Sekaiichi Hatsukoi Chapter 13
I was waiting patiently for this to be scanlated before I even looked at it, and a good dose of the main pairing (my favourites) is just what I needed. (I still sometimes feel like I'm doing it wrong in a sense, because I like it mostly not for how "meant to be" they are for each other but for how dysfunctional they both are. I think most people recognise the problems with Ritsu and how he tries to deny his feelings, but the way Takano acts is symptomatic of his own issues AND I LOVE IT, even though sometimes I think that others see nothing wrong with how he treats Ritsu in the desperation to make Ritsu love him.) Of course, I do enjoy seeing them grow closer and Ritsu begin to acknowledge and own his feelings and stop being so damn resistant! I want a happy ending for these two, and thankfully with a manga like this I've got no reason to believe that won't happen.
Anyway, here are some highlights.
SO amused at the drinking party. Isaka is so awful and OF COURSE poor Ritsu would wind up drinking because he doesn't feel he can say no. You can tell Kisa is an old hand at this sort of event, too. I do so love seeing Ritsu flustered and out of his depth/comfort zone.
Oh Ritsu, it's clear from the start that he's going to wind up far too drunk, and we already know that he doesn't seem to be able to handle his drink that well. I don't even care if it's a cliched scenario but I love it when characters I like get drunk and end up doing or saying stupid things, and factor in the consent issues last time it happened and yeah, that's precisely why I like Takano and Ritsu together. MY HEART ACHES because they're both so hurt because of the past but here they have an opportunity to make things work out in the present.
Isaka LOL. It's a sore point for Ritsu but Isaka TOTALLY DOESN'T CARE and is perfectly happy to mention their shared nepotic status whenever he's around Ritsu.
TYPICAL TSUNDERE INTERNAL MONOLOGUE.
Also, I agree with the sales department girls that Ritsu is REALLY CUTE when he's had a few drinks (I love that he's such a disasterous lightweight).
Kisa was right that Ritsu's being targeted, but he has no hope of fighting them off in that state. But thankfully, Takano shows up to drag him away before matters get worse.
OH GOD THIS WHOLE PAGE, MY HEEEEART.
SO ATTRACTIVE, RITSU. He's even more far gone than last time, so Takano just puts him to bed after Ritsu calls him sempai again. Takano is so quiet and sad sometimes that it breaks my heart (what can I say, I adore the stoic and suffering type). In the morning, Ritsu wakes up groggy and wondering why he feels so heavy, only to realise it's because Takano is lying half on top of him with his arms wrapped around him (he's just so desperate to be close to Ritsu that I suppose he would take any opportunity he can get), and then Takano tries to stop him as he goes to leave.
(REALLY relieved that they didn't have drunk sex that night; Ritsu was just TOO out of it here.)
HNNG that flustered look he gets when he's confronted with his feelings.
STOP RUNNING AWAY, RITSU.
I feel so sad for Takano here. He's found Ritsu again in the present and this is his second chance but the only time Ritsu truly seems comfortable and happy and willing to be with him is when alcohol opens his mouth and makes him think of the past where Takano was his sempai rather than the present day where Takano is so desperate to make it work again. I guess it's because Ritsu is so different from his past self that he finds it hard to admit that he still has feelings for Takano now, but easier to regress to that time of innocence before he had his heart broken and grew up to be a cynical tsundere who absolutely cannot be in love with his boss.
(Oh, looking at the clock and where Takano says he still made it in time, it looks like the night isn't over yet. So how early did Ritsu get drunk and end up leaving with Takano? I guess they just got back to Takano's apartment and Ritsu passed out on the bed, to wake up not long before midnight.)
Then Ritsu awkwardly makes a big deal out of Takano never ASKING him before doing/deciding on things (because the one thing Ritsu seems to struggle with the most is being out of control and I think most of the time he's with Takano he feels that way, because he can't stop himself from feeling the way he does and inevitably, Takano is going to act on his own feelings). So a kiss is okay if Takano asks first? OH WAIT, he doesn't even have to ask for that (Ritsu is so blushy and cute here!).
Takano making a move on his always activates Ritsu's flight response but he must be getting better about it, because although he has a thought about how Takano always makes him feel trapped and like he can't escape, he doesn't even offer up any protestation this time and there's a sex scene where not once does he ask Takano to stop doing whatever he's doing.
As always, I thought this scene was hotter before they actually got to the stage of penetrative sex (probably because I still don't care that much for the art style). LOL at Ritsu's shocked reaction to ALMOST EVERYTHING (like Takano asking Ritsu to touch him too AND THEN JUST SHOVING HIS HAND IN HIS PANTS) but it's that lack of control thing again, even if it's clear he loves Takano and even enjoys having sex with Takano he still seems startled by the fact that it's happening to him again.
I laughed out loud at Takano asking to hold hands.
I mean, it's not that the position is ridiculous (that hands clasped above Ritsu's head thing is pretty hot actually) but it's just such a cheesy sentimental thing to say that I could not take it seriously.
Ritsu gets cornered by girls again the next day.
Takano intervenes again and says they should go out with him instead, Ritsu gets pissed off and Takano tells him rather frostily that he should be more jealous. So he didn't want the girls to ask Ritsu out, and told them they should go with him instead to make Ritsu jealous? YEAH, I DIDN'T LIKE THIS PART. I just don't get what it is with jealousy signifying love. To me, that kind of unfounded jealousy is just unattractive.
