At the start, we already established the typical two characters of opposite personas, Shizuku Hoshikawa and Kaori Asaka. From the moment we saw them, we already knew about how it's gonna end: with either of them dying. My bet were all on Kaori, knowing behind those previous smiles, she might have had some shit behind the scenes.

After meeting with Ruri, who Shizuku bullied 3 years ago, and attempted to reconcile with her, Kaori fell, writhing in pain. At that point, I knew she was in deep shit, and immediately assumed for the worst of illness, because it's an already well known trope in which Kaori would die.

BUT THE TWIST I NEVER KNEW WAS GOING TO DROP ON ME: Kaori tried to convince Shizuku to break up with her. Of all the scenario in which i thought they would hold on until the end, Kaori dropped that shit on me, and I was in shock. YES I KNOW IT'S FOR SHOCK VALUE BUT STILL IT'S SCARY TO THINK HOW LONG SHE HAD THAT INTENTION EVER SINCE SHE MET SHIZUKU. like imagine your partner secretly having a breakup plan for god knows how long??? i would literally be fucked for life.

But then SHIZUKU OFFERED TO WRITE THEIR OWN SELF-INSERT ROMANCE NOVEL SO SHE CAN STAY WITH HER (i wasn't normal about it, and still am not!). The subsequent chapters were nothing but pain and suffering, every page I turned filled me with intensity, even if it was a "breather" chapter. "Something's fucked up gonna happen fr" was literally my thought. I was on high alert.

Shizuku dealt with it better than me. She still held on writing the novel. She stayed strong, reconciled with Ruri, and kept on writing just for her dying girlfriend.

There's always something about this manga, the fact that it will always, all the sudden, transition from a jolly experience to the depths of hell.

holy shit this page

Me and my friends who was also reading with me, we both felt like, despite all the happiness both have shared so far, the fact that it's so joever from the start just...devastated both of us. This page said it all, it really just went from a jolly start to the absolute depth of depression, a gut punch of reality that shot me in the face and left me empty.

At the end, she finished the novel, Kaori read it, then she died, and Shizuku had to live with it, then removed her former shell and become just straight up a better person. It's that simple really. But at first I thought Kaori would have never finished the novel, I mean hell this manga really made me always expect the worst, so I can't really blame myself.

The end was bittersweet, but content. I was crying inside, that's why I deeply recommend this manga so much, because it broke my expectation, beyond the most obvious and common trope in writings. It was conveyed so beautifully, and the trope doesn't matter anymore. I really wished I'd written this a bit serious but look this shit broke me and that's all it matters. Literally PTSD when writing this, abandoning all structural formula of writing and went all personal on it, like making a tweet after having just read it, lol.