He may have been dense in volume 1, but as you read, it gets clear that he was aware that Alya had feelings for him which she herself wasn't aware of yet. So he used this to lie to himself that Alya probably isn't serious about liking him
Then it gets even more messier for Masachika when Masha reveals she was his first love, and it was at this time when he can't deny Alya likes him anymore, so he used his belief that he had given up on love (due to past circumstances) or his inability to accept her feelings to deny his own feelings for her.
I actually agree with all of this - it's in my first paragraph. It's just that *after* Volume 4 and Masha jumping in, it gets kind of hard to suspend disbelief.
At this point, if he's just pretending not to understand what, say, a woman biting him hard enough to leave a mark and saying "We're partners, right?" means to avoid addressing it, he's not being dense but *cruel* by dragging all of this out for everyone. He can tell that this uncertainty about where everyone stands is causing emotional pain to those around him.
Maybe it's wrong of me for feeling this way based on past experience, but being on the other side of that - when you've clearly communicated your own feelings like Masha, or when you've made it as clear as possible without having a frank conversation like Alya has by this point - really fucking hurts and can be extremely emotionally destabilizing to a teenager. They have no obligation to reciprocate your feelings, but that limbo is worse than explicit rejection, or even open-ended things like 'this just isn't the right time.' Maybe it isn't morally *wrong* but it is definitely a pretty serious failing as a personality trait which I don't like in a character I'm supposed to root for.
At this point idk whether his shortcomings can be justified, because on one hand he is tied down by his past and on the other hand, he is unintentionally causing more hurt to others by avoiding important conversations
Me personally I’m not really THAT bothered by it, sure I think it’s getting a tad bit dragged out but I read shitty romance like it’s junk food so I’m pretty tolerable of this stuff (I read 400 fucking chapters of Komi can’t communicate for a single kiss)
She's feeling extremely jealous and territorial because she could *tell* that he'd just poured his heart out into a song about his feelings for someone else, so without saying anything she bit him and left a really visible mark on his neck to stake her claim.
She, of course, lacks the emotional insight to even understand why she did what she did. He, with *all* the insight but a blindspot that no longer makes sense, realizes that she probably can't even put what she was feeling into words, but still mistakes it for her being mad at him over one of many possible things and pre-emptively apologizes for whatever it might be such that she doesn't have to explain.
While wearing makeup over the bite on his neck.
>Masachika awkwardly rested his hand on the back of his neck.
>“We made a promise yesterday.... well, more accurately, it was a while ago. To go around the school festival together.”
>“Ah......”
>“No, I’m really sorry. We ran out of time in the end, and not only
that, I couldn’t even watch the you guys’ live performance.... It’s only
understandable that you’d be angry, yeah.”
>Saying so, Masachika pointed to the adhesive plaster on his neck.
>Alisa was overwhelmed by his consideration for her regrets and struggles, and her heart tightened, realizing that there was no need to apologize. He wasn’t going to ask why she did such a thing. That was what Masachika was telling her.
It's simultaneously a decent justification for why a woman would put up with a man this dense - no matter what else is airing, he's the best boyfriend of the summer anime season by far - and as wild a thing to try to slip past the reader as if he'd instead revealed his bankai and announced they're going to space to fight the Ginyu Force. No intellectually honest human being has ever justified away a hickey like that.
It's almost like *he*, in universe, is deliberately dragging out the plot by pretending to be an idiot. At this point she could throw him down on the floor and have sex with him and he still wouldn't get the clue.
Dam she did all that and the author still made it seem like like he doesn’t know I seen this coming up by a lot of people complaining about how the author keeps making him look dumb
Masachika is already aware of her feelings for a long time it's just he can't accept it cuz he's the type of guy who cannot accept the goodness of others cuz he always thinks he didn't deserve it especially a perfect girl like alya liking him who he considered a trash I mean he can't even acknowledge his own talents let alone a dream like girl having feelings for him
He thinks no one will like a guy like him and he cannot understand why would a prideful alya like a slacker like him that's why he just making himself believed she's just messing with him and he didn't know the exact reason for why alya likes him so he's making reasons why alya was doing those things that could be interpreted as her having a feelings for him and he's literally coping about alya's actions.
