A lot of people found this chapter nice and all. But unfortunately, I didn't. To me, it was like watching someone jump up and down on thin ice on a frozen lake.
Ren disappointed me yet another time. I don't know what his master-plan with this fiasco is, but I am certain that it can't be anything smart. Ren wasn't even trying to impress Kyouko with cooking. He knew right from the start that he wasn't good at cooking at all. He just didn't count on it being THAT bad. He knew his cooking was bad, and he knew he was causing Kyouko some inconvenience, but he went ahead and did it anyway. He calls her down, late at night, when she probably still has work the following day, so that she could taste his "Monster"?
He asks Kyouko over, but instead getting the chance of both of them sharing a good meal together, he decides to give her and himself some potential food poisoning? Exactly what is he planning to accomplish? Is he trying to give her a heart attack by showing her the process of creating this culinary disaster, or is he trying to give both Kyouko and himself a trip to the hospital? What is the whole point of cooking a dish, if you know right from the start that it is going to be bad?
Even though Kyouko is definitely not like the other girls, wouldn't common sense and logic dictate that if you want to impress a girl, you show her something that you are good at? A boy showing a girl something which he is utterly horrible at, is one gigantic taboo. A disaster in the making, is what I would call it.
Every time Kyouko is with Ren, she provides to him so much comfort, so much emotional support, and so much to hope for. Every time Ren is with Kyouko, he subjects her to all forms of mental torture and emotional stress, and not to mention he teaches her new kinds of fear. This chapter is no exception.
If you want my honest opinion, I'd say Kyouko deserves so much better. She deserves to be with someone who doesn't make her feel that she is always beneath him. Someone who doesn't make her feel that she will never be able to match up to him. Someone whom she doesn't have to break her back, trying so hard to please. AND a very important thing, someone who can be truly honest with her, and someone who she can truly be honest with. And by far, most important of all, someone who isn't afraid to love her, and isn't afraid to fight for her. I'm already have very serious doubts whether that someone can be Ren.
I am disappointed with the author. (On a different level.) People always say that the cliffhangers are cruel. I say this chapter is far torturous than any other cliffhanger I've seen thus far. This isn't progression. It's regression! Every time, it's always the same thing! I watch Ren make some headway, getting a chance to be closer with her. I get that long-waited faint glimmer of hope. Then I watch him take that hope, rip it apart, and tear it up into tiny little shreds! Is the author trying to torture us?!
There are some people who think this is a ritual, a breakthrough for Ren. It's suggested that he is being Kuon, or he is facing his own inner demons now. Well, I say, I can think of a dozen better ways to "face your own demons", that don't involve scaring the living daylights out of the girl beside you. And being Kuon shouldn't be tantamount to being insane. In short, the way I see it, this is wrong in a few thousand ways.
What do you guys think?
(Post in chapter 168 section)
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