Yofukashi no Uta - Ch. 191 - Like Vampires

[SrNevik]

Kou is the selfish one, here

I hope this is just manga brain talking and you wouldn't act like this in real life. The way he's handling this is beyond idiotic and only exists as "reasonable" in a manga.

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

Kou is the selfish one, here

She did the vampire equivalent of skipping breakfast and you try to make the boy the "selfish one" for not being worried to literal death over it?

 

[Loliconi]

She did the vampire equivalent of skipping breakfast and you try to make the boy the "selfish one" for not being worried to literal death over it?

Best and shortest reply in one, holy. It was explained already that she could go WAAAY longer without eating- everyone trying to reason that Kou is a disgusting, selfish and neglectful sucker is plainly not paying attention to how the world works in this manga. The rando is being unreasonable and one huge asshole for "muh girl needs protection because I want to protect and say so".

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

Best and shortest reply in one, holy. It was explained already that she could go WAAAY longer without eating- everyone trying to reason that Kou is a disgusting, selfish and neglectful sucker is plainly not paying attention to how the world works in this manga. The rando is being unreasonable and one huge asshole for "muh girl needs protection because I want to protect and say so".

Not to mention the fact that he hasn't asked her to do this: She's doing it all of her own free will.

Even if he noticed the problem and decided to ignore it, he's got at least a few months before it impacts her in any serious way. All but the most spineless among us would address a worsening issue like that after a few months.

 

[Eighty-six]

Even if he noticed the problem and decided to ignore it, he's got at least a few months before it impacts her in any serious way. All but the most spineless among us would address a worsening issue like that after a few months.

But he's not thinking about it. His monologues are showing that he's not deliberating a solution-- in fact, they show that he's only been considering the prospect of her not drinking his blood, and not that she's not drinking blood at all. His conversation with Haruka demonstrates the same.

He's not saying "it's only been a couple months" in order to say "lay off, I'm working something out, it's hardly urgent right now"-- he's putting it off. It's not that Nazuna "skipped breakfast" incidentally, like she ran out of time to make it before she has to go out for school-- she's seemingly prepared to "skip all her meals for the rest of her life", and that's been causing stuff like the frequent dozing off we saw in chapter 190, and the primal craving in chapter 188.

It's not going to be "only one or two months" forever, and Nazuna's condition isn't going to get any better with nothing being done for it.

Heck, all we know for sure is that a vampire dies after a decade of not drinking blood-- that doesn't mean that intense suffering only happens nearby near that tenth year. It can start getting bad much earlier than that.

It was explained already that she could go WAAAY longer without eating- everyone trying to reason that Kou is a disgusting, selfish and neglectful sucker

I don't think anybody's disparaged Kou as anything resembling that, but he's not making good choices right now-- entirely because he's not making ANY choice.

It's not as if Haruka's motives are pure, either, but he has a point.

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

But he's not thinking about it. His monologues are showing that he's not deliberating a solution-- in fact, they show that he's only been considering the prospect of her not drinking his blood, and not that she's not drinking blood at all. His conversation with Haruka demonstrates the same.

It's been, like, a month; the vampire equivalent of skipping breakfast. And, IIRC, she's been hiding her cravings. She's got at least 118 left as is. There is literally no rush or cause for alarm here.

He's not saying "it's only been a couple months" in order to say "lay off, I'm working something out, it's hardly urgent right now"-- he's putting it off. It's not that Nazuna "skipped breakfast" incidentally, like she ran out of time to make it before she has to go out for school-- she's seemingly prepared to "skip all her meals for the rest of her life", and that's been causing stuff like the frequent dozing off we saw in chapter 190, and the primal craving in chapter 188.

Well great. We can talk about how horrible he is when she's done more than skip breakfast.

It's not going to be "only one or two months" forever, and Nazuna's condition isn't going to get any better with nothing being done for it.

On the other hand, expecting the problem to be identified, then solved, within a month, when its ultimate consequence is a literal decade away is ridiculous.

Heck, all we know for sure is that a vampire dies after a decade of not drinking blood-- that doesn't mean that intense suffering only happens nearby near that tenth year. It can start getting bad much earlier than that.

Well no shit. I don't think anyone here is under the impression fasts are pleasant until the instant you're about to die. But right now, the time she's gone without eating, relative to the time it'll kill her, would barely (And I do mean the Barest of Lees) qualify as a fast for a Human. I just can't bring myself to fee any urgency to this situation. It's like finding out there's a supernaturally toxic snail across town that's homing in on your location to kill you.

 

[Eighty-six]

It's been, like, a month; the vampire equivalent of skipping breakfast. And, IIRC, she's been hiding her cravings. She's got at least 118 left as is. There is literally no rush or cause for alarm here.

