There's a lot going on here, so I'm just going to point out that
Fuyuki has said exactly what you said she should, and has never pulled the "it's ok if they abuse you because you have me" thing.
Yes, great point. I've obviously framed Fuyuki's actions and motives as negatively as possible in order to make a point, even to the extent of strawmanning her. I don't actually think that Fuyuki is the great evil of this whole story. She has plenty of justifications for her feelings and actions, but I think the manga has always done a good job at representing them. But even in that panel you linked to, Fuyuki's speech about, "They should talk things out with you. You don't deserve to be hurt." Ends with, "Today I'll escort you." The implication is that Eri doesn't really have agency in the result of the relationship. That even if romantic relationships fail to meet the ideal on whims, Eri can rely on Fuyuki's friendship.
This is, once again, a harsh characterization of what Fuyuki is saying, but after this chapter, I don't think it's a coincidence that the page immediately following this one goes into Eri reasoning why her relationship with Fuyuki is more meaningful than romantic relationships. This complicated mess of a relationship between Fuyuki and Eri was, in a way, created by Fuyuki's unwillingness to be vulnerable and risk losing potential affection from Eri.
While Fuyuki is chastising herself for being like the rest I think we've pretty clearly seen, looking at the manga as a whole, that she does genuinely care about Eri, does see her as more than just someone she wants attention from and not because she's manipulating her to like her.
Of course. Like I said, I intentionally framed Fuyuki's intent and actions as negatively as possible to make a point. I do think that Fuyuki genuinely cares about Eri, and does love her, but what this chapter did, in my opinion, is expose how Fuyuki's "selflessness" towards Eri is really just a form of possessiveness. And she let that possessiveness turn to—in her own words—hate towards Eri. I think more accurately, it's the projection of an internal hate for the frustration of somewhat self inflicted wounds. But that remains to be seen I suppose.
Also, this might be a controversial take, but I think that it's also true for Kyou that he cared about Eri as a friend as well. Unlike Fuyuki however, Kyou's actions are completley indefensible, but their behaviour parallel each other quite a bit. They were both afraid to be vulnerable with Eri, become frustrated with Eri for not understanding what they want and not giving it to them, and then take out their frustrations on Eri. It's also debateable how much it counts—and maybe we'll gain more insight if we see her reaction—but it might also be worth pointing out that Fuyuki was technically cheating on senpai here.
Let's not pretend that was entirely for her own sake, because the truly selfish and manipulative thing to do would have been to confess to Eri years ago, rather than love and support her as a friend.
You make a lot of great points in your comment; I think this is the one area where I have to disagree pretty heavily. I think that Fuyuki hiding her feelings is the selfish and manipulative thing to do. It lets her slip into this weird twisted place in Eri's heart that she can value over all other relationships, and grants Fuyuki access to the affection from Eri that she covets.
I think the correct thing to do, the thing that would be better for both Fuyuki and Eri in the long run, would have been for Fuyuki to properly communicate her feelings long ago. Not necessarily, ask Eri to go steady with her, but let Eri know what she's truly feeling. Something like,
Fuyuki said:
Eri, I really do value our friendship, and because I care about you I'll always want to support you. But I also have romantic feelings for you, and seeing you be intimate with other people and then mistreated by them is really hard on me. You've done nothing wrong, but I just hope you can understand how it makes me feel. I'm always willing to be there for you as a friend, but I also want you to have happy and fulfilling relationships, and the way we've been up until now just makes it harder on both of us.
Or something like that. I'm not a master communicator, but I think that would have been far healthier and selfless for both Fuyuki and Eri to have the situation out in the open like that. Instead, Fuyuki deep down wants Eri to pick up on all this without actually telling her and grows resentful when she can't because she's not a mind reader. That's not healthy.
And let's be honest, if Fuyuki laid it out like this, instead of constantly reinforcing the idea that their friendship is the most meaningful thing, Eri definitely would have clued into her own feelings a lot faster. Maybe not at once, but I think even being aware that Fuyuki is:
- Gay
- A potential love interest
- Someone who does value romantic intimacy
Would have helped her sort out her own feelings much easier, and made her realize her feelings for Fuyuki in a more healthy way. After all, that's kind of what seems to be happening in the end ("If Fuyuki was going to end up having a girlfriend, then why couldn't it have been me?"), but it's happening through jealousy towards the senpai, rather than through communication and introspection.
Fuyuki doesn't know that this would happen, but I think all relationships take a bit of faith and risk. And Fuyuki wasn't willing to risk anything with Eri.
You're right that Eri is alone without Fuyuki, which is part of the reason Fuyuki buried her feelings.
And that's why I'm arguing that Eri is alone even with Fuyuki. Because Fuyuki isn't willing to be her true self with Eri, due to fear of losing her monopoly on her. Even though she starts to lose it anyways any time Eri gets into a relationship with somebody else. That's kind of the crux of the issue here.
Frankly it isn't her job to baby Eri with her issues, I wouldn't expect my best friends or partners to hold my hand through everything - they aren't therapists.
Yes, but that's exactly what Fuyuki ends up doing. She babies Eri with her issues, because it grants her more access to her attention in a non-risky way, instead of actually lining out what the issues are and working through them as a friend, lover, or equal.
Umm, anyways, I lost my train of thought, but I think we agree more than we disagree.
Anyway I did actually like your comment, hope you feel better soon 💗.
Thank you for the kind wishes ❤️🩹
