Near the end of the last chapter (Chapter 26) we learned that Luna left the guy she met at the hotel immediately after the he arrived, the guy suggested to "re-schedule" instead of "meeting up again", which suggests that the encounter ended abruptly, and didn't satisfy the guy's goal. The texts at first glance just seems like the polite Japanese in her "saving face", but the question we have now is,
why did Luna leave early? Imma use good ol' reasoning for this, and I'm well aware that this is gonna look artificial as fuck by today's standard.
What if Luna accomplished her goal of "erasing her sexual desire" despite leaving early?
What are the possible methods she could've used to achieve her goal?
- Alcohol? <- No, doing so just removes inhibition. Assuming Luna drank with the guy, not after leaving him, and STILL achieved her goal, then there should be a different reason for the alcohol consumption.
- Get turned off hard enough that it kills any pent-up excitement? <- What if she needed the alcohol for this so she could intentionally do something that she would otherwise find uncomfortable or disgusting with a guy? This looks promising, let's try digging deeper with this.
Are there any points in the story that
explicitly shows Luna interacting with a confirmed male? <- Yes, there's at least 3 guys shown directly interacting with her.
- With Naoto. <- Not him, being near Naoto actually "fuels" her desires, she feels good with his mere touch, and gets bothered just by thinking about him. (Chapter 19, 25, 26)
- With Ryuuji. <- We've seen her talk with him just fine, but she looks somewhat uncomfortable or downright troubled every single time Ryuuji actually touches and pulls her near him. For someone who's supposedly very experienced with men, this looks out of place, she shouldn't be that bothered by guys going all touchy at her. (Chapter 14, 23)
- With the unnamed guy she kissed in the past. <- All we know is that she kissed the guy and she was perfectly fine, but if rumours about her seducing guys for fun are supposedly well known by that time, then the guy either has a poor taste in women, or the rumours haven't started yet. (Chapter 4)
Physical contact with Ryuuji seems like a no-go for her, but it is the complete opposite if it's with Naoto. She managed to kiss a guy in the past so perhaps "something" triggered the change sometime in-between, making her uncomfortable with other guys, with the only exception seemingly being Naoto.
Let's try this, and make a note to come back to here if we can work out some form of explanation for the trigger.
What if Luna actually has an aversion to physical contact with men, Naoto currently being the only exception?
- Who caused this? <- No idea at the moment, but it's very likely someone who interacted with Luna at some point. Luna claimed that Naoto was a "strong kid even back when he was little", she didn't mean this physically (duh) but mentally. Luna also claimed being "protected by Naoto again", perhaps Naoto did something similar to "schooling Ryuuji at the hot spring" to someone at some point. It feels like [we need more clues] to properly confirm this.
- What changes because of this? <- How we see the whole story unfold. With this just being part of a theory, [we need more clues] to properly confirm this.
- When did this happen? <- Some time between Luna kissing the yet unnamed guy, and Ryuuji being shown in the manga touching her. It feels like [we need more clues] to properly confirm this.
- Where did this happen? <- The countryside is likely, but it also could've happened somewhere else. The "where" and "when" are connected to each other, so it could even happened during her high-school days that Luna refused to talk about of so [we need more clues] to properly confirm this.
- How did this happen? <- No clue other than the trigger being "physical touch". Luna was able to kiss a guy in the past, but what if the guy wanted to go further only for Luna to reject his advances? Perhaps getting touched by the guy in a sexual manner felt wrong to her compared to Naoto's "innocent" approach? She did consider her time playing with the young Naoto the happiest time of her life after all. (Chapter 12) It feels like [we need more clues] to properly confirm this.
- Why did this happen? <- Did her aversion came about because of the rumours, or did the rumours came about because of her aversion? Is it caused by of some form of trauma, or is this just her natural quirk? We can't answer any of these right now, [we need more clues] to properly confirm this.
Well that lead to nowhere, as expected, it IS just speculation at this point after all. Gotta think like a certain pointy-haired attorney and change the approach.
Let's try to continue by assuming this is true for now, and see how it interacts with what's already shown so far. If Luna actually having an aversion towards men other than Naoto turns out to be one of Luna's 10 secrets, then I'll consider this theory a win.
What if all she had to do to "erase sexual desire" was to be in actual physical contact with the guy at the hotel?
- Alcohol for "liquid courage". <- Checks out. Luna didn't exactly look like she was positively looking forward to what's going to happen after she opened the door at the hotel. (Chapter 25)
- She doesn't have to do much to get stressed tf out. <- Checks out. Stress increases cortisol levels, which in turn suppresses sex hormones, which means suppressed sexual desire. (SCIENCE! F YEAH!)
Looks promising, where else can it apply to?
What if Ryuuji was making Luna uncomfortable without realizing it?
- Luna's expression at the beach. <- Checks out. Luna knows Ryuuji is mostly harmless, and the physical contact ended very quickly, but she still looked a little troubled when she told Naoto that Ryuuji was like an "otouto-bun" to her. (Chapter 14)
- Luna's expression at the karaoke. <- Checks out. Luna was singing normally at first, that is until Ryuuji took her hand and starts pulling her close. Her discomfort shows more and more the longer Ryuuji held her despite her attempts to hide it, even looking away from Naoto. Perhaps Naoto saw something similar happen to Luna before as kid, did something about it, and ended up protecting her that time but forgot about it himself? After the break, Luna's back to normal until Ryuuji starts holding her hand again. (Chapter 23,14)
Seems alright, I'll continue with whatever comes to mind.
