Osoraku Kanojo wa Ore no Aniki wo Neratteru - Ch. 16

[UdenEmpati]

It can be spun in a way that his brother is trying to help him get past his trauma. Like if Rei thinks to himself "I know that this girl is actually interested in Tohno and not in me because I saw them at the sports festival, so I should help her get closer to him so that he realises that girls are not all bad". Even though giving away someone else's contact info is usually a pretty rude thing to do, in this situation I think it could be a big help in their situation. I doubt the characters in the story would look at it that way, though.

And I don't agree at all that Houjou merely interacting with Rei to ask about Tohno would confirm Tohno's fears. Context is important. He fears girls trying to use him to get closer to Rei, but Houjou using Rei to get close to Tohno is an exact reversal of that. If she's interested in Rei, why would she bother to get Tohno's contact info from Rei and then use it to talk to Tohno instead of just talking to Rei directly? That's the opposite of what he'd expect. Tohno isn't going to start suspecting Houjou of foul play if she literally just asks Rei for Tohno's details and then ignores Rei after that.

I think you're missing the broader point.
Tohno's issues are broader than "girls only use me to get to my brother". It's that no girl is interested in him, and only in his brother.
Every time a girl came to chat him up, it was to butter him up into getting details about Rei. Every time they came with a present, it wasn't for Tohno - it was for Rei. Every time he exchanged contact info, it wasn't because she was into him, it was to get to Rei.

If Tohno saw Houjou talking to Rei in any context, or heard about it through someone else, all that would do is confirm that she actually was into his older brother and not himself. Whatever she was really doing wouldn't matter in his mind, her simply interacting with Rei is confirmation of the core of his problem - she wasn't actually into him.

I will admit that it would set up a good bit of drama near the end of the narrative prior to any sort of proper confession & revelation of feelings between Houjou and Tohno, but in-story that ploy would backfire HORRENDOUSLY for Houjou and only serve to push Tohno further away from her.

 

[chusetto]

Compulsory drama

 

[UdenEmpati]

Of course. It's life. You get over it.
Dude's potentially ruining an opportunity because of his fear. It's weak.
I say potentially, because we all know it's going to turn around in the next chapter or two - this character has been written such that he recognizes his faults and adapts, contrary to most MMC's in these sorts of manga, and despite the comment section handling it with kids gloves.

They're literally kids.

 

[MiguelH224]

Tohno
Man tf up

You just don't get it smh

 

[MiguelH224]

Bro is genuinely traumatized...

Those girls that were with Hasagawa literally proved his point, that's why it's so easy for her to understand how he's feeling about that


Also helped due to her acknowledging that she was just like them at one point and even tried to pull exactly that on him

 

[Tap2]

I guess I'd have to go back and read - because I suspect that Houjou is effectively oblivious to what Tohno's gone through, in terms of how all the other girls see/think about him (because she is, like, the one girl we've seen who's not after his brother). She's in her own little world it would seem, so that connection between Tohno and Rei might just not occur to her at all.

So she fully doesn't get why he shut down here, on multiple levels. And he's not going to explain it to her.

I look forward to seeing how this bit gets resolved, though. I have no clue how long this series is looking to run (if there's even an actual 'end point' worked out, to that effect), but this sorta reads like a moment where a big checkpoint for Tohno figuring out whether to put his faith in Houjou.

Feels like Hinagi, who actually understands what's going on, could actually help the couple-to-be by telling Houjou what's going on. Houjou may well have got at least part of it, but being told straight up could mean she has options.
Just asking him if Houjou has ever treated him badly is a cop out method. That is the way to try affecting him without admitting to him that you know what's going on (and that Hinagi herself is part of the problem). If she were to openly admit (to him) that she did him wrong, then she could follow up by saying she hasn't ever seen Houjou thirst for the older brother. THAT might actually reach him.
In any case, it would be nice to see some actual development, and I think information would be key to that.

Also, Hej du ICKE empatilöse!

 

[Tap2]

Tohno, stop being a dick and apologize to your wife for making her sad.

Dude! (Making assumptions here, but just like Tohno, I have tons of statistics to support this assumption.)
He has literally NO cases where persons of the female persuasion have approached him out of literally anything but thirst for his big brother. Why would he ever think Houjou is different?
And it's not like it's just history. It keeps happening all the time. The best thing for him would be if the brother switched to another school (or maybe Tohno himself did that? Probably more efficient ...)
So if someone doesn't immediately trigger the red "fxck-she's-aiming-for-bro-via-me" alert, that someone will still be flagged as a girl who hasn't YET asked for his brother's contact info, etc.
I think he would need someone to actively tell him that she isn't interested in his brother, and even then, Tohno would be wary for quite a while.
Alternatively, Houjou could tell his brother that she is totally uninterested in him, and ask him (the bro) to tell his kid brother she is aiming for him (Tohno). That might work better?

