The tense structure is that she's talking about going on the trip, not as if it already happened.
No, the structure is more as if the trip had ALREADY happened; I agree with Genn on this
Why would she sign the document if she adamentedlly didn't want Aya to go?
Because she did it reluctantly.
Yami's mother has full legal power to prevent her from even leaving the house if she so orders, and to order the police to search for her daughter if she runs away. It was precisely that argument, where Yami manages to convince her to sign the document with great difficulty, that later destabilizes her and puts her on the verge of suicide. According to my theory, the call from the hotel telling her that her daughter was having sex with Yuu was the final push.
But even in your scenario, it's obvious that she signed the document reluctantly (otherwise, Yami wouldn't have had to assure her that it would only be two or three days and that she would return), and obviously, after signing it, Yami wasn't going to back out even if her mother had attempted suicide. And obviously, people can change their minds.
This chapter, whether it took place before or after chapter 28, certainly confirmed that Yami's mom did sign the document and that Yami feels guilty about how the argument to get her to sign it mentally destabilized an already mentally unstable mother.
Don't love that it's a reddit thread, but IVs are used more frequently/casually in Japan
I'd have to check the thread, but it still seems very far-fetched to me that they put Yami's mother on an IV to the point that she didn't even get up to answer her daughter when she arrived to pick her up from the hospital, as if she were still unconscious. Even assuming that IVs are more common in Japan. Especially if the supposed original suicide attempt was only with sleeping pills. Chapter 29 in both the manga and the web novel seemed to suggest that this (first?) suicide attempt was with some kind of knife or sharp object.
In 29 she's wearing what she came back from the trip in cause she's visiting after the trip. She hasn't left in 29.5. I don't understand what you're getting at here?
That's the point; she wears different clothes in chapter 29.5 that she didn't wear when she returned from the trip, nor are they the clothes she wore on the trip with Yuu, as far as we know. Therefore, it's logical that it happened after Yami's return, not before.
Hikari's need to fix all the things is leaving her spiraling in a situation she can't fix.
Half this half is partly due to Hikari's emotional insensitivity, which prevents her from noticing the distress of both Yuu and Aya at several crucial points (and at the same time makes her dismiss Aya's abusive acts in chapters 5 and 33 as mere "jokes"), as Yuki seems to notice in chapters 42 and 43. Even so, everything points to Hikari ignoring many red flags because she reached the correct conclusions and had no problem with them.
To put it simply: "Taa-kun got a girlfriend in his first year and dated her. That girlfriend helped him gain confidence and become more mature and grown-up, but then she dumped him, which is why he's so traumatized and heartbroken now. Also, that toxic ex-girlfriend might be at my school". Hence, Hikari describes herself as "the childhood friend who came too late."
She doesn't mention the trip nor does she use the future tense. But after I gave it some thought, your idea makes a lot of sense too. She says "it's only for a couple of days", which might correspond to her thoughts from 29
Yes, that's why I say, whether chapter 29.5 takes place before or after chapter 28, Yami's lines in chapter 29 still make it clear that she thinks her mother's suicide attempt was at least partly due to the argument she had with her mother to get her to reluctantly sign the legal authorization document to go on a 3-day trip with Yuu. This chapter undoubtedly confirms that.
And the chapter numbering argument doesn't work - since this chapter is for the official manga volume release, they couldn't make it 27.5 because that would spoil the twist.
If that were the case, they wouldn't have numbered chapter 13.5, the one where Yami reflects on Hikari being the childhood friend Yuu was obsessed with, because it ruins the twist that she's Yuu's ex-girlfriend. The sleepover chapter, number 21.5 in the novel version, also spoils many of the most intense sexual moments in the Ayami-Yuu relationship (although it later serves as proof that Yami did use her experiences with Yuu during those sleepovers with Hikari and her friends).
Anyway, yes, your argument is valid; it could be that way. Even so, I still really dislike the idea of Yami lying so blatantly, not only to Yuu, but also to herself and the readers, about how "everything is fine at home and everything will go back to normal and we can be together without any problems," when her mother had attempted suicide and was in the hospital at the time. That only fits with a melodramatic phone call that changed everything during the mini-time skip between chapters 28 and 29 (and Maruto has used this trope before in other works). Either that, or Yami truly deserves the harsh judgment Esgar levels at her.
And honestly, if that tiny apartment shown in chapter 29.5 is what Yami so seriously intended to offer Yuu as a "love nest," then yes, without a doubt, she earned Yuu's stunned expression, as if she'd lost her mind. If the manga made one thing clear, it's that Yami has more money than she knows what to do with at this point in the story.
All in all, it could be either.
Anyway, yes, I agree.
I wouldn't put it past Yami's mom to attempt another suicide, but also Yami dreaming about an apartment for Yuu and herself after she already decided to ghost him
To be fair, chapters 29 and 30 can be read as her seriously considering not ghosting Yuu after all; that would explain why she dreamed about an apartment. She also has similar thoughts about her stepfather's apartment in chapter 30, which is why she thinks, "Please don't make this any harder for me, Yuu", when he writes to her again after noticing that she read his messages in chapter 30.
