The Dangers in My Heart - Vol. 10 Ch. 133 - I'm Stuck in the Middle

[ImNotCreativeEnoughtForThese]

Alright so that just happened huh. I adore when the art style becomes silly during moments of silence like on page 12 panel 4, its so fun to look at.

 

[mtfunky]

wat

 

[JagdPanther]

When I saw this chapter had 180+ comments I definitely wasn't expecting THIS to be why. Yeesh.

 

[apstorm]

What a realistic high schooler friends fight

High school girls lmao

They're still middle schoolers, at least for another half a year or so.

They're not even high school, they're middle schoolers remember.

And sometimes I get this feeling that some people forget they're reading about children in these types of stories and all matters of interpersonal hang ups it pertains

Yeah, people forget how young they all are. They're only 14, here. Well, according to the birthdays on the wiki, Chii and Serina are already 15, Anna will be 15 come September, and Moeko will be in October. And Kyo's stuck 14 for the rest of his senior year, as the youngest member of his class. Expecting them to even act like high schoolers is expecting a bit too much maturity, let alone thinking they'll act anything like adults.

 

[apstorm]

The the fight might've came out of nowhere and it honestly sounds stupid and childish, but that's exactly because they're high schoolers. They're young and can't really control their emotions. Also writing this made me feel old and mature even though i'm still in my late 20's

this is just girls tbh….. source: used to be a high school girl

Middle schoolers. They aren't high schoolers just yet.

 

[apstorm]

Then we have a recipe for some highschool drama. There's more to add ofc but that's all i'll say on the matter.

*middleschool drama. They won't be high schoolers for a little over half a year, yet.

 

[apstorm]

Thanks for the new chapter!

Things were really going well for the last chapters and now it became like this.
Yamada is probably just jealous of leaving Moeko and Ichikawa together alone so she is keeping an eye on their study session.
Well, Moeko has an affinity towards 'inkya' people like Ichikawa (because he is also otaku-like, like Moeko's brother), and Yamada always felt that way, especially that time when Moeko non-hesitantly asked for Ichikawa's contact info way earlier. Yamada is also shown to be affected when Kobayashi mentioned 'married couple thing' seeing Ichikawa cooking and making a lot of mess and then Moeko complaining and cleaning after him. I guess Yamada is kind of threatened and jealous because she cannot join Ichikawa on this endeavor and also sees Moeko as someone who can do things and be good at it, unlike Yamada who has a track record of quitting half-way.
Unless of course this is part of Yamada's plan as Detective Condom.

It's definitely more than just recent events, but you are on the right track for things. This clash has been a long time coming, to be honest, and only just ramped up after Anna and Kyo got together and then clued in Moeko.

Some commenters claim it's because there's romantic tension between Moeko and Kyo, but I don't necessarily believe that. Especially since Kyo doesn't match Moeko's expressed 'type' both in-comic and in the Q&A extra from Volume 6, I think it was? She likes pretty boys that are sleazes. Kyo is far from a sleaze- he's a loyal boyfriend who only has eyes for Anna, and frequently tries to do the right thing for her and others. It's also questionable if Moeko would even think he's a cute guy- he's just the usual quiet, awkward loner type, not the pretty and boisterous types she usually chases, like Nanjou-senpai (pickup-pai).

Worth noting the moment on the beach only a few chapters ago where Moeko got snubbed by the beach hunks trying to hit on Anna (and maybe Serina) when they lost interest upon hearing the other two girls were taken (even if Serina was the only one lying). There's been things like that all through the story, where Moeko gets ignored while her more attractive friends, especially Anna, draw attention. It's a resentment and jealousy that's been building. The fact that Anna has a boyfriend before her is probably a particular sore point.

Others have done a better job of highlighting various moments through the story where the two friends haven't really been the most harmonious, but I do realize this is a lot of comments to sift through. I think it's enough to know that Anna and Moeko have not been the most in-tune pair of friends since nearly the beginning of the story (someone even cited Ch2 as having a moment of tension between them).

 

[Demonaire]

It's definitely more than just recent events, but you are on the right track for things. This clash has been a long time coming, to be honest, and only just ramped up after Anna and Kyo got together and then clued in Moeko.

Some commenters claim it's because there's romantic tension between Moeko and Kyo, but I don't necessarily believe that. Especially since Kyo doesn't match Moeko's expressed 'type' both in-comic and in the Q&A extra from Volume 6, I think it was? She likes pretty boys that are sleazes. Kyo is far from a sleaze- he's a loyal boyfriend who only has eyes for Anna, and frequently tries to do the right thing for her and others. It's also questionable if Moeko would even think he's a cute guy- he's just the usual quiet, awkward loner type, not the pretty and boisterous types she usually chases, like Nanjou-senpai (pickup-pai).

Worth noting the moment on the beach only a few chapters ago where Moeko got snubbed by the beach hunks trying to hit on Anna (and maybe Serina) when they lost interest upon hearing the other two girls were taken (even if Serina was the only one lying). There's been things like that all through the story, where Moeko gets ignored while her more attractive friends, especially Anna, draw attention. It's a resentment and jealousy that's been building. The fact that Anna has a boyfriend before her is probably a particular sore point.

