Kusunoki-san wa Koukou Debut ni Shippai Shite Iru - Ch. 41.1 - My relationship with Kusunoki might be changing

[Moshu_Reads]

tomboy incoming!!

 

[UdenEmpati]

tomboy incoming!!

I'll have to go back and read more about her from her point of introduction.

So far each character has a "thing" they need to work through; I'm just not certain what hers would be. Being more feminine? Getting used to guys? I might be conflating her with another title's character.

But it'll be interesting to see what her arc looks like and how it shapes up. Even better if it doesn't have to involve Keisuke (it'll necessarily involve Kusunoki because Mei's sutured to the FMC's hip, but)

 

[Darklight99]

Kusunoki is vehemently against a romantic relationship, when someone asked her about it, she actually got angry, perhaps gaslighting herself against it. But if she doesn't want it, it would be better for Keisuke to not try for a romantic relationship with her, she clearly doesn't want one. Otobe likes him romantically, and his relationship with Hebi is the most interesting one anyways.

 

[Veruschka]

Only one panel of snek after 2 months..

Im going to fuck real snake

 

[JashwanthGeass]

Damn, Kusunoki is showing no further interest on MC, can't blame her anyway considering "making friends" was her main goal all along. Maybe it's time for Hebikawa to do something.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Kusunoki is vehemently against a romantic relationship, when someone asked her about it, she actually got angry, perhaps gaslighting herself against it. But if she doesn't want it, it would be better for Keisuke to not try for a romantic relationship with her, she clearly doesn't want one. Otobe likes him romantically, and his relationship with Hebi is the most interesting one anyways.

It was during a conversation with Hebikawa herself. Hebikawa was (still is, but was) on her "I wanna see Perfect Girl's Dark Side", and thought she'd have an in with inquiring about Kusunoki's relationship with Keisuke, since Hebikawa knew that he liked her back in middle school (and tells Kusunoki as such in the same convo to gauge her reaction).

Kusunoki aggressively denies it ("not romantically. Definitely not."), which at face value, means that she indeed does not.
Hopefully Keisuke realizes Kusunoki's a lost cause and is clearly gonna do just fine with her Debut without his help anymore so he can focus on himself and move out from under her growing shadow.

I think there's a ton of potential with him and Hebikawa helping one another through their respective character stuff (his trauma concerning her, her hangups about self-image and family issues), and even if they don't end up romantically entangled, I think they complement one another in seeing their arcs to completion.

Kusunoki is weirdly starting to feel unnecessary to the story at this point, because she's already perfect and is on the cusp of completing her story (Successful Debut) after the festival play. So All the characters (Otobe included) moving away from her and working through their own arcs without her being constantly around seems like a possible direction from this point forward.

And if I'm honest....her being so perfect is...kinda boring. I'd rather the interesting characters take the stage and let her just be Miss Popular in the background, at least for awhile.

 

[Darklight99]

Guys, Kusunoki does have feelings for Keisuke, but she represses them, go read Chapter 35.

That being said I'm firmly on Team Snek, she's just far more interesting.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Guys, Kusunoki does have feelings for Keisuke, but she represses them, go read Chapter 35.

I find it more fun to take her at face value.

So if(when?) Keisuke moves on and gets together with Hebikawa, for once the FMC of a manga becomes the Losing Heroine.

 

[Darklight99]

It was during a conversation with Hebikawa herself. Hebikawa was (still is, but was) on her "I wanna see Perfect Girl's Dark Side", and thought she'd have an in with inquiring about Kusunoki's relationship with Keisuke, since Hebikawa knew that he liked her back in middle school (and tells Kusunoki as such in the same convo to gauge her reaction).

Kusunoki aggressively denies it ("not romantically. Definitely not."), which at face value, means that she indeed does not.
Hopefully Keisuke realizes Kusunoki's a lost cause and is clearly gonna do just fine with her Debut without his help anymore so he can focus on himself and move out from under her growing shadow.

I think there's a ton of potential with him and Hebikawa helping one another through their respective character stuff (his trauma concerning her, her hangups about self-image and family issues), and even if they don't end up romantically entangled, I think they complement one another in seeing their arcs to completion.

Kusunoki is weirdly starting to feel unnecessary to the story at this point, because she's already perfect and is on the cusp of completing her story (Successful Debut) after the festival play. So All the characters (Otobe included) moving away from her and working through their own arcs without her being constantly around seems like a possible direction from this point forward.

