My??? Feelings??? I’m legit crying as I’m reading HaroHapi’s second band story. (Spoilers) It's treating friendship in such a realistic way. Misaki is feeling like she’s not really needed in the band, because all of her jobs (organizing the concert, writing the songs, etc) are taken over by the others, and they’re doing a decent job without Misaki’s help. Hagumi, Kokoro, and Kaoru realized this, but the former two can’t understand why she’s feeling like that. And they’re both trying so hard to understand why, to the point that it’s making the two of them upset too (yes, Kokoro getting upset. Only a little bit though)

But then Kanon tells Kokoro that she doesn’t have to understand why Misaki is upset. To Kanon, Kokoro is just someone carefree, who spreads smiles to other people and is always happy. That’s just who she is, and she never needed to really understand someone’s sadness to make someone happy. I feel like that’s super important in a friendship. When your friend is upset about something, you don’t have to force yourself to think in their perspective and understand why they’re upset. You don’t need to understand to just be by their side and provide support. On the flip side, if your friends don’t understand why you’re upset, that’s no reason to harshly reject their offer to help. Sometimes our expectations for ourselves and our friends can be unrealistic, and HaroHapi’s story really reminds me to not hold myself or my friends to high expectations. Sometimes it’s just enough to be there.

Also, KAORU. SO MUCH DEPTH ON HER PART. Misaki asks Kaoru how she feels when she’s given a role in a play that she may not necessarily want. Kaoru replies that, even if a role that she is given isn’t something of her sparkly, princely image, she still gives it her all because in the end, she’s still “Kaoru” no matter what role she plays. She never really dislikes a role that she is given, because even if she feels that the role doesn’t fit her, someone else will enjoy her acting that role. For Kaoru, it’s something that makes her proud. I just wanna put this out here cause a lot of people often view Kaoru as this silly, dorky prince character, but there’s so much going on behind that. A+ writing once again ;;