Imasara desu ga, Osananajimi o Suki ni Natte Shimaimashita - Ch. 41 - Everything, Falling Apart

[story645]

did this more to make Yami's betrayal even more impactful rather than hint toward anything else

Why not both?

 

[GennArc]

Yuu thinks Hikari isn't interested in him b/c she doesn't think of him as a boy - the various examples are what he takes as evidence of that belief, just like Hikari thinks his distance and lack of embarrassment is evidence he's not into her.

You keep trying to equate them by using abstract wording, but the whole point is that Yuu could tell about Hikari's disinterest by her specific actions and words, while in examples you give from Hikari's side it's all her guesses and assumptions. "He probably isn't embarassed", "he is probably not feeling anything". I will have to use an analogy, but it kinda reflects my point:
X can tell that Y isn't sick because Y went to the gym.
Y thinks that X isn't sick because X looks normal.

 

[story645]

while in examples you give from Hikari's side it's all her guesses and assumptions.

Hikari believes that Yuu doesn't like her based on his reactions (which include actions and words) to her actions. The 30% odds to 50% odds is the Monty Hall problem.

What you're arguing is that Hikari doesn't feel the thing she feels -that he's not romantically interested in her - b/c she's wrong about the facts, even though that's a major theme in this manga. ETA: & she may not even be wrong given her crush started either when Yuu was dating Aya or in "never gonna love again" mode post Aya.

ETA: If she were Yuu, she might very well have assumed outright rejection based on his actions - plenty of commentators in the early chapters were arguing that she was delusional and there was no way he was into her based on his actions in those chapters.

 

[story645]

X can tell that Y isn't sick because Y went to the gym.
Y thinks that X isn't sick because X looks normal.

Legit this is the miscommunication trope in a nutshell. They're both the same statement "X/Y believes Y/X is Z because of X/Y's priors" but because X is absolutely convinced they're right they won't talk to Y and therefore the conflict resulting from Y being at the gym will drag on until the climax.

Possible reasons for "Y is at the gym while sick" include but are not limited to:
Y could be asymptomatic and they're gonna crash that night, Y could be in remission from very serious thing, Y could be having a non flare up day, Y could have dragged themselves out of bed but shouldn't actually be there, etc...

 

[GennArc]

Hikari thinks Yuu doesn't like her based on his reactions (which include actions and words) to her actions.

Oh yeah? Let's see:

She thinks he doesn't feel anything when she touches him and that he doesn't notice her:
https://mangadex.org/chapter/d38c6c44-dfe9-4a33-83e0-644399a70a9d/3

She is sitting back to back with him and thinks he doesn't feel anything. So what is that action he took that made her think he is not interested?

She thinks he doesn't feel embarrassed about doing stuff for her
https://mangadex.org/chapter/1cb3d019-258b-4b44-87c2-b0ea85b74994/4

Tbh I don't even get what Hikari's whisper is about, feels like there is some sort of mistranslation, unless Yuu never gives her presents for birthday, which I assume shouldn't be the case.

She thinks he's not conscious of her as a girl:
https://mangadex.org/chapter/a1bee715-049d-47ba-9b9c-ae66ade200fc/4

What action of his makes her think he's not conscious of her?

Meanwhile, we were shown the exact words and situations that made Yuu confident she doesn't seem him as a boy. You are saying that her inner monologue is not about likelihood of him liking her, but in Yuu's case there were no options like that.

What you're arguing is that Hikari doesn't feel the thing she feels b/c she's wrong about the facts

No, I'm arguing that Hikari is thinking that he probably doesn't like her based on her assumptions and vibes. Yuu is sure she didn't like him based on her words and actions.

Possible reasons for Y is at the gym while sick include but are not limited to:
Y could be asymptomatic and they're gonna crash that night, Y could be in remission from very serious thing, Y could be having a non flare up day, Y could have dragged themselves out of bed but shouldn't actually be there, etc...

That's not the point. I wasn't arguing that 100% of people who are currently in gym are healthy. I was saying that stuff like that is usually sufficient to think that someone you know is healthy. Like you said, this is a question of perception.