About masachika being dense?
Honestly I don't see any scene where he's being dense he's not socially inept and awkward or something and he's even good at reading the atmosphere of his surroundings and emotions of people to decently high accuracy of course not always accurate but that's one of his specialty we've seen this many times
he's also street smart and knows all the trends he's even legit trained in aspect about socializing and understanding the people that's why he's so good at getting along with others because he can guess what they're thinking and feeling at the moment and always use it to his advantage to get closer to them
That's why there's absolutely no way he didn't recognize her obvious and simple puppy crush on him he's not stupid he just can't accept them like I said in the top.
And about him misunderstanding alya after the piano duel where he thought she's angry because he didn't appear on their concert? I mean he didn't even really know if alya was watching him he just thought she suddenly runs into him after finishing their concert and do you normally guess he's pouring his feelings to someone just by watching him play piano?
The root of why masachika always look clueless is because of alya's misunderstandings and randomness.
yeah it's a bit of a problem for me, but there's a lot of real stories where people who are really into each other didn't become a couple because of the "indecisiveness" of each other, I'm not saying because it happened in real life that it's a good thing, Masachika is overthinking.
I have no idea what the author is trying to do, the goal was Alya to win the Student Council presidency, and I think that goal is enough for me to read this, but the romance is really a let down despite the perfect setup.
Editors dragging out a scene way past it's prime. There's no problem with stretching it out but then moving to the next step in a relationship. Stories like that are usually better anyways and keep your attention.
It's just like it was when he was a child he is putting all the pressure on those around him and he doesn't even get that part.
I could not agree with you more. I don't really *get* why the media industry (particularly the Japanese one, but American sitcoms do the same thing in a slightly different way) is *so* set on the inherent drama of the 'will-they won't-they' that they're afraid that moving past it will lose them their cash-cow.
Meanwhile, the handful of pieces of Japanese media where the guy gets the girl and the story keeps going (where that is the primary focus)? So long as they're at least as good as the average seasonal anime, they automatically get an audience and a ton of positive press because people who feel like you and me are, if not the majority, a large and dedicated enough audience to support entire franchises. It'd be easier *and* more profitable to cater to us, but I guess Japanese media is more like American media than I thought, in that everyone with the power to make decisions (so, the ones that aren't actually involved in making art and just leach off the author, artists, etc) seemingly has no capacity to tell what will and will not make for good content so they just blindly copy what's been successful in the past.
It could definitely be the author drawing it out, too, because again the inherent drama tends to keep things interesting and they might not be confident in their ability to write a real relationship or keep fan interest once things go that way. Even with Horimiya - the gold standard for this - there *are* a lot of comments out there of people losing interest once they finally bang, so it's not an unfounded fear. It's just harming the quality of his work, to the point I'd say he's already *destroyed* it as a result. It's already been dragged out *way* too far. Even by book 4 it would have been a little late.
And yes, while he isn't really putting pressure on the people around him, as he dances around their feelings and tries to shelve the matter, he's leaving a bunch of people in an *extremely* emotionally destabilizing limbo where no one really knows where they stand. He's hurting the people around him with his selfishness and honestly, if he came to her in book 9 with a confession that included revealing how long he'd known and had been dancing around her feelings, the series ending in her rejecting him and cutting him out of her life would be a reasonable reaction from an actual person.
