What's this??? Chapter 10? Double digits unlocked! It seems like yesterday that people were at each other's throat in the comments, they grow so fast!
Of course, the growth in chapter doesn't always equate to an increase in adult behaviour in our protagonists. Just a few chapter ago, Kyou was all "I can't let Minori cry because of my hesitancy" so of course she goes on a not-date(!) where SHE is the one that thinks about it as a date(!!) and makes sure to do it behind her daughter's back(!!!), because that worked so well last time (admittedly, that was the daughter misunderstanding a conversation, but still).
The whole, this is/isn't a date quantum state is, once again, a bit disappointing to see in people who are adults (allegedly) but at least it makes even clearer where they stand emotionally. It's also nice to see that Kyou's inability to avoid starvation without the MC goes back to before this story even started.
Also, it's nice to see how you can pretend to forget drawing your girlfriend all the time and Kyou just buys it. Remember, these guys are adults and they have to pretend to not remember what they used to do when they were dating in the past because it's embarrassing or something. To be blunt: it's stupid that this is embarrassing to him, and it's stupid that she just believes he forgot (they have been without contact for a long time, but unless they dated for 2 days, he IS going to remember at least this much). Well, it's not really important, it just paints this stiff/awkward picture of how these two are around each other which doesn't sit well with me...
...So we double-down on it at the end, of course. But first, let's celebrate Kyou actually findind a house! This might very well be the first show of competency from her in the entire run so far, so while it pains me that she didn't step on any rakes in this chapter, we should give credit where it's due. Don't worry though, our MC is here to save the day with some nonsense! "I am embarrassed to touch on our past but I'll casually put my hand on your face and then instead of being honest and tell you I want to date, I'll just be coy and ask you to model for me". He is getting all broody because she is "just" going to leave, but what was he expecting, actually? They weren't really dating up to this point, so of course she'd leave.
All in all, it's more of the same: what might be cute if this was a couple of high-schoolers, appears much less endearing when it's adults (one with a teenager daughter, no less). This story still needs some honesty and straight-forward conversations.
The fact they are parting ways so soon also pushes the whole premise in the trash can. Was there really a need to have them live together all of a sudden, if the situation could be solved this easily (and it's so trivial it gets solved off screen)? Sure, you can say it showed the MC what he was missing, but boy there were millions of ways to go about this that weren't so tone-deaf, and could comfortably lead to the same outcomes. Still, I believe in the author's ability to create rakes for Kyou to step on, the lack of rakes this chapter was just a fluke. I HAVE to believe this, otherwise, what am I even doing here?
