I agree that I don't think Hikari cares that Yuu isn't a virgin, but think Hikari is attracted to broken and that's why she only started liking Yuu after he broke up w/ Aya. So Aya is right that she's why Hikari likes Yuu, but not b/c of the sex & that's why Hikari tells Aya to not denigrate Yuu that way.
Yes, it's quite obvious that it was that heartbroken-boy vibe, so typical of certain male leads in shoujo manga, that finally drew Hikari to Yuu.
And yes, that's why Hikari tells Ayami not to denigrate Yuu or herself like that. Hikari correctly recognizes that the Ayami-Yuu relationship was real and authentic. This, of course, guarantees that, unlike Haru, she will fully support and buy into the tragic romance story that Yuu will undoubtedly tell her. "Who would have thought Aya-chan was actually such a sweet girl!" or something like that.
Yuu does this as part of the confession and Hikari plays cheerleader, but I think this is more that Aya/Yuu are insecure and expect Hikari will give them validation.
It's a two-way street, virtuous or vicious, depending on how you look at it. On one hand, Yami/Yuu are certainly insecure and need validation, but Hikari is also a character who loves to give validation to broken people who are desperately asking for it.
Yuu, as the midpoint of the balance, works both ways. He needs validation from both Hikari and Yami, but he also gives validation to Yami —and, interestingly, to Hikari as well. Other thing inherited from Yuu Izumi: he validates Shikimori and Kamiya, but he needs validation from both girls and expresses sincere gratitude for it.
However, Hikari almost never needed Yuu's validation until she genuinely began to fall in love with him. That's why she gets upset when he says she always was and still is "like a boy" in chapter 13, not realizing that for him, calling her a "tomboy" is a compliment and a form of flirting.
How is telling Hikari the truth humiliating himself? Hikari's thought process when receiving his texts is that she doesn't want his sorry, just the truth.
If Hikari only wanted the truth, she would only have to ask for it. No, she wants Yuu to grovel before her. Only then will she forgive him. She wants the truth, but she also wants Yuu to humilliate before her, and all the while she's still hoping he can read her mind.
As I said, Hikari is imitating Yami's ghosting more than ever. The sensible thing for her would be to keep the promise she made to Yuu's mother—which is probably the main reason why Yuu seemed so confident about her in chapter 43 in front of Haru and Yuki.
And yet, Yuu and Yami do know how to express, in their own way, that they need help. Hikari has never done so, just like Setsuna in White Album 2. She's clung too tightly to her mask of being the perfect girl and "all is fine" in the face of the first real crisis in her life.
Hikari showing up and letting Aya explain is being compassionate - most people would either immediately walk away or start yelling at Aya.
Staying silent for ten minutes staring at the floor like a chicken isn't compassion, it's cowardice. And no, expecting another girl to read your mind is pure fear. It's obvious that Hikari struggled to muster the courage to speak up, that she didn't seek out that encounter, and that she's as angry as she is afraid of Ayami—and how could she not be after things like Yami trying to whoring her or steal her first kiss. Only after Yami humbled herself and apologized to Hikari did she become more confident, understanding, and compassionate.
Which also most people would be furious if a person's apologies were a pack of lies - instead Hikari hears her out and then pushes back on the lie. Reading through the first interaction, I don't think it's that Hikari is waiting for the apology so much as the apology signifies that Aya is sticking with her lie.
She might want both things, you know? Both the truth and Ayami's apology. Hikari's entire personality makes it perfectly clear that she wouldn't have appreciated a lecture like:
"It's none of your business, you cowardly little girl who hides behind a door instead of facing your problems like a grown woman. He was my boyfriend, not yours. A year ago, I broke up with him for reasons that only concern him and me. He always loved you, he told me so through tears and so on, but you friendzoned him, so I just picked what you left behind. You never cared about him; if you cared about him, you'd call him Yuu, not Taa-kun. If you cared about him so much, you should have defended him when I slapped and kissed him. I saw you running away crying like the cowardly girl you are. Now you're defending him, huh? When it's already too late. You're a homewrecker, and I was the one who generously let you go out with my ex-boyfriend, and after wasting all the opportunities I gave you, this is how you repay me, foolish girl? With friends like you, who needs enemies?"
That's all true and answers all of Hikari's questions. Yami could have easily done it if she'd wanted to. And she doesn't because she knows Hikari will get angry. Hikari won't accept or tolerate the truth unless it comes with apologies from Aya and Yuu.
As I said, there's a reason the douches in this chapter weren't wrong when they said Hikari is the doroboneko here, not Yami.
Where does she think that? Where does he ask that?
Precisely in chapter 38, she does it.
It's okay, I won't ask anymore. I won't see anything. I won't say anything.
Because it's all for the sake of being united with the person I love, right?
In that case, a little compromise is necessary...
"Huh...!" compromise?! Why am I with Ta-kun...
Do I have to compromise with the first person I've ever fallen in love with, the person I love?
This is where she thinks Yuu is asking her to sacrifice herself, to not ask him anything, without realizing that he never did that himself and that, in his passive and cowardly way, he is actually inviting her to ask him about Yami in case she did see something.
That's under "messing w/ your boyfriend", which again is a thing Aya thinks she actually did.
Ayami's inner thoughts in chapters 40 and 41 make it abundantly clear that she doesn't believe for a second that she did what she said. She believes she betrayed Hikari and knows she broke Yuu's heart, which is true, but she never considers she "messed with Hikari´s boyfriend". And it's Hikari herself who points this out, when she says that she does it so as not to come between Hikari and Yuu, that she's denying her feelings to sacrifice herself for their happiness.
