I have never been on the same page as fandom’s clear communication fetishists and I never will be. I love miscommunication, concealment, pigheadedness, and lies. I think characters should talk around what they have to say and ignore each other and impute needs and beliefs onto others that have nothing to do with those other people and everything to do with maintenance of the ego. A little clear communication is fine but it should come at the end and be earned by repeated instances of snobbery, tomfoolery, self righteousness, or blockheadedness. If you decide you hate a character just because that character isn’t communicating in the way a therapist might coach them to, well consider that people don’t actually talk like that at all and that most of us get things wrong many times before we inch our way out of the labyrinthine darkness of our own heads.
I think one example of a time he indirectly "confessed" was when Morinaga said the size of their feelings were different, since he seemed upset by that? Not sure
Yes, exactly! That would be one of them.
That's after he stopped being in such deep denial.... since he's even willing to discuss it.
And now I'm going to babble forever... let's see if this makes sense in the end... and this is why it took me so long to respond to this ask lol... that and I accidentally didn't save my draft so I had to rewrite part of it.... and I just got a new puppy that I have to watch constantly....
So, like I said, Japanese is very indirect. In the past they didn't express their love very directly at all. The newer generations tend to be more open about it... but even then it's not like they go around using the word "love" to people often. They usually just use "suki" (like) and "daisuki" (really like) to express their love rather than other words for love.
There is a fairly well known saying in Japan that the phrase "Tsuki ga kirei" (the moon is beautiful) is a good way to say I love you because When Souseki Natsume saw a student translating the English phrase "I love you" into Japanese he said it was too direct and wasn't something a Japanese person would say. (There's no first hand sources that this ever happened and even native speakers will argue about how well known it is.) So while the origin and use might be debated, it's still true about the Japanese culture about saying I love you. Let's keep this in mind going forward.
Also keep in mind the fact that Souichi just lies. A lot.
Before KSB in Challengers he stopped in from leaving by letting him kiss him etc but one of the earliest examples of him saying something that could be saying he likes him is volume 2 when Souichi is complaining about Morinaga saying they have a fuck buddy relationship. He says "Fuck buddies are people who don't like each other but do it because they want to, right? I've never done it with you because I wanted to!!" "I only barely put up with it because it's you!" AKA I do it because like you.
It seemed pretty obvious that Morinaga got it at the time but of course Morinaga needs those words of affirmation and so he kinda forgets over the next few volumes because Souichi is 200 miles deep in denial and that makes Morinaga really insecure about their relationship.
Volume 3 he reiterates that he only has sex with him because it's him and basically admits he's not actually being blackmailed into it.
Volume 4 is the stalker and fire arc and he says that he wants to send Morinaga away from the house because he's important to him. Souichi actually initiates sex but would never admit it. Somehow Morinaga convinced him to move in with him by telling him he would be lonely lol.
Volume 5: Denial. Souichi can't figure out why he feels so good when he has sex with Morinaga. (because you're in love with him you stubborn man)
Volume 6: Denial. He can't figure out why he's fine with living with him. (like I said, because you're in love with him you stubborn man)
Volume 7-8 Souichi lies his biggest lies and he finally realizes that his denial is going to lose him Morinaga so he admits he wants him to stay by his side. Now, telling someone to stay by your side is actually pretty romantic in Japanese. There are a few well known love songs that use it, etc. I found this list of ways to express love in Japanese... and of course it's there.
Though his denial is still pretty bad at this point, he goes through all the motions to prove he's in it. Also, this was the original intended ending of KSB. It is when their relationship officially went into dating. We're supposed to know they're together now... and it seems like a lot of people don't lol.
Volume 9 is the one you mentioned. Morinaga with needing those words of affirmation thinks it's not love an wants him to actually say it and so he tells him he wants him to care more, to feel jealous, etc and when he tells Souichi that Souichi is upset that he thinks he doesn't care. Souichi has learned he needs to communicate more and every time Morinaga starts acting weird he always tries to say things to make him feel better. He's trying lol.
Volume 10 they go to Kyushu together and I'm pretty sure Souichi came along because he assumed Morinaga would visit his family and that's why he asked if he was visiting his family while they were there. But he went out of his way to explain that he wasn't rejecting him or anything he just didn't want him touching him in public. The fact he didn't want to look at Morinaga because he was turned on by him was a pretty big deal.
Volume 11: I'm sorry did Souichi just say stuff about Morinaga's food? He didn't actually say it to Morinaga and definitely didn't mean it in this way but... I mean... telling someone you want to eat their food forever is a well known as an old fashioned marriage proposal lol (https://japanalyze.com/10-popular-japanese-marriage-proposals/) He's just talking about his food but.... that can be kind of a big deal lol.
I could probably come up with more but this post has gotten long and like I said the puppy is keeping me busy constantly so I'm going to give up on this post and just post it for now!
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