But there is. It's already starting to affect her, and there's currently no telling if it can get worse really fast (that vampire in the school was only seen when he was about to die, and Kyouko's father probably wasn't denying his vampiric urges for too long before he outright had a break from reality). Haruka, in particular, has noticed that it's already started to affect her. Again, do they have to wait until problems start arising from Nazuna doing something that was guaranteed to cause those problems?

Furthermore, what decision is there to make? The problem is simple and known: Nazuna doesn't want to drink blood from anyone but Kou, but she doesn't want to risk anything resulting from her sucking the blood of a candidate she's come to love. Either Nazuna sucks Kou's blood (and manages to live) or she works for blood donations-- at any rate, she'll have to subsist on blood donations regardless of what she does (which makes me consider that she's abstaining for another reason that's to be later disclosed).

If Nazuna is seriously insisting on her current course of action, she's also at liberty to choose to starve to death. But I think it was made pretty clear that both Nazuna and Kou have had close to no idea about what to do with their situation after their mutual confession, with Kou having yet to actually think the matter through.

 

[Billzilla2000]

I hope this is just manga brain talking and you wouldn't act like this in real life. The way he's handling this is beyond idiotic and only exists as "reasonable" in a manga.

I didn’t say H was being reasonable at all, genius. I’m saying Kou is being selfish. Neither chump is really concerned about her wants, just projecting. Like you’re doing.

 

[Billzilla2000]

She did the vampire equivalent of skipping breakfast and you try to make the boy the "selfish one" for not being worried to literal death over it?

She is already showing signs of extreme hunger pangs - several times. It hasn’t been ‘slipping breakfast’ for her. I swear, have you even been reading this? Kou has been ignoring her warning signs. Wait and see.

 

[SrNevik]

I didn’t say H was being reasonable at all, genius. I’m saying Kou is being selfish. Neither chump is really concerned about her wants, just projecting. Like you’re doing.

Ok, so we're at the point where we have to state the obvious? It's obvious Kou isn't meeting the issue head on. The criticism is that what Haruka is doing is idiotic and does not help the issue, except for within the confines of a manga.

There are an endless amount of alternative, more productive ways to handle the issue if he thinks Kou is in denial, rather than punching him, not talking and starting a fight. The fact that Kou is not handling the issue well isn't something I considered needing to be restated, let alone treated like it's some revelation.

Mind you, you said "Kou is the selfish one here" which in English implies you think Kou is the only selfish one, not both. And I imagine you actually don't have much issue with Haruka's actions, hence your responses. But we can dance around that and allow you to pretend to be "fair" if you'd like.

I'm not even going to touch your "genius" and "projecting" comment because I don't know what any of that is supposed to mean.

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

Again, do they have to wait until problems start arising from Nazuna doing something that was guaranteed to cause those problems?

Again: Why does the 14 year old have to identify this problem NOW. THIS INSTANT. OH MY GOD. SHE'S GOING TO DIEEEEE... despite her going out of her way to hide it? Again: They've got time, and this talk about him being a good or bad person is several months premature. People go longer without solver far more obvious, pressing issues in their lives. Hell, do you identify and solve every problem in your life within a month? And you expect the boy to do that for someone else?

Furthermore, what decision is there to make? The problem is simple and known

Known to who? Kou, or the audience? Because we're nearly-omniscient creatures in this fictional world. Meanwhile Kou is just aware of the fact that she's not sucking his blood; it's the only thing he's had to deal with ever since he met her.

Either Nazuna sucks Kou's blood (and manages to live) or she works for blood donations-- at any rate, she'll have to subsist on blood donations regardless of what she does (which makes me consider that she's abstaining for another reason that's to be later disclosed).

Right, so you think she might even have a good reason for it, is what you're saying? What part of any of this strikes you as an emergency?

She is already showing signs of extreme hunger pangs - several times. It hasn’t been ‘slipping breakfast’ for her. I swear, have you even been reading this? Kou has been ignoring her warning signs. Wait and see.

I too get hunger pangs after skipping breakfast. Fasting is not a fun experience.

 

[Eighty-six]

Again: Why does the 14 year old have to identify this problem NOW. THIS INSTANT. OH MY GOD. SHE'S GOING TO DIEEEEE... despite her going out of her way to hide it?

The problem is already identified, and there's two potential solutions that still conclude with "find other sources of blood". It's not at all complicated for a 14 year old honor student with extensive and diverse experience with vampires.

Meanwhile Kou is just aware of the fact that she's not sucking his blood

Which, given her insistence on feeding on only him since they met, would likely mean that she hasn't been drinking blood at all. Kou doesn't retort against Haruka with "she surely has other sources of blood, why are you making a big deal out of this with me?".

Right, so you think she might even have a good reason for it, is what you're saying?

