@orb4eva Your entire argument here about him being kind of an idiot for getting together with her is basically what I said in a previous post about this chapter. This isn't a "good guy reiichi" moment, it's a "reiichi kinda screwed up but at least the things he does aren't intended to hurt someone unlike risako"
You talk about Reiichi pitying or feeling sorry for Kaoru, but that's
obviously not the emotion here. He was
terrified about her condition. The man was straight up crying (that's a pretty big deal when especially in media, men are not supposed to cry). She lost the only pillar in her life and was legitimately wasting away. He made the choice to break things off with Risako because he actually loves Kaoru. It's not like he had some devious plan in his head where he'd get together with her and cheat on the side. He was making his choice here. Was he able to follow through with it all the way till the end? Obviously not, we've seen him struggle overcoming his
actual love for Kaoru (more like family, maybe a sister) for the romantic one he placed himself in. Again, I already mentioned in my very first reply in this thread how this was definitely not the right choice if he didn't really love her romantically, but he was clearly a bit desperate in the moment she not completely waste away.
Honestly, given the way Reiichi got together with Kaoru, It's pretty obvious even to Kaoru his primary motivations in getting together with her was certainly his love for her, but not necessarily romantic love. She knew what it was, but she buried that part deep down until she all but forgot it. I mean her little monologue is pretty self-evident.
The same thing you are criticizing Reiichi for is exactly the same sort of bullshit Risako had been pulling, except there's no coherent argument that can be made for her. It has literally nothing to do with gender. I can't believe you're even trying to equate my statements as some misogynistic tripe. She *absolutely doesn't* love Reiichi, that's a
given. Yet she got together with him. Pulled him along, apparently for quite a long time even. Out of love? No. She doesn't love him. She did what she did to mess with Kaoru, to "take" Reiichi from her, for absolutely her own selfish reasons. It's the same reason why she specifically made the statements she did at the end of the chapter. She
specifically antagonizes Kaoru, likely because she (unknowingly to herself) loves her and doesn't know how to react to these feelings of love she has but doesn't recognize as love, so she does things that get a raise out of her. She's literally the equivalent of a little boy bullying the girl he likes because he has
feelings, dammit, and he
just doesn't know what to do with them.
I don't honestly buy the "proving Reiichi is the wrong guy for Kaoru" argument for a moment. Maybe, maybe if this whole song and dance had ended in high school. But they were together for years, with Reiichi feeling obligated to keep his distance from Kaoru until he literally could not mentally allow himself to do so anymore (eg. the incident). She must have been preparing some seriously meticulous reports if she was going to play that game for as long as she had. Shame she hadn't proffered any of that information to Kaoru when the switch happened, instead going along with it merrily.
So yeah, I really can't say I find Reiichi any worse than Risako, who has the surgical precision to get what she wants of an 6 year old.
But I digress, I don't really care to continue discussing it.
