Ochinai Yogore wo Boku wa Nanto Yobeba Yokatta noka - Ch. 14

[bigboygng]

ah yes the "i add a childhood friend who stands no chance" technique that i havent used since the heian era

 

[reicchimaster]

Oh man, why did the author did this? Why introduce a great girl just to make her suffer? 😭😭

A precious childhood friend who accepted the MC who he is since they were young. I like her now more than the main girl.

 

[Silfir]

I agree with most of the post but I really disagree with this. Tsuzuri is not unworthy of victory or anything like that, she tries her best to befriend Nakayama and respect his boundaries. Maybe the reason why she didn’t try to push him into hanging out with her again after he told her he wanted to be alone is because she didn’t want to overstep his boundaries. Like don’t get me wrong, I really like Nishino too, but if things didn’t go exactly like they did in the first chapter, our perception of her would be very different. Like imagine if Nakayama didn’t develop a crush on Nishino. Then she’d just stay like an annoying classmate who keeps bothering him. So it’s unfair to say that Tsuzuri is unworthy of victory for what seems like kind of a joke from her part.

Yeah, she meant well. But that doesn't mean she should win.

You've got to reread the chapter and look at Nakayama, too. Why does he decide to stay away from Tsuzuri at school? To effectively isolate himself? What's with the emphasis on him not wanting Tsuzuri to "hold back" just to please him?

What makes Tsuzuri "unworthy" (in the sense that she was never intended to have a chance to win) is that she went "okay then, summer vacation only". Nishino managed to get him to open up to the point of having friends the entire year. And also not just herself, he made friends with several people in his class. Even Tsuzuri understands she just got beat.

You're also severely underestimating Nishino if you think she would have been flirting with Nakayama like she is doing if he didn't have a crush on her. She can tell, and it's mutual, so she keeps on flirting. That's the story in front of us.



A different story could argue that Nakayama's ideal partner is someone meticulous about never doing anything he doesn't like and always brings disinfectant wipes she she can offer them to him if they meet. In that story, Tsuzuri would be the heroine, and Nishino would be the obstacle. Maybe you'd like that story better, but I know I wouldn't.

To be clear, I'm not a huge fan of Tsuzuri being "used" in this way, either. I know that her role is to be the one who failed where Nishino is succeeding, but she's written to be just a little too sympathetic to make me believe she really would have just given up on getting Nakayama to connect with the rest of the class back then.

I also don't like that this is causing some people to have the impression that Nishino doesn't respect Nakayama's boundaries. Give the story so far a reread and you'll find she absolutely does. She just doesn't change herself to fit him. Apparently that's not good enough now? She has to actually be bringing disinfectant wipes wherever she goes with him?

 

[Apep23]

Oh my, persistence and boobs wins over meticulous planning over the year trying to understand the guy. Good job

 

[czajkoSKY]

Brother why... why you doing this to us author and you also making her cute as hell

 

[UdenEmpati]

Yeah, she meant well. But that doesn't mean she should win.

You've got to reread the chapter and look at Nakayama, too. Why does he decide to stay away from Tsuzuri at school? To effectively isolate himself? What's with the emphasis on him not wanting Tsuzuri to "hold back" just to please him?

What makes Tsuzuri "unworthy" (in the sense that she was never intended to have a chance to win) is that she went "okay then, summer vacation only". Nishino managed to get him to open up to the point of having friends the entire year. And also not just herself, he made friends with several people in his class. Even Tsuzuri understands she just got beat.

You're also severely underestimating Nishino if you think she would have been flirting with Nakayama like she is doing if he didn't have a crush on her. She can tell, and it's mutual, so she keeps on flirting. That's the story in front of us.



A different story could argue that Nakayama's ideal partner is someone meticulous about never doing anything he doesn't like and always brings disinfectant wipes she she can offer them to him if they meet. In that story, Tsuzuri would be the heroine, and Nishino would be the obstacle. Maybe you'd like that story better, but I know I wouldn't.

To be clear, I'm not a huge fan of Tsuzuri being "used" in this way, either. I know that her role is to be the one who failed where Nishino is succeeding, but she's written to be just a little too sympathetic to make me believe she really would have just given up on getting Nakayama to connect with the rest of the class back then.

I also don't like that this is causing some people to have the impression that Nishino doesn't respect Nakayama's boundaries. Give the story so far a reread and you'll find she absolutely does. She just doesn't change herself to fit him. Apparently that's not good enough now? She has to actually be bringing disinfectant wipes wherever she goes with him?

Your insight into the series across your posts are great here, and I'm glad to see someone taking the time to dig this deep past the "dumb triangle" surface and get at the elements of storytelling and how the characters fit into them, while being faithful to the people the characters are and empathizing with them on that axis.

Your bold-ed line in the last paragraph is the kicker for me, though - and I think that's the key takeaway for Nishino's character and for Nakayama. If the point is for Nakayama to work through his compulsive behavior and expand his world and connections to others, Nishino is the one who is poised to do that, because she both cares for him and about him, but also for herself and her own needs, and won't compromise one for the other.
Tsuzuri did compromise, and that's not what's going to actually help Nakayama, even in his own mind. He pushed Tsuzuri away, because he didn't want her to do what she was doing. She was fine with it, to all appearances, but on some level it helped neither of them. She had to hold back for him, and he was being held back and never pushed or compelled to try and expand--and that's not going to lead to growth of his character or his person.

I personally hope that Tsuzuri becomes a part of his friend group, and if she has to process her feelings toward Nakayama and get to a better place, I think that also represents a good narrative beat. It would also give her a chance to grow, as well - she's been rather skillfully introduced as a long-running character within the narrative, even; she's not an old friend come back after years of absence, but someone who Nakayama saw every summer.
Her coming back now, meeting Nishino, working through her history with Nakayama, and maybe becoming part of their friend group in some capacity, would resolve her character arc in turn, for her own sake and to tie Nakayama's past and present together within the narrative, as well.

Plus, I kinda think Nishino & Tsuzuri would hit it off, and I want to see the two of them together gossiping about the versions of Nakayama they each knew, and building a complete picture of him for them both. They're literary foils for the other, fundamentally, but as people within the setting I think they could be good friends.

 

[MaCl0wSt]

Thanks for the chapter!