Legit this is the miscommunication trope in a nutshell. They're both the same statement "X/Y believes Y/X is Z because of X/Y's priors" but because X is absolutely convinced they're right they won't talk to Y and therefore the conflict resulting from Y being at the gym will drag on until the climax.

This is just for fun, because it's just an analogy, but what you're saying is that to solve the miscommunication issue, X should try to convince Y to call a doctor because there is a small chance Y is sick.

ETA: If she were Yuu, she might very well have assumed outright rejection based on his actions - plenty of commentators in the early chapters were arguing that she was delusional and there was no way he was into her based on his actions in those chapters.

Or not. We were given the examples of thoughts that led Yuu to believe she doesn't see him as a boy, and they felt much more convincing to me than these short scenes and Hikari's assumptions.

 

[story645]

ut what you're saying is that to solve the miscommunication issue, X should try to convince Y to call a doctor because there is a small chance Y is sick

Dude, that X should confirm with Y that Y is not sick rather than assuming that Y is not sick. (ETA: This is all assuming it is actually important for X to know that Y is not sick.)

So what is that action he took that made her think he is not interested?

Agreeing to sit back to back w/ her, being chill while sitting back to back with her - not squirming or being bashful or trying to get out of doing it.

Tbh I don't even get what Hikari's whisper is about

That he's not flustered embarrassed doing stuff for/with her the way she's turning bright red and being super self conscious hanging out with him.

What action of his makes her think he's not conscious of her?

That she's in his bedroom and he's treating her like always. She expects him to be as bashful as she is and fantasizes about him making a move. The milk tea pushes her to ask him out b/c of how casually he offers it to her while she's melting down over indirect kisses.

Which Maruto has been exceedingly consistent here: Aya/Yuu/Hikari make assumptions about the others based on a combination of how Aya/Yuu/Hikari behave in a situation and Aya/Yuu/Hikari's fantasys. I just don't think Maruto's special casing "Yuu's not a coward b/c he was (maybe) right about Hikari" - Hikari is dropping all the hints in this chapter where Yuu is still explicitly in "never gonna love again" mode and it seems to be what's pulling him out of it.

 

[GennArc]

Dude, that X should confirm with Y that Y is not sick rather than assuming that Y is not sick. (ETA: This is all assuming it is actually important for X to know that Y is not sick.)

So Y goes to gym and the first thing that comes to X's mind is to assume that Y might be sick and ask if it's correct?
I'm talking common sense here. Like yes, there is a miniscule chance that Y is sick and went to gym despite it, but that's not a situation when X should be worried about it, since there is a strong indicator against it.

Agreeing to sit back to back w/ her, being chill while sitting back to back with her - not squirming or being bashful or trying to get out of doing it.

If I liked a girl who I am not dating yet, I would be more than happy to sit back to back with her. And Hikari can't even know if he's being bashful because she can't see his expression.

That he's not flustered embarrassed doing stuff for/with her the way she's turning bright red and being super self conscious hanging out with him.

I still don't see the logic in her whisper. "Are you not embarassed to give a present for the lady next door?" - "Not really" - "But you never do that with the childhood friend of yours". Never do what?
But about what you wrote, she looks perfectly fine in the first page of that chapter, even though that's supposed to be the most embarassing stuff for her. So why would she expect him to be flustered about them just hanging out if they are doing it all the time?

That she's in his bedroom and he's treating her like always. She expects him to be as bashful as she is

Err, if you look at her actual behavior, she is not acting bashful at all, even though she came to his room where he's sleeping. All the embarassment is inside her head, while the act is pretty casual. And when someone is acting casually, you usually mirror them. Think beach or swimming pool, normally most people might be embarassed to show a lot of skin in public places, but when it's a place where everyone is half-naked, you don't really feel that bashful.

The general idea in all of these cases is that her (?) reasoning is not based on his actions and words. "He doesn't look flustered", "he doesn't seem to care" etc. If she saw him flirting with Seki in chapter 12 or if he told her off in one of those chapters when she got moody, that would've been a different matter. But he doesn't give her any clear indicators that he is not interested, whereas she did exactly that back in middle school.

