Ikr? If she loved dance and Kiki, it would make sense to realize that she wants to do both but can't do both together with Kiki, in such scenario even if the concept of love wasn't clear to her, it would still make sense to realize that she can't make Kiki happy dancing together.

But right now we know that she loves Kiki and books, as for her reasons to force herself to dance in front of Kiki ? No one knows, it's very bad when your teacher says you're aimless.

Kinda sad that Kiki couldn't tell her anything...

I only wish Kiki would vocally ask if it's wrong that she (still) thinks Michiru is cute. I feel that would've made an amusing moment.

Michiru's backstory went from "yeah I understand and it sucks" to "oh shit okay wait a minute" in the span of a couple of panels, holy crap. But yeah, the entire thing, she's "cute", but no one looks to see beyond that, and her entire being and essence are dismissed as simply "cute". This stings, and what sucks most is that no one aside from Mr. Kiddie Diddler over there was ill intended, hell, it looks as if most people adored Michiru. It's a tough position to be in, and tougher chains to break from.

On Shion's side of things, I'm not buying into the aloofness. I'm reading it more as suppression and/or denial, or perhaps she had not yet fully realized, but there's a bitterness to her entire situation that I feel her character is still processing, and she is still in the stages of growth. I'm assuming there'll be a lightbulb moment for her sometime in the future, might be directly influenced by Kiki and Michiru's pretend play coming up, where she'll finally resolve herself toward some goal, which I'm guessing would be to surpass Kiki or something along those lines. The good old "only then can I walk by her side with pride", or something like that.

Kiki coming up with the idea feels kind of out of the blue, but it also feels like the whole notion, the entire concept was something that was firmly on the tip of her tongue looking for an opportunity to plop out, and here it is. The allusion and parallels were there from the start. I'm looking forward to seeing where this slippery slope leads, and there's a joke about slimy physical intimacy that escapes me and I cannot fully articulate, but yeah. Michiru's reaction can and should be delicious.

People are of course free to not like Shion, but these questions about her have already been answered.

Especially because they've all but established she does have feelings for Kiki and the whole throwing her away when she does just doesn't make sense at all.

Shion broke off her partnership with Kiki for two reasons: because she knew Kiki wasn't happy being a follower, and more importantly, because she couldn't stand dancing with Kiki while harboring unrequited romantic feelings. In other words, it's precisely because she's in love with Kiki that she left her.

But right now we know that she loves Kiki and books, as for her reasons to force herself to dance in front of Kiki ? No one knows,

Shion wants to keep dancing because, in her mind, it's her only remaining connection to Kiki; if she can't be her partner, at least she can be her rival. She seems to think that if she stops dancing, she won't even be able to be Kiki's friend anymore. She doesn't value or enjoy dancing in and of itself, at least not yet -- I suspect this will change as she undergoes character development.

I wonder if Kiki's "pretend dating" idea means that her sister and Tsukiko-sensei used to be in a relationship? (Though there seems to be implications that it was perhaps a "class S" thing for the sister but serious for Tsukiko...)

last edited at Sep 21, 2022 11:33AM

Um holy shit the beginning of the chapter was waaaay darker than I expected. It went from 0-100 FAST. Fake/pretend relationship tag acquired!

I got my 1 page and a half of Mona so I'm good :)

A lotta hate for Shion, but I like flawed characters like that. I'm looking forward to her growth since it does seem like the author wants to keep exploring her story.

Shion annoys me in part because she reminds me of my own idiocy during adolescence. But also, even understanding her motives, her method was still hurtful to her friend and seemingly self-destructive. A lot of the problem with how Shion went about it was the not-talking-it-over part. Wanting to do something different is fine, but she severed her connection with her friend all on her own, and that's on her.

Based on genre tropes, my prediction is that Shion is going to have a realization sometime, but by then it'll be too late. And best case scenario is she'll confess whatever her feelings are, and then be forced to move on, because Kiki already has.

Fake relationship to REAL RELATIONSHIP!! Let’s go!!!

"So how did you two get together?"
"Well, we found PRETENDING to be in a relationship helped our dancing, so we just figured it would be easier to keep that energy up if we didn't have to act."
"So you're . . . lovers because it makes your dancing better."
"Oh it sounds weird when you put it like THAT."

It's like
Step 1: ????
Step 2: Leave Kiki on her own without explanation
Step 3: Find a random girl to replace her
Step 4: ????
step 5: ??????
Step 6: Dance?
Step 7: ?????
Step 8: Profit!

There are people who don't think about what they do in any rational way, they just do it. Follow their instincts, like. And many of those people have crappy instincts. I think of Shion as being one of those.

oooh it seems like onee-san may be in a relationship with her lead? a family of lesbians

Pffffffft! Can we just skip the pretend and make it reality? Pretty please?