What if she first found out about her aversion when the unnamed guy she kissed in the past tried to go for more than just kissing?
- Luna would be obvious about her aversion. <- Checks out. She would've only found out about it and wouldn't be able to hide that she doesn't like any of the guy's advances.
- The two broke up on bad terms. <- Checks out. We never knew what happened to the guy afterwards, but Luna suddenly rejecting any teenager's advance while showing clear signs of not wanting any of it can make any guy think that she's just playing him, leading to...
- Rumours spreading about Luna being a woman who seduces guys for fun. <- Checks out. If the unnamed guy was serious about having a relationship with her only for it to end like it did, she would've been vilified, be seen as someone to avoid, it even extended to people(Kid!Naoto) close to her. (Chapter 18)
What if Luna tried to find out if the same thing happens but with Nao-kun as the guy?
- She's completely fine with Nao-kun touching her. <- Checks out. Even in the present day, Luna does not feel any aversion being touched by Naoto, it feels good to her even. Perhaps the contrast of reactions between another man and Naoto's touch was the the trigger for Luna's sexual awakening? (All throughout the manga)
- Her libido catches up to her, and directed it towards Nao-kun. <- Checks out. Being the only known male that she doesn't feel any aversion to, her curiosity might have gotten the better of her and things began escalating, leading to...
- "The Incident" that became the catalyst for their separation for 10 years. <- Checks out. She did "something" to Nao-kun, and she claims that Nao-kun was unable to accept her at the time. Naoto was 10 at the time, so it comes to no surprise to anyone that he shouldn't understand what happened, that's the reason why Naoto's mother kept him in the dark for so long. (Chapter 16)
What if Naoto's mother actually supports Luna, knowing about her family's circumstances?
- Naoto's mother is the one that told him about room sharing with Luna. <- Checks out. She separated Luna and Naoto 10 years ago simply because of the fact that Naoto was A KID at the time. Now that he's a grown adult, she's perfectly fine whatever her son does with Luna. (Chapter 1)
What if Luna mistook the separation as punishment for what she did to Nao-kun?
- Luna would be filled with regret for what she did, and insists on being just his sister so they don't get separated again should they reunite. <- Actually checks out. Luna doesn't want to "cross the line" with Naoto, fearing that the same separation might happen again. So she puts the "Luna" back then who caused "The Incident" behind, and brings forth the "Luna" who was like a real big sister to the young Naoto back in the happiest days of her life, back before "The Incident" occurred. (literally every chapter where Luna does things for Naoto as "Luna-nee")
What if Luna's libido still followed her throughout the 10 years she was missing from Naoto's life?
- Luna would pick up the Art of Self-Pleasure. <- Checks out. AND HOW! 5 days a week, all night, until morning? (Chapter 1,4,16)
- Luna would pick up knowledge from the amount of porn she watches. <- Checks out. 5 DAYS A WEEK, FOR HOURS, EACH DAY.(Chapter 16)
- The Art would no longer be enough to keep it at bay. <- Checks out. If she has condition, a "quirk" some might say, that could only be satisfied by a very specific person. Then she's going to need some way to hard reset her libido the completely negative way, leading to...
- Using a Matching App, to match up with random guys to "erase her desires" with <- Checks out. If she makes full use of her aversion to males in order the raise her stress levels, completely messing up the balance of her hormones until she no longer feels the horny, and repeat the cycle a few times, that would lead to...
- New rumours spreading about her being someone who will do it with anyone. <- Checks out. People gossip, spread rumours, share information, and if she uses the app to target people that will not commit, the more the rumours appear more real. (Chapter 14)
What if Luna's reunion with Naoto sets her libido to overdrive despite her efforts to stay as just his "big sister"?
- Naoto's scent <- Checks out. Enough to get her touching herself. (Chapter 3)
- Naoto's kiss <- Checks out. Makes her wish it never ends. (Chapter 11)
- Thinking about him <- Checks out. Gets her in heat. (Chapter 16,24,25)
- Naoto's touch <- Checks out. Feels better than she ever expected. (Chapter 19,26)
- Contradicting desires toward Naoto. <- Checks out. Her own internal conflict between wanting to stay as "his sister", and hoping that as "Luna", things will work out "this time". Her mind is telling her no, but her body tells her otherwise. (Chapter 16) It gets to the point of needing another reset in just a short amount of time, leading too...
- Eventually needing to use the matching app again. <- Checks out. This would just be something she did to "erase" her desires before she reunited with Naoto.
Things come to a full circle, and now Luna lends her hand to help with Naoto's own desires, while Naoto lends his to help with her own. Luna blocking the person she matched with possibly signifying that she no longer has a need for the matching app, as she's satisfied with Naoto showing her a glimpse of him accepting "Luna", despite all. <- Kid!Naoto who once stood his ground and told Kawashina that he "doesn't care what other people thinks, he's choosing Luna", would be proud. (Chapter 18)
All this just from asking "what-if", yet all of this could just as easily collapse if I got it wrong. That's theory-crafting for you. I bet you're reading this and thinking, "you're overthinking this bro, she a ho". But hey, at least I tried.
