Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi - Ch. 220

[ForTheJerusalem]

"We're making a filler chapter, aren't we?"

 

[jagfanbb]

"We're friends, aren't we?"
I mean I'd be happy if Natsumi's really resolved things in her mind like so...
However, I can't help but feel like her focus on gaming with Yuuto in the previous chapter and then changing her nail color, as well as trying to push Futaba into Takeda's arms with her questioning in this one is just a way for her to try and quickly bury her own feelings to passed the point of no return without truly facing them as with a confession.

You mean like most everyone? 🙄
Why would you confess to your best friend when they are clearly straight and in love with someone?
That's not a friend. That's being a dick.

 

[Mr.Oblivion]

• Natsumi wouldn't accept the confession of a classmate because of her feelings for Futaba.
• Futaba only saw Natsumi as a friend and didn't care that her love and presence could be stolen away by someone else.
• Futaba meets Takeda, who gradually grows closer to her through friendly interactions that cause her to fall in love.
• Natsumi meets Yuuto, who comforts her with friendly interactions that slowly transform into expressions of love.
• Yuuto helped Natsumi accept Futaba's love for Takeda enabling Natsumi to begin accepting Yuuto's love for her.

It was Futaba's disinterest in becoming closer to Natsumi that allowed her to be stolen away by Yuuto and someone could
easily steal Takeda if Futaba doesn't work hard to become closer to him.

God I hope that this is the case.

 

[Mr.Oblivion]

Natsumi has not been "Stolen away" from Futaba by Yuuto. She's literally, right in this chapter, saying that she is her friend, which is more of a resolution for Natsumi and literally a non change for Futaba who doesn't know that Natsumi ever had a thing for her.

Crazy how falling in love doesn't mean you have to stop interacting with anyone else entirely. People can be friends.

Would you want to continue being friends with someone you loved but know they will never love you and come to you for comfort in their own love life???

 

[Mr.Oblivion]

For all the dummies who needs this to be spelled out: Natsumi has been painting the nail of her left ring finger to symbolize a purity ring, meaning that even if she dates other people she wants to keep her heart set on Futaba.

Throughout the manga it's been portrayed as a fool's errand and she herself realizes that it's immature and naively idealistic, with the way she talks about her feelings like a stubborn childhood crush and uses self-deprecating language to undermine it because she already knows Futaba will never love her back, and she knows she's being childish by clinging on to the hope that it can change somehow.

Her tendency to call Yuuto, a teenager, "much more of an adult" than she is, is an acknowledgement that she knows the feelings she's had for Futaba (which started in middle school) is overstaying its welcome and she's getting tired of pretending it's anything worth pursuing, which causes her loneliness and grief (the smoking and moping and crying). Not to mention the fact that she's constantly drowning in her own thoughts despite never even telling Futaba about any of it.

As for the people who were duped into thinking the unrequited yuri rival subplot will ever go anywhere in a het romance story, try and recognize the patterns. It's always introduced to add drama with no real consequences because despite the ensuing conflict, the straight girl will never be swayed. It's an annoying trope that shows up too much in romance plots (usually shoujo) and all it does is pad chapters so the authors can milk their story a bit longer. I've literally ranted about this.

Kou will never date Usagi, Sawada will never date Hori, Char will never date Juliet, Kanbaru will never date Senjougahara, Gundou will never date Tomo, etc.

That being said, this author is kind of a hack, so they might try to pull something out of their ass to turn the ending into yuri fap fuel for their fanbox. Or at least a fanservice chapter for the tankoubon.



Manga protagonists are so dense that their closest friends can overcome a whole-ass story arc involving their friendship over the course of a decade and they'd still have no idea anything is happening.

Glad she finally starting to be an adult and maybe not lead a young guy on as a backup.

 

[Mr.Oblivion]

Maybe confessing is too strong a word for what I had in mind. Natsumi is the type of character I could see disclosing her remnant feelings for Futaba to her in a passive voice or post hoc manner while they were hanging out just to get it off her chest and then reassure her that they're relationship won't ever change. Alternatively, she could disclose it in confidence to Yuuto who is still in her friend-zone at the moment (also the only character who suspects this chemistry between them from a previous chapter).

She has been in love with her since their school days and now they are in their 20s, so I don't know if she can will those desires away as appears on the surface to have occurred. It just doesn't seem healthy for her to bottle up and sink those feelings without some outlet with which to acknowledge them. Of course maybe I'm just over-analyzing and not giving Yuuto enough credit.

Once you love someone for a very long time it is almost impossible to let those feelings go with trying hard.

 

[Mr.Oblivion]

It might be you're not giving Yuuto enough credit, but I think it's more an example of how adulthood means you have to learn to willingly let go of things you can't control. While it's true that she's had these feelings for Futaba for a long time, she's aware of how detrimental it is for both of them if she keeps dwelling on it when Futaba already has her heart set on Takeda. And as shown in the flashbacks, even back then it's clear she didn't exactly have a chance with Futaba to begin with or even want to pursue anything out of their relationship.

Yeah as someone else said Natsumi wasn't originally written to have feelings for Futaba but it just kinda happened to, as I feel, add drama and make the manga longer.