Thank you for the quality work as always.
I have been waiting for this one for awhile now--and it went about as well as I expected. I'm just glad Hajime didn't try giving Kyou's letter to Momoka in this moment, as all of that piled on at once would have likely broken her.
The obvious ramifications are to Laureley; both Hajime and Momoka would be prone to "putting on a brave face" and trying to be cordial around one another for the sake of practice, but you can't hide these kinds of hurts behind a false smile, especially when--as their manager emphasized--their music stems from such emotional places for them. Momoka's nerves will be shot, and Hajime is the type of girl to close herself off and simply shut down, taking it upon herself and pulling away from the others out of shame and guilt.
I imagine it will be resolved eventually, though we're right at the beginning, and it's going to get worse for the two of them, for Shiho, and for Laureley as a whole before it gets better. They both have a solid friend-base to work with, but none of the others will have dealt with anything like this: where the partner in question isn't even there to get clarification from, and all they have is a single one-sided letter of intent written long ago.
It does hurt, though, given Hajime's history with her sister. Kyou's "magic" still guiding her along, deciding her life for her, and she's fully boxed into this path at this point. Knowing that even her parents seem to treat her as an afterthought of sorts makes it almost seem like Hajime has no one on her side in all of this...and even Momoka is Kyou's partner first, and Hajime's friend second. Even in death, Kyou controls Hajime's life, and she's never really had or gotten anything that she herself wants. Her falling in love with Momoka stings doubly so, because in a sense, even getting a relationship with her would be like Hajime getting her sister's hand-me-down. It's a cruel and cold way to view it, but I wonder if Hajime has internalized that, at all.
That said--this needed to happen eventually. Hajime & Momoka are the final two with stories left untold, and I actually think the most dramatic has been left for last. I both want to see them focused on, and hope we get actual screen time with the others--Himari & Yori are going strong, but after Himari meeting Yori's parents I hope we get to see their relationship progress more and more. Shiho and Aki are finding their footing together, and we had a chapter with them recently....but I wish for more. The others are more side characters (Aki's sister Miki and her partner seem like they might get less overall screentime), but it'd be nice to get some fluff and cute gay dating stuff in between what will likely be quite the heavy arc.
I just hope they all come out okay the other end. I have faith it'll be a good story regardless.