Unmei wa Yaku ni Tatanai - Ch. 6

[himi-cat]

I really REALLY disagree with that.
Even if you don't reciprocate someone feeling, you can't just tell them to just STOP feeling things. The only reason her senpai is even going along with it is because she cares about Tsugumi more than her own well-being, but what Tsugumi is doing is pretty abusive. I'm sure she probably didn't intend for it to be this way, but she selfishly wants her relationship with her senpai to go back to what it was, no matter how much it would hurt her senpai to do so.

I'm uncomfortable with characterising Tsumugi's behaviour as abusive, because it's clearly not malicious, and it's clearly not driven by trivial and selfish reasons - she's genuinely extremely uncomfortable with this whole situation and with how Amamiya feels, but she also cares very greatly about her and doesn't want to hurt her despite that discomfort, and she's doing her best to thread that needle.

At the same time, Amamiya seems to have seriously underestimated how strongly Tsumugi feels, and seems in particular to be struggling to grasp what Tsumugi is feeling here. This chapter drives that home hard with the "I like you, I love you" scene - Amamiya seems to feel like she just has to make her love (and the joy she's feeling because of it) clear, and it'll be accepted; she's hit so hard by Tsumugi's response (page 13 really is a massive gut punch) because she's hit by the realisation that Tsumugi knows how she feels already, and that knowledge is only making things worse for her.

They've both found themselves in a place where attempting to protect themselves will do as much damage as attempting to protect the person they care about, and there's no way that either of them are at fault - the worst you can say is that they didn't communicate their feelings as well as they could have, but they really didn't even know how they were feeling until it was too late . . .

I think the key to all of this drama is that Tsumugi herself doesn't understand why the red string (and the whole idea of a "fated love") makes her so terribly uncomfortable. If this was something she could properly articulate, even just to herself, I think she and her senpai could work things out - Amamiya's deep and heartfelt joy at being able to say "I love you" to Tsumugi makes it obvious that her feelings are in no way tarnished by any thoughts of "fated love", and it seems like the only reason Tsumugi hasn't recognised her own feelings for Amamiya (which are at minimum a serious crush) is because whatever makes her so uncomfortable with the idea of "fated love" has left her afraid of the idea of any kind of love.

But as I said, neither of them even realised how they felt until they were in too deep for there to be an easy solution. It's honestly hard for me to see this ending without a tragedy tag (though hopefully on the milder end of things) . . .

 

[louloute0203]

I'm uncomfortable with characterising Tsumugi's behaviour as abusive, because it's clearly not malicious, and it's clearly not driven by trivial and selfish reasons - she's genuinely extremely uncomfortable with this whole situation and with how Amamiya feels, but she also cares very greatly about her and doesn't want to hurt her despite that discomfort, and she's doing her best to thread that needle.

At the same time, Amamiya seems to have seriously underestimated how strongly Tsumugi feels, and seems in particular to be struggling to grasp what Tsumugi is feeling here. This chapter drives that home hard with the "I like you, I love you" scene - Amamiya seems to feel like she just has to make her love (and the joy she's feeling because of it) clear, and it'll be accepted; she's hit so hard by Tsumugi's response (page 13 really is a massive gut punch) because she's hit by the realisation that Tsumugi knows how she feels already, and that knowledge is only making things worse for her.

They've both found themselves in a place where attempting to protect themselves will do as much damage as attempting to protect the person they care about, and there's no way that either of them are at fault - the worst you can say is that they didn't communicate their feelings as well as they could have, but they really didn't even know how they were feeling until it was too late . . .

I think the key to all of this drama is that Tsumugi herself doesn't understand why the red string (and the whole idea of a "fated love") makes her so terribly uncomfortable. If this was something she could properly articulate, even just to herself, I think she and her senpai could work things out - Amamiya's deep and heartfelt joy at being able to say "I love you" to Tsumugi makes it obvious that her feelings are in no way tarnished by any thoughts of "fated love", and it seems like the only reason Tsumugi hasn't recognised her own feelings for Amamiya (which are at minimum a serious crush) is because whatever makes her so uncomfortable with the idea of "fated love" has left her afraid of the idea of any kind of love.

But as I said, neither of them even realised how they felt until they were in too deep for there to be an easy solution. It's honestly hard for me to see this ending without a tragedy tag (though hopefully on the milder end of things) . . .

As I said, I don't think Tsumugi intended for it to be abusive, but abuse isn't necessarily about intent. Even if she doesn't want to hurt her senpai, what exactly does she think it's going to accomplish to tell someone who loves her to just stop feeling that way? The reason I say it's selfish is mostly because Tsugumi could just ask Amamiya for time and distance, or just decrease how much time they spend together to possibly allow Amamiya to move on eventually one day, but it seems like Tsumugi wants to keep her relationship with Amamiya, but only as long as it's on her terms, and the only thing her proposal does is dismiss Amamiya's feelings just to have the outcome that she would prefer.

I do think this chapter shows that she ends up realizing how hurtful what she's doing is, considering how it ends up.

Just to make myself clear again, I'm not saying that Tsumugi is a bad person. Ignorance isn't malice, but you can hurt people by not taking their feelings into consideration just as well.

 

[rinovity]

Pain

 

[Maxim98]

Very gut wrenching. Love the conflict so far. As a lover of drama I’m hoping to see them hurting themselves more. In a way their current conflict is kinda proving the string of fate wrong as their relationship is anything but easy that everyone else in the school is portraying it as.

