bastardangel's Manga

All these comments about how there is no development in the story or in the characters… Please, read the manga again in one go, you will see it, real character development. It’s only seamless because it’s well written, it flows naturally, but it’s so very much there.

Compare Souichi in the first volumes to Souichi now. Souichi in volume 2 was telling Morinaga “so your brother is the type who can get married, you should learn from him”. In vol 6 he was wiping away Morinaga’s tears when he cried about Souichi’s father being acceptant of his gay son like Mori never had. And now in vol 15, Souichi’s reaction to Morinaga bashing himself for being sad that his parents will probably try to make him marry a woman was to cradle Mori’s face in his hands and tell him “it’s not nothing!”
This is character development, well written, continuous, unambiguous.
Think of Souichi who still denied their relationship in volume 7, and how in vol 14 he talked with Morinaga about how “to me, telling people closer to me is the hardest”, fully acknowledging that they *are* together, that there *is* something to be known.
Souichi who used to say “all homos must die” (homophobe) who has fully stopped spewing homophobic bullshit for quite a long while now. Souichi who once broke down crying “I aint a goddamn homo” in self hatred and denial, who now says “it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong” to his boyfriend.
You have to keep in mind that he is a tsundere character, he will never be one for grand romantic gestures. But he’s still cone such a long way.

Morinaga has come a long way too! From being reckless and saying he didn’t care of people knew, to caring about who does know and how it would affect Souichi (and himself).
Morinaga, who at first would steal kisses on the fly, and jumped on every chance to be intimate with Souichi because he was so insecure, and then learned to restrain himself and to trust, though he still struggles because it all comes from pretty major trauma. Think of how Morinaga was unbearably jealous of Souichi seeing someone else in volume 3, and in volume 13 he left Souichi alone in their appartement with Isogai, though he still doesn’t trust the guy for p valid reasons.

As for the plot, how has it not developed? Souichi meets Morinaga’s brother and learns of his family and his past. Souichi’s house burns down and they move in together. *Souichi kisses Morinaga first.* They go to Canada, have talks about consent and boundaries. Morinaga meets Souichi’s family and tells him of his own. Souichi struggles to accept his feelings and his sexuality and they talk about it. They are confronted with Morinaga’s ex, go through a huge argument that almost breaks them, only for Souichi to realize that he wants Morinaga and needs to show him that. And for Morinaga to realize he cannot rush Sou into self acceptance. They go to Morinaga’s hometown, peeling away a bit more of his past. They get new kouhais in the lab in prevision of Morinaga graduating and moving on from education to the workforce. Morinaga moves to another city, they have a whole situation about roommates. Mori outs them to someone and they have a well needed talk about that. Souichi rides Morinaga’s cock while moaning his name. Souichi becomes an associate professor. They have engagement rings now.

This story began with a deeply insecure and impulsive guy having the world’s messiest codependent situationship with the CEO of emotional repression and sexual shame. Now its about two working adults who talk about their feelings, their mutual boundaries, and are able to have a relationship despite working in two different cities. If that’s not progress I don’t know what is.

the time between updates is excruciating,, I’ve been following this story for years and I heard it’s almost complete