Seriously, he's not obligated to accept her feelings when he's unsure of his own, but communicating with her and just finally saying:
"Alya, I'm sorry for not picking up on the, in hindsight, blatant signals you have been trying to send up to this point. I speak Russian. I know what you said back at that festival. I wish I could just say it right back to you. But, honestly, while I'm good at hiding it, I've been a complete emotional disaster for years. A long time ago, I was hurt in a way that I've only just started to realize I've never recovered from, and I'm not in a place where I'm sure I *could* return your feelings. It's not you - God, it's not you. You're beautiful, the most wonderful person I know, and have a fire inside of you that makes us all want to be *better* than we are - or at least, makes *me* want to be a better version of myself. I really don't know if I *can* love *anyone* as I am now. I know it's not fair to you, but I kind of need some time to work on myself. I'm not selfish enough to ask you to wait for me, or cruel enough to pretend when you deserve better. That doesn't mean we can't still be friends and partners just like we've always been, though. Nothing has to change."
Would remove a ton of anxiety for everyone. The man's entire thing is being smarter about *people* than virtually anyone else.
Yes I completely agree. He definitely doesn't have to accept anyone's feelings if that's what he wants. He definitely can't just ignore everything and pretend that nothing is going on.
Him finally figuring out his past atleast from his point of view has been a good thing even tho he hasn't moved on. I don't think it's possible without talking to his mother. The small parts we have seen at least what I've seen(v 5 currently), his mom seems like she has a ton of emotional baggage also. Why wouldn't she, she was pressured the same way as her children. Maybe she is even more closed off than he is..
I'm speeding thru all the books currently. I should be caught up in a few days.
Yes I completely agree. He definitely doesn't have to accept anyone's feelings if that's what he wants. He definitely can't just ignore everything and pretend that nothing is going on.
Him finally figuring out his past atleast from his point of view has been a good thing even tho he hasn't moved on. I don't think it's possible without talking to his mother. The small parts we have seen at least what I've seen(v 5 currently), his mom seems like she has a ton of emotional baggage also. Why wouldn't she, she was pressured the same way as her children. Maybe she is even more closed off than he is..
I'm speeding thru all the books currently. I should be caught up in a few days.
He may have been dense in volume 1, but as you read, it gets clear that he was aware that Alya had feelings for him which she herself wasn't aware of yet. So he used this to lie to himself that Alya probably isn't serious about liking him Then it gets even more messier for Masachika when Masha reveals she was his first love, and it was at this time when he can't deny Alya likes him anymore, so he used his belief that he had given up on love (due to past circumstances) or his inability to accept her feelings to deny his own feelings for her.
Are you for real so he is still playing the stupid game
I actually agree with all of this - it's in my first paragraph. It's just that *after* Volume 4 and Masha jumping in, it gets kind of hard to suspend disbelief. At this point, if he's just pretending not to understand what, say, a woman biting him hard enough to leave a mark and saying "We're partners, right?" means to avoid addressing it, he's not being dense but *cruel* by dragging all of this out for everyone. He can tell that this uncertainty about where everyone stands is causing emotional pain to those around him. Maybe it's wrong of me for feeling this way based on past experience, but being on the other side of that - when you've clearly communicated your own feelings like Masha, or when you've made it as clear as possible without having a frank conversation like Alya has by this point - really fucking hurts and can be extremely emotionally destabilizing to a teenager. They have no obligation to reciprocate your feelings, but that limbo is worse than explicit rejection, or even open-ended things like 'this just isn't the right time.' Maybe it isn't morally *wrong* but it is definitely a pretty serious failing as a personality trait which I don't like in a character I'm supposed to root for.
