this is adorable

im assuming painter sempai is the younger half of another pair

INCOMING TRAINWRECK!

This is going very fast! Too fast!

Wow this is one of the very few times where the I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT energy i'm feeling is off the charts!

This is really a great story, it is going bit fast (I hope it doesn't end too soon!) but I really appreciate how relatable the MCs self doubt is.

Thanks for the TL!

About the remaining chapters, would you mind telling where to find them? I've been reading them on comic walker, but they are only available until chapter 10. And the ebook for the second volume is not available yet.

You've caught up. Chapter 10 (first half) is the latest. Did you misread 0.5 chapters as 5 by any chance?

I did T_T too bad it would have been nice to read a few more chapters today. I have to say, I haven't been that engaged in a manga since How to break the triangle.. I'll probably buy both digital and physical version of this one.

Im honestly not sure how I feel about this plot development. Feels a bit convoluted to me. But we'll see.

INCOMING TRAINWRECK!

Or an abrupt transition onto a smooth line of tracks laid down by their new biggest supporter.
At least I hope so since we already have enough conflict in the story from Kasumi fighting her inner demons.

I really do like the way the tone here varies from Kasumi just being a thirsty little unaware baby lesbian to a significantly damaged self-loathing depressive. To me it doesn’t read as an erratic or uncertain tone, because the story makes both aspects of her character quite convincing. (That image of the “Dark Kasumi” with her negative self-talk was pretty chilling.)

And some top-notch lewd chin-tilting in this chapter too—Haruyo may look cute and be a bit naive about how their skinship is affecting Kasumi, but she’s got some real top energy too.

Insane levels of trauma and self sabotage.
I'm super invested in where this goes lmao.

I AM LOVING THIS MORE MORE I NEED MORE

And Sumi-chan's reasoning is also something that bothers me a bit. Of course, she's been shown to be "insecure" and not feeling enough before, but to think she's doesn't deserve her Onee-sama and that she should rather hand her to someone else?? Why would she think that? Mental gymnastics at its finest. Haruyo's shown to have a deep appreciation for her, even if I don't think Sumire's love and Haruyo's love are "the same". But why would she go so far as to distance herself from her? It doesn't make sense to me

I think the pacing was perhaps a little fast, but the reasons are clear: Kasumi hates herself, has since the beginning, and thinks she doesn't deserve Haruyo and Haruyo would be better off without her.

I think there could be another layer to this as well. On some level, she might even view this as preferable for her to be the one to "end the relationship" of her own volition before Haruyo (in Kasumi's mind) gets bored with her and leaves.

It's bad. Hurry. Have to hurry. Have to find who sent the letter. Before I melt away.

^This line on page 26 and Kasumi's behavior on the pages before feel like she's trying to preventatively "wean herself off" of Haruyo, in order to protect herself from the supposedly inevitable parting they're going to have soon. She wants to end the relationship before it's too late for her to go back to what life was like before Haruyo.

Thanks for the TL notes! Though maybe some of that should be at the ends of the actual chapters, not lost in a forum discussion?

Pages 25-26 are incredibly lewd. Also, did they kiss on page 26?

I dunno. I feel that's too big a moment, plus the TL's comment about Hanuyo being too innocent still, but the posture and missing heads sure suggest that.

this is insanely romantic. i'm sold. like, i'm already a sucker for class S-inspired stories (marimite, anyone?)

I always thought Marimite is a weird one. Yes, it has all the surface elements of a Class S story (sisterly bonds, rosaries and the like), but almost none of the elements that make Class S so distinctive. Most classic Class S stories have a heart of love, longing and outright lust, and Marimite has almost none of that. It's mostly the antics of high school girls who like role-playing Class S tropes, but there's no there there, if you know what I mean.

The few times Marimite seems to be going into a more romantic direction it gets treated as if it's something to be avoided, such as Sei's backstory. It's also telling that by the end the only official couples are heterosexual ones.

Strawberry Panic, for all its silliness, seems to get al least the romantic and lustful part of Class S right.

fwiw this is only really true of the strawberry panic anime. i'm a fan of the light novels specifically. in there, yaya is described as "a bonafide lesbian" like it's a dirty, controversial word. that unlike the other girls, her love is explicitly sexual (and it ties this into her issues at home with her father etc). and that combined with her assaulting/raping hikari... it's definitely not positive about the lustful side.

(for anyone wondering why i prefer the LNs, they're much bigger on the inter-school politics and competitive drama, and shizuma/nagisa has much tastier chemistry.)

also idk if sei's backstory was framed as "bad"? granted i haven't read the marimite LNs, but in the anime, i thought the delicate treatment was because of how deeply personal and sensitive it was. sei (my favorite character, incidentally) was deliberately snuffing out her own vulnerability after everything that happened. considering how badly her heart was broken, i can't blame her.

regardless, i agree that this manga is very deliberate and faithful toward its class S inspiration. latest chapter surprised me, but kasumi's issues have been quietly building up to this for a while, so i think it only feels a little jarring because we're reading chapters as they come out vs binging. the seeds were definitely planted early on.

