Kuse Tsuyo Kanojo wa Toko ni Izanau - Ch. 9

[Cinful]

This only reinforces my theory from way back that she has a female FWB, probably the smoking girl.

 

[OldVice]

Or maybe the shark girl's brother / brother's friend was angry at her for not letting him have his way with her or plainly rejecting his advances, said brother got angry and then together with a few friends they got her in a secluded place and... You know.

This would fit with the trope where a previously prim and proper girl gyarufies herself after a dramatic experience (usually among those lines).

Spoiler

That is exactly what happened in "When I Returned to My Hometown, My Childhood Friend was Broken"

Or it could be a milder version where she just left cause she was slandered too much so she wanted to start new.

In any case I feel like the reason that made her leave is probably very dark. I wouldn't put it past this author.

Out of all of the scenarios I can think of for her leaving, this is easily my least favourite one that could be possible.

I'm really not a fan of it being used as a plot point, especially in something that's suppose to be a comedy and should be left to the crackpots cough*egakinuma*cough who can't seem to write a story without having the FeMC being assaulted.

It's also kind of annoying that Kawashina was clearly shocked (possibly scared?) because she realized it was the same Luna, but that interaction was immediately pushed to the side in the following chapter.

I'm also wondering at this point too if all three of the girls disappeared in that same final year. It's entirely possible that all three of them did something to Naoto (we know that Kawashina bit Naoto) that required them to be forcibly separated and kept apart. Though I feel like this is something that can't be confirmed until the third girl is revealed/confirmed. It's also possible that Luna did something to him as well and the memory of what happened is gone or repressed. I would even go as far as to ask if the scar was left from Kawashina's bite, or if another one of them bit down on him too. This probably leans more into the supernatural possibility of the story though.

 

[shinya78]

This probably leans more into the supernatural possibility of the story though.

Okay, hear me out on this one.

What if maybe, just maybe, the reason for the MC's unreliable memory, why MC's parents can't tell why Luna suddenly disappeared or where she lived until 10 years later, why despite being a distant relative she's the only one from "her family" to be shown when in their supposed hometown, why Hiba hangs around and be at home (marking some stuff as hers, even when she's just visiting them) with them in their hometown despite not being related, her somewhat obsessive attachment to the MC, and her ability to be as sus as possible in any situation, is due to supernatural reasons and memory manipulation.

Yeah, a real shot in the dark, that one.
Would be funny if real though.

 

[OldVice]

Okay, hear me out on this one.

What if maybe, just maybe, the reason for the MC's unreliable memory, why MC's parents can't tell why Luna suddenly disappeared or where she lived until 10 years later, why despite being a distant relative she's the only one from "her family" to be shown when in their supposed hometown, why Hiba hangs around and be at home (marking some stuff as hers, even when she's just visiting them) with them in their hometown despite not being related, her somewhat obsessive attachment to the MC, and her ability to be as sus as possible in any situation, is due to supernatural reasons and memory manipulation.

Yeah, a real shot in the dark, that one.
Would be funny if real though.

So kind of along the lines of.

She might not even be related to him at all and could of just been some kind of supernatural being that inserted herself into his life for whatever reason and Hiba came along because she was interested in the boy that Luna was spending time with. After she had to leave, for whatever reason, she erased the memory of herself from the families memories, but Naoto managed to retain his memories in a kind of vague semi real state and his parents just brushed off his questions because they had no idea who he was talking about when he was asking about Luna.

I'm just tossing out my 2 cents with this though. If it does turn out there is some kind of supernatural aspect, I'm guessing Luna would likely be a Kitsune rather than a succubus (they're actually a bit similar in general anyway). Part of this is probably influenced because her character design reminds me a lot of Kakuya from Spirit Hunter: NG. The other parts are that her eyes closely resemble a foxes more than anything else and that foxes also have a habit of stashing away "treasure" in their dens (Luna's treasure box).

 

[LTalon]

I'm waiting for the suggestive dialogue in this chapter to turn out to have been heard by a neighbor or something.

 

[shinya78]

Welp, it's that time once again.

