Goddamn it I put whole "don't care about the sleeping around thing" and then my entire comment still revolved around it. BLEHHHHHH this topic is like a black hole
Fine fine I'll talk about it because its bugging my brain so much.
As it is, it feels like the uke sleeps around PURELY because the author wanted the shock value of "my cute childhood friend is a slut????" but without actually exploring how that impacts any of the characters.
This isn't some pwp shit where nothing matters. These are supposed to be real people with real feelings so let them explore it.
Makoto berated himself for "being dirty" at one point but that seems more like the author wanting to... idk??? punish him??? lampshade???
We never explore what this means for his character. Does he feel guilty? If he does, did he always feel that way or did he only start because the guy he likes is back in town and that msfr him confront m his connections and realize he doesnt like it.
If he DOESN'T feel guilty, why not express that? Why not express WHY when hes being confronted by someone who's clearly upset that be does.
For the seme, why couldnt he just... sit for a moment and confront WHY he's so uncomfortable with the uke sleeping around. He does like really briefly, but it feels like the story relies on the audience agreeing that its taboo. Which, judging by the comments, worked. But it's way more interesting to call that out JN STORY especially since IN STORY, HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO FEELS THAT WAY. Would that not make the average person at the very least think WTF why are all these people so casual about something I thought was generally considered bad??
Man, why do I have so many goddman thoughts about this story it's not particularly interesting or thought provoking yet here I am.
Thanks comment section for letting me yell into the void about this
Dude. You just spent the past several chapters interacting with him, rekindling (for lack of a better word) your friendship, and pushing him to take over a restaurant you don't even know if he wants to take over.
Obligatory I do not care if he's been sleeping around since that seems to be on everyone else's minds I guess.
But can we just talk about how the uke flip flops between "oh no I'm such a horrible person for sleeping around and dragging my crush back home to run a restaurant I'm not sure if he cares about anymore" to "how dare you insinuate that I'm sleeping with people to get deals" (which I think is understandable since everyone he does business with is also a sex partner)
That's a lot of words to say the story itself has some wild cognitive dissonance.
Also, no one here friggin introspects. The seme doesn't think about the life he left in Italy, so clearly it wasnt that important to him but apparently hes not that attached to his hometown either. SO THINK ABIUT THAT. SIR. HOW ARE YOU FEELING. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS other than being uncomfortable with your childhood friend sleeping around.
This story WANTS to be about that. It's trying so hard to make that the central conflict. And as a result it ignored all the other potential drama about the thing it wants us to THINK is the central conflict, which is the uke trying to revitalize his town and the seme being unsure if he wants to settle there again.
Why am I yelling so much about this story. Maybe it's just so clumsily written that I can ALMOST see the seams coming apart but I'm not that great at analysis so my brain is just barking at me with no direction
Did this mother anyone else?? Can someone else explain to me what my brain is tryna get at???
This is a lot of words. (⊙…⊙ )