I just don't think Maruto's special casing "Yuu's not a coward b/c he was (maybe) right about Hikari"

I'm not arguing about that. I didn't say "Yuu is not a coward" even once. He calls himself that.
I'm arguing against that whole "he should've confessed, otherwise he doesn't have the right to think of himself as rejected".

 

[story645]

I'm arguing against that whole "he should've confessed, otherwise he doesn't have the right to think of himself as rejected".

This chapter is literally Hikari changing his mind about the whole "never gonna fall in love thing" b/c she put in some effort, in contrast to him taking the rejection as fact and not putting in effort to change her mind (the exam doesn't count b/c she didn't know about it).

If I liked a girl who I am not dating yet, I would be more than happy to sit back to back with her.

Great, Hikari does not know this about Yuu. To Hikari, the clear indicator that Yuu is not interested is that he's acting same as always. Remember, she missed all the signs everyone else in their middle school saw of him liking her. Hikari expects that if Yuu were interested in her then he would act differently - because she IS acting differently, which again Yuu has picked up on.

ETA: I think Maruto is trying to make a point about perspectives - about given the same circumstance of unrequited crush, Yuu expecting failure and giving up vs Hikari hoping for a chance of success and fighting. I don't think we're meant to read Yuu as being more justified in his assumptions as that would undermine the contrast.

ETA2: like yes we have Hikari say she'd probably reject Yuu, but we also have Yuu say he'd never fall in love again.

Like yes, there is a miniscule chance that Y is sick and went to gym despite it, but that's not a situation when X should be worried about it, since there is a strong indicator against it.

/sigh - if it's important that X knows Y is sick then X should confirm w/ Y.

 

[GennArc]

in contrast to him taking the rejection as fact and not putting in effort to change her mind (the exam doesn't count b/c she didn't know about it).

No, it does count, because that's the effort he put in. To actually have Hikari's attention, at least in his mind, he went for an enormous effort. Hikari didn't have to do even a tiny bit of that. She made an effort, sure, but he was already predisposed to liking her. In his case, she just never felt anything to begin with.

Great, Hikari does not know this about Yuu. To Hikari, the clear indicator that Yuu is not interested is that he's acting same as always.

We already know she didn't come to his room for the entirety of middle school. So him agreeing to sit back to back with her can't count as "acting same as always".

I think Maruto is trying to make a point about perspectives - about given the same circumstance of unrequited crush, Yuu expecting failure and giving up vs Hikari hoping for a chance of success and fighting

I think Maruto is just showing how it was. When Yuu liked Hikari in middle school, she didn't care about him romantically, and he saw that. After he went through the relationship with Yami, she noticed some changes in him and started liking him. And she was able act in a slightly more agressive way because there were no signs of rejection.

 

[story645]

She made an effort, sure, but he was already predisposed to liking her.

Hikari does not know that he's predisposed to liking her so that can't have factored into her effort.

And she was able act in a slightly more agressive way because there were no signs of rejection.

Yuu's lack of response to her advances can be taken as an unstated rejection - again a good chunk of the commentators explicitly did take it as such.

To actually have Hikari's attention, at least in his mind, he went for an enormous effort

How is an effort Hikari knows nothing about supposed to change her mind?

So him agreeing to sit back to back with her can't count as "acting same as always".

They've been friends since they were like 5.

 

[GennArc]

Hikari does not know that he's predisposed to liking her so that can't have factored into her effort.

In this case you were comparing their efforts as a reader.

How is an effort Hikari knows nothing about supposed to change her mind?

It was supposed to if it played out the way he wanted it to.

They've been friends since they were like 5.

How is that relevant? Did they sit back to back all the time before?

 

[HellJester]

If I liked a girl who I am not dating yet, I would be more than happy to sit back to back with her. And Hikari can't even know if he's being bashful because she can't see his expression.