Spoiler: Chapter 10.1

Short spoiler : Truth partially revealed, Luna's job reveal, actual supernatural hints?, return of snek girl.
Long spoiler : A date they went, and a romantic tragedy movie they instantly watched. Strolling around, Luna rushes for some stuffed toy, and got some guys checking her out. Before she gets picked up, Naoto held her hand and walked out of the area. Luna, none the wiser, wonders why Naoto mentions that he couldn't even have had the opportunity to walk alongside her if they weren't relatives. Luna said that it's been a long time since they held hands, and reminds Naoto about what she said last time. To be even closer than before, and the readers are given uncensored interlocked-fingers hand holding.

Their date continues to the afternoon, playing crane games and eating crepes, Luna points out Naoto's habit whenever he's still not satisfied when they were playing, that he still does in the present day. Instead of heading back home, Luna suggests going to a certain store, but it will take them a while before they could get back.

Passing by some love hotels, Naoto started getting the wrong ideas. But as a classic romcom trope, none of those was their destination. Into an establishment with a certain aesthetic, they go. It was still getting ready to set up shop, but the door's unlocked. Luna just walks in, with Naoto following through, but Naoto was getting worried if it's fine just to blatantly enter, and a familiar face greets them.

Turns out the place was Hiba's, The Witch's Bar, and Luna also works there as staff. Naoto recalls that Luna said "it's been a while" when they met at Luna's place. Turns out, Hiba went overseas and left the bar to Luna for half a year... Hiba treats them to some drinks, and the three start to reminisce about the games they played. Luna called for their go-to variation of rocks-paper-scissors.

Luna losing to Naoto once on the first punishment, had to get her arm smacked. Hiba losing to Naoto once on the third punishment, had to get judokarate chopped on the head. Then Naoto, losing to both on the second and fourth punishment, had to take a forehead flick, and "the deluxe", which is presumably all three punishments.

Luna, wanting to get things over with, brings out her arm, to be the first to take the punishments. Naoto noticing how slender her arms are now compared to his memories, hesitates on going all out on smacking her. Chapter ends with Hiba teasing them both, tempting Naoto to smack Luna's arm without holding back, for all the stuff done to him back when they were kids.

 

[Trew865]

So she does VA work for a hentai company? Only thing that makes sense

 

[OldVice]

My OCD (as it usually does) got the best of me.

Welp, it's that time once again.

Spoiler: Chapter 10.1

Short spoiler : Truth partially revealed, Luna's job reveal, actual supernatural hints?, return of snek girl.
Long spoiler : A date they went, and a romantic tragedy movie they instantly watched. Strolling around, Luna rushes for some stuffed toy, and got some guys checking her out. Before she gets picked up, Naoto held her hand and walked out of the area. Luna, none the wiser, wonders why Naoto mentions that he couldn't even have had the opportunity to walk alongside her if they weren't relatives. Luna said that it's been a long time since they held hands, and reminds Naoto about what she said last time. To be even closer than before, and the readers are given uncensored interlocked-fingers hand holding.

Their date continues to the afternoon, playing crane games and eating crepes, Luna points out Naoto's habit whenever he's still not satisfied when they were playing, that he still does in the present day. Instead of heading back home, Luna suggests going to a certain store, but it will take them a while before they could get back.

Passing by some love hotels, Naoto started getting the wrong ideas. But as a classic romcom trope, none of those was their destination. Into an establishement with a certain aesthetic, they go. It was still getting ready to set up shop, but the door's unlocked. Luna just walks in, with Naoto following through, but Naoto was getting worried if it's fine just to blatantly enter, and a familiar face greets them.

Turns out the place was Hiba's, The Witch's Bar, and Luna also works there as staff. Naoto recalls that Luna said "it's been a while" when they met at Luna's place. Turns out, Hiba went overseas and left the bar to Luna for half a year... Hiba treats them to some drinks, and the three start ot reminice about the games they played. Luna called for their go-to variation of rocks-paper-scissors.

Luna losing to Naoto once on the first punishment, had to get her arm smacked. Hiba losing to Naoto once on the third punishment, had to get judokarate chopped on the head. Then Naoto, losing to both on the second and fourth punishment, had to take a forehead flick, and "the deluxe", which is presumably all three punishments.

Luna, wanting to get things over with, brings out her arm. Naoto noticing how slender her arms are now compared to his memories, hesitates on going all out on smacking her. Chapter ends with Hiba teasing them both, tempting Naoto to smack Luna's arm without holding back, for all the stuff done to him back when they were kids.

