Chako losing weight and becoming a shut-in was probably the biggest shocker in the latter chapters(and I loved her chubby design so much =0( ). I feel bad for her because its like she finally sunk to the depths of despair. I suppose the biggest thing is that she feels that she'll never be able to occupy the space of Reiji's heart that's full of Nagi. And while that might be true, she's discarding the part that Reiji holds most dear. I hope that when Reiji finally finds her, that they come to some kind of understanding. Comparing herself to Nagi, she'll always be inferior, and I can't see any closure for her character until she comes to terms with who she is to Reiji, why Reiji finds her special, and appreciates it.
It was easy to see Ms. Shiba didn't give up on Reiji from the get-go. She harbored Gen for all those months just for the shining moment she could use that to gain Reiji's trust, but like Gen indirectly (didn't) said, compared to Yuko, her plans are nowhere near as intricate, which is how it got unraveled so easily just by Chako being there. That was one crazy situation though, when all 4 of them were at the house; great drama =03. She had her blissful moment when Reiji gave her "the look", which is like hope and admiration combined in one. Too bad for her it was short-lived when Rei/Chako/Gen slipped to Tokyo. But man, running to Yuko probably not the best thing to do for her, but it easy to see why Yuko is so damn good[read: evil], when she consoled her.
Yuko is just such a mastermind. I was unsure if she actually had amnesia, since it would have been possible for her to still persist in all of her machinations, while forgetting the recent events. The smile she did in the chapter she got home from the hospital, and Reiji put her to bed and left, should have been a dead giveaway, but it wasn't until Ms. Shiba visited her that I knew that she never forgot; she was pretending this whole time. In the meantime, she was getting pampered by Reiji. Like Nozoe said, she "won" in the end(at least at that time). Even if Reiji hates her, he still loves her at the same time, and its kind of sad that Yuko is still reliant for the love of her son to this extent. Doesn't matter who else loves him, as long as he can remain in that town with her, that's all she cares about. Wonder how she plans to use Ms. Shiba?
Far as Gen is concerned, I'm surprised at the fact that, according to Reiji, at the core of his heart, he actually loves Yuko, and that's why he ended up killing Kazu's father. I saw traces of this in an earlier chapter, the one where Yuko is riding him home on her bike, but it wasn't until Reiji revealed about him sniffing her clothes and "tasting" her cigarettes and lipstick that his feelings fully revealed itself. Not sure where his life is gonna lead; he's wanted for attempted murder after all, so you know his ending won't be good. Curious to know what he'll do before he returns and/or turns himself in. Confess to Yuko maybe?
Nozoe dying also was pretty shocking. I knew he was sickly, but nothing like cancer. Still, he reflects to Reiji once more about his past, and we get to see the events after Yuko's proclamation to have a child in that town. Maybe it'll more vividly reveal why Nozoe actually left town, and why/how Yuko wanted a child so badly, because the origin of those feelings are still unclear to me. It seem like Shina'oka actually liked him too, and it makes me wonder if she'll sink into some kind of despair before its all over, since Nozoe doesn't like her romantically.
Anyway, at the end of the latest chapter, Yuko gets pulled away by what I assume is that Uryu guy's henchmen and Nozoe gets kicked. Common bullying seems like a pretty straightforward tactic from this story, so I'm sure there will be a few more twist and turns before this is all over. At the very least, it should tell how he went from "I want to die..."(I know he currently has Yuko in his heart, but I expect him to revisit this before long) to "I will leave this town for Tokyo and never look back.".
One thing I want to say about Reiji is how innocent, naive, and kind he actually is. Yuko really did some crazy work on how Reiji behaves, her magnum opus, if you will. It's like Chako said, he just pulls you in, with his truly innocent, unmanipulative behavior, and you end up sinking into the depths. He isn't unaware of this nature of himself either, but he still believes in all of the lies(or appears to believe anyway) he's told and doesn't doubt anyone. He really is hollow. But at the same time, its so interesting to see how he reacts to things and how people are effected by him. Maybe I got pulled in unexpectedly too
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