Hikari is incredibly naive when it comes to romantic issues. She's a late bloomer and has zero experience. She gets flustered reading romance manga. In her mind, sitting back to back with Yuu is so incredibly out-there romantic behavior that she's incredulous because Yuu gives no outward sign that he's affected by it. That's why she took it as a potential sign that he didn't feel the same way. It's not about seeing his facial expression, it's the fact that he sat there not moving, not saying anything other than she was heavy and gave no outward indication that he was flustered like she was. Again, this is her first rodeo so she has no clue what she's doing. In contrast, Yuu had been in a sexual relationship for months. Something like sitting back to back with a girl, even a girl he loves, is no longer something that would outwardly fluster him.

I still don't see the logic in her whisper. "Are you not embarassed to give a present for the lady next door?" - "Not really" - "But you never do that with the childhood friend of yours". Never do what?

She's on a shopping outing with Yuu to pick out a present that Yuu will give her mother. He's taking his time having Hikari model the potential gifts. She gets miffed at him for asking her opinion, stating "Weren't you the one who said you'd choose the gift? Decide for yourself." She's frustrated with Yuu because he's agonizing over a gift for her mother when apparently not only has he not agonized this much over a gift for Hikari, he has never even given her a gift to begin with. She's jealous that Yuu is paying more attention in the moment to her mom than her and is jealous that he's giving a gift to her mom and has never given one to her. She's in love with Yuu and just wants him to pay attention to her.

But about what you wrote, she looks perfectly fine in the first page of that chapter, even though that's supposed to be the most embarassing stuff for her. So why would she expect him to be flustered about them just hanging out if they are doing it all the time?

She looks fine on the outing because she's most likely treating this as a date in her naive romantic worldview. She's alone with the boy she loves doing mundane things. In the romance manga she reads this whole scenario would be a big deal so she's choosing to be happy go lucky about it. She does spoil it a bit by getting jealous as I mentioned above.

Err, if you look at her actual behavior, she is not acting bashful at all, even though she came to his room where he's sleeping. All the embarassment is inside her head, while the act is pretty casual. And when someone is acting casually, you usually mirror them. Think beach or swimming pool, normally most people might be embarassed to show a lot of skin in public places, but when it's a place where everyone is half-naked, you don't really feel that bashful.

She tries to play it cool and somewhat succeeds most of the time but even a blockhead like Yuu started to notice how weird she would act at times. Now, whether or not Yuu was able to put the clues together is unclear as Maruto skipped over those insights in Yuu's POV. Regarding Yuu's behavior, I think it's less that he's mirroring Hikari and more that at this point in the manga Yuu is in his "I'll never fall in love again phase" so he's actively concentrating on being calm and collected. When Hikari confronts him during his confession, asking why he was so nonchalant about everything, Yuu confesses he was holding it in like crazy.

The general idea in all of these cases is that her (?) reasoning is not based on his actions and words. "He doesn't look flustered", "he doesn't seem to care" etc. If she saw him flirting with Seki in chapter 12 or if he told her off in one of those chapters when she got moody, that would've been a different matter. But he doesn't give her any clear indicators that he is not interested, whereas she did exactly that back in middle school.

I mean if we're talking about their relationship in middle school, it's entirely a device of Yuu's own making. In Yuu's POV chapter 3 he mentions their families meeting up at a restaurant and that he and Hikari ended up alone at a separate table - "spending some time alone together, something we hadn't done much of since starting middle school." So three years of them not hanging out as much, most likely because Yuu started to distance himself from Hikari because of the fake love letter prank in late elementary school. Hikari is talking to Yuu like things were normal - because as far as she knew they were. She's not a mind reader. She's talking to Yuu normally while he's making things up in his head about her not noticing "a sliver of my feelings." We're never even shown or told what Yuu did in middle school to get Hikari to notice him romantically. If anything, it was probably near identical to what Hikari was doing to Yuu in the early chapters: hanging out in Yuu's room reading manga and talking. Yuu was probably nervous as hell and internalizing everything (like Hikari did) while Hikari gave no indication as to what Yuu was going through (just like Yuu did to Hikari).

The difference is that in middle school, Yuu took Hikari's actions as rejection and gave up after failing to get into her high school. Yuu never took the opportunity to confess because he already psyched himself up into believing Hikari would 100% reject him.

