Responses
The best thing about this yaoi though, is that its not cheery cheery cherry on top love story. Its a psychological terrifying tale of stockholm syndrome
I agree, i have read many stockholm syndrome yaoi manga and most of the time i'm fine with it but in this particular case i both hated and worried about hikaru, personally i'd have preffered if haruki didn't end up with either of them but then he needs someone to support him and i guess whi better than the one who scarred him and is himself scarred
This is a perfect example of post-rape trauma in yaoi mangas that ALWAYS get overlooked. It's a cycle that gets overused in many yaoi mangas: a character gets raped, forgives the rapist, falls in love with their rapist, and they get a happy ending. I have read a few works where the victim showed their mental instability and fear due to their rape trauma but ended up forgiving their rapist as if nothing happened, they just slide over it and the cycle repeats itself. I did enjoy this story very much because of this emphasized motif. It was heartbreaking seeing the main character slowly fall apart and have his life ruined all by one person. This really makes one think that these things also happen in real life making it difficult for people to escape or tell someone about it. Also, I really loved senpai but he chose not to help Haruki when he could have all due to the fact that he didn't want to be involved in an issue of someone important to him. Tsk tsk humans are messed up creatures.