Imasara desu ga, Osananajimi o Suki ni Natte Shimaimashita - Ch. 42 - The Uprising of the Nosey Girls

[GennArc]

getting that involved with Yami while not being 100% serious

He was 100% serious.

 

[story645]

Bro slept with Yami and kept the relationship going despite having feelings for Hikari.

He legit thought he had no shot with Hikari and was seriously trying to get over Hikari and it would have (probably) worked if Aya hadn't shot herself in the foot by putting up "I'm not serious" walls and then ghosting. Which I also don't think Yuu was blameless here in that he suspected Aya wasn't being real with him but was too scared to have a real conversation with her, but he intended to be serious about this relationship and was just very bad at communicating that intent to Aya.

Which right, I think what this manga does really well is show how folks make the wrong assumptions based on their own insecurities.

 

[_Lugh]

did she just bellow
THE SIDE PIECE IS HERE!!!1!
out loud for God and everybody to hear?

 

[definitionofinsanity]

Why the fuck do I keep reading this dumpster fire dogshit manga?

I guess it's like wanting to watch the train wreck that's in progress. You don't want to see it, but you can't look away.

 

[Alzu]

Bro slept with Yami and kept the relationship going despite having feelings for Hikari. Yes the kiss during the festival isn’t on him but getting that involved with Yami while not being 100% serious indirectly caused all of this.

My brother in Christ, Yuu was serious about his relationship with Yami. He didn't have feelings for Hikari when dating Yami. Chapter 4 of the side story spells this out. Why else do you think Yami ghosting him broke him.

I know people will bring up the fact that Yuu wasn't domineering enough towards Yami into forcing her into opening up, as a sign that he didn't truly care about his relationship with Yami, because apparently, bulldozing and ignoring boundaries is good in their eyes, but any person with any inkling of understanding will tell you that trying to force someone to open up after their life all but collapse will take time and effort.

 

[story645]

as a sign that he didn't truly care about his relationship with Yami,

Because I feel like I'm the only person who really wandered into that territory, I think Yami took it as a sign that Yuu didn't care, which I think is backed up by her being forceful about Hikari and her being frustrated that from her POV he didn't pick up the nuance of her family stuff during her crash out.

I think Yuu was just using the communication style he wants folks to use with him, which is non-confrontational.

ETA Which:

but any person with any inkling of understanding will tell you that trying to force someone to open up after their life all but collapse will take time and effort.

Depends on what communication style that person prefers. A huge factor in the underlying conflicts in this manga is that Aya/Hikari/Yuu have majorly different communication styles and and Aya and Yuu in particular assume that other people communicate the same way they do.

 

[ppaaccoojrf]

I see people complaining, but I welcome this chapter a lot.
Finally Hikari's other friends become actual characters instead of random chatbots Hikari can bounce ideas off to. By them taking some sort of iniciative, we'll get Yuu to speak from his perspective, and we even got a re-introduction of Seki and some comic relief out of it.

 

[ppaaccoojrf]

My brother in Christ, Yuu was serious about his relationship with Yami. He didn't have feelings for Hikari when dating Yami. Chapter 4 of the side story spells this out. Why else do you think Yami ghosting him broke him.

I know people will bring up the fact that Yuu wasn't domineering enough towards Yami into forcing her into opening up, as a sign that he didn't truly care about his relationship with Yami, because apparently, bulldozing and ignoring boundaries is good in their eyes, but any person with any inkling of understanding will tell you that trying to force someone to open up after their life all but collapse will take time and effort.

He almost certainly did have feelings for Hikari even when he was dating Yami.
That doesn't mean that he wasn't serious about Yami, he obviously was, but it's possible to have feelings for two people at once and be forced to make a choice.

 

[GennArc]

He almost certainly did have feelings for Hikari even when he was dating Yami.
That doesn't mean that he wasn't serious about Yami, he obviously was, but it's possible to have feelings for two people at once and be forced to make a choice.