Hikari, while thinking that Yuu's actions could potentially mean rejection, didn't give up and continued to try up to planning to confess to Yuu at the school festival. Her initial plan for the festival was to confess her feelings to Yuu and the only thing that stopped that was seeing the Yami/Yuu kiss.

This chapter is literally Hikari changing his mind about the whole "never gonna fall in love thing" b/c she put in some effort, in contrast to him taking the rejection as fact and not putting in effort to change her mind (the exam doesn't count b/c she didn't know about it).

Exactly! Yuu interpreted Hikari's actions as outright rejection and did not make an attempt to confess during the middle school / high school transition. Hikari, dealing with pretty much the same signs from Yuu did not allow that to sway her mind and instead took a chance.

Great, Hikari does not know this about Yuu. To Hikari, the clear indicator that Yuu is not interested is that he's acting same as always. Remember, she missed all the signs everyone else in their middle school saw of him liking her. Hikari expects that if Yuu were interested in her then he would act differently - because she IS acting differently, which again Yuu has picked up on.

ETA: I think Maruto is trying to make a point about perspectives - about given the same circumstance of unrequited crush, Yuu expecting failure and giving up vs Hikari hoping for a chance of success and fighting. I don't think we're meant to read Yuu as being more justified in his assumptions as that would undermine the contrast.

ETA2: like yes we have Hikari say she'd probably reject Yuu, but we also have Yuu say he'd never fall in love again.

They both went through the same thing. In middle school, Hikari treated Yuu like a friend and Yuu interpreted that as rejection. In high school, Yuu treated Hikari like a friend and even though Hikari thought it might be rejection she pushed forward. Like story645 said, this is all Maruto trying to make a point about perspectives. They both were given similar circumstances but each handled it differently.

No, it does count, because that's the effort he put in. To actually have Hikari's attention, at least in his mind, he went for an enormous effort. Hikari didn't have to do even a tiny bit of that. She made an effort, sure, but he was already predisposed to liking her. In his case, she just never felt anything to begin with.

I wouldn't quantify Yuu studying for a few months with a near zero chance to get into Hikari's high school as an enormous effort to win Hikari's attention especially since Hikari doesn't find out for two years and it's by accident. It's pretty much the only effort Yuu is shown making and we're supposed to accept that there was nothing else he could have done.

While Hikari hasn't made a similar grand gesture she has been shown to make many more efforts in her attempt to get Yuu to see her romantically. It's easier to root for her because she's shown to actually give a shit and persevere even in the face of her doubts as to whether Yuu thinks of her like that or not.

I think you're being very unfair in your assessment of Hikari's efforts. Saying she didn't have to do even a tiny bit of what Yuu did, when Yuu didn't do jack shit, comes off as dismissive towards her. And like story645 said in response to your post, Hikari has no way of knowing Yuu was predisposed to liking her.

In this case you were comparing their efforts as a reader.

It was supposed to if it played out the way he wanted it to.

How is that relevant? Did they sit back to back all the time before?

I mean, as a reader we can only make comparisons based on what we're shown. We're shown one instance of Yuu making an effort and it was half-assed. We're shown many instances of Hikari making an effort and they range in effort levels.

Can someone explain Yuu's reasoning in regards to him getting into Hikari's high school? Let's pretend his efforts paid off and he made it in. He still admits he didn't have the courage at that time to confess to Hikari so how, exactly, does getting into her high school translate to Hikari finding out that he loves her? That's quite a leap of logic.

1) Study for Hikari's high school entrance exams
2) Get into Hikari's high school
3)...
4) Profit

I think what story645 is trying to say is that they've been friends since they were 5 and must have had many instances of skinship - holding hands while in elementary school, sitting close, etc. We're not shown any prior instances however given how nonchalant they appeared to be in Chapter 1 you could suss out that sitting back to back was not a big deal for them (up until you see inside Hikari's mind).

 

[story645]

Did they sit back to back all the time before?