Not a good reason, per se-- she might be starving herself for reasons similar to her mother's. I'm thinking Haru was caught in a sort of limbo where she didn't want to vampirize her beloved, but she also didn't want to be "unfaithful" through drinking the blood of others, and that led to her insisting on starving herself.

 

[luminary]

Ew Haruka is so fucking cringe lmaoooo.

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

The problem is already identified

Is it, though?

Which, given her insistence on feeding on only him since they met, would likely mean that she hasn't been drinking blood at all. Kou doesn't retort against Haruka with "she surely has other sources of blood, why are you making a big deal out of this with me?".

See? This is an audience inference. You, the detached observer, assume she's only drinking his blood. And with good reason, at that. You assume the boy must also have come to this conclusion, and then prepared an exact response specifically addressing this when some simp tries to kill him out of nowhere. I wouldn't expect him to respond like that even if he specifically knew everything that was going wrong and prepared for this exact encounter.

Meanwhile, here's an alternative interpretation: She's been drinking his blood, she stopped drinking everyone else's blood, he never thought about it, and the closest anyone's come to telling him is trying to kill him instead of just explaining it all to him.

Not a good reason, per se-- she might be starving herself for reasons similar to her mother's. I'm thinking Haru was caught in a sort of limbo where she didn't want to vampirize her beloved, but she also doesn't want to be "unfaithful" through drinking the blood of others, and that led to her insisting on starving herself.

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty deep issue; The kind you don't identify and solve in a single month when you're a grown adult, much less a 14 year old boy with a girlfriend who's dead set on hiding it.

 

[Eighty-six]

See? This is an audience inference. You, the detached observer, assume she's only drinking his blood.

I'm arguing that it's a reasonable presumption for Kou to make, especially since Nazuna's talked up the taste of his blood to the point that she would rather look for him than suck another person's blood (consider ch.4, p.18, and ch.4, p.8-9). As the reader, I know that Nazuna isn't drinking anybody else's blood, because she's been suffering ill effects that only Haruka's noticed so far (like frequent dozing off) as well as ill effects that nobody else knows about (like the intense craving she had at the end of chapter 188).

Speaking of which, it's not even just that he has reason to assume she's only drinking his blood-- he himself has always only wanted her to drink his blood (ch. 4, p.16), and he's never had reason to deviate from this possessiveness until now. So, it's a problem if he still has that possessiveness, but they've decided that she can't feed on him, but they haven't already decided that she (as a vampire who needs blood) find other means to feed.

You assume the boy must also have come to this conclusion, and then prepared an exact response specifically addressing this when some simp tries to kill him out of nowhere.

Not quite-- I'm just saying that Haruka has a point in being angry with Kou for hardly thinking about something that's bad as is and will only get worse. That he hasn't even thought about it is the problem for Haruka.

Actually, now I'm thinking-- isn't Nazuna normally a day sleeper on account of being a vampire that has no business in daylight? Yet, she woke up in the morning along with everyone else in her complex in chapter 190 (ch. 190, p.2), and was falling asleep during the party hosted at night. In that chapter 190, she was also waking up near a non-blinded window, being hit with sunlight. On top of that, she even gave a line ("Today is... another beautiful day"*), as if to join the other conversations in the first couple pages of that chapter.

Apart from her blood abstinence, do you imagine there's any significance in those details? As if she's attempting to go through the motions of being humans in the vague hope that something comes out of it?

*The Japanese was 「今日も... いい朝だなーー。」, with 朝 bearing the furigana てんき even though it's naturally pronounced あさ. The translation here's correct enough, but it doesn't account for what's probably a riff on the stock small talk expression "The weather's nice". I don't know how you'd manage conveying that without a speculative TL note, though.

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty deep issue; The kind you don't identify and solve in a single month when you're a grown adult, much less a 14 year old boy with a girlfriend who's dead set on hiding it.

And I'm not going to fault Kou for not deducing that much. It's the blasé attitude he has to even the superficials of the circumstance that makes Haruka's actions somewhat sympathetic.

Initially, my thought on his course of action was, "what's the author trying to do? Not even Haruka can be so stupid as to think killing Kou will fix anything. Huh... you know, Kou's being oddly nonchalant about being told that Nazuna's not drinking blood despite it being trivially easy for her to get it even if she doesn't want to drink his."

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

I'm arguing that it's a reasonable presumption for Kou to make

I know you are. I'm saying you only think that because you're a member of the audience, with the Audience's POV, and meta-knowledge. This boy doesn't know anything. If you didn't know that she actively wasn't drinking anyone else's blood, didn't know she was suffering pangs, sleeping more, and whatnot, and your only clue that anything is wrong is her psycho orbiter trying to kill you (Which, really, how much does that count for when we know his motives?) , all we're left with is "She likes my blood, and sometimes she comes looking for me. Now she's not drinking my blood because she can't."

