
in asia, especially rural parts, it’s not uncommon for families that aren’t related by blood to refer to each other as cousins/brothers/etc. not to mention, apparently one of their parents might’ve been adopted, so they may not even be blood related, but i could be misremembering. the student-teacher thing doesn’t have the usual power imbalance as they’ve known each other for awhile and don’t have a huge age gap. in the flashbacks it looks like minori was 10-12 when sousuke was 6-8. idk if that’ll make anyone feel better about their whole relationship, but i just wanna clear the air abt the context of their dynamic bc there’s a lot of confusion down here.

y’all are getting mad at minori for being scared of the backlash of coming out and being with someone of the same sex as if it would be easy for him to do that in rural japan. sousuke’s known for chasing skirts and being a heterosexual dudebro, so if i were in a position like minori’s i’d be doubly cautious, too. there have been stories of teachers in rural areas coming out as gay and then being accused of touching their students inappropriately because their parents want to get them fired. not only would he be in a position where he is emotionally vulnerable, his social life and livelihood would be in jeopardy, too.
oh my god that last chapter i think there might be something going on involving yun, the manager, and haruno