Mem-Cho's Realization about Aqua's Feelings: Unambiguous and Correct
I don't believe the chapter 83 conversation in Mem-Cho's apartment is as ambiguous as some people may believe, or that its incorrect. Yes, Mem-Cho is unaware of Aqua's trauma, but that doesn't change the fact regarding what she realized about Aqua's feelings. Additionally, Mem-Cho is also an idol so if Aqua's reasons for avoiding Kana were purely motivated by PTSD, then he should be avoiding Mem at all costs too, rather than going to her apartment at night.
Almost like a part of him does understand that being near Mem isn't going to immediately throw them both into a scandal but still takes extreme measures for Kana.
To me, this was the one of the 2 explicit confirmations (as of ch125) that Aqua had romantic feelings for Kana - the other being Akane's monologue in ch87. It's especially obvious when you realize it parallels with Mem-Cho's realization about Kana's Feelings for Aqua.
Mem-Cho with Kana's Feelings for Aqua
During the First Concert arc, Mem-Cho hasn't ever seen Kana and Aqua interact on a normal basis, so seeing Kana constantly put Aqua down makes her come to a logical assumption that Kana must hate him for some reason.
After the concert, Kana starts talking to Aqua again, but their interaction is still stiff since the misunderstanding about Akane isn't cleared yet, which further supports Mem-Cho's incorrect assessment.
But as soon as Kana starts being happy that Aqua isn't dating Akane, Mem-Cho immediately notices and realizes the truth.
Mem-Cho doesn't actually complete her thought below even if most, if not all translations, have her clearly think that Kana likes Aqua, since she cuts herself off and based on phrasing structures in Japanese, the verb isn't spoken.
The literal translation would actually be 'Arima-chan ____s Aqu-tan'.
But it's obvious on what Mem-Cho realized about Kana.
Going forward, Mem-Cho is usually the character used when Kana's feelings are brought up with another character.
Mem-Cho with Aqua's Feelings for Kana
In the Main Stage arc, Mem-Cho confronts Aqua regarding him avoiding Kana. She believes Aqua's unaware of how his behaviour towards Kana could be perceived, which may have contributed towards Kana's "obsession" over Aqua.
But Aqua rebutted this, and opens up about how he actually feels regarding the situation, revealing that he only is doing this to protect Kana even if it hurts both of them.
From this, Mem-Cho realizes that its not Kana who is obsessed between the two, but its Aqua.
Mem-Cho realizes that Aqua cares for Kana much more than she initially assumed, seeing that the idea of Kana being put in danger is making Aqua have a meltdown.
'For Aqu-tan, Kana-chan is...'. : The direct translation of this line from Japanese would be 'Aqu-tan is the one who ___s Kana-chan', and it's easy to fill in the verb based on the context.
After their conversation, we see Mem-Cho bring up Kana more often to Aqua, even teasing him about "Ah-kun".
Parallels
Both situations involve Mem-Cho initially misunderstanding the situation when one of the two act distant/cold towards the other. Not because Mem-Cho's bad at reading situations (she's actually great at it), but because she was working off of minimal information.
Once she saw Aqua/Kana let their true feelings slip out, she immediately pieced together that her initial assumption was incorrect and came to the correct conclusion: That the person in-question actually loved the other romantically.
In both situations, her thoughts are cut off from the audience:
'Arima-chan ____s Aqu-tan'
'Aqu-tan is the one who ___s Kana-chan'
Finally, this isn't the only example of Aqua and Kana paralleling one another during the First Concert/Main Stage arc, as another example are the scenes where they push one another away.
It would not make sense to parallel these scenes if they both weren't based off of romantic feelings.
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[...] I’m so pathetically intense. I just can’t be any other way.
Sylvia Plath, The Letters of Sylvia Plath: Volume I: 1940 - 1956 — Edward Cohen, c. 11th September 1950
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TAYLOR SWIFT
at the 2023 MTV VMAs in Newark, New Jersey (September 12, 2023)
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I’m just gonna rant for a second don’t mind me but I want to talk about how fucking BRILLIANT the character writing for Tohru is. You have this girl who initially, and I mean from the get-go, had a very polite personality inherited from her father. As she grew up, she continued this polite personality which grew into one of selflessness and kindness. The problem is after Kyoko died, Tohru’s selflessness became unhealthy. She had so much overwhelming guilt from her mother’s death that it manifested into something that consumed Tohru’s mindset, personality, and thought process. She disregarded herself so much that she began to see herself as nothing; not human, not anything. And all of this is hidden under what we see on the surface: Tohru’s happy-go-lucky personality.
Hence, this is part of why Tohru falling in love is something she is both terrified of and cannot comprehend. Monogamous love is so selfish in nature. It’s the feeling and want of having one person in that special place in your heart, something Tohru can’t imagine for herself. So when she falls in love with Kyo, someone who is so far out of her reach because of the Curse, his own self hatred and disregard, AND the fact that he’s going to be locked away at the end of graduation.... it makes it so much worse. It’s a genius juxtaposition, having someone who is so selfless experience a feeling that is so selfish.
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One of them speaks in lies, the other speaks only in truth. The third one is here for moral support.
These are badger.dot's cats. Drawn in 2020 for Black Cat October!
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