Spoiler

It almost seems like we're heading down the supernatural route, or it could be more bait. I actually hope it's not bait, because the supernatural route feels like it would be a lot more interesting and fun to read, not to mention the off chance it might be a tie in to his other series.

This reveal of her part time job also leads to the possibility that the person who called her may of been a regular at the bar who was annoyed that she wasn't there to serve them when Naoto was sick. It also makes you wonder if their clientele isn't the average customer and may also fall into the supernatural realm.

I'm also wondering at this point if Luna may of actually been in their hometown for some kind of training. Maybe as a Miko or something like that and maybe to get her own supernatural powers under control? It would put the seemingly intentional meeting at the shrine into context.

It also brings up the possibility that if Naoto is her family and has similar traits, he may of been getting "treatment" to make sure he didn't go out of control and may of been Luna's first responsibility as a spiritualist/whatever.

It's also possible that Kawashina was the same as Naoto, receiving treatment/ being monitored because of their traits and when she bit Naoto, she had to be moved away before she went out of control and potentially became dangerous (well, she kind of still is, just not in a violent way).

If it turns out the third girl in the picture isn't actually Hiba, I'd say it's entirely possible that she might actually be the head of a temple/miko and was training Luna and/or monitoring Naoto and Kawashina.

Going with this, it brings me back to the idea that something Luna did involving Naoto may of triggered something in him and it was no longer possible for them to be together until it was thought that Naoto would no longer pose a threat of going out of control.

 

[shinya78]

My OCD (as it usually does) got the best of me.

Spoiler

It almost seems like we're heading down the supernatural route, or it could be more bait. I actually hope it's not bait, because the supernatural route feels like it would be a lot more interesting and fun to read, not to mention the off chance it might be a tie in to his other series.

This reveal of her part time job also leads to the possibility that the person who called her may of been a regular at the bar who was annoyed that she wasn't there to serve them when Naoto was sick. It also makes you wonder if their clientele isn't the average customer and may also fall into the supernatural realm.

I'm also wondering at this point if Luna may of actually been in their hometown for some kind of training.

I can't really blame you, it's been hinted at since the author decided to use unusual eye designs not only on Luna, but also on Hiba.

Spoiler

Although, that's not quite what I'm getting by the sudden revelations.
For starters, it seemed less spiritual to me and more in-line with the other series, involving dimension hopping isekai shenanigans. If we take the name of Hiba's bar seriously, 魔女の酒場(The Witch's Bar), it tells everyone that the bar is literally owned by a witch.

Assuming both series are set in the same universe, then compare this witch-looking girl's eyes to Hiba's, the only plausible connection between the two series that I've seen so far.

Luna's job reveal shouldn't be where to put your attention to, but the fact that Hiba's been overseas for six months, left said bar to Luna, and just came back in chapter 6. Solo massage sessions can be explained away, but now the question is, WHO was the other person Luna interacted with by the door in chapter 4?

Japanese folks returning to their hometown every summer? Most likely due to a combination of the summer break, and Obon Festival.

 

[OldVice]

I can't really blame you, it's been hinted at since the author decided to use unusual eye designs not only on Luna, but also on Hiba.

Spoiler

Although, that's not quite what I'm getting by the sudden revelations.
For starters, it seemed less spiritual to me and more in-line with the other series, involving dimension hopping isekai shenanigans. If we take the name of Hiba's bar seriously, 魔女の酒場(The Witch's Bar), it tells everyone that the bar is literally owned by a witch.

Assuming both series are set in the same universe, then compare this witch-looking girl's eyes to Hiba's, the only plausible connection between the two series that I've seen so far.

Luna's job reveal shouldn't be where to put your attention to, but the fact that Hiba's been overseas for six months, left said bar to Luna, and just came back in chapter 6. Solo massage sessions can be explained away, but now the question is, WHO was the other person Luna interacted with by the door in chapter 4?

Japanese folks returning to their hometown every summer? Most likely due to a combination of the summer break, and Obon Festival.

Spoiler

I probably could of phrased it better, but I'm correlating supernatural/spiritual with fantasy.

