Koto now and everything will be okay?

What I found genuinely touching in this chapter, though, was the moment toward the beginning when Erika observed that Aya is hiding her pain behind a smile, and correctly surmises that she did the same 7 years ago too. Of course she immediately pushes this though away, just like all the other times she's started to sympathize with Aya. I think, if Koto needs to get over the past and see Aya -- and even more importantly, herself -- for who they are now, then Erika needs to do the opposite. She needs to face up to the past, to honestly reevaluate her old childhood grudges and loves, and (if I'm right) reckon with whatever it is she said to Aya the day she disappeared.

last edited at Nov 4, 2024 8:36PM

This was fun! Kinda surprised to see Hachiko adapting a preexisting work, but it's true their writing was never exactly their selling point (and I generally enjoy their work). This definitely gives me strong Arioto vibes, though it's a bit spicier since our MC here is so deep in comphet she already has a boyfriend. Curious to see what role the boyfriend will play moving forward, and how Yarai will go about seducing her victim target love interest. My biggest problem with Arioto is the seduction was basically entirely sex-based, so I'm hoping we might get some more romantic efforts from Yarai.

Thanks for the translation!!

Hana seems to be projecting her own self-hatred (and possibly internalized misogyny?) onto Sadako, who for her part seems largely amused/curious lol. Looking forward to seeing how Sadako punishes Hana's shitty friend!

It's not too hard to understand. The girl with a parasol just failed to get into the school, right? And she's just moping around in front of it and pretending like she goes there because she likes to walk with the girl she came to admire. I think that part, where she disappears, is her trying to get her act together to get into the school (going back to hearing the girls he admires is only going to be there for 1.5 more years before leaving).

Yup, this is a good summary. I didn't really find it hard to follow tbh, not sure why people here are complaining about the translation.

A fun oneshot, I wish we got to see more of the parasol girl's jealousy turn into love, but I enjoyed both characters.

Manatsu is great, very funny and surprisingly self-reflective and self-aware for her type of character. Thanks a lot for the translation!

I love the witch girl and uncritically support everything she does

last edited at Oct 12, 2024 9:36PM

Erika, after learning that her best friend and decade-long crush started emotionally abusing her girlfriend and then got dumped: "Surely now is the right time to tell her my feelings."

(I like Erika but she needs a reality check almost as much as Koto does lol.)

the first NSFW Yatosaki Haru!!! a blessed day

By the way: pineapple on pizza is fantastic, one of the best pizza toppings. you just gotta dice it instead of throwing big rough chunks on there, you want an even distribution of pineapple flavor. It's a similar concept to any combination of tangy and salty, like glazed ham or maple turkey.

I think it's not really about taste to me, I just don't like the idea of any fruit on pizza. Maybe because it's damp, or too sweet, not sure.

Lady just outed herself as a customer of teenage girl prostitutes before a whole big crowd of people, huh....

I guess when you have nothing left to use...

I'm definitely quite liking this manga. The writing can be a bit on-the-nose at times, but the characters are all flawed yet realistic and the art is great. I particularly appreciate the complex feelings Tsubaki has toward Ayano, and how her initial viewpoint of Ayano being a naive spoiled rich girl has been changing throughout the series.

I still think that the meaning behind Aya's disappearance is that it gave everyone what they secretly wanted (but were unwilling to admit to, even to themselves). For Aya, it freed her from her responsibilities to her senile grandfather. For Erika, it got her love rival out of the way. And for Koto, it made Aya dependent on her instead of what was (to her) an untouchable, higher existence.

However the supernatural phenomenon actually happened (and I'm not sure we'll ever even learn that since it's not really important to the story), the thematic point is that everyone got what they wished for, even as they were unprepared for the consequences of their wishes.

It's probably less lovely than that. A mother leaving their offspring to relatives and disappearing is a recurrent plot device in manga for a reason.

In Japan's society, a single mother has it really hard and since the mother is still young and pretty, her best bet is to find a new man. But with a kid in tow, it's really difficult.

My bet is that she started to work as a hostess (hence the "dirty" comment), but couldn't find a man to support her, because everyone in town knew she had a kid. So, she decided to raise her chances by abandoning Aya and start from a clean slate elsewhere.

Harsh, but the reality of many unwanted kids in Japan.