There's no way to check, but I think it was more or less like this: he obviously still felt love for Hikari at first, and then managed to kinda suppress the feeling, replacing it with love for Yami. And once she ghosted him and after Hikari started approaching him more and more, the feeling came back again.

 

[Yessir_Sama]

Rather than hikari, the only person I actually feel bad for is yuu. It just seems like no matter what he does everyone is mad at him. No wonder he's insecure

 

[beThereShortly]

Yom is not a woman?
But yes, I am secure she drawed one or two pages of Ayami making a footjob to Yuu for her "personal use"
She definitely hold back a lot during Yami-Yuu relationship arc...

Man or woman, it doen't matter.
Yom has great taste and the drawing skills to put it to paper.
It would be great to get our hands on his or her personal lewds stash, the pin-up artbook of Douki-chan isn't enough!

 

[noleafclover75]

Rather than hikari, the only person I actually feel bad for is yuu. It just seems like no matter what he does everyone is mad at him. No wonder he's insecure

That's because he's a bitch.

 

[story645]

That's because he's a bitch.

Been thinking it's more b/c so much of the story is from Hikari and Aya's POV and Maruto is trying to foreshadow Aya's crash out and Hikari's rejection and that means throughout the story the picture of Yuu is gonna be less then flattering to show how things got to the mess in this chapter. I don't think Maruto is aiming for "girls be crazy" b/c I think the foreshadowing is there in the earlier chapters.

 

[Gnast_]

Hahh back to waiting for the next one

 

[UdenEmpati]

Been thinking it's more b/c so much of the story is from Hikari and Aya's POV and Maruto is trying to foreshadow Aya's crash out and Hikari's rejection and that means throughout the story the picture of Yuu is gonna be less then flattering to show how things got to the mess in this chapter. I don't think Maruto is aiming for "girls be crazy" b/c I think the foreshadowing is there in the earlier chapters.

Yuu has the unfortunate honor of being an overly anxious and self-deprecating teenage boy who is fully stuck on one person to, it could be argued, and almost unhealthy degree.

He's been fixated on the same girl since 5th grade, with literal years of him knowing she never considered him more than a very good friend.
The one time he actually built up the courage to be proactive in chasing after her, he set himself an impossible goal that even he knew his failure was effectively a foregone conclusion, and it was still only the condition to be met for him to even confess.
It can't be definitively proven, but I think there's an argument that--given Yuu himself reflects on how effectively impossible that was, and how he seems to have viewed Hikari as more of a goal or ideal to be reached, than a person with her own agency for whom he had affection--he set that goal of the high school entrance exam as his condition to confess to Hikari because it couldn't be done by the person he was. He has felt unworthy of her his entire life, up to the point he said as much when he confessed in the gym storeroom. If that's actually the case, then even his one proactive attempt was just him proving to himself he really wasn't allowed to like Hikari.

And funnily, I think that's why his relationship with Ayami worked at all. Because he'd finally convinced himself he had to give up, and Ayami happened to be there and gave him just the right amount of attention and affirmation that he latched onto her for validation and affection instead.
Shame it didn't work out, but again, his reticence to actually engaging in hard conversations or opening up in any real way--something he's cited as being unable to do since the 5th grade (going by the POV flashbacks to the confession letter forged by his friend)--so someone as broken as Ayami who needed a certain type of expressed validation to feel like it was worth it was going to be incompatible with him.

And then when he does come back and Hikari actually likes him herself, he overthinks every signal she puts out, and keeps his distance because he feels like he has to be 100% certain of success before he'll even consider putting himself out there.
Because in his ~11 years of life in Hikari's orbit, he hasn't learned to take steps himself, always needing the other person to approach him first (Hikari did it, Ayami did it, even Seki did it, and all the girls who asked Hikari to play matchmaker did it). And suddenly when he was proactive the second time, he had the massive misfortune of having been seen with Ayami by Hikari, and even though he probably should have postponed the confession and actually told her "I'm sorry I was late to meeting you, I ran into someone from my past that I had a complicated period of time with, and it took up more time and energy than I thought to sort out." I am willing to be that if he'd said something like that to Hikari instead of "my phone died", everything that went down in that chapter would have been avoided, or mitigated.

