Even more feelings in this chapter! Love the way they all passed a message as they worked their way passing the baton to Kakeru. That and the kiss reward (and potential rivalry) all served as motivation to give Kakeru that final push!
The ending kiss was alright (honestly have mixed feelings which I’ll get into). Then Suwa’s surprise that Kakeru actually collected his “reward” or maybe the assertive way he went about it and then Suwa’s satisfied smile when he sees Naho’s reaction.
From the western audience’s perspective, I’m not really a fan of the manga trope of having one character (usually guys) stealing kisses without consent. I mean it’s not so bad here because we know they both like each other, and shy Naho would never mention anything on the subject, and technically Kakeru is just responding to Naho’s surprising assertiveness in the last chapter.
What would be ideal is if he were to say, “Are you happy I finished first? Yeah, me too. What Suwa said motivated the most, but if you don’t want to…” them again drawing out such an embarrassing topic would probably make Naho run away. The whole idea was it was a quick peck as we didn’t get to see it, and Suwa also probably just missed it but was surprised like, “Did he just do that?”
Anyway, I wouldn’t have a problem with it normally, but this is such a common occurrence in media that a lot of guys in particular think girls are just shy and they really want it even if it’s not always the case. The other thing is probably most readership includes younger women, and when they see scenes like this, they think it’s okay if another man does it to them because that’s romantic. Sorry to ruin the mood by making such a big deal.
Did they actually kiss tho? I thought Kakeru kissed her cheek, by the angle and everything.
I feel like context is important and in this case I feel it makes sense, they like each other, have been going out for a bit and Kakeru has already been established as reading Naho pretty well (except when he wanted to hold hands and she didn’t quite get it and it was a whole thing haha)
I really liked this chapter. The message passed along had extra meaning for everyone but Kakeru because of their letters, but still super special for him. And I liked seeing Hagita running so hard. Not entirely sure if it was for Kakeru or the possibility of going out with Azu. (If I understood that right.)
And I agree with @fyrember, for what it is worth @Hantsuki. There was no hidden kiss on the mouth, only that kiss on the cheek that we saw in plain view. For some reason it didn’t get the ちゅ sound effect, but pretty sure that was it.
I also saw Suwa’s reaction a little different. I think it was more he almost walked in on Kakeru kissing Naho’s cheek, interrupting that moment, so he quickly hid. Perhaps a bit shocked it happened. And then smiled about it.
Personally I’m not sure if I’m pleased or not that they won the race. It is such a story moment, of course they’d win kinda thing. But I don’t actually know how many good runners the other classes had, so maybe it was okay.
Also Hagita totally brought it when it was necessary, didn’t he? Remember back in chapter 12, when Azu said that Hagita brings it when it counts? I guess she knows him pretty well.
I can’t remember, was Hagita and Azu together in the future? We saw their older selves so much in volume 1, but since then they’ve been a bit sparse. I guess I’ll have to dig out the first volume and look.
Because if they weren’t together, I do hope they get together this time, because they sure have chemistry.
Also best face this chapter was totally Naho when Suwa was talking about the Naho kiss reward for Kakeru if they came first, and if he didn’t, Suwa would have it. Her face is just so funny.
I originally took this picture because for a hot second I thought that the top and bottom of 変 were separate kanji (I was like “hen … something … … ???”) but I’m keeping it because this was just such a great moment.
Speaking of which, I feel like the fact that Kakeru initially refused makes the eventual kiss better … Because it’s clear that he didn’t go into the race thinking “hur hur I’m going to get my reward” … He’s always very conscientious of Naho’s feelings, so I definitely read the kiss in the same vein.
Originally took this picture because I didn’t understand 追い抜ける, figured it out from context, keeping because of Hagita’s photobomb haha
page 142
Okay, this one I actually do have a question about. 手紙に書いてある事だけが正解じゃないって。Is this saying “not only the things written in the letter are right” or “the things written in the letter are not only right”? I thought it was the first, but I realized I wasn’t certain so wanted to check if others thought the same.
For me, I think the grandmother and the story about the kindergarten 体育館 and Kakeru’s mother were the highlights of this chapter. And baby Kakeru is so cute! I have mixed feelings about his mom, because the way that things happened, Kakeru was bound to feel like it was his fault. But I also know that mental illness is not logical or reasonable, and she was probably in too much pain to think clearly about how it would affect Kakeru. Still though …
Anyway, the way that his grandmother and his friends made him realize that his mother would want him to be happy was really really sweet.
I read this as the former. Essentially, “The letter isn’t the only thing that’s right. We can do other things and have them be right.” In context, I’d say Naho’s letter should have pushed her to not let Kakeru participate in the run, but doing things differently also worked out. She’s not bound to only follow what the letter suggests as if her future self would know for certain what to do on top of what not to do.
Home Thread