Like HellJester said, they've casually touched as kids (chap 11, ) and Hikari is describing this as old married couple behavior - like the only reason she's feeling some way about it now is because she likes him. Which chap 18 has her thinking he's maybe conscious now, & she dates the change in attitude to right after summer vacation (which is roughly a year after the break up) & lines up w/ this chapter's "right after the start of second year" as when Yuu starts considering putting down his walls.

Can someone explain Yuu's reasoning in regards to him getting into Hikari's high school?

It wasn't about Hikari figuring out he likes her, it was about Hikari starting to see him as a peer/someone she could fall for. Like so much of Yuu's behavior seems to be that he's sad that Hikari isn't in love w/ him the way he's in love with her - that's why he's feeling rejected even though he never made a move.

 

[story645]

In this case you were comparing their efforts as a reader.

Yes, because as HellJester said, I think Maruto is trying to contrast their efforts given similar circumstances to make a point about perspective.

Like you've kinda argued it worked out for Yuu b/c Hikari started being into him after he got w/ Aya, but this whole climax/denouement is shaking out if that's true. Could be the getting w/ Aya puts the nail in the getting w/ Hikari coffin - after all, Hikari put Yuu on hold to spend her time and energy getting Aya to be honest.

 

[GennArc]

That's why she took it as a potential sign that he didn't feel the same way.

"Potential" is a keyword here. Again, the point is Yuu was confident she wasn't interested at all because of the way she acted, Hikari is thinking that maybe he doesn't like her back. Not even in "completely not interested" way, just "he probably doesn't feel the way I do".

She's jealous that Yuu is paying more attention in the moment to her mom than her and is jealous that he's giving a gift to her mom and has never given one to her.

The yellow part is what I find hard to believe. How can they be friends since childhood and yet he never gave her birthday presents? I don't buy it. That's why I think it's some sort of mistranslation.

I think it's less that he's mirroring Hikari and more that at this point in the manga Yuu is in his "I'll never fall in love again phase"

That could be the case. Although I think in this latest chapter, Yuu says it's around spring of his 2nd year of HS when he noticed that, and the manga starts exactly around that time.

I mean if we're talking about their relationship in middle school, it's entirely a device of Yuu's own making.

Hikari is talking to Yuu like things were normal - because as far as she knew they were. She's not a mind reader. She's talking to Yuu normally while he's making things up in his head about her not noticing "a sliver of my feelings."

I think you are missing the point.

It was a private high school, two train stops away from where we lived.
A school every local student admired—a flower on a high branch.

Naturally, it was the kind of place that, if I ever said I wanted to go there, the teachers would laugh in my face.

Yuu: "...So you're really going?"
Hikari: "Of course! It’s been my first choice all along~"

So Hikari’s slightly excited tone of voice...
It stirred up an intense sense of unease in me.

Hikari: "You know, the uniforms there are super cute, the school atmosphere is really chill, their culture festival is super popular... and it’s close by, too."

It wasn't about him "making up things in his head". It was about her going to a school he can't hope to ever enter and not really caring about them still going to the same school. She is excited about new school (where he wouldn't be), and he's agonizing over them going separate ways. And that's just another case of her clearly not being interested in him romantically.

Can someone explain Yuu's reasoning in regards to him getting into Hikari's high school?

Yes:

If I manage to get into the same high school as her, even someone as oblivious as Hikari is bound to realize.
...That I’ve been chasing after her all this time.

And then, maybe this time, I’ll finally hear Hikari’s answer.
Whether it makes me happy or breaks my heart, I’ll finally get closure on how I feel.

That’s why—this time—I swore to pass the entrance exam, not with someone else’s help, but with my own strength.
Not a confession... but a victory.

...Well, I’m sure there are people who’d say, “Why not just confess, even if you don’t get into the same school?”

But if I could do that, I would’ve confessed way back in fifth grade.

Since I can’t put it into words, I have to build a case with actions—surround the truth with facts.

If he managed to get into the school that's so clearly out of his reach, even Hikari would've realized he did it for her, so at least that would make her notice him as a boy. Not to accept the confession and not fall in love, but at least to recognize him as a person of opposite sex.