She's faceless, as was the father, so I doubt she'll show up ever again.

True, that's also very plausible. Wonder if we'll ever find out for sure.

Any ideas what happened with Aya's parents? We went from happy family -> "your mom is dirty" -> mom ditching her and disappearing -> also dad seems to have vanished.

I'm guessing adultery and divorce? But also wondering if mom's still alive out there. Or dad, for that matter.

My guess is her father died and her mother was engaging in sex work to make ends meet. She probably felt unable or unworthy to raise Aya and so left her with her grandparents.

I think it would be really interesting if her mother showed up again in the future.

last edited at Sep 7, 2024 4:15PM

I wouldn't be so sure. We also saw in this chapter that, after her grandmother died, her grandfather's mental capacities started declining rapidly. With her mother not in the picture, Aya was facing the prospect of soon having to become a full-time caretaker of a senile elder while still only being 14 herself. This is a situation almost anyone would want to escape from.

Well, other people maybe. But this is Aya.
A ridiculous 14 yo who has an incredible strong heart. Since she never gives up on anything, nor does she ever even consider it, l will tend to believe that's not the case.

In Chapter 3, Aya says that when she found out her grandfather was dead, "The first thing that came to my mind was that it was finally over."

Aya definitely has no motivation to wish herself away. Her looking for "if not here, where is it？" was just an imagination of the place she truly belongs to.
Some of the readers had been misled by the way the author intentionally showed us. You had been tricked (just like Koto). Freedom is not that important in Aya's desire list.

I wouldn't be so sure. We also saw in this chapter that, after her grandmother died, her grandfather's mental capacities started declining rapidly. With her mother not in the picture, Aya was facing the prospect of soon having to become a full-time caretaker of a senile elder while still only being 14 herself. This is a situation almost anyone would want to escape from.

It's very interesting! Compared to them, Aya seems like a saint, but I wonder if she has her own crippling flaws we just haven't had a chance to see yet...

Well folks, did I call it or did I call it? Lol.

I really like this chapter. Despite Aya being more or less the main character we didn't actually know much about her, so it's great to finally get a chapter that focuses on her past and how it made her the way she is now. Moreover, I think the major theme of the story is finally coming into view: perhaps as should have been obvious, it's time, the inevitability of change, and the various maladaptive ways people have of reacting to that inevitability. Thinking about it, I feel like Koto kind of represents the "past," Aya the "present," and Erika the "future." Let me explain.

In a lot of ways, Koto and Aya are pretty similar. They both have abandonment trauma, and they both have a fear of change. But their ways of responding to that fear are very different. Koto, as we've seen, is still living in the past and wants to keep things the way she's remembered, which is what led to her abusive behavior toward Aya. However, Aya is...well...an actress. She's very skilled at adapting herself to whatever situation she finds herself in -- even being flung 7 years in the future at age 14 with very little support system, she's somehow managing to rebuild her life again. I think maybe this is precisely why she admired Koto so much. For Aya, everything is constantly in flux, including herself, so someone who (to her) was honest and sincere enough to always stay the same would naturally stand out to her.

Erika, by contrast, almost does the opposite of Aya; she is constantly rejecting her present reality and is looking toward a more hopeful future. Whether that be her continued competition with Aya over acting roles or her (I guess) decade+ hope of Koto someday returning her feelings, Erika is never satisfied with how things are, she's always looking forward to how she hopes things will be someday. But while Koto and Aya are limited by their fear of change (even as they react to that change very differently), Erika is limited by her fear of recognizing reality. She escapes into her dreams of the future to ignore and repress her grief over Aya's disappearance and apparent guilt over the part she seems to have played in it.

I really, really love this manga. At the rate it's going it might actually end up one of my favorite manga of all time.

last edited at Sep 7, 2024 12:01PM

The premise is intriguing, but what really took my notice was the art; it's very expressive and dynamic. Looking forward to the serialization!

im not counting on it but i really hope we get an honest to god romance between them. or as close as this series can get to that. i think it could be really sweet if done right

I honestly think we will get that, the series has been setting it up for a while and especially with that last panel here.

Ririka getting assaulted by the bullies and her first thought worrying that her sister would disproportionately punish the bullies was also pretty interesting.

Putting the "coming out" tag on this is unironically a great joke.
(Very hot doujin, as usual for this author.)