I agree. And he never demands physical stuff for it, it seemed like it was just an excuse to spend time with the MC who is obviously dealing with some repression issues, thanks to growing up in a homophobic rural area. In fact, it seems like most of the time it was for the MC’s own good, getting him to meet new people, go out to karaoke for the first time, making MC’s hometown friends know that MC has a new friend in Tokyo who cares so they wouldn’t worry too much. He rarely blackmails the uke for entirely selfish reasons, every time it’s seemed like he was doing it out of concern or to help the uke come out of his shell.
It’s obviously not a perfect way to do that, he could achieve it in other ways I’m sure, but this is a manga. The Seme could be 10000x worse when it comes to blackmail, and the author was careful not to put in situations where the uke is threatened to have sex or whatever. Pretty much every romance manga could have every problem solved with honest communication, but that wouldn’t make for a super interesting story.
oh totally agree with you
im not sure if the seme even intended to blackmail the uke cause it was hotaru who brought it up.
hotaru immediately said in their first day of class "please don't tell anyone" and you see kei going "huh?" after that. i think he isn't really the type of person to do it but because he saw how hotaru reacted, he must've thought it's fun and cute - which is still not okay but point is he isn't serious about the blackmail thing.
i agree though that the seme is suspicious. but to be fair, ive read other manga too where the seme makes me anxious cause they seem a lot like a playboy but is actually serious. the author's other work also made me doubt the seme at first but it was made sure later on that he really is genuine. must be author's preference on execution.
im really just hoping he isn't playing with his feelings cause right now im scared too, i totally get the uke since i cant read what goes on in kei's mind.
but yeah, everyone may not like it but the seme really is free, which also makes him do whatever the hell he wants and go for whatever the hell he likes, say whatever he wanna say. it's good for the uke to develop some of his carefree personality and confidence but i guess the seme just has TOO much of it that he rarely to never ask for consent or be considerate lol.