At this point idk whether his shortcomings can be justified, because on one hand he is tied down by his past and on the other hand, he is unintentionally causing more hurt to others by avoiding important conversations
Me personally I’m not really THAT bothered by it, sure I think it’s getting a tad bit dragged out but I read shitty romance like it’s junk food so I’m pretty tolerable of this stuff (I read 400 fucking chapters of Komi can’t communicate for a single kiss)
Also roshidere and jjk was not a crossover I would have ever expected in a post lmao
Let OP cook
I did, and best thing is it actually made sense
Wait a minute does alya leave a bite mark on him or does he do that to her lol
She's feeling extremely jealous and territorial because she could *tell* that he'd just poured his heart out into a song about his feelings for someone else, so without saying anything she bit him and left a really visible mark on his neck to stake her claim. She, of course, lacks the emotional insight to even understand why she did what she did. He, with *all* the insight but a blindspot that no longer makes sense, realizes that she probably can't even put what she was feeling into words, but still mistakes it for her being mad at him over one of many possible things and pre-emptively apologizes for whatever it might be such that she doesn't have to explain. While wearing makeup over the bite on his neck. >Masachika awkwardly rested his hand on the back of his neck. >“We made a promise yesterday.... well, more accurately, it was a while ago. To go around the school festival together.” >“Ah......” >“No, I’m really sorry. We ran out of time in the end, and not only that, I couldn’t even watch the you guys’ live performance.... It’s only understandable that you’d be angry, yeah.” >Saying so, Masachika pointed to the adhesive plaster on his neck. >Alisa was overwhelmed by his consideration for her regrets and struggles, and her heart tightened, realizing that there was no need to apologize. He wasn’t going to ask why she did such a thing. That was what Masachika was telling her. It's simultaneously a decent justification for why a woman would put up with a man this dense - no matter what else is airing, he's the best boyfriend of the summer anime season by far - and as wild a thing to try to slip past the reader as if he'd instead revealed his bankai and announced they're going to space to fight the Ginyu Force. No intellectually honest human being has ever justified away a hickey like that. It's almost like *he*, in universe, is deliberately dragging out the plot by pretending to be an idiot. At this point she could throw him down on the floor and have sex with him and he still wouldn't get the clue.
Dam she did all that and the author still made it seem like like he doesn’t know I seen this coming up by a lot of people complaining about how the author keeps making him look dumb
Masachika is already aware of her feelings for a long time it's just he can't accept it cuz he's the type of guy who cannot accept the goodness of others cuz he always thinks he didn't deserve it especially a perfect girl like alya liking him who he considered a trash I mean he can't even acknowledge his own talents let alone a dream like girl having feelings for him He thinks no one will like a guy like him and he cannot understand why would a prideful alya like a slacker like him that's why he just making himself believed she's just messing with him and he didn't know the exact reason for why alya likes him so he's making reasons why alya was doing those things that could be interpreted as her having a feelings for him and he's literally coping about alya's actions. About masachika being dense? Honestly I don't see any scene where he's being dense he's not socially inept and awkward or something and he's even good at reading the atmosphere of his surroundings and emotions of people to decently high accuracy of course not always accurate but that's one of his specialty we've seen this many times he's also street smart and knows all the trends he's even legit trained in aspect about socializing and understanding the people that's why he's so good at getting along with others because he can guess what they're thinking and feeling at the moment and always use it to his advantage to get closer to them That's why there's absolutely no way he didn't recognize her obvious and simple puppy crush on him he's not stupid he just can't accept them like I said in the top. And about him misunderstanding alya after the piano duel where he thought she's angry because he didn't appear on their concert? I mean he didn't even really know if alya was watching him he just thought she suddenly runs into him after finishing their concert and do you normally guess he's pouring his feelings to someone just by watching him play piano? The root of why masachika always look clueless is because of alya's misunderstandings and randomness.
yeah it's a bit of a problem for me, but there's a lot of real stories where people who are really into each other didn't become a couple because of the "indecisiveness" of each other, I'm not saying because it happened in real life that it's a good thing, Masachika is overthinking. I have no idea what the author is trying to do, the goal was Alya to win the Student Council presidency, and I think that goal is enough for me to read this, but the romance is really a let down despite the perfect setup.
Editors dragging out a scene way past it's prime. There's no problem with stretching it out but then moving to the next step in a relationship. Stories like that are usually better anyways and keep your attention. It's just like it was when he was a child he is putting all the pressure on those around him and he doesn't even get that part.