And if I'm honest....her being so perfect is...kinda boring. I'd rather the interesting characters take the stage and let her just be Miss Popular in the background, at least for awhile.

I was thinking more of Chapter 28, where she aggressively denied that Keisuke might be interested in her.
I too am a Hebi fan, have been for a long time when everyone was shitting on her

 

[Mangamoz]

I find it more fun to take her at face value.

So if(when?) Keisuke moves on and gets together with Hebikawa, for once the FMC of a manga becomes the Losing Heroine.

I just hope that if Hebi does get her own dedicated arc, they don't nerf her snark and just make her Kusu 2.0.

 

[ipmanvsthemask]

but then she actually falls for him because "he's just such a kind thoughtful person in reality"

No, they'll mull together in their own weaknesses, and then inspire each other to actually take the next step for themselves. And then after that, they'll get together.

Also, y'all. A little bit too soon to say whether Kusunoki likes him or not when we still haven't dived into her past yet.

 

[UdenEmpati]

No, they'll mull together in their own weaknesses, and then inspire each other to actually take the next step for themselves. And then after that, they'll get together.

That's the better way to do it. I got lazy writing partway through when I shouldn't have.

 

[UdenEmpati]

This one does it pretty nicely :

Spoiler

https://mangadex.org/title/5e77d9e2...e55e/ookami-shounen-wa-kyou-mo-uso-o-kasaneru

So I read the whole thing this afternoon
Didn't expect it to end that way, honestly. But that was a delightful read, thank you again for that recommendation.

 

[GregoryFregory]

we love Irie here

 

[Loukhx]

Honestly, I think that Hebikawa would be the best for the MC. I don't get why everyone was shitting on her in the beggining either. She said one bad thing about the MC in middle school and then proceeded to be nothing but nice to him in high school, all while not actually remembering him. I think that she was interested in him back then. And even after remembering, she didn't change much except that she didn't actively pursue him (and that's because he explicitly requested it). Kusunoki is clearly not interested in him romantically and I don't believe that she's just hiding or denying it like some people say. And the Tomboy Girl is kinda...just another tsundere. I think that it would be very boring if the MC ended up with her and it would throw away everything that the author built up with the MC and Hebikawa. I also think that the Hebikawa route would be a good opportunity for character development for both of them, it just makes the most sense to me.

 

[Darklight99]

we love Irie here

Only her huge boobs

 

[Darklight99]

Honestly, I think that Hebikawa would be the best for the MC. I don't get why everyone was shitting on her in the beggining either. She said one bad thing about the MC in middle school and then proceeded to be nothing but nice to him in high school, all while not actually remembering him. I think that she was interested in him back then. And even after remembering, she didn't change much except that she didn't actively pursue him (and that's because he explicitly requested it). Kusunoki is clearly not interested in him romantically and I don't believe that she's just hiding or denying it like some people say. And the Tomboy Girl is kinda...just another tsundere. I think that it would be very boring if the MC ended up with her and it would throw away everything that the author built up with the MC and Hebikawa. I also think that the Hebikawa route would be a good opportunity for character development for both of them, it just makes the most sense to me.

Im a big Hebi shipped but your paragraph is cope. Hebi didn't just say one bad thing about him, she outright said that she basically considered him a loser and only ever interacted with him to make herself look better in other's eyes by acting like a good person. She had absolutely no other interest in him. She only pursued him because she was interested in knowing why he wanted to avoid her, once she found out the reason, she lost interest and left him alone because the reason was boring.
Kusunoki is definitely interested in him as shown by her almost aggresive denial of such topics when brought up, and chapter 35 when they danced together made is clear. Her refusal for anything romantic is definitely related to her backstory as to why she made herself look worse and stayed away from most people.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Im a big Hebi shipped but your paragraph is cope. Hebi didn't just say one bad thing about him, she outright said that she basically considered him a loser and only ever interacted with him to make herself look better in other's eyes by acting like a good person. She had absolutely no other interest in him. She only pursued him because she was interested in knowing why he wanted to avoid her, once she found out the reason, she lost interest and left him alone because the reason was boring.
Kusunoki is definitely interested in him as shown by her almost aggresive denial of such topics when brought up, and chapter 35 when they danced together made is clear. Her refusal for anything romantic is definitely related to her backstory as to why she made herself look worse and stayed away from most people.