 

[GennArc]

Like HellJester said, they've casually touched as kids

Do I even need to say that touching each other's hands as kids and sitting back to back as teens are different in many aspects?

Yes, because as HellJester said, I think Maruto is trying to contrast their efforts given similar circumstances to make a point about perspective.

I don't think he is. I mean, if he were to make their efforts contrasting, we would've seen a lot more about Yuu's struggles, at least with the exams. Yet we only see the decision and the failure. In Hikari's case, we see a lot of scenes of her trying to make him notice her. A contrast doesn't work like this.

 

[story645]

Do I even need to say that touching each other's hands as kids and sitting back to back as teens are different in many aspects?

The point is they've been friends forever and touching each other casually and Yuu's not being weird about it so Hikari is assuming that he's not feeling it. Like Aya's head in Hikari's lap in 18.5 -it's a classic romance staple, but doesn't register as romantic b/c they're friends.

Hikari might not even be wrong in chapter 1 given the contrast between Yuu's reactions in 1 and 18, which I'm pretty sure lines up w/ his "never gonna fall in love" plan and walk back timeline. Like from this chapter I read that he started noticing she maybe liked him around start of 2nd year and started slowly pulling back his walls, which is why Hikari noticed a change after summer break.

if he were to make their efforts contrasting, we would've seen a lot more about Yuu's struggles, at least with the exams. Yet we only see the decision and the failure. In Hikari's case, we see a lot of scenes of her trying to make him notice her. A contrast doesn't work like this.

No, I think you hit the nail on the head exactly - what Maruto shows is the parts of their character he wants to highlight.

We see a lot of Hikari trying b/c Maruto wants us to know she's willing to put herself out there and resilient enough to try again when she fails. We mostly see the decision/aftermath/regret from Yuu's POV b/c Yuu doesn't really put himself out there and isn't resilient- he tries the one thing that he keeps secret in case of failure and when it fails he doesn't keep fighting and instead takes the convenient option. We see more of Yuu's effort through Hikari's eyes b/c she sees Yuu's sincerity in a way that he doesn't really credit himself with.

 

[GennArc]

Like from this chapter I read that he started noticing she maybe liked him around start of 2nd year and started slowly pulling back his walls, which is why Hikari noticed a change after summer break.

In case I didn't misunderstand your point - school year in Japan starts in April, not in August or September. So the start of 2nd year is long before the summer break.

We mostly see the decision/aftermath/regret from Yuu's POV b/c Yuu doesn't really put himself out there

No, I think we just didn't get a proper Yuu's POV. Only some afterthoughts.

he keeps secret in case of failure

That's clearly not his intention. The intention is to hit her with realization after he succeeds, not to be safe in case of failure.

 

[story645]

So the start of 2nd year is long before the summer break.

It's not unreasonable for it to take 5 months for Yuu to take down walls he's been building up for years now? Cause he's both taking down the "never gonna fall in love" he's been doing for what half a year? And he's gotta overcome his own insecurities to believe that Hikari likes him, when he's been trying to not show her his feelings since at least middle school. They discuss this a bit in the confession chapter.

ETA: this slow change in Yuu spanning roughly the same months as his relationship with Aya a year later is likely fully intentional.

No, I think we just didn't get a proper Yuu's POV. Only some afterthoughts.

That's author's choice though - to focus on Yuu's afterthoughts and show his efforts via Hikari and the middle school friends. Eta: Perception is a major theme (probably the most major) & what characters see about themselves and the other characters is what they value. Trying to figure out how to articulate this, but it's showing that Yuu is extrinsically motivated while Hikari is intrinsically motivated.

The intention is to hit her with realization after he succeeds, not to be safe in case of failure.

Those are two sides of the same coin - he doesn't want her to see his struggle, just his win. Otherwise it wouldn't be this thing he kept a secret from her for years afterwards - in ch 16 he's clearly embarrassed she's finding out about it.
In 17 and in 23 he explains it as trying to catch up to her, not as trying to surprise her w/ a realization of his awesomeness. Which also the attempt was as much about him trying to give himself some confidence as it was anything to do w/ how Hikari sees him.

