#soft sweetie inside with his crispy bitter exterior front

[hydrangeas-in-fall]

Wind Breaker 153 Spoils below the cut. I’m going feral

I had to make a post about this because I’ve seen a couple of takes being like “poor Sakura, his image of Ume has shattered, he feels lied to” and I just…I don’t agree with that?

Like, I get that he asks Endo “who is that” because of how crazy Ume is fighting rn, which is so diametrically opposed to the fight he had with Choji and how Ume is on the regular—so different he can hardly recognize this Ume. But I don’t think it’s because he feels lied to or because his image is shattered, to me when he asks that and Mr. Bad Judge of Character Endo goes on his little rant about Ume being selfish, Sakura is thinking a lot about what Endo is saying, what he knows about Ume (his past, who he is now, etc.), and what he is seeing. I’m not sure what the conclusion of these thoughts are, but I think it’s definitely in his tortured expression we see in the last few pages.

WHICH I ALSO HAVE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT!!!! Behold! The pages in questions:

Now, this is just how I read this, so everyone else’s opinion is also valid, but I’ve seen a few people talking as if the last sentence is said by Sakura. Saying “he…feels so distant” and I can totally see why they think that. BUT TO ME the way this is written feels like a continuation of Endo’s thoughts. It’s Endo who is saying “why’re you making that face? Confusion? Awe? Or…” and then you get the next page with “he…feels so distant” which to me seems like Endo is projecting how he feels about Takishii to how Sakura feels about Ume, not Sakura’s inner dialogue that Ume feels distant.

Anyway, I’ve rambled a lot and I hope this makes sense, but I personally think that Sakura has this look on his face because he seems himself in Ume rn. Our lil burnt marshmallow has changed so much for the better in Furin, he’s not the same person he was even a few weeks ago, hell he’s not the same person he was a few HOURS ago. Sakura knows what it’s like to change, and he wouldn’t want to revert back to who he was before he changed. So I think him seeing Ume fight like he’s back to being a desperate 16 year old fighting for his “selfish” goals of protecting the town and his loved ones happiness hurts Sakura.

Okay that’s it, I’ll shut up now XD