It's also not just the eyes of those two, it's also that Kawashina has literal saw teeth that aren't explained away as a trope (among her other character traits) and that Atsushi went out of his way bring attention to Naoto's fang teeth with no elaboration.

With that said, if the two series are actually tie in with each other (possible, but maybe unlikely?), it's entirely possible that their "hometown" is a crossover spot between the two worlds and the people there aren't completely human.

If it is a tie in, it's also possible that Luna may of been from the other side and that's where she was until whenever she returned to Japan. It could also explain why Naoto's parents never told him where she went, because they couldn't let him know, or didn't want him to know about the other world since he was born and raised in theirs. It's also possible that Hiba was from that side too and she was able to go along with Luna to Japan.

If the third girl isn't actually Hiba, it's also possible that she might be the one, like the "store manager" who facilitates the passage between the two worlds and may of revoked Luna's permission to enter Japan.

It's also possible that Hiba's "trip overseas" was her returning to the other side for some reason.

This entire theory hinges completely on the idea that the series are actually connected and will likely be destroyed within a few chapters.

I really only have boring theories about what is going on in Luna's room, but I will say, in the chapter where they were cleaning the apartment, when she suggested that they clean her room next, it felt like she wanted him to see her room and show it to him which could explain what's going on in there.

The other constant is that she refers to working at the bar as her "part time job", eluding to the idea that working at the bar isn't what she normally does for a living. Whether or not this has something to do with what's going on in her room remains to be seen though.

As for whoever the person was in chapter 4, it's hard to say if it was someone she was trying to hide from him, someone irrelevant to the story, or if it was potentially someone he knew and she was trying to surprise him with (since we now know she doesn't have a boyfriend) and he blew it when he threw a tantrum and stomped off. There's a chance that she was actually just trying on the maid costume and was making all kinds of weird moaning noises while getting her measurements taken and having adjustments done and that could explain why the other person was asking why she making the moaning sounds, since normal people wouldn't do that. But like with the condom wrapper, we haven't been given any hints, so everything is basically baseless speculation.

 

[shinya78]

Spoiler: 1

With that said, if the two series are actually tie in with each other (possible, but maybe unlikely?), it's entirely possible that their "hometown" is a crossover spot between the two worlds and the people there aren't completely human.

If it is a tie in, it's also possible that Luna may of been from the other side and that's where she was until whenever she returned to Japan. It could also explain why Naoto's parents never told him where she went, because they couldn't let him know, or didn't want him to know about the other world since he was born and raised in theirs. It's also possible that Hiba was from that side too and she was able to go along with Luna to Japan.

Spoiler: 2

If the third girl isn't actually Hiba, it's also possible that she might be the one, like the "store manager" who facilitates the passage between the two worlds and may of revoked Luna's permission to enter Japan.

Spoiler: 3

I really only have boring theories about what is going on in Luna's room, but I will say, in the chapter where they were cleaning the apartment, when she suggested that they clean her room next, it felt like she wanted him to see her room and show it to him which could explain what's going on in there.

Spoiler: 4

The other constant is that she refers to working at the bar as her "part time job", eluding to the idea that working at the bar isn't what she normally does for a living. Whether or not this has something to do with what's going on in her room remains to be seen though.

Spoiler: 1

A whole town of other-worlders, huh? Must be Decade's fault again. ONORE DIKEIDO!
Note that the sage that sent the other series' MC to the other world, seems human, with normal set of eyes, with the exception of being able to use magic. There's a possibility for some humans and possibly hybrids from the other world, to have get reverse isekai'd into the "normal" boring world at some point.

Spoiler: 2

Story-flow and timing wise, it would've been weird that Hiba wasn't the third girl. Contrasting appearance could have be an oversight, or a case of ArakiSuga Forgot, who knows? Last time the photo got referenced was when Kawashina got confirmed. If Hiba wasn't meant to be that other girl in the photo, when will the author introduce her? Will she even get introduced, for that matter.

Spoiler: 3

It felt more like it was only because Luna thinks Naoto would be doing the majority of the work. She was straightforward enough to ask if her being loud kept Naoto up, suggesting her being rather simple. If she actually wanted to show Naoto her room, she wouldn't be dejected when Naoto refused, she'd show her room to him herself.

