Excellently said. Himari is not some manipulative mastermind, she’s a scared teenage girl in love trying to keep control of a situation that she has long since lost control of.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that she's scared, and trying to keep (I'd moreso say gain instead of keep tbh) control of a situation she's lost control of. I just don't see how one can say she's not being manipulative.
Is behaving in a way with the intention of controlling or, at the very least, eliciting a certain reaction or response not manipulative?
I am happy Yuu didn't fall straight into her prank but when he realized he messed up too he should have spoken to Himari.
He
has tried to speak to Himari, several times. Each and every attempt he's made to talk has been shut down.
After she dumped her drink on his head and said they weren't friends anymore, he tried talking to her over text.
After she forwards the email she runs away the first chance she gets so he can't talk to her.
After she's baited into a trap she runs away again so they can't talk.
He does catch up to her after the trap and tries to talk, he misunderstands part of her issue and is slapped issue then escalates.
He tries talking to her again over text, leading him to believe she's really going and that's the end of it.
He then thinks how "Himari is stubborn. Once she makes a decision, she won't change her mind no matter what. So whatever I say won't change the outcome."
Each time he was lead to believe things weren't going to change. He could and should have opened his attempts differently (Especially that final attempt), but he has tried talking to her.