Fake relationship is one of those weird life imitates art imitates life things. anecdotally I've heard people who role play characters in a relationship often end up dating for real because of the intimacy created in the process, so strangely this is neither a bad suggestion nor unrealistic that it would lead to them getting together lol

I expected the general theme of Michiru's background, but uh... almost getting kidnapped and then becoming more sheltered isn't what I had on my books.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing, but if Michiru doesn't want to be thought of as cute, why doesn't she do things to make herself not seem cute? Hair length, for one. Mannerisms can be learned/changed. From what we've been told she doesn't go along with it for any specific reason or maybe I missed it, so why not just out and say as such? I guess she just needs to learn to assert herself more, and this leader role in dancing is just the first step.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing, but if Michiru doesn't want to be thought of as cute, why doesn't she do things to make herself not seem cute? Hair length, for one. Mannerisms can be learned/changed. From what we've been told she doesn't go along with it for any specific reason or maybe I missed it, so why not just out and say as such? I guess she just needs to learn to assert herself more, and this leader role in dancing is just the first step.

There could be a ton of reasons. Pressure from family to present and behave a certain way, refusal to change herself for the sake of others' perceptions, or internalized ideas about gender and identity. I doubt we're going to get a detailed explanation at any point, but yeah, asserting herself as a lead is certainly her pushing back against this.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing, but if Michiru doesn't want to be thought of as cute, why doesn't she do things to make herself not seem cute? Hair length, for one. Mannerisms can be learned/changed. From what we've been told she doesn't go along with it for any specific reason or maybe I missed it, so why not just out and say as such? I guess she just needs to learn to assert herself more, and this leader role in dancing is just the first step.

I think most of it is outside pressure and it's supposed to mirror Kiki's personal conflict as someone who wants to be "cute/feminine" but due to their physical features is pegged into roles that are perceived as "masculine" by their larger social circle.

In Michiru's case, she's been overly sheltered from anything that could potentially cause her harm, even if it is minor (see the incident with the ball game in this chapter) and while she probably understands some of the measures taken to protect her, her desire to be more "masculine" clashes with the perception her social circle (and possibly society) has of her.

Or, as a tl;dr, this manga is pretty much the phrase "gender is a construct" as a work of fiction.

I never say this about yuri stories, but . . . just kiss, dammit!

(Awesome credits page.)

How many times do they have to say cute in this chapter.

Yes.

That's one breakthrough. Another clearly still in the air.

They won`t need to pretend a relationship because soon they will be in one.
So, maybe dancing bonds people quickly

They won`t need to pretend a relationship because soon they will be in one.
So, maybe dancing bonds people quickly

Reminds me of the joke about Mennonites being against promiscuous sex because it could lead to dancing.

Question about the translation: on page 00096, is the word "inescapable" accurate? I do not know what's written in the source, but contextually, I feel that it should've been "inseparable".

I only wish Kiki would vocally ask if it's wrong that she (still) thinks Michiru is cute...

I commented this about the last chapter, and ayyy they did kinda-sorta do it. I actually really like the way it was done, especially Kiki's breakdown of "cute" as a notion rather than a word. I generally think that the entire sequence of their conversation was wonderful. Especially the last few pages, with the two holding hands. How very amiable.

Assuming that actually was her and all, there's something about Michiru wording out "our feelings..." that for some reason really caught my eye. Alongside her mentioning she "already likes" Kiki, as well as her previously saying she doesn't really get all that. I feel that Michiru's feelings for Kiki are, at this point, very much romantic in essence, but she doesn't quite get it, and I'm hoping to seeing this play out as well.

There's something about how romance is approached in this series that is really interesting to me. Like, it's got perfect amounts of clearly displayed and/or obviously paralleled romance and ambivalence regarding romance that is somehow both deeply satisfying yet also bizarrely not enough. I'm rambling at this point, but what I'm trying to say is that I hope that it goes into romance territory in no uncertain terms.

As an aside, the first page was thoroughly amusing and soul-crippling in equal measures. Good shit.

last edited at Dec 13, 2022 2:43PM

Best part of this chapter is no Shion.

Cute chapter. Looks like Michiru is realizing her feelings for Kiki even moreso as Kiki is explaining the whole relationship thing to her... Kinda a shame Kiki seems to be as oblivious as ever but eh the hand holding and wanting to think of only her partner and bein a world of their own... baby steps it's slowly happening.

Question about the translation: on page 00096, is the word "inescapable" accurate? I do not know what's written in the source, but contextually, I feel that it should've been "inseparable".

I think that refers to the dancers' effect on the audience. The dancers pull the audience into their world.

Kiki needs to take responsibility for that handholding.
I just came to say that.

*hunkers down

Im still rooting for Shion