But he lied (his real fuck up that day), and then he panicked when Hikari wanted to just call it a night, and blundered ahead with his confession because he felt that if he didn't do it right then, he'd miss his window forever.

Not his fault, once again - but he should have picked the harder choice of not lying about his phone and simply being vague about meeting someone important, and he wouldn't have had his world crumble around him all over again.

So yeah. Yuu's not a shitty person, but he's unfortunately someone who doesn't seem to be learning from his mistakes and experiences, or making efforts to grow and mature up to this point.

And it's cost him effectively everything up to now.

 

[story645]

he set that goal of the high school entrance exam as his condition to confess to Hikari because it couldn't be done by the person he was.

That's basically what I think too - he set himself up to fail so he could get closure on Hikari w/o risking her rejecting him.

Ayami happened to be there and gave him just the right amount of attention and affirmation that he latched onto her for validation and affection instead.

Yup, and also Aya was such a mess - high school dropout w/ major family issues - that he felt like they were equals comforting each other. There's absolutely none of the "she's way too good for me" that's present in basically all his thoughts about Hikari.

so someone as broken as Ayami who needed a certain type of expressed validation to feel like it was worth it

Yeah, and I think we see this in how Aya drops her walls with Hikari - most evident in Aya genuinely admitting to Hikari that she'd like to be in the same class w/ Hikari next year. I think it's because Hikari is really good at validating Aya in the way Aya needs - Hikari actively seeks Aya out, passes Aya's prank test, tells Aya that she recognizes that Aya speaks with sincerity, and tells Aya she'll help Aya get into the same class. It's a full court press to show Aya she cares for her.
Which there's a contrast here w/ Yuu telling Aya that she always lies & Aya telling Yuu she wants to live w/ him in a teasing walls up manner so she could walk it back when he didn't take her seriously.

I am willing to be that if he'd said something like that to Hikari instead of "my phone died", everything that went down in that chapter would have been avoided, or mitigated.

Same, like even how it went down was Hikari tried to validate/bolster him, then rejected him and gave him the reason why, and then so far seems like she didn't push him further and went to talk with Aya instead. I go by the first confession chapter as a model - Hikari is very patient hearing Yuu out b/c she knows he needs the space. In contrast she pushes Aya b/c she knows Aya needs to be pushed.

And it's cost him effectively everything up to now.

Yeah, I've said it before but I wouldn't be surprised if Maruto is writing the romance part as a tragedy where everyone's actions cost them their romantic happy ending. Aya sabotages her chance w/ Yuu by ghosting him to protect herself from him potentially not being able to handle her family stuff and Yuu sabotoges his chance w/ Hikari by running away to Aya. Hikari falling in love w/ Yuu is too late not b/c he loves Aya now but b/c she does.

 

[huntercheco]

aaaaand now they will pin him as a man-whore

 

[awtystic]

Just curious has anybody found 41.5 chapter?

 

[habla]

Why the fuck do I keep reading this dumpster fire dogshit manga?

I guess it's like wanting to watch the train wreck that's in progress. You don't want to see it, but you can't look away.

I still hope hikari will become a neet prostitute at the end

 

[peortega1]

The manga and novel make clear that even during this period, Hikari and her mother are close with Yuu's mother. Yuu's characterizarion has consistently been that he's the kind of conflict avoidant person that would avoid a complicated scheme - asking his mother to lie would invite questions that he can avoid by just not telling her/being evasive and not telling her about Aya is less messy than lying about Aya.

And precisely because he's someone who seeks to avoid conflict, it makes perfect sense for him to tell his parents about that girl he's so emotioned about, or perhaps when they start noticing their son's get-outs and that these dates aren't with Hikari, they'll force him to tell them the truth. Yuu responds very easily WHEN THEY ASK HIM DIRECTLY. Look, something Hikari never did.
They'd be inconsiderate parents if they didn't notice Yuu's depression after the breakup either.
Not telling them about sex is more than enough. Why would he hide from them that he's got a girlfriend, goes on dates with her, and they kiss in maid cafes? Isn't that what his parents know he always wanted?

