Told myself I'd get around to commenting on this eventually. I've been sick, and busy, and though I always read these updates as soon as I can, I like to wait until I actually have time to say things before commenting.
Chapter 49:
Not really a major thing, but I hope Lilly doesn't resume her class representative duties when class restarts. I agree with her assessment that it would be poison for her and Shizune's slowly-mending relationship. Of course, her classmates all tend to look up to her, I think (with a few exceptions,) so having her around would, probably enable them to subvert Kamisaka's authority by going to Lilly for their problems whether she's the representative or
not.
I'm not surprised Lilly's decided she doesn't like traveling, either. I can't imagine it would be much fun when you have that particular disability. Maybe Shizune would enjoy it more, but we never really see any sort of indication that traveling is something she does very often either...
I really love the interaction between Mayoi and Lilly--your Mayoi is probably one of my favorite characters in KS fanfiction, if not my favorite. And it's nice that there's an adult woman in Lilly's life who is, well, more
warmly maternal than Sorcha. I can totally understand why Lilly would have hidden herself away here. I
am a bit disappointed we didn't get to see a Hanako/Mayoi encounter, but I can certainly understand why we didn't see it. Also, Lilly accidentally bringing up Shizune's embarrassment was kind of heartbreaking.
It's interesting that Mayoi implies she still loves Jigoro, just not in the way she did before. It makes me wonder whether she sees him as, I dunno, a wayward friend, and a particularly immature one. Or perhaps a sibling, even. There's a lot I'd still like to know about the platonic love Mayoi has for Jigoro.
dewelar wrote:On the path to the dormitory, we almost literally bump into one of my classmates, Momomi Matsumoto, out walking her guide dog.
I feel bad for OTL
!Momomi. Her life is kind of boring. Perhaps down the line I should find something for her to do.
Lilly tutoring Emi in English sounds like it could be interesting. I'd be pretty curious to see what direction that goes in, unless Emi revealed her plans in an earlier chapter and I forgot.
Hanako in this chapter definitely made me feel like she hadn't matured enough for a relationship. I really couldn't see it happening in a healthy direction after this scene. And, yeah, honestly there really never
was any way that Hisao would have ever had sex with Yoshimura (though, honestly? It really isn't anybody's fucking business whether or not he does. Hisao doesn't owe anybody anything. He isn't even in a committed relationship.)
Hanako's outburst was Misstep-level in volume, but nowhere near as justified. The irony is that the person she's really mad at is
herself.
She's the one who borked her chances of having a relationship with Hisao by taking some really badly-thought-out steps in the wrong direction. But she's projecting her anger onto Lilly because, honestly, Lilly is once again totally right, and her wisdom is still many levels above Hanako's, stamping down pretty hard on Hanako's latent desire to feel like Lilly's equal. Hanako has grown, but so has Lilly, and Hanako can't catch up.
Chapter 50:
Emi really needs to open up to Hisao about her dad already. I don't expect to see that until closer to the end--It took her the entire route in the VN to spit it out--but, well, yeah. She needs this to stop being A Thing. And does she also have a deep resentment of
alcohol, and of the driver who hit them? (I swear, with every update of this story, Báthory gets retroactively harsher...)
Hisao and Lilly's banter was sweet. I really hope what Mayoi foreshadowed comes to pass; I
love the idea of the two of them becoming best friends, even if that means Hanako winds up getting slightly shoved out. It's really nice to see burned-out romantic relationships reborn as strong friendships. I think the two of them are really starting to understand each other, and honestly that's what both of them need more than anything.
It looks like we're on the Emi track, but it's definitely not a done deal--Hanako/Hisao certainly isn't going to be a thing in this story, but that doesn't guarantee an Emi happy ending. I'm still expecting something to go sour from here; otherwise, cleanup is going to be too easy, I think.
I feel really bad for Lilly. In a sense, she's so much like Mayoi--well-meaning, loving, maternal, but totally isolated from the people she loves and so silently hungry for that familial affection. But while Mayoi at least has Julia, Lilly doesn't really have anybody right now, and it doesn't look like there's going to be anyone in the near future (Dev!Lilly/Dev!Yuuko OTP? *sigh* naaaaaah.)
Anyway, Taka-Taka is adorable. That is all.
Hisao having a heart attack right now is... Kind of annoying. Feels a little like a deus ex machina. I mean, it makes sense--disregarding all the progress that Hisao's made with his cardiac health, it still makes sense--but it looks like it's going to deprive us of the long-awaited Hanako Shutdown Scene, and that's something I was looking forward to seeing. (Also, I don't know why it feels like Hisao has had a bazillion heart attacks in this story, because that's not true, but for some reason I feel like I've been here a thousand times.)
Whew. Okay I think I'm done for now.