Speaking of which, it's not even just that he has reason to assume she's only drinking his blood-- he himself has always only wanted her to drink his blood

So? She's never said she only drinks his blood, and he's had no reason to think she's stuck only to him... who cares about his possessiveness? Only the audience, Haruka, and Nazuna know what's happening. One of the three can't tell him, and the other two don't want to.

Not quite-- I'm just saying that Haruka has a point in being angry with Kou for hardly thinking about something that's bad as is and will only get worse. That he hasn't even thought about it is the problem for Haruka.

And it's a bad point. It's been a month. The boy might only have vague inklings, at worst.

Apart from her blood abstinence, do you imagine there's any significance in those details? As if she's attempting to go through the motions of being humans in the vague hope that something comes out of it?

Who even knows. When it comes to the details surrounding the vampire traits, the author's always been loose, at best, with his world building. Remember the chapter-long bullshit session to explain why Kou was a vampire, but not a vampire, but only when he pierces his ear, but he also has to be mad, and if we refer to the emotional tesseract chart, we can see that...?

For all we know, the author's going to say that she can overpower her vampire side by starving it and weakening it with sunlight, then spending two chapters invoking String Theory's 11-dimensional branes to explain why Nazuna needs to avoid complaining about her period lest she turn back into a vampire.

Huh... you know, Kou's being oddly nonchalant about being told that Nazuna's not drinking blood despite it being trivially easy for her to get it even if she doesn't want to drink his."

New information. He might not even believe the guy yet, since he's got reasons to lie about Nazuna's condition.

 

[Eighty-six]

I know you are. I'm saying you only think that because you're a member of the audience, with the Audience's POV, and meta-knowledge. This boy doesn't know anything.

He has been actively taught about what vampires are this entire manga. He knows that vampires actually need human blood, he knows that they suffer when they don't get it for long enough, and that said suffering culminates in their deaths after a decade.

If you didn't know that she actively wasn't drinking anyone else's blood, didn't know she was suffering pangs, sleeping more, and whatnot, and your only clue that anything is wrong is her psycho orbiter trying to kill you (Which, really, how much does that count for when we know his motives?) , all we're left with is "She likes my blood, and sometimes she comes looking for me. Now she's not drinking my blood because she can't."

Kou's taking every one of Haruka's observations and conclusions with no scrutiny, so their conversation resembles something like this:

"You know, she's chosen to not eat at all. Are you going to let her die starving herself?"
"She's not going to die! Someone can live months without eating!"

Imagine saying that about someone that's been diagnosed with anorexia. What's the point of the retort? That it's acceptable to wait until their organs start shutting down before they start enacting very obvious solutions?

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

He has been actively taught about what vampires are this entire manga. He knows that vampires actually need human blood, he knows that they suffer when they don't get it for long enough, and that said suffering culminates in their deaths after a decade.

Ok, in English, sometimes people will use categorical terms like "everything", or "anything" without literally meaning either one of those. So when I said he doesn't know "anything", I didn't literally mean he knew nothing about vampires in general, but rather the specific set of facts surrounding Nazuna's situation (i.e. Not drinking any blood at all, and suffering hunger pangs). This is all information the audience has that he does not. This is likely the first time anyone has even implied that she's not drinking anyone else's blood, and that she's suffering for it already.

"You know, she's chosen to not eat at all. Are you going to let her die starving herself?"
"She's not going to die! Someone can live months without eating!"

Imagine saying that about someone that's been diagnosed with anorexia. What's the point of the retort? That it's acceptable to wait until their organs start shutting down before they start enacting very obvious solutions?

At this point, and I keep bringing it up, she's "skipped breakfast". You've heard your loved one skipped breakfast today for the first time, were told she's suffering from anorexia, and when the other guy immediately moves on to picking a fight with you, you barely have enough time to say "Bro, it's been six hours, let's take it easy here!" before he throws you across town and starts trying to bash your skull in.

Even if, hypothetically, Kou took literally everything he heard entirely uncritically, the solution is to acknowledge the issue, then talk to her about it. Sure, hypothetically it might kill her, if the author doesn't invoke bullshit again, but we're not even close to that right now; there's plenty of time to deal with it. Kou has plenty of time to hear the information, digest it emotionally, come up with a plan of attack, and talk to his girl. Or rather, he would, if he had been given any at all.

 

[MMD]

People here will really take one guy's napkin math as gospel, insists that Nazuna just missed breakfast is all, and ignore both the reaction of an old experienced vampire, the previous comments by an even older even more experienced vampire about how they need blood more often the longer they live, AND the author's obvious and explicit focus on Nazuna's worsening condition just because they refuse to believe a character they dislike may have something resembling a point.
Mangadex comment section is a magical place.

 

[CookieMonster]

Didn't we already get our fill of forced and stupid conflicts and situations in this manga?