I couldn't find a Kaneda in Yuu chap 3-5 or in the main story 25-30. Where is he mentioned?.
For the beach chapter, Yuu explicitly didn't involve anyone else in the cover up:

Because no teenager is going to want to tell their parents, "I'm going to fuck my girlfriend in a hotel for three days." He could have easily said, "I'm going to study with Yami-senpai and other people for three days," or something like that, like a cover-up most teenagers wear to have sex.
Kaneda is mentioned in Chapter 24 of the Web Novel (and Hikari also met him during her arc in Chapters 1-19). He's the friend who told Takamura's parents that Yuu was with him. Kaneda is the anonymous hero who made possible this whole glorious catastrophe.
And yes, he's proof that Yuu's parents are capable of keeping secrets, and that if he asks them not to tell Hikari "because it's a matter between her and me, and I'll tell her at the appropriate time," they will.

He wasn't though? He said yes to the setups Hikari offered him but couldn't muster interest in any of the girls. He was obsessed with Hikari. He originally said yes to Aya b/c he wanted comfort & it was mutual wound licking. This is in his flashback chapter. He doesn't get with Aya b/c he wants just any girlfriend, he gets with Aya b/c he's at his lowest and that blooms into a relationship.

Yes, he was obsessed with getting a girlfriend. And he was obsessed with that girlfriend being Hikari. But at that low point in the restaurant, where he notices Ayami's growing interest (yes, interest) in him and she offers to "comfort" him, it makes perfect sense that he finally decides to let Hikari go and pursue a serious relationship with Ayami. That's why he followed her to the love hotel, because he hoped to get a girlfriend by doing that.
A girlfriend much more compatible with his true tastes, with the direct and assertive personality he always wanted but never got from Hikari (nor probably from the girls he dated through Hikari), and who we know made him feel protected from the moment he met her.
And Yuu DID IT.

No, just that she had no reason to do a formal introduction before the folks met.

It's still a stupid thing to do in case there's a surprise and unplanned encounter, as technically ended up happening. In a case like this, what would Hikari have expected? Her friends would greet Yuu as "Taa-kun"? That's incredibly disrespectful.

Authorial intent - if it's important for the reader to know than it's mentioned. Regardless of word count. If Yuu figured out that Aya was a virgin that would be important for the reader to know because it would let the reader know that Yuu knows Aya's experienced senpai act is an act.

Because he already realized that "Yami-senpai" was an act the night before, with her crying and opening up psychologically in the love hotel bed. That was a scared little girl, not an "experienced senpai". Seeing her bleed during her first time only reinforced it. This omake isn't Yuu's true POV; it's just the peak of the iceberg. The author already told us that Ayami was virgin in her POV, so Yuu must have noticed it anyway; the boy isn't a fool.
And yes, anime tropes make it clear. Waifus always, always, always bleed during her first time. See White Album 2 for more references.

Aya says she's gonna quit in chapter 31.

Yes, she said that. Once again, rants from an angry tsundere. She probably would have gone back anyway if she had to put up with her mother for two or three days straight.

Where do you get that Hikari is passive and submissive?

From each and every one of her decisions. Of all the opportunities she wasted, despite Aya-chan herself urging her to do so, to propose to Yuu. Of how she stood in the doorway, like a complete idiot —just as Aya-chan always said she was— while her childhood best friend was slapped.
Face it, as Ayami herself said, Hikari is Yuu in female form. She is as passive as him and even more.

She wanted Yuu to invite her to do things:

That statement is quite paradoxical on her part because he did invite her to the beach in the hotel chapter, and she REFUSED. Just as he effectively said would happen in the previous chapter. Once again, you're taking too seriously the incoherent rants of a tsundere who, at this point, has irrevocably decided to break up with Yuu for reasons of strictly external locus —Ayami's mother.

Authorial intent - if it happened it would establish that Yuu made active attempts which would be an important piece of characterization.