Spoiler: 4

It's very likely that Luna is a freeter, and Hiba's bar would likely be her primary job, if not her only one. It is not uncommon for young adults in Japan, to be working "part-time" or even "regularly part-time" for quite some time getting paid by the hour at a place they know or comfortable at, before they enter a company to work "full time" and being on a monthly paycheck. Working at bars, or in any industry in general in Japan, unless you have a full-time contract, or the actual owner, you're more likely to be reffered to as an arbeiter. With said job commonly being reffered to as an アルバイト, or バイト for short. The nuance is closer to the German origins of the word, you can work a single job for the longest time, or multiple jobs for that matter, so long as you don't fulfill certain conditions, it will be referred to as a バイト.

 

[OldVice]

Spoiler: 1

A whole town of other-worlders, huh? Must be Decade's fault again. ONORE DIKEIDO!
Note that the sage that sent the other series' MC to the other world, seems human, with normal set of eyes, with the exception of being able to use magic. There's a possibility for some humans and possibly hybrids from the other world, to have get reverse isekai'd into the "normal" boring world at some point.

Spoiler: 2

Story-flow and timing wise, it would've been weird that Hiba wasn't the third girl. Contrasting appearance could have be an oversight, or a case of ArakiSuga Forgot, who knows? Last time the photo got referenced was when Kawashina got confirmed. If Hiba wasn't meant to be that other girl in the photo, when will the author introduce her? Will she even get introduced, for that matter.

Spoiler: 3

It felt more like it was only because Luna thinks Naoto would be doing the majority of the work. She was straightforward enough to ask if her being loud kept Naoto up, suggesting her being rather simple. If she actually wanted to show Naoto her room, she wouldn't be dejected when Naoto refused, she'd show her room to him herself.

Spoiler: 4

It's very likely that Luna is a freeter, and Hiba's bar would likely be her primary job, if not her only one. It is not uncommon for young adults in Japan, to be working "part-time" or even "regularly part-time" for quite some time getting paid by the hour at a place they know or comfortable at, before they enter a company to work "full time" and being on a monthly paycheck. Working at bars, or in any industry in general in Japan, unless you have a full-time contract, or the actual owner, you're more likely to be reffered to as an arbeiter. With said job commonly being reffered to as an アルバイト, or バイト for short. The nuance is closer to the German origins of the word, you can work a single job for the longest time, or multiple jobs for that matter, so long as you don't fulfill certain conditions, it will be referred to as a バイト.

Spoiler: spoiler 1

I'm aware how flimsy the idea is. It's more along the lines of a fun idea than anything. Though with how the managers personality seems to be, it wouldn't be surprising if she moved "demons" to another world because she felt the need to, or was asked to help them, since her character seems to be neutral.

Even without the idea of the series being tied together, it's possible that some of the families in the town could be descended from human yokai/kamuy/whatever unions and inherit their traits. Like the legend of Horkew Kamuy calling out to a woman, the legend behind Abe no Seimei and probably a bunch more. .....I feel like I'm halfway to writing out the plot for Inuyasha.....

Spoiler: Spoiler 2

I'm not really going to let this one go until we get confirmation, and who knows, we might get the confirmation that it's Hiba in the photo pretty soon. For them time being, I'm going to assume that it's someone else.

Aside from the third girl being confirmed, I'm also still waiting for it to be revealed to, or figured out by Naoto that Kawashina is the kid from when they were kids.

Although, the delay in the reveal on the third girl rides on the idea that rather than wrap this series up in a few books, Atsushi might actually flesh this one out a bit more and make it longer than his usual works. I would actually be fine with this one going on for longer since a series doesn't have to end when the "mystery" is revealed, but it would definitely require the story to have a direction to go in after.

Spoiler: Spoiler 3

Valid point, this was me running with an idea. Although it does seem like she's just fine living with the place as a complete mess and was possibly just trying to get him to clean her room. It does seem like she's not going to tell him anything unless he asks though and I can't think of any good reason why.

Spoiler: Spoiler 4

I'm aware of the freeter deal to a degree, but since it's not even remotely similar to how things are here, I've only really compared it to something like gig work or a temp job. So I've really got nothing to add in that regard other than it seeming odd to me.

Also going to point out that my Japanese is fucking terrible and more often than not, I get annoyed reading the raws and feed it to a translator and get nonsensical translations.