Little theorising but I feel like their conflict will probably go into the open at some point and may cause other stringed couples to have doubts about their relationships. Leading to more and larger conflicts within the school.

 

[yuri_enjoyers]

Thanks for ripping my heart out I needed that while being sick (thanks for the tl)

 

[graynile]

nah boi, i ain't understanding a girl's feelings no matter what. if you like her say so, dislike her? just politely say on her face. why twisting your words and feelings? women are really different from us

 

[MelonManic]

I just remembered- riiight
How are we gonna do this?
And dear you can't just make someone stopping liking you that's not how that works, if she's in too deep it'll be nigh impossible to let go whether she wants to or not

I wonder if the sudden thought that she's being forceful popped into her head and that's what's suddenly got her so shook, or like a softer word than forceful as that's a bit harsh
Persistent maybe

Perhaps you are... In the context of this story alone
This is a rather tricky issue innit?
I can't see how the Yuri shall come to path without something being sacrificed...
Oh I had a thought
If we reframe how she thinks of the thread, perhaps a sudden truth poofing in
Then perhaps we can get her to accept her love yeah?

Just a thought
Jave a nice day

 

[MelonManic]

nah boi, i ain't understanding a girl's feelings no matter what. if you like her say so, dislike her? just politely say on her face. why twisting your words and feelings? women are really different from us

You are certainly a specimen
The situation at hand is more complex, I don't even think she understands her own feelings

It's quite disengious to lump it all together as "ah, women" when it doesn't cleanly operate as she's in love or she's not in love
It's not so simple

 

[MemoriesOfDistantSeas]

As I said, I don't think Tsumugi intended for it to be abusive, but abuse isn't necessarily about intent. Even if she doesn't want to hurt her senpai, what exactly does she think it's going to accomplish to tell someone who loves her to just stop feeling that way? The reason I say it's selfish is mostly because Tsugumi could just ask Amamiya for time and distance, or just decrease how much time they spend together to possibly allow Amamiya to move on eventually one day, but it seems like Tsumugi wants to keep her relationship with Amamiya, but only as long as it's on her terms, and the only thing her proposal does is dismiss Amamiya's feelings just to have the outcome that she would prefer.

I do think this chapter shows that she ends up realizing how hurtful what she's doing is, considering how it ends up.

Just to make myself clear again, I'm not saying that Tsumugi is a bad person. Ignorance isn't malice, but you can hurt people by not taking their feelings into consideration just as well.

That's just giving hope to someone who is oblivious to what those "time and distance" means and can hurt her more in the long term.
"The outcome she would prefer" is for Amamiya to stop liking her while still keeping their relationship, but what if Tsumugi is willing to stop all relationship with her if that's the price to pay?

She's not doing anything out of bound, is it abusive to want to keep a friendship while not willing to be in love?

Some "hurt" cannot be avoided but do not means it's anyone's fault. A loving B that do not love them back can hurt A, but is it anyone's fault?

In the same way, Amamiya know that confessing her love will make Tsumugi uncomfortable or worse but still decided to do so. Will you blame Amamiya for that?

 

[WolfenLady]

I have read many novels about this kind of topic. Fate, mating, twin souls, imprinting or whatever word or expression you want to use to describe this phenomenon always rise the same question. Does fate or whatever is the reason for this take away your choice or your freedom? This is what troubles Tsumugi. She isn't against love. She's against that bloody thread telling her who she's supposed to be in love with. By default she cannot trust that her senpai's love is real because for her, without the thread, Amamiya would have never thought of their relationship as love. I had my voice muted and my choices taken away from me for so long I became a control freak. Accepting change and accepting the unpredictability of life is something I have to work really hard on. To this day, I still have panic attacks when things don't go as planned. And I'm a grown ass woman. So I really feel for Tsumugi

 

[mikhi]

Apologies for the delay in releasing chapters... we're currently looking for a cleaner and redrawer for this and other series. If you'd like to help out, please reach out on discord!

 

[hoovertheroof]

What I'm really interested in is what Tsumugi might say if somebody asked her how she would have responded to Amamiya's confession if she did it before the string kicked in. It seemed like there was something between them back then but Tsumugi just completely locked it down as soon as the string appeared.

I'm guessing that'll be the key to Tsumugi eventually feeling less uncomfortable about the situation. If she did like Amamiya before the string then there's really no "win" scenario for her here. Either she falls for Amamiya in which case she's letting the string dictate her life or she ends things with Amamiya for good based solely on the fact that the string is there...in which case she's still letting the string dicate her life.

Maybe we're headed towards a doomed yuri plot where Tsumugi just can't get over how she feels about the string and breaks Amamiya's heart but perhaps she'll come to the realization that the choice to accept or reject Amamiya was hers alone all along. Fate or no fate.

Literally "I'll do it but not because you told me to".

 

[oneWhoreadsalot]

Huhu, can't wait for what's about to happen next

 

[graynile]

hey man! pick it up

 

[Suciiptoo]

nah boi, i ain't understanding a girl's feelings no matter what. if you like her say so, dislike her? just politely say on her face. why twisting your words and feelings? women are really different from us

its a complex situation and blaming it as "eh, women" is just extremely sexist, remember women, men, whatever are still human and you're an asshole for saying this