Others have done a better job of highlighting various moments through the story where the two friends haven't really been the most harmonious, but I do realize this is a lot of comments to sift through. I think it's enough to know that Anna and Moeko have not been the most in-tune pair of friends since nearly the beginning of the story (someone even cited Ch2 as having a moment of tension between them).

You said that, and then I remembered Moeko was attracted by Yamadad, the same Yamadad Anna considers very similar to Kyotaro, all in the exercise of the trope where girls romantically looks for boys who resembling her dads.

The issue with Sekine is she was (or is) unfortunately too shallow in romance, and all the romance development between Yamada and Ichikawa was like a hit with a club over her head. It's possible she was not expecting such development, she was too quick in judging Ichikawa (and her class, indeed) and now she's reaping what she sow. You says Moeko likes sleazes, I think she likes bad boys instead (which can be similar but not the same) and Kyotaro, in his own way, is a bad boy: he proved that first with that tale from elementary school and then when he thought Yamada was using him to deflect Nanjou; albeit not intended, that situation left Anna with a lesson: she can never take Ichikawa as granted, as he can move on after a love dissapointment. In an universe where Anna Yamada would never have existed and where Ichikawa would have regained the self-esteem and self-confidence after his failure to enter in a private school, he and Sekine would be lovers.

That explains Sekine's behavior at Yamada's apartment during chocomaking for Valentine's: she was sincerely ready to help Yamada and Ichikawa when Yamamom questioned his presence... and then she let her galfwi persona carried away: flirting with him, calling him at first name basis... Sure, she behave like that because, since she has no luck getting a boifwi, at least she wanted to feel how being a girlfriend is, even for a short moment, but in no fucking way she would have done the same thing with boys like Adachi, for example. Needless to say, that only exacerbated Anna's jealousy on them. Even worse: it gave Yamada a basis to hold that jealousy because she took notice of Sekine's behavior toward Ichikawa, so obvious than even Serina had to scream to call it off.

But regarding Moeko and Anna's quarrel at the beach retreat, where Valentine's at Yamada's apartment played a big part, I think "Sekine was right in pointing Yamada's words as unsincere" and "Sekine's straw ass is burned by exacerbating Anna's jealousy" are not mutually exclusionary truths and in no way the first sentence invalidates the second or viceversa: Sekine having her part of blame in overflowing Anna's jealousy alongside the story until that moment doesn't mean she wasn't right in believing Yamada was just a disturbance for her when she needed studying the most, in the same way Anna being the victim of Moeko's provocations doesn't mean she was in the right when she stayed to watch over Sekine and Ichikawa while justifying it by giving ad lip service to Moeko.

Greetings.

 

[apstorm]

You said that, and then I remembered Moeko was attracted by Yamadad, the same Yamadad Anna considers very similar to Kyotaro, all in the exercise of the trope where girls romantically looks for boys who resembling her dads.

Fair point, though still haven't seen a similar reaction from her to Kyo directly, the fact there's that similar vibe from the two of them (barring their statures) does support the idea that she may have potentially found something, if Kyo ever bothered to shift his bangs enough for people to see his face clearly. But then I think about that time he was so tired he left his hair clipped up from morning routines all through the day. There didn't seem to be much of reaction from anyone but Anna, but we didn't see many recurring characters during that chapter, outside of the Ichikawas and Anna.

As for her tastes... her reasoning still relies on a 'gap' mentality of traditionally and popularly attractive guys with bad attitudes. And the way Moeko reacted to that elementary school incident tale was very negative, to the point she was telling both Kyo and Anna they were messed up in the head, him for having that reasoning for doing it, and her for actually rationalizing it as a positive. I don't feel like it supports any argument that she'd be interested in him because of that, unless you tell me he never reveals the real reason why he did it, but then that'd be a bomb waiting to go off in their prospective relationship when you consider her very real disgusted response to said reason. Yes, she likes 'bad boys', but clearly the 'crush him in court' reasoning pushed things beyond what she'd consider 'acceptable' for a 'bad boy' status.

As for Kyo regaining his self-esteem and self-confidence... It felt like Anna was particularly instrumental in that as it is, so it'd be quite the speculative 'what if' to wonder what conditions would prompt similar personal growth without her influence to the point another girl, like Moeko, would align for him and vice versa.

You have a bit of a point about her not likely to do the same 'playing at a couple' thing with any of the other guys, but I also feel like it's just how safe she finds Kyo for that- she knows he's not going to get the 'wrong idea' from the act and such. It's like choosing to act like a couple with your little brother or another family member around people that don't know both of you because you don't really see him 'as a man', as they say, so it's 'safe' to do so (and might even elicit amusing reactions). Besides, he's committed to his feelings for Anna at that point, and, as Moeko clearly cried out on New Year's Eve a month or so prior, "I KNOW!!"