 

[shinya78]

Spoiler: Spoiler 2

I'm not really going to let this one go until we get confirmation, and who knows, we might get the confirmation that it's Hiba in the photo pretty soon. For them time being, I'm going to assume that it's someone else.

Aside from the third girl being confirmed, I'm also still waiting for it to be revealed to, or figured out by Naoto that Kawashina is the kid from when they were kids.

Although, the delay in the reveal on the third girl rides on the idea that rather than wrap this series up in a few books, Atsushi might actually flesh this one out a bit more and make it longer than his usual works. I would actually be fine with this one going on for longer since a series doesn't have to end when the "mystery" is revealed, but it would definitely require the story to have a direction to go in after.

Spoiler: Spoiler 4

I'm aware of the freeter deal to a degree, but since it's not even remotely similar to how things are here, I've only really compared it to something like gig work or a temp job. So I've really got nothing to add in that regard other than it seeming odd to me.

Also going to point out that my Japanese is fucking terrible and more often than not, I get annoyed reading the raws and feed it to a translator and get nonsensical translations.

Spoiler: Hiba theory

The only explanation I got that would tie-in to Hiba being not the girl the old photo would be that she stopped visiting their hometown at some point prior for some reason. Nothing of the sort has been mentioned so far, so we're banking on the flow of story telling instead. That after the Kawashina reveal, the next girl introduced would likely be that other girl in the photo, bonus points if she's in the same age-group, and had been to their hometown in the past as well. Until the photo is referenced again in the future, there's the chance that the inconsistencies of Hiba's past appearance in comparison to the mystery girl in the photo is a case of ArakiSuga Forgot.

Spoiler: Japan employment

It's a nuance thing, really. If you didn't wear a suit at some point when applying for the job, it'll probably be referred to as a baito or "part time job". Often time young adults, if not working multiple jobs, would treat their "part time job" as their "main job", and some jobs effectively can be considered a stable job, but they'll still get nagged at by old-school parents to get a "real" job. This discrepancy is still a thing in modern day Japan. Let's say, unless you smack them in the face with the sheer amount of earnings of a top streamer, old folks would still treat your streaming job as a "part time job", even if you're signed under contract with a company as a full-time employed streamer.

Knowledge of grammar, both kanas, basic kanji, and the ability to recognize and write them, is often enough as a stepping stone to transition from relying on machine translations to looking up dictionaries for meanings. On text books, MTLs works perfectly fine, "kore wa pen desu" will always give you "this is a pen", but actual scenarios are not like in the text books, machine translators are often unreliable in real life situations because the language relies on your knowledge on how to pick up on contextual clues when things aren't being explicitly said.

 

[OldVice]

Spoiler: Hiba theory

The only explanation I got that would tie-in to Hiba being not the girl the old photo would be that she stopped visiting their hometown at some point prior for some reason. Nothing of the sort has been mentioned so far, so we're banking on the flow of story telling instead. That after the Kawashina reveal, the next girl introduced would likely be that other girl in the photo, bonus points if she's in the same age-group, and had been to their hometown in the past as well. Until the photo is referenced again in the future, there's the chance that the inconsistencies of Hiba's past appearance in comparison to the mystery girl in the photo is a case of ArakiSuga Forgot.

Spoiler: Japan employment

It's a nuance thing, really. If you didn't wear a suit at some point when applying for the job, it'll probably be referred to as a baito or "part time job". Often time young adults, if not working multiple jobs, would treat their "part time job" as their "main job", and some jobs effectively can be considered a stable job, but they'll still get nagged at by old-school parents to get a "real" job. This discrepancy is still a thing in modern day Japan. Let's say, unless you smack them in the face with the sheer amount of earnings of a top streamer, old folks would still treat your streaming job as a "part time job", even if you're signed under contract with a company as a full-time employed streamer.

Knowledge of grammar, both kanas, basic kanji, and the ability to recognize and write them, is often enough as a stepping stone to transition from relying on machine translations to looking up dictionaries for meanings. On text books, MTLs works perfectly fine, "kore wa pen desu" will always give you "this is a pen", but actual scenarios are not like in the text books, machine translators are often unreliable in real life situations because the language relies on your knowledge on how to pick up on contextual clues when things aren't being explicitly said.

