チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 🌺 - Informal Reading Group

Yes: チクる

It’s been a while since I read it so I’m hazy on the details, but if I remember correctly they didn’t actually tell him to quit, this was just revenge for when he hit one of them, and establishing who has the upper hand.

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The guy says これは仕返しじゃねぇ。警告だ。Does that not mean “This isn’t revenge. It’s a warning”?
He was also saying in the beginning that it wasn’t a place for a guy like him, so I took it as the beating was the warning.

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Ha, yes, you’re right. A very vague warning, but a warning nonetheless. Warning that he should quit? Warning that he shouldn’t mess with them? Unclear. And I still believe it’s (at least partly) revenge, even if they deny it. :joy:

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No, if you can count “still trying to finish last week’s book clubs and need to read this one’s” as still reading.

I finished chapter 2 then stopped as I needed to catch up with everything else.

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Big same! I’m still planning on getting back to this hopefully soonish

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End of the book spoiler!

Reading this got me thinking: Did anything ever come of this warning? I don’t remember the guys who beat him up ever appearing again. What’s up with that? Did I miss something?

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Whole book spoilers.

I actually wanted to comment the exact same thing :rofl:

Nothing at all came out of this story. These guys were never mentioned again (maybe once in an insignificant scene?), and by the end they all love each other and stand by each other in that famous 雫 returns scene. I really don’t know what that was all about. It’s possible that the story was written in instalments for a magazine or something (I think I read that somewhere?), so some storylines started but never developed because focus turned elsewhere?

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Chapter 4 complete.

So I guess I got my answer, he’ll just get bullied the whole time.
I also met Amu, weird name, weird kanji choice…
And now he is fully committed to saving up the money for Meme, which might I add is an insane amount. Like damn, calm down it’s just middle school, it’s like the same as tuition in some community colleges.

Interesting title name for Chapter 5, too.

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Read some of chapter 5, I’m definitely feeling like I could finish a chapter in a day now. It’d probably take me about 2 hours or less. Problem is, I don’t read until night, before bed. I don’t know why, but I can’t ever be productive during the day.

If I convince myself to read a bit earlier tomorrow, hoping to finish chapter 5 tomorrow. Will offer my thoughts then.

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Chapter 5 complete. Ran into some difficulties on a couple pages so I didn’t have the will to finish it yesterday, nothing I couldn’t figure out without searches, just got a bit annoying.

Well, Cannibalism, huh. I guess that’s what he’s going to be doing with the help of Misaki, though I wonder why does she want to know some details about the store? Not really sure what merit she has from it. Amu’s either a good dude, or he’s extremely suspicious, can’t tell just yet. And Megumi had a few lines, I miss her, she’s like the good influence for Kouta. They’re definitely breaking up eventually though, it’s only a matter of time. Probably gonna get caught with Misaki or maybe they don’t spend enough time together.

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I took my time when I got to the second half of the book, and I’m happy to say I reached the end!

I agree with everyone that the way the ending played out left much to be desired. It’s a shame all that build up had such a poor delivery in the end.

There were some unresolved issues that came up like the gang that threatened to tell his family if he didn’t quit. Or what happened to Kouta and his girlfriend (she’s totally better off without him anyway). Just some weird subplots I thought I missed the resolution to, but it sounds like it wasn’t just me.

I’m intrigued by the suicide reveal especially if they turned the second book into a detective mystery of sorts and Kouta finds out what actually happened. But it sounds like that’s far off from what book 2 is actually about so that’s a shame.

I really thought I’d finish this book faster but it just went in a different direction than it could be. I was expecting Mizutani to be involved in the yakuza and he was setting up not only Shizuku but also Kouta through Mitsuko and maybe she felt bad about it so she helps him get a job at her company. But then Mizutani finds out about it and outs her.

The ending we got in comparison felt a bit disappointing but I guess more realistic? Suicide is very common in Japan and is one of the big issues what with societal expectations and pressure to succeed.

That’s why the sex industry sells well here - it’s a good de-stresser to go to these places to unwind. If it’s a night spot for men, women will sweet talk them and make them feel more masculine after being talked down to by their boss. Similarly in host clubs, men tell women what they want to hear and that’s attractive. No surprise that leads to the relationship we’ve seen in this book.

Overall, it was a good insight into a struggling everyday man’s life and what the Japanese male thought process looks like. (It’s ok if I sleep with her because it’s part of my job and the fact that I’m kinda digging her doesn’t intrude on my relationship with my girlfriend in the slightest!)

I’ll say it again and and actually spell out why, but Kouta’s ex? girlfriend really was too good for him. She represents the new Japanese woman who’s not into settling down and becoming a housewife but is a proud worker in the work force.

She doesn’t expect Kouta to support her and very willingly spends money on him as well but he feels demasculated by her because their ranks are not equal.

Mitsuko on the other hand is more attractive by her femininity. Sure she’s older, but that’s why she knows how to appeal to men. She helps Kouta move up in the rankings by paying to see him and calling on him every time to increase his popularity. Sure it’s part of a deal they made, but that’s attractive to any guy to make him feel he’s wanted (women too for the record). She makes time to see him when his girlfriend would rather go out with her friends.

Anyway that got rambly, but it was a good thought provoking story that could have been written better towards the end. Still quite interesting though!

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I finally got back to reading this after so long! I never gave up on it, just couldn’t get myself to sit down and actually do so, I think I need deadlines, my self discipline is pretty bad. If this wasn’t an informal reading group, I probably would have done it according to schedule.

I would have updated my situation, but I had replied 3 times in a row and couldn’t write anymore until someone else commented. Never knew that was a thing.

Well, anyway, I actually intend to finish it now, so I sat down and finished chapter 6. I probably won’t write much more until I finish the book now, because I don’t want to get locked out of replying to the thread again lol. Unless somebody replies.

So Amu disappeared. I suspected he might be suspicious, but I still can’t say for certain right now, because of the text he got and the serious look, all the stuff he said before, I can’t imagine it’s all an act and he was just trying to steal some money. I’ll probably get some answers later, though.

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Oops, sorry about that. I normally try to notice things like that. If it happens again, just edit your last reply to add extra comments, or even better ping someone (me for example) asking them to break the streak. I’d be happy to do so.

Glad you’re still reading! Looking forward to more of your thoughts.

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Finished chapter 7. Was on vacation so I didn’t touch anything for a bit, but I’m getting back into it.

If I’m understanding correctly, Mizutani said the situation would be resolved tomorrow and Amu might be dead? Well the next day came, but I didn’t see any mention of what happened with Amu. Did I miss something?

Now Misaki is pregnant, I’m guessing by the end Kouta will fully take over for Shizuku, so he can retire with her. But there probably will be an inevitable problem along the way / some sacrifice to do that.

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Chapter 8

The end of this chapter was very good, seems like this is where he goes off the deep end and is fully going to get into this job, and when he told Mitsuko to imitate a sheep I thought it was a bit funny at first but after she did it I felt a mixture of emotions. Like it was slightly attractive…

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Oh man, I did not find it attractive. It felt kind of gross and mean :sweat_smile: I’m getting a bit hazy on what all had been revealed up to this point so I won’t say more incase I’m mixing up the timeline in my head!

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Oh for sure I definitely thought it was a bit too far and kind of odd, like the first request was enough, though I would have thought he should have asked to get another chance at that company, probably wouldn’t have happened but would have been worth a shot.
By attractive, I mean if I put aside any context, then somehow… idk my imagination was a bit too good there.

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