Authorial intent doesn't need to be explicit or direct, even more so in a work that isn't even finished yet. The author has already said it between the lines and implied it reasonably clearly and several times. Not all authors push the envelope.

Muroto chose Yuu's only declaration of love to Aya to be an indirect "I've already done that" to Aya's "go fall in love" provocation. If Yuu was in the habit of telling Aya "I love you", that would be important characterizarion of Yuu and their relationship.

Because again, we don't have his POV, we have her POV —which focuses on her declarations. And she doesn't seem to complain or ever claim that Yuu doesn't declare his love for her or that she feels uncomfortable about it. On the contrary, she calls her time with Yuu "my heavenly days" in the WN, which should completely dispel any doubt.
And then again, "I have already fallen in love with you, OF COURSE" in PUBLIC and out loud is a pretty direct love declaration. This isn't indirect for nothing.

Cause it wasn't, which is why Aya went and immediately saved her? If Aya really wanted to pimp out Hikari, Aya wouldn't have monitored the situation and interceded. (This is not excusing her behavior).

That's how I wanted to see you, defending Yami. That's how I wanted to see you. After all the criticism you gave her. It's still a pretty ugly moment that Yami did to Hikari, and THAT SHE NEVER DID TO YUU. There must be a reason.
If you notice, there's a reason she always runs away from him. Because she's incapable of saying those hurtful things to his face, and it's clear that seeing him crying after the stolen kiss devastated her even more —and deservedly so, for being her a sexual assaulter. There's a reason Ayami couldn't even text him to tell him she was breaking up with him. There's a reason she's incapable of insulting or hurting him to his face like SHE DOES WITH HIKARI. Her best attempt at attacking Yuu, in chapter 40, is caresses compared to how she treated Hikari not only in chapter 41, but in the past, and several times.

Sure Aya gets mad, but Hikari's method works. Aya says her friendship with Hikari and the girls is the first time she feels like a normal girl.

You know she says that in the same chapter where she says she misses Yuu, that she misses her "heavenly times" with him, and that she feels like her present doesn't compare to those days. Even if she does feel genuine affection for Hikari, it's nowhere near the same love and affection she has for Yuu.
If Hikari's "method" of pressuring her (which, by the way, what a healthy relationship, with the supposed best friend from the FMC attacking her, insulting her, and trying to sexually assault her -chapter 5- or prostitute her -chapter 33-, pure and utter toxicity) really worked, a 5-minute dialogue with Yuu wouldn't have been enough for the girl to mentally collapse like she did.
Incidentally, "Aya-chan" mentally collapsed precisely because Yuu did what she told Hikari so many times: that she claimed to support her in her relationship with "Taa-kun" despite already knowing that he was Yuu. The poor boy was already leaving to find Hikari, and surely he would have found her in the hallway, but Yami-senpai couldn't resist at all.
How literal it was to see him, and they both automatically returned to their couple dynamic. Which proves that she does like being the dominant one (in fact, Yami best moments with Hikari are when Hikari is most docile and accommodating) and being the one who holds the reins of the relationship.

In 35.1 she wonders if Hikari will illuminate her darkness and in 35.2 she lets down her walls to genuinely tell Hikari she wants to be with her. In this chapter Hikari's friends note how close Aya and Hikari are.

Yes, Aya is so "close" to Hikari that she didn't hesitate for more than 30 seconds to betray her by kissing Yuu the moment she saw her at the window and decided that this was her moment to repeat Kazusa's "feat" at the airport in White Album 2.
It's quite obvious that Ayami's affection for Hikari is because she functions as a substitute for Yuu (and because she has similar virtues to his), but that she never, ever compares to the original, whom she clearly prefers. She prefers Yuu over Hikari, time and time again, and whenever she's had the chance, she's chosen him over her.

Sure, there are only so many possible endings, the point is every story is a different journey.

And when I said that each story isn't a different journey? I'm precisely offering concrete evidence that Imasara is a different journey from previous works, which YOU DID NOT DO.