Spoiler: Hiba

The problem I have with assuming that it's Hiba in the photo, is that she was only there "a few times" with Luna. While Luna is the one who has the photo (maybe Naoto has one too?), the people in it seem like they were always in Naoto's life in the summers and were important/significant to him, or both of them. It's kind of hard to say that Hiba was really important to him when he had to think about it a bit to even remember her name. He even remembers Kawashina, but it remains to be seen if he even knew her name at all (which would be kind of weird since she knew his).

I really don't think the photo is something that Atushi would of forgotten about, since he seems to of given it a deal of significance to the story and it is definitely looks like it's being used as a plot device.

Also just pointing out again that the "body type", hair style, clothing and mannerisms (her pose in the photo), don't really resemble anything that we saw from the small flashbacks to her.

This is just me not assuming that it's Hiba without being given the same level of confirmation as was done for Kawashina and being open to the possibility to the idea that we may be getting more characters introduced in the near future.

Edit: Forgot to add some things.

I think the biggest issue I have with learning a language that I actually want to, is that back in school, I was forced to take multiple courses for languages I had absolutely no interest in learning, (fake) French, German, Russian that when it turns into work, rather than an interest, I just can't be bothered.

Funnily enough, some of my old friends taught me a lot of their languages, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin (I grew up in an area with a lot of different Asian cultures), but I ended up forgetting pretty much all of it because I never had any reason to use it as time went on.

 

[shinya78]

Spoiler: Hiba

The problem I have with assuming that it's Hiba in the photo, is that she was only there "a few times" with Luna. While Luna is the one who has the photo (maybe Naoto has one too?), the people in it seem like they were always in Naoto's life in the summers and were important/significant to him, or both of them. It's kind of hard to say that Hiba was really important to him when he had to think about it a bit to even remember her name. He even remembers Kawashina, but it remains to be seen if he even knew her name at all (which would be kind of weird since she knew his).

I really don't think the photo is something that Atushi would of forgotten about, since he seems to of given it a deal of significance to the story and it is definitely looks like it's being used as a plot device.

Also just pointing out again that the "body type", hair style, clothing and mannerisms (her pose in the photo), don't really resemble anything that we saw from the small flashbacks to her.

This is just me not assuming that it's Hiba without being given the same level of confirmation as was done for Kawashina and being open to the possibility to the idea that we may be getting more characters introduced in the near future.

Edit: Forgot to add some things.

I think the biggest issue I have with learning a language that I actually want to, is that back in school, I was forced to take multiple courses for languages I had absolutely no interest in learning, (fake) French, German, Russian that when it turns into work, rather than an interest, I just can't be bothered.

Funnily enough, some of my old friends taught me a lot of their languages, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin (I grew up in an area with a lot of different Asian cultures), but I ended up forgetting pretty much all of it because I never had any reason to use it as time went on.

Spoiler: Hiba

If Kawashina, who Luna doesn't even remember, being the one that bit Naoto, made it into the photo. Why would someone who is specifically stated to be her friend not make it in? We can't rule her not being there just yet because it hasn't been explained when exactly the photo was taken, and when Hiba was or wasn't there.

Naoto has a literal bite scar to constantly remind himself of the girl that bit him, whether he remembers it was Kawashina is a different matter. But all Hiba needed to do to jog his memory was to give hime a forehead flick.

By forgetting about the photo, I meant the depiction of the third girl in the photo. If Hiba was planned to be the third girl, why would flashback!Hiba be smaller in terms of honkers. The only thing that was remained the same between photo girl and flashback!Hiba physically was the long dark hair, and perhaps the habit of putting one or both of her hands behind her back, as if restraining herself, when around new folks, like when she was being introduced to flashback!Naoto, or when Kawashina is greeting them before leaving. Note that despite being partially obscured by Kawashina bowing, has her arms closer to her body, and should she just let her left arm down, her left hand would've visibly reached the bottom of her shorts. If Kawashina = flashback!Kawashina didn't register for Luna because of her new girlish appearance, perhaps Hiba wouldn't recognize her as well. The pose on the photo was because either whoever took the photo was someone new to her, or there were others watching just behind the camera.

We definitely need Suga to pull up the photo once again, if the girl in the photo suddenly matches flashback!Hiba's size, then ArakiSuga actually forgot about the honkers. If not, we might have another girl appear down the pipeline.