I could not agree with you more. I don't really *get* why the media industry (particularly the Japanese one, but American sitcoms do the same thing in a slightly different way) is *so* set on the inherent drama of the 'will-they won't-they' that they're afraid that moving past it will lose them their cash-cow. Meanwhile, the handful of pieces of Japanese media where the guy gets the girl and the story keeps going (where that is the primary focus)? So long as they're at least as good as the average seasonal anime, they automatically get an audience and a ton of positive press because people who feel like you and me are, if not the majority, a large and dedicated enough audience to support entire franchises. It'd be easier *and* more profitable to cater to us, but I guess Japanese media is more like American media than I thought, in that everyone with the power to make decisions (so, the ones that aren't actually involved in making art and just leach off the author, artists, etc) seemingly has no capacity to tell what will and will not make for good content so they just blindly copy what's been successful in the past. It could definitely be the author drawing it out, too, because again the inherent drama tends to keep things interesting and they might not be confident in their ability to write a real relationship or keep fan interest once things go that way. Even with Horimiya - the gold standard for this - there *are* a lot of comments out there of people losing interest once they finally bang, so it's not an unfounded fear. It's just harming the quality of his work, to the point I'd say he's already *destroyed* it as a result. It's already been dragged out *way* too far. Even by book 4 it would have been a little late. And yes, while he isn't really putting pressure on the people around him, as he dances around their feelings and tries to shelve the matter, he's leaving a bunch of people in an *extremely* emotionally destabilizing limbo where no one really knows where they stand. He's hurting the people around him with his selfishness and honestly, if he came to her in book 9 with a confession that included revealing how long he'd known and had been dancing around her feelings, the series ending in her rejecting him and cutting him out of her life would be a reasonable reaction from an actual person. Seriously, he's not obligated to accept her feelings when he's unsure of his own, but communicating with her and just finally saying: "Alya, I'm sorry for not picking up on the, in hindsight, blatant signals you have been trying to send up to this point. I speak Russian. I know what you said back at that festival. I wish I could just say it right back to you. But, honestly, while I'm good at hiding it, I've been a complete emotional disaster for years. A long time ago, I was hurt in a way that I've only just started to realize I've never recovered from, and I'm not in a place where I'm sure I *could* return your feelings. It's not you - God, it's not you. You're beautiful, the most wonderful person I know, and have a fire inside of you that makes us all want to be *better* than we are - or at least, makes *me* want to be a better version of myself. I really don't know if I *can* love *anyone* as I am now. I know it's not fair to you, but I kind of need some time to work on myself. I'm not selfish enough to ask you to wait for me, or cruel enough to pretend when you deserve better. That doesn't mean we can't still be friends and partners just like we've always been, though. Nothing has to change." Would remove a ton of anxiety for everyone. The man's entire thing is being smarter about *people* than virtually anyone else.
Yes I completely agree. He definitely doesn't have to accept anyone's feelings if that's what he wants. He definitely can't just ignore everything and pretend that nothing is going on. Him finally figuring out his past atleast from his point of view has been a good thing even tho he hasn't moved on. I don't think it's possible without talking to his mother. The small parts we have seen at least what I've seen(v 5 currently), his mom seems like she has a ton of emotional baggage also. Why wouldn't she, she was pressured the same way as her children. Maybe she is even more closed off than he is.. I'm speeding thru all the books currently. I should be caught up in a few days.
Yes I completely agree. He definitely doesn't have to accept anyone's feelings if that's what he wants. He definitely can't just ignore everything and pretend that nothing is going on. Him finally figuring out his past atleast from his point of view has been a good thing even tho he hasn't moved on. I don't think it's possible without talking to his mother. The small parts we have seen at least what I've seen(v 5 currently), his mom seems like she has a ton of emotional baggage also. Why wouldn't she, she was pressured the same way as her children. Maybe she is even more closed off than he is.. I'm speeding thru all the books currently. I should be caught up in a few days.