 

[Tap2]

I guess I'd have to go back and read - because I suspect that Houjou is effectively oblivious to what Tohno's gone through, in terms of how all the other girls see/think about him (because she is, like, the one girl we've seen who's not after his brother). She's in her own little world it would seem, so that connection between Tohno and Rei might just not occur to her at all.

So she fully doesn't get why he shut down here, on multiple levels. And he's not going to explain it to her.

I look forward to seeing how this bit gets resolved, though. I have no clue how long this series is looking to run (if there's even an actual 'end point' worked out, to that effect), but this sorta reads like a moment where a big checkpoint for Tohno figuring out whether to put his faith in Houjou.

Sorry. Weird double-click or something.

 

[La_kaus]

Bro's trauma is genuine but at least he got a supporter and that is ...........yes the sister-in-law. WOOOO

 

[MiguelH224]

Compulsory drama

How?

 

[MiguelH224]

Nah, he gets it honestly

He really said "man tf up" as if we didn't just witness girls plotting exactly what he was talking about

They deadass proved his point

 

[Phantasmoon]

Damn, now I feel sad for the MC, although this whole situation can get fixed by those two just talking it out, unfortunately this is a japanese manga so it will take 20-30 chapters minimum to do that.

 

[MiguelH224]

ever experienced getting burned? multiple times at that? lemme tell you, it sucks and if we men aren't such lonely creatures I myself wish I haven't gotten burned as much as I did. Tohno's reacting normally.

Of course. It's life. You get over it.
Dude's potentially ruining an opportunity because of his fear. It's weak.
I say potentially, because we all know it's going to turn around in the next chapter or two - this character has been written such that he recognizes his faults and adapts, contrary to most MMC's in these sorts of manga, and despite the comment section handling it with kids gloves.

Bro are we reading the same manga?? We just had girls plotting exactly what Tohno was talking about in the exact same chapter


Are we gonna act blind just to shit on the MC???

His feelings about all of this are completely valid

 

[UdenEmpati]

Bro are we reading the same manga?? We just had girls plotting exactly what Tohno was talking about in the exact same chapter


Are we gonna act blind just to shit on the MC???

His feelings about all of this are completely valid

Reading Comprehension and Empathy are at an all-time low for some people, it would seem.

 

[Phantasmoon]

I hope Houjou gets Tohno's contact details by asking Rei to send her the details. Rei saw her with him during the sports festival and probably has some idea of what his brother's gone through, so I think he'd be game to hook her up. It would be two birds with one stone - she gets Tohno's contact details, and she also demonstrates that she isn't interested in Rei by using him as the middle man. I feel like that would be too perfect of a conclusion, though.

Do that and we are forced to an entire 5 to 6 chapters of misunderstandings because MC saw those two with their phones pulled out.

 

[Phantasmoon]

It can be spun in a way that his brother is trying to help him get past his trauma. Like if Rei thinks to himself "I know that this girl is actually interested in Tohno and not in me because I saw them at the sports festival, so I should help her get closer to him so that he realises that girls are not all bad". Even though giving away someone else's contact info is usually a pretty rude thing to do (and for that reason I don't think Houjou would ask Rei and I don't think he would give the info if she did), in this situation I think it could be a big help.

And I don't agree at all that Houjou merely interacting with Rei to ask about Tohno would confirm Tohno's fears. Context is important. He fears girls trying to use him to get closer to Rei, but Houjou using Rei to get close to Tohno is an exact reversal of that. If she's interested in Rei, why would she bother to get Tohno's contact info from Rei and then use it to talk to Tohno instead of just talking to Rei directly? That's the opposite of what he'd expect. Tohno isn't going to start suspecting Houjou of foul play if she literally just asks Rei for Tohno's details and then ignores Rei after that.

His own brother is oblivious to his entire issue though, not a single chapter showed that he is aware, in fact I think that the black haired girl from the sports fest that talked to Rei is more aware of the issues at hand than Rei himself, hence his lack of action on it, hell MC's friends are the ones giving him the emotional support he needs because his entire family is a joke at this point.

 

[shinshom]

the trauma of this boy goes deep huh

 

[faaresemo]

well that's awfully gay of you to say that about Urara
I wish the two of you many happy fanworks together

 

[MiguelH224]

Reading Comprehension and Empathy are at an all-time low for some people, it would seem.

💯

 

[Joirish1495]

If at any point his dumbass brother start gaining feelings foe this specific girl ill fully believe he is torturing the mc on purpose