Zenbu Kowashite Jigoku de Aishite - Vol. 5 Ch. 22 - Marionette

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We actually kind of got that arc in Vol. 3, which focused mostly on Kurumi calling out Naoi's hypocritical behavior and refusing to let her push her away, but I think you're probably right that's where it's headed. Kurumi's been pretty aggro towards Kudou (rightfully so after she refused to help Naoi when Kokoro was choking her lmao), so a potential avenue could be her confronting Kudou directly about Naoi's sudden shift in mood.

Honestly Kurumi and Kudou have a really fun dynamic (not romantic, but the passive aggresive antagonistic banter lol) so I'd love to see them duke it out

Naoi does remain fairly mysterious to Kurumi - it's not clear she even knows Naoi's first name- so she's been limited in how much she can do. She doesn't know what Naoi does for work, why Naoi is saving money, the relationship between Naoi's parents, and similar.

She's learned a decent amount, but it doesn't compare to the extent Naoi got into learning about Kokoro, Kurumi's mom, and how that related to the issues Kurumi was dealing with.

I had forgotten about Kudou refusing to help with the choking, but you're right, that would have made an awful impression on her. It's got to be extremely disconcerting to see Kudou winning over the class that easily. The Kudou / Kurumi conflict will indeed be fun to see. I'm sure Kurumi doesn't want to get information from Kudou though, both due to not trusting Kudou and wanting to respect Naoi's self disclosure. She would have to be extremely worried and out of options, which is the kind of situation we got with Kokoro and Kurumi last arc.

Also, that feels like too many K names, but I'm not sure if there's a deeper meaning here.

This is largely why this series is so good for me. Each chapter raises a lot of questions, but I feel confident that the author will have satisfying answers and that we'll get them relatively quickly. The pacing in general is great. Compared to other series that like to dangle mysteries and elongate drama plots that end up being super unsatisfying, this one is like a breath of fresh air.
I'm a big fan of melodrama when executed well, which is part of why I like this story, but I've enjoyed how their reasonableness with each other is executed in this series. We get these absolutely bonkers situations involving Isanuma, Kokoro, Kudou, etc and with each other they'll be like "... Anyway Naoi/Kurumi, can you explain what's going on here? I'm confused right now."

The contrast is important due to the shows themes: when expressions of love become harmful and must be torn down. Naoi and Kurumi have lots of emotional issues as well as interpersonal challenges with each other, but they respond to them in a different way than the other characters would.
 
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Naoi does remain fairly mysterious to Kurumi - it's not clear she even knows Naoi's first name-
Kurumi does know that actually. Naoi's first name was on the list of girls that needed to turn in the career worksheet in chapter 8. It was purposely obscured for the reader, but other first names were listed, so Kurumi learned it then if she didn't already know.
 
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Kurumi does know that actually. Naoi's first name was on the list of girls that needed to turn in the career worksheet in chapter 8. It was purposely obscured for the reader, but other first names were listed, so Kurumi learned it then if she didn't already know.
I see, nice catch. It makes sense it would come up at some point in her class president duties, even without that, but I can't imagine her not noticing in that situation. Plus they post exam scores with the names, I think.

That does still show the indirectness of much her knowledge. She's piecing together clues and speculating without understanding everything. Naoi largely operates outside the social network at the school.
 
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HOLY ESSAY COMMENT SECTION GODDAMN YALL GET STRAIGHT A'S IN ENGLISH OR SOMETHING
I did until I had a teacher in college who graded us primarily on how concise we were. I think I barely pulled a B- on that one. The only thing she liked that I wrote was a pro-cannibal essay she mistook as satire.

Don't eat the brains though. Those have got prions.
 
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Naoi largely operates outside the social network at the school.
Funny you bring this up, because this is exactly why Kudou's accusation of Naoi spreading the rumor about Kurumi and the teacher should fall apart immediately upon examination. In the first semester, Naoi barely ever came to school. And the few times she did, she wasn't shown to be social or to engage with their class. Plus, Naoi's reputation was bad even back then, since it's likely why Isanuma bailed on bullying Kurumi in chapter 3, since Isanuma was afraid of Naoi due to her delinquent reputation. No one would believe Naoi if she said such a thing about Kurumi, especially prior to the incident in the classroom.

I think the story is getting Kokoro and Azuma closer so they can fill each other in. Kokoro knows what Kudou's really like, while Azuma knows that it was Mine who spread the rumor about Kurumi and not Naoi.
 
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It better just be a conversation, if Naoi goes further with the bitch again I dont even think I want to keep reading…
 
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It better just be a conversation, if Naoi goes further with the bitch again I dont even think I want to keep reading…
It's hard to say what Naoi will do. If it's a breakthrough or a breakdown. Worst case scenario it'll be similar to what happened in chapter 18, and Kudou tries to use Naoi's stress to seduce her.

Though the situations are admittedly somewhat different. In chapter 18 Kurumi was physically trapped, not thinking clearly from her fever, and was under the mistaken assumption that Naoi had already abandoned her and was already sleeping with Kudou.
 
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OUGHHHH once again I am crashing out over zenkowa goodnight chat it's so jover for me until the next chapter releases and the cycle continues

Thank you for the chapter and extras!!!!!
 
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I can't believe I just found out about this today. This toxic yuri had no business being THIS GOOD. Everyone is so fucked up but IT ALL MAKES SENSE!!! The author is actually cooking with this one... I am hooked.
 
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It's hard to say what Naoi will do. If it's a breakthrough or a breakdown. Worst case scenario it'll be similar to what happened in chapter 18, and Kudou tries to use Naoi's stress to seduce her.

Though the situations are admittedly somewhat different. In chapter 18 Kurumi was physically trapped, not thinking clearly from her fever, and was under the mistaken assumption that Naoi had already abandoned her and was already sleeping with Kudou.
Just hope nothing happens, was already bad enough when all the happened back then
 
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Just hope nothing happens, was already bad enough when all the happened back then
I have a hard time believing such a similar plot would happen only a volume later. The author even included chapter 19.5 in the volume 4 extras to show how horrible Kurumi felt about everything that happened and that Naoi had already let the matter rest.

As for disliking chapter 18, one of my friends essentially self-censored a copy of it he downloaded. Jumped from "It's okay if you need to think about Naoi-san." and "Wha-" to "Ding-Dong..." and "ka-chunk". Basically, makes it read like Naoi showed up before anything happened. Later chapters don't directly reference what happened during that time, mostly focusing on Kokoro injuring Naoi instead. Plus, Kokoro's cutoff line later in the chapter where she tried to say she did sleep with Kurumi was a lie anyway, since she was just desperate to have some kind of "gotcha" moment over Naoi.

I get the feeling that the author does want to redeem Kokoro's character and so doesn't want to directly reference the SA, since that essentially reminds readers of the severity of her previous actions. So, the whole thing is most likely getting swept under the rug with only vague allusions to Kokoro having "done something awful", which would also include the break-in and keeping Kurumi prisoner in her own house.
 

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