INCOMING TRAINWRECK!

ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT

And Sumi-chan's reasoning is also something that bothers me a bit. Of course, she's been shown to be "insecure" and not feeling enough before, but to think she's doesn't deserve her Onee-sama and that she should rather hand her to someone else?? Why would she think that? Mental gymnastics at its finest. Haruyo's shown to have a deep appreciation for her, even if I don't think Sumire's love and Haruyo's love are "the same". But why would she go so far as to distance herself from her? It doesn't make sense to me

Without going into too many personal details...I've quite literally had a girl do this to me and think she wasn't good enough, that "this" girl would be better (she was not)

I think there could be another layer to this as well. On some level, she might even view this as preferable for her to be the one to "end the relationship" of her own volition before Haruyo (in Kasumi's mind) gets bored with her and leaves.

It's bad. Hurry. Have to hurry. Have to find who sent the letter. Before I melt away.

^This line on page 26 and Kasumi's behavior on the pages before feel like she's trying to preventatively "wean herself off" of Haruyo, in order to protect herself from the supposedly inevitable parting they're going to have soon. She wants to end the relationship before it's too late for her to go back to what life was like before Haruyo.

Oh yeah, she absolutely has massive abandonment issues. Which make perfect sense, considering. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Haruyo reacts when she learns just how serious the issues are with the girl she's been having fun class s roleplaying with.

You silly, silly girl... Then again, that's what low self-esteem does to one.

And I have to admit I didn't think she'd actually be able to find the sender, the letter seemed way too much like someone leaving it behind at graduation.

^This line on page 26 and Kasumi's behavior on the pages before feel like she's trying to preventatively "wean herself off" of Haruyo, in order to protect herself from the supposedly inevitable parting they're going to have soon. She wants to end the relationship before it's too late for her to go back to what life was like before Haruyo.

And again, for anyone who's not aware, this is definitely a real thing. My wife used to have these feelings quite often back when we were dating. It took quite a long time for her to gain enough confidence in me and herself for this to not happen.

This chapter cements it. Kasumi clearly has some attachment issues, likely from her cram school friend committing suicide.

This might be speculation, but maybe that friend was something more to Kasumi, and in Kasumi's mind, her feelings contributed to her death. That might explain why Kasumi wants to be so close to Haruyo, but her self-loathing makes her push her away.

If Kasumi needs figure her career out still, it seems she’d be an incredible private investigator with how quickly she found the original sender

It's really difficult to read when a character is having issue of crippling self-esteem and starts the "maybe the person I loved would be better off with some other person" line of thinking because all of this is so real.

Having a very low self-esteem is like (content warning: symptoms, contains vulgar language) Someone constantly whispering to you "you have no worth", "you're just wasting the time and patience of everyone you know", "you lied to everyone you know, you faker", "everyone will leave you if they ever know what piss of shit you really are", "you don't deserves anything good in life" but that "someone" is you and you fully agree. And at some point you just started to distance everyone near you and burn the bridges, to try not to be disassociated by others later (even if that may not happen). Been there, done that. I'm still very sorry to those people I hurt due to this, but I still believes, to this day, that they would be better without me.

last edited at Aug 19, 2025 9:10PM

I think there could be another layer to this as well. On some level, she might even view this as preferable for her to be the one to "end the relationship" of her own volition before Haruyo (in Kasumi's mind) gets bored with her and leaves.

It's bad. Hurry. Have to hurry. Have to find who sent the letter. Before I melt away.

^This line on page 26 and Kasumi's behavior on the pages before feel like she's trying to preventatively "wean herself off" of Haruyo, in order to protect herself from the supposedly inevitable parting they're going to have soon. She wants to end the relationship before it's too late for her to go back to what life was like before Haruyo.

Oh yeah, she absolutely has massive abandonment issues. Which make perfect sense, considering. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Haruyo reacts when she learns just how serious the issues are with the girl she's been having fun class s roleplaying with.

I wouldn’t really call it roleplay anymore. It might’ve started that way, but now it feels more like they’re revealing parts of themselves they can’t show around other people without breaking their image. The strong, reliable girl who secretly wants to be pampered and let her guard down, and the goofy, childish girl who actually wants to be seen as dependable and mature. With each other, it feels real and it starts to become natural. What began as roleplay is now turning into genuine parts of who they are.

I wouldn’t really call it roleplay anymore. It might’ve started that way, but now it feels more like they’re revealing parts of themselves they can’t show around other people without breaking their image. The strong, reliable girl who secretly wants to be pampered and let her guard down, and the goofy, childish girl who actually wants to be seen as dependable and mature. With each other, it feels real and it starts to become natural. What began as roleplay is now turning into genuine parts of who they are.

I see what you mean, but also, "revealing parts of myself I can't show around other people" is one of the core appeals of roleplaying. You get to explore parts of yourself you couldn't otherwise.

I love how this is progressing

menage a trois?