 

[HellJester]

"Potential" is a keyword here. Again, the point is Yuu was confident she wasn't interested at all because of the way she acted, Hikari is thinking that maybe he doesn't like her back. Not even in "completely not interested" way, just "he probably doesn't feel the way I do".

I just chalk this up to fundamental differences in Hikari and Yuu's worldview. Yuu is the type of person to quickly come to a negative decision (even if it ends up being the right decision - we've gone over whether or not he should have confessed to Hikari in middle school and it was proven that he would have most likely failed based on Hikari's inner thoughts) whereas Hikari is full of hope and continues to try.

The yellow part is what I find hard to believe. How can they be friends since childhood and yet he never gave her birthday presents? I don't buy it. That's why I think it's some sort of mistranslation.

I agree that it's hard to believe they never exchanged gifts after knowing each other for 10 years. Best I can come up with is that in elementary school Yuu probably wouldn't have much money to spend on gifts, in middle school they didn't really hang out as much and finally now in high school they've started to hang out again but Yuu is probably feeling awkward about the whole thing. So when it really comes down to it, elementary school might have been the only time period where Yuu would have been willing to get her a gift but couldn't due to funds.

I think you are missing the point.

It wasn't about him "making up things in his head". It was about her going to a school he can't hope to ever enter and not really caring about them still going to the same school. She is excited about new school (where he wouldn't be), and he's agonizing over them going separate ways. And that's just another case of her clearly not being interested in him romantically.

Did they ever explain why Hikari and Yuu don't hang out as much at Yuu's house during the three years of middle school? They were super close in elementary and still went to the same school in middle school but it seems like Yuu was blindsided by Hikari getting into the elite high school. I would argue that he should have known before then.

Also, I chalked Hikari's attitude as this: It's not that she doesn't care he's not going to her high school - she considers them close friends so even with them going to different schools she can still see him everyday as they are next door neighbors. I think this is more of Hikari being a golden retriever whereas Yuu is instantly going into worst case scenario mode.

If he managed to get into the school that's so clearly out of his reach, even Hikari would've realized he did it for her, so at least that would make her notice him as a boy. Not to accept the confession and not fall in love, but at least to recognize him as a person of opposite sex.

I remember reading this but it still doesn't strike me as logical. Granted, Hikari is dense however since she's such a late bloomer I could totally see her just being happy Yuu got into her school and not connecting the dots as she hadn't awakened to romantic feelings at that point in time. Also, Hikari being Hikari, if Yuu confronted her about not seeing him as a man she'd probably be like "Huh, but you're a boy" and take that as a literal statement and not a romantic one.

Hikari might not even be wrong in chapter 1 given the contrast between Yuu's reactions in 1 and 18, which I'm pretty sure lines up w/ his "never gonna fall in love" plan and walk back timeline. Like from this chapter I read that he started noticing she maybe liked him around start of 2nd year and started slowly pulling back his walls, which is why Hikari noticed a change after summer break.

In case I didn't misunderstand your point - school year in Japan starts in April, not in August or September. So the start of 2nd year is long before the summer break.

Sometimes I feel like I need a separate window open with a detailed timeline when I read/re-read these chapters.

No, I think you hit the nail on the head exactly - what Maruto shows is the parts of their character he wants to highlight.

We see a lot of Hikari trying b/c Maruto wants us to know she's willing to put herself out there and resilient enough to try again when she fails. We mostly see the decision/aftermath/regret from Yuu's POV b/c Yuu doesn't really put himself out there and isn't resilient- he tries the one thing that he keeps secret in case of failure and when it fails he doesn't keep fighting and instead takes the convenient option. We see more of Yuu's effort through Hikari's eyes b/c she sees Yuu's sincerity in a way that he doesn't really credit himself with.

No, I think we just didn't get a proper Yuu's POV. Only some afterthoughts.

This is part of what drove me crazy with the Yuu POV chapters. Maruto just doesn't give us enough from Yuu and it's frustrating. I want to like this guy. I want to root for his pursuit of Hikari but Maruto gives us next to nothing.