I do feel bad for Takano because he's so comfortable being demonstrative about his love for Ritsu and Ritsu is like the exact opposite and after the previous night he's probably starting to doubt whether Ritsu really could grow to love him in the present instead of just the past. Having Ritsu be so unwilling to give him a sign that those feelings are still there when he's not drunk and regressing to their past is obviously what motivates him to take that kind of tactic, but trying to goad someone into feeling jealousy? I could do without that. But happily, Ritsu himself seems to feel that Takano's behaviour here is immature.
So what did Takano buy Ritsu as a present?
I hope the next chapters features these two as well.
Anyway, here are some highlights.
SO amused at the drinking party. Isaka is so awful and OF COURSE poor Ritsu would wind up drinking because he doesn't feel he can say no. You can tell Kisa is an old hand at this sort of event, too. I do so love seeing Ritsu flustered and out of his depth/comfort zone.
Oh Ritsu, it's clear from the start that he's going to wind up far too drunk, and we already know that he doesn't seem to be able to handle his drink that well. I don't even care if it's a cliched scenario but I love it when characters I like get drunk and end up doing or saying stupid things, and factor in the consent issues last time it happened and yeah, that's precisely why I like Takano and Ritsu together. MY HEART ACHES because they're both so hurt because of the past but here they have an opportunity to make things work out in the present.
Isaka LOL. It's a sore point for Ritsu but Isaka TOTALLY DOESN'T CARE and is perfectly happy to mention their shared nepotic status whenever he's around Ritsu.
TYPICAL TSUNDERE INTERNAL MONOLOGUE.
Also, I agree with the sales department girls that Ritsu is REALLY CUTE when he's had a few drinks (I love that he's such a disasterous lightweight).
Kisa was right that Ritsu's being targeted, but he has no hope of fighting them off in that state. But thankfully, Takano shows up to drag him away before matters get worse.
OH GOD THIS WHOLE PAGE, MY HEEEEART.
SO ATTRACTIVE, RITSU. He's even more far gone than last time, so Takano just puts him to bed after Ritsu calls him sempai again. Takano is so quiet and sad sometimes that it breaks my heart (what can I say, I adore the stoic and suffering type). In the morning, Ritsu wakes up groggy and wondering why he feels so heavy, only to realise it's because Takano is lying half on top of him with his arms wrapped around him (he's just so desperate to be close to Ritsu that I suppose he would take any opportunity he can get), and then Takano tries to stop him as he goes to leave.
(REALLY relieved that they didn't have drunk sex that night; Ritsu was just TOO out of it here.)
HNNG that flustered look he gets when he's confronted with his feelings.
STOP RUNNING AWAY, RITSU.
I feel so sad for Takano here. He's found Ritsu again in the present and this is his second chance but the only time Ritsu truly seems comfortable and happy and willing to be with him is when alcohol opens his mouth and makes him think of the past where Takano was his sempai rather than the present day where Takano is so desperate to make it work again. I guess it's because Ritsu is so different from his past self that he finds it hard to admit that he still has feelings for Takano now, but easier to regress to that time of innocence before he had his heart broken and grew up to be a cynical tsundere who absolutely cannot be in love with his boss.
(Oh, looking at the clock and where Takano says he still made it in time, it looks like the night isn't over yet. So how early did Ritsu get drunk and end up leaving with Takano? I guess they just got back to Takano's apartment and Ritsu passed out on the bed, to wake up not long before midnight.)
Then Ritsu awkwardly makes a big deal out of Takano never ASKING him before doing/deciding on things (because the one thing Ritsu seems to struggle with the most is being out of control and I think most of the time he's with Takano he feels that way, because he can't stop himself from feeling the way he does and inevitably, Takano is going to act on his own feelings). So a kiss is okay if Takano asks first? OH WAIT, he doesn't even have to ask for that (Ritsu is so blushy and cute here!).
Takano making a move on his always activates Ritsu's flight response but he must be getting better about it, because although he has a thought about how Takano always makes him feel trapped and like he can't escape, he doesn't even offer up any protestation this time and there's a sex scene where not once does he ask Takano to stop doing whatever he's doing.
As always, I thought this scene was hotter before they actually got to the stage of penetrative sex (probably because I still don't care that much for the art style). LOL at Ritsu's shocked reaction to ALMOST EVERYTHING (like Takano asking Ritsu to touch him too AND THEN JUST SHOVING HIS HAND IN HIS PANTS) but it's that lack of control thing again, even if it's clear he loves Takano and even enjoys having sex with Takano he still seems startled by the fact that it's happening to him again.
I laughed out loud at Takano asking to hold hands.
I mean, it's not that the position is ridiculous (that hands clasped above Ritsu's head thing is pretty hot actually) but it's just such a cheesy sentimental thing to say that I could not take it seriously.
Ritsu gets cornered by girls again the next day.
Takano intervenes again and says they should go out with him instead, Ritsu gets pissed off and Takano tells him rather frostily that he should be more jealous. So he didn't want the girls to ask Ritsu out, and told them they should go with him instead to make Ritsu jealous? YEAH, I DIDN'T LIKE THIS PART. I just don't get what it is with jealousy signifying love. To me, that kind of unfounded jealousy is just unattractive.
I do feel bad for Takano because he's so comfortable being demonstrative about his love for Ritsu and Ritsu is like the exact opposite and after the previous night he's probably starting to doubt whether Ritsu really could grow to love him in the present instead of just the past. Having Ritsu be so unwilling to give him a sign that those feelings are still there when he's not drunk and regressing to their past is obviously what motivates him to take that kind of tactic, but trying to goad someone into feeling jealousy? I could do without that. But happily, Ritsu himself seems to feel that Takano's behaviour here is immature.
So what did Takano buy Ritsu as a present?
I hope the next chapters features these two as well.