Kusunoki pushing any potential feelings for Keisuke away from even herself is why she shouldn't end up with him, though. Her entire deal is her HS Debut with friends and stuff. She should focus on that. If she wanted to pursue Keisuke then she had plenty of opportunities up to this point, and she's not shy about being direct about the things she wants.

S'why I say let Hebikawa and Keisuke explore a relationship together. They're uniquely suited to helping one another with their respective arcs anyway, and whether it's romantic or just close platonic, they're by far more interesting than Keisuke & Kusunoki.

If Kusunoki realizes what happens in that event and gets sad, then good - she's literally perfect and never loses at anything, so losing a relationship with Keisuke would be a good lesson and opportunity to grow.

She's gonna be super popular, she doesn't also have to have Keisuke continuing to follow her around when that doesn't help his arc.

 

[Loukhx]

Im a big Hebi shipped but your paragraph is cope. Hebi didn't just say one bad thing about him, she outright said that she basically considered him a loser and only ever interacted with him to make herself look better in other's eyes by acting like a good person. She had absolutely no other interest in him. She only pursued him because she was interested in knowing why he wanted to avoid her, once she found out the reason, she lost interest and left him alone because the reason was boring.
Kusunoki is definitely interested in him as shown by her almost aggresive denial of such topics when brought up, and chapter 35 when they danced together made is clear. Her refusal for anything romantic is definitely related to her backstory as to why she made herself look worse and stayed away from most people.

Well, you may be right, the part about Hebikawa might be cope. This might be cope too, but we still don't know if she actually meant what she said to her friends; considering her personality back then, it could've been just to keep her reputation (when she found out that people were disgusted by the MC in general, she didn't want them to associate her with him).
But I still disagree about the Kusunoki liking the MC part. Chapter 35 absolutely didn't make it clear. She just calmly mentioned (thought about) how she had been holding hands with him for the whole day. The MC was the one who thought about it romantically in that chapter, she wasn't. It was more about the MC than her. I think that it would be just as much cope (if not more) to say that the brief scene in chapter 35 shows that she likes him.

 

[Darklight99]

Kusunoki pushing any potential feelings for Keisuke away from even herself is why she shouldn't end up with him, though. Her entire deal is her HS Debut with friends and stuff. She should focus on that. If she wanted to pursue Keisuke then she had plenty of opportunities up to this point, and she's not shy about being direct about the things she wants.

S'why I say let Hebikawa and Keisuke explore a relationship together. They're uniquely suited to helping one another with their respective arcs anyway, and whether it's romantic or just close platonic, they're by far more interesting than Keisuke & Kusunoki.

If Kusunoki realizes what happens in that event and gets sad, then good - she's literally perfect and never loses at anything, so losing a relationship with Keisuke would be a good lesson and opportunity to grow.

She's gonna be super popular, she doesn't also have to have Keisuke continuing to follow her around when that doesn't help his arc.

Oh yeah, of course, I like Hebi the most too, so I want her to be endgame.

Well, you may be right, the part about Hebikawa might be cope. This might be cope too, but we still don't know if she actually meant what she said to her friends; considering her personality back then, it could've been just to keep her reputation (when she found out that people were disgusted by the MC in general, she didn't want them to associate her with him).
But I still disagree about the Kusunoki liking the MC part. Chapter 35 absolutely didn't make it clear. She just calmly mentioned (thought about) how she had been holding hands with him for the whole day. The MC was the one who thought about it romantically in that chapter, she wasn't. It was more about the MC than her. I think that it would be just as much cope (if not more) to say that the brief scene in chapter 35 shows that she likes him.

As far as we know yet, she meant what she said and have no reason to believe otherwise. The author very well might do what you said, I've thought about that too. But not yet. I'm fine with Hebi being a bitch who then gradually falls for Keisuke instead of always being a good person who was misinterpreted accidentally.

You're still trying to diminish Kusunoki too, read Page 15 of Ch 35, she sees his smile and her heart starts going all BADUMP BADUMP, and she wonders what she's feeling. She dazes out for a moment and then gets self conscious about holding hands with him all day. She was definitely not calm inside. Keisuke didn't even notice that he held hands with her all day until way later when he was already on his way home.