#also yeah! ig taichi wouldn't be 'shattered' by canon chyrt per se

[formashimataichi]

Lol I do think we're not gonna see eye to eye on this because of my experience witnessing those situations but that's fine!

To clarify couple of points though

- I do not think that in the year since the rejection he did what I said he should do before trying to restart a close friendship. In fact he was on a self destructive path there for a while. He was kinda lashing out at Karuta. But I think his match with Arata set him straight. So I do think he made some progress when it comes to his relationship with Arata, but when it comes to Chihaya I don't think he did at all. That's why I was so sure that he wasn't over her : his behavior was not that of someone coping with rejection in a healthy way. He accepted that she rejected him and gave up on pursuing her and put some distance , but those alone do not mean that he is coping well, it could be the opposite. In his case I dont think he made much progress if any.

- chihaya seeing him with someone wasn't meant to be a particularly important thing. It was an example among others that shows her that he has a cool head now, confidence and independence and most importantly a support system that does not rely on her. We've been focusing on Taichi's perspective for the sake of conversation but let's not forget that the feeling of guilt that people on her side of the equation can feel in those situation is pretty toxic. It's really important that she doesn't feel pressured one way or the other. If he's unhappy she could feel responsible for that, if he's reliant on her(which usually happens in close friendships) for support she can feel pressured to be too nice, and on the other hand she would fear that if she's too nice it would look like she's leading him on, she could also feel hesitant to rely on him and accept his support for herself because it would feel selfish after rejecting him (regardless of its true). This toxicity could manifest in many different ways and thats why I think its best that she sees him as, again, confident, happy, independent and with a system of support that does not rely on her. (At least not only or mainly on her)

- lastly as to the Arata being with Chihaya constituting a major blow, maybe but I doubt it. He already knows and maybe always known or at least believed that she loves Arata (and he knows that he loves her) so although the reality of it might be tough its not something unexpected at least.

I’m sorry for replying to this so late! I finally have some time spared from homework, thank goodness. 😭

I definitely think it’s true his relationship with Arata is on a straighter path to resolution at the moment than is his relationship with Chihaya (especially given the chapter that just came out on Sunday), but at the same time, I guess that’s why I feel like it’s necessary for them to talk things out and clear the air. There’s been a few very heartfelt moments between the two of them since he left the club—the reunion at Nationals, obviously, and the time he’s over at her house and helps her understand that she needs to do the things she doesn’t want to in order to do the things she does want to, him wishing for her to become best in the world after the Qualifiers are over, even the little aside where she and the club got him the special mattress—but obviously those moments still felt distanced in a sense, and I feel like that’s because they were still failing to actually explicitly address the rift that had been created between them and its causes. They both had been (Taichi) or are (Chihaya) aware of those causes by now, but of course it’s easier said than done to actually get down to it and talk about how and why their relationship fractured. I do agree that that’s not going to be something resolved in the blink of an eye and will likely take time and still some careful treading from the both of them, but I don’t think prolonging the lack of confrontation (for lack of a better word) between them is going to necessarily help the situation either? I feel like they at least need to sit down and verbalize to each other how much they missed each other’s company or that they’re sorry for so and so thing, etc. And maybe after that, they’ll still need some distance to properly mend that rift and allow the wound to fully air out, but I do think addressing it explicitly will help in doing so, because they’d at least be on a somewhat similar (if not the same) page about where they want the relationship between them to go. I guess that could appear to be a tall order considering the manga feels like it’s in its final arc, but there’s also the two months left of their school year, and I don’t think Suetsugu would skip over them entirely. Maybe summer vacation could also be a good time for the two of them to have that healthy distance from each other but with a positive outlook in mind, and then after they start attending classes and such they might find it easier to fully mend that rift because they’d also have started making connections with other people. At the least I don’t think Suetsugu’s going to leave their relationship entirely hanging before the series is over. I feel like resolving the rifts between the various relationships within the trio is really important to her and something she wants to emphasize before it’s all over and before they officially move into “adulthood”.