Historically speaking, I can understand why French and German would be mandatory. English is a West Germanic language with a lot of French influence from back in "ye olden days". But mandatory Po-russki? I dunno man, probably a left-over from the Cold War era or something.

Because of the lack of day-to-day use in the modern age, foreign languages that used to be mandatory other than possibly English, became optional in other countries.

Funnily enough, the reason you forgot what your Asian friends taught you, is the same reason why most Japanese still struggle when confronted in English, even when studying the language is mandatory. They had little to no reason using it, and it's now biting them in the arse as Japan becomes more global by the day.

 

[OldVice]

Spoiler: Hiba

If Kawashina, who Luna doesn't even remember, being the one that bit Naoto, made it into the photo. Why would someone who is specifically stated to be her friend not make it in? We can't rule her not being there just yet because it hasn't been explained when exactly the photo was taken, and when Hiba was or wasn't there.

Naoto has a literal bite scar to constantly remind himself of the girl that bit him, whether he remembers it was Kawashina is a different matter. But all Hiba needed to do to jog his memory was to give hime a forehead flick.

By forgetting about the photo, I meant the depiction of the third girl in the photo. If Hiba was planned to be the third girl, why would flashback!Hiba be smaller in terms of honkers. The only thing that was remained the same between photo girl and flashback!Hiba physically was the long dark hair, and perhaps the habit of putting one or both of her hands behind her back, as if restraining herself, when around new folks, like when she was being introduced to flashback!Naoto, or when Kawashina is greeting them before leaving. Note that despite being partially obscured by Kawashina bowing, has her arms closer to her body, and should she just let her left arm down, her left hand would've visibly reached the bottom of her shorts. If Kawashina = flashback!Kawashina didn't register for Luna because of her new girlish appearance, perhaps Hiba wouldn't recognize her as well. The pose on the photo was because either whoever took the photo was someone new to her, or there were others watching just behind the camera.

We definitely need Suga to pull up the photo once again, if the girl in the photo suddenly matches flashback!Hiba's size, then ArakiSuga actually forgot about the honkers. If not, we might have another girl appear down the pipeline.

Historically speaking, I can understand why French and German would be mandatory. English is a West Germanic language with a lot of French influence from back in "ye olden days". But mandatory Po-russki? I dunno man, probably a left-over from the Cold War era or something.

Because of the lack of day-to-day use in the modern age, foreign languages that used to be mandatory other than possibly English, became optional in other countries.

Funnily enough, the reason you forgot what your Asian friends taught you, is the same reason why most Japanese still struggle when confronted in English, even when studying the language is mandatory. They had little to no reason using it, and it's now biting them in the arse as Japan becomes more global by the day.

Spoiler: Hiba

Keep in mind, I'm not saying that it's definitely not Hiba in the photo, I'm just looking at the possibility that there is another character yet to be introduced. I don't really see any reason that the only girls in the series have to be the ones from the photo.

I'm sure the average person wouldn't be able to recognize someone who changed as much as Kawashina has, while Hiba has the same general appearance as she did in the past.

While the body language might not be the best things to base things around, yeah, I still have a hard time seeing Hiba as the third one in the photo, mostly because of the physical traits that seem to be different between them. To me though, with the little we saw of her in the past and the present, the clothing is another thing that seems a little off as well.

Also, if you take a look at the same page, it looks like Luna does actually recognize Kawashina and there may of been something that happened between the two of them when Kawashina also realized who Luna is. Can't say for sure on that front until it gets brought up again later on.

I do think this is something that is going to be addressed eventually and it's entirely possible that Hiba was always wearing loose clothing to hide her chest.

English and French are the national languages here, so while most people only ever use and speak English, we're forced to learn French all throughout school.

I think German was always available to take as a course and Russian was added because there was resources and teachers fluent for it to be taught. Probabaly should of mentioned that you had the choice to take one or the other, but you had to pick one.

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, since speaking other languages really does seem like a use it or lose it type deal. It's not completely gone, but it's not even close to what it was and getting back to being semi fluent would be a lot of work.

Edit: Also forgot to mention, it was actually really funny the reactions I use to get when I would talk to Asians in their language. Being pretty tall and kind of racially ambiguous seemed to really throw them off too.