Imasara desu ga, Osananajimi o Suki ni Natte Shimaimashita - Ch. 44 - An Ordinary Day with Someone at Rock Bottom

[HellJester]

The joke here is she didn´t want make that. She encountered Yami just for bad luck in her running away. In any moment of her PoV in chapter 38 she thinks in find Yami or confront her. Their encounter in chapter 41 was securely 100% accidental -again-
And her attitude in this chapter 44 avoiding and ghosting Yuu proves it. Anyway, if she really wanted to look Yami, she could say to Yuu the truth and talk openly with him. He invited clearly to her to do it during the confession, again, is him trying to confirm if she saw the kiss or not.
IMO, again, her mistake was carry Yuu for the dance and later the gym. Those chapters are a good example about how both Yuu and Hikari, like Haruki and Setsuna before, when they take the lead, the most probably result is a screwing.
They are better following than leading. This is the reason why both fell in the hands of Kazusa Touma, I mean, Ayami Sudo.
But IMO, Yuu is still more brave than Hikari, and not just for confess in this point, but because Hikari had several of opportunities between Carnival and Cultural Festival and wasted all them, even with the counsels and the active help of the ex-girlfriend of Yuu.

Hold on a second - I don't think it was an accident that Hikari ended up running into Yami.

In the translation of Chapter 41 we get this from Yami:

Episode 41: Everything Falls Apart

Late September, Saturday.
A night ruled by rain and darkness,
a night where it feels like everyone is crying.

Haru: “Aya, what should we do?! Hikari’s gone!”
Haru: “She suddenly snapped, dumped her boyfriend, and stormed out of the gym!”
Yami: “It’s okay, I found her. I’ll take her home. You two go on ahead.”

Yami: “I already let Haru know.”
Hikari: “……”

It was just before 8 p.m., after the after-party had ended.

A frantic LINE message from Haru arrived—not in the usual group chat, maybe because she was being considerate, but sent directly to me. I left the classroom to help search for Hikari, about five minutes ago.

And the moment I opened the door,
and saw her standing there, soaking wet—
that’s when I truly realized the weight of what I had done.

So the episode starts out with Hikari and Yami already in the classroom and then Yami has a minor flashback to 5 minutes ago when she got a personal LINE message from Haru and proceeded to go search for Hikari. However, right as she opens the door, Hikari is standing there.

I agree with you in that there's no mention anywhere in Chapter 38 that Hikari was leaving Yuu to find Yami. However, Chapter 41 makes it clear that Yami was still in the classroom and was going to leave it to find Hikari but Hikari was already standing by the door when Yami opened it. Seems fairly clear cut that Hikari purposefully went to the classroom.

I would argue that if Hikari's intention was to find Yami she'd start looking for her in the last place she saw her which was the classroom. Conversely, if Hikari didn't want to run into Yami it makes no sense that she would go to the last place she saw her. If Hikari truly wanted to be alone she'd most likely just go home. I don't think it's a coincidence that they encountered each other.

I agree with you that Hikari probably should have helped Yuu back up and then talked to him about what she saw but I can also understand her wanting to talk to her best friend first before dealing with Yuu. As far as her ghosting Yuu in Chapter 44 - Hikari has had a lot to process - all three of them have. Her confrontation with Yami ended up with a lot of hurtful things being said and it's understandable that Hikari, who dragged her feet all throughout this manga, would be dragging her feet yet again. You could argue that all three characters are showing cowardice in their own ways - Yami has quit school again and has isolated herself, Yuu is keeping his distance from both Yami and Hikari & Hikari is avoiding Yuu and her two friends Haru and Yuki.

I don't want to get into misandry and misogyny as both terms are used in these threads too often. I would posit that all three main characters have their instances of both bravery and cowardice. I don't think a character showing either is because of their gender regardless of whatever themes Maruto might sprinkle in his works. I prefer to just see the characters.

Lastly, it's not a contest as to who is more brave or who is more cowardly or who is most right or wrong. All three characters have experienced all of the above and all are responsible for what's going on.