I've been sitting on this ending for a couple days now, trying to think of a good way to start this comment. Nothing felt exactly right, so I'm just going to start it like this and we'll go from there. Though before we get into the thick of it, I'd like to also add a congratulations and thank you to the list, for this story's finale is one that I never thought I'd see when I first read it back in 2023 and I'm glad to be here today.
I remember coming into this story a little jaded because people kept talking it as "the Rika route" and saying how much better a positive and upbeat was in comparison to the more cynical Rika's. Issue was, I wasn't around for the apparent frequent cynical Rika. I'd only read two Rika stories and she was only cynical in one of them - a story I personally enjoyed my time with. Then I realized I was coming in with a bad mindset by immediately comparing Flutter to those other two I'd read, so I attempted separating my opinion of them from my read. I don't think I was too successful because I initially came off of Flutter thinking it was pretty decent, but not being too attached to it - at least not significantly more than the other two interpretations. Perhaps because it was incomplete at the time with many years having passed with no word on updates. Still, a solid mark in the positive direction and I moved on.
Fast forward to August that same year and I remember waking up to the surprise return of this story and its author, Sharp-O. I remember immediately being sad that I hadn't started leaving comments by the time I finished my initial read of the story because now too long had past for all of my initial thoughts and feelings to be preserved. Never-the-less, I reread and caught back up to the story in preparation for its continuation and hopeful eventual conclusion. This time around I remember feeling like the story and characters were clicking with me more than last time. Hard to say if it was the simple reinvigorated presence of the story's author or something else, but I was immediately back on board.
Fast forward again a couple years and I can now say definitively that both this interpretation of Rika and her story in Flutter are amongst my favorite in the fandom. More so, I can now proudly call Sharp-O and friend and someone I can gladly talk to about any random bullshit that we decide to. All that to say, life can take us in surprising directions or unexpected turns out of nowhere.
That's part of the story being expressed here, in my opinion. Rika and Hisao didn't start their school years with any idea of where it would lead them by the end. Rika with the surprise arrival of a potential kindred spirit, and Hisao with the unfortunate discovery of his heart put them on a collision course with each other, and collide they did. Spectacularly, even. See, what's interesting to me about Flutter is that it feels like it's just as much Hisao's story as it is Rika's, as well as the story of their relationship. Hisao's romance with Iwanako was nipped in the bud before it could even think about blossoming, still frozen in the winter that killed it. It never had a conclusion, it just ended and Hisao was forcefully moved to the next stage of his life. But life isn't that simple and the sheer amount of changes Hisao had to go through reveal that distinctly. He can't just move on from everything ripped away from him, and it will stuck with him. Some consequences of that showed up here in the finale.
Meanwhile there's Rika, whose journey in life and love had finally been given an opportunity to be nurtured and explored. She just needed some motivation, and that's exactly when Hisao's sudden arrival fell in her lap. An opportunity she made sure not to let pass up. Unfortunately this is where the problems between the two begin. A seedling of rot in their relationship that'd grow just as much as the rest of it, waiting for its opportunity to take complete control. On one hand Hisao's unresolved past and Rika's opportunism work hand in hand from the start as the first dominos that'd lead to the collapse of their relationship.
I don't think the issues that'd lead to their break-up are as simple as 'bedroom issues' or stubbornness from either side. And I don't think Rika or Hisao are the sole cause for the rifts in their relationship. Both had issues that played a part and neither are blameless. In the end, a relationship born out of lies and escapism was bound to fail in the end, but that doesn't mean it was all for naught.
The story being told here is one of growth. Both Hisao and Rika become far better people for all the pain they experienced together than they would otherwise have been. A 'bad end' for the relationship is not a bad end for the characters, and I like how that's explored here. Hisao finally starts to accept what happened to him and that it was not the end of his life he was once so convinced of, and Rika's able to push forward with her own life, taking it by the reigns and finally escaping from the room she was trapped in for so long.
Of course it's sad that the two weren't able to resolve their issues, but in the end it's better for a relationship to end than to let it bleed out slowly and dryly. They were hurting each other and no matter how good the best they had together was, trying to desperately cling to that peak would only make it hurt more as time went on. They'd grow to hate each other more than they ever loved each other, all while pining for a magical return to a state long-since passed. Once they accepted the parts of themselves and their relationship they couldn't change, they were able to move forward again. I think this is expressed with Hisao and Iwanako giving it another chance, as well as Rika's debut as the president of a club. Both characters are in a much better place in life than they were before meeting each other.
Hisao and Rika were great together. I loved the ship (clearly, as seen from my previous posts), and hoped it could work out in the end. The two worked well together. But that's just it, for that brief period in time they worked, and that's all it was. Once confronted with parts of each other that they couldn't live with that moment had passed and there was no going back.
Saying goodbye to that happiness is not easy, but it was necessary. In doing so both Hisao and Rika were also allowed to explore themselves a bit more as well. I don't see Hisao going back to Iwanako as her being the 'back-up girl', rather it's Hisao exploring another unresolved facet of his old life he would've otherwise been unable to. Without the growth he experienced in his relationship with Rika, it would've never happened. Likewise Rika might've never put herself out there and met so many great new friends like Saki had she never took a chance on knocking on Hisao's door.
A flutter is a momentary irregularity in a heart's normal function. The root cause of a flutter could be inane, but it could also be a symptom of a greater problem. If left to fester a flutter could lead to much more dramatic consequences, but once addressed the heart may be left stronger than it ever was before. Weaknesses that'd otherwise be left unchecked, now given the chance to be addressed. It may have been just a moment, but it moment's all you need to change your life. And that moment was Hisao and Rika's relationship.
Thank you for an amazing story, Sharp-O. I'm sure there more themes and ideas I meant to discuss or still want to but don't fit in here. Perhaps I can do that in a re-read. A new game plus.
