This story really caught my attention, and after reading it. It left my mind, I have this weird love-hate relationship with ryuu. I feel like he was a very attractive character, I mean the way he was drawn look so ethereal. Something about him really turns girls on too. There wasn't a very clear answer on the dynamics of their relationship with Madoka, Yuzu, and Koharu. I feel like he really loved the three in his own way, but it's obvious that he feels a special way for Koharu in that panel where Ryuu and Yuzu were talking on how he's always talking about Koharu this and Koharu that. You can see in that chapters that Yuzu has always known that he was different to Koharu and she said to Koharu herself when Ryuu bought them a matching bracelet which she said "He doesn't often do with Madoka or her." Ryuu had been in love with Koharu for 12 years and until now I can't explain the depth of his feelings for her. It was like Koharu was something so precious that he wanted it all for himself and he wanted to spoil it. In that panel where he wanted Koharu to smile always for him and he would spoil it. As Koharu said before she was about to leave him, ryuu was a wimpy lonely kid who desperately was in love with her. Ryuu smiled and said that what she gave him was happiness. Ryuu's love for Koharu was deep and intense, something that overtakes him. I feel like that was what he meant when he said "I had to protect you."
As for Madoka, it was obvious that ryuu also felt something for her. As we can see on that part where ryuu wanted her back and regretted not stopping her. Madoka asked him to choose her and her alone, and ryuu didn't hesitate to say no. How they met, was different to how he met Koharu. He had the same past and story as Madoka and probably felt a familiarity in their life story. Madoka had the same sad past as him which includes doing things they didn't like. He started getting interested to Madoka because Madoka had the “curse" he would always bring up which he later also brought up with Yuzu when he first met her too. He helped Madoka and from then on Madoka never stopped following her whenever she goes. He didn't stop her but he made her promise that once she stop seeing him as a "God" she should immediately leave him which what made him not stop her when Madoka divorced him.
Madoka was all about ryuu, and her life was dependent on him, ryuu was well aware of that and used it on her to make sure he would not leave despite her suffering the polygamy. Until that panel where he saw how it was hurting Madoka and the memory of madoka flashed. And the interesting part was his reaction, when that memory flooded, Madoka asked him what's wrong and he replied with "No one used to notice us back then but look where we are now." It's clear that what he feels for Madoka is a relationship that he knows only Madoka and him could understand. The bitterness of his life and his career and as who he is as a person.
Yuzu on the other hand had the same "curse." By that curse it was the fact that yuzu was desperately in love with Joe. That she would always wait, and welcome him back anytime even though it's hopeless. Yuzu showed signs of jealousy to Joe which he never showed in harekon relationship. That curse was something also ryuu was connected to. The curse of being held captive by someone, and that someone was Koharu. She understood yuzu more than anyone and loved her too.
As we see, it's a very conflicting relationship with his partners. Yuzu and Madoka were like fragments of himself, it was what made him feel complete and enough. As he said they're dynamics is like going to a war with a sage, martial artist, and ect. Those two held a part of his heart, which only the two can relate on. Being a desperately in love boy, and a boy who had messed up past. Maybe that’s why, he was holding on to them despite when it was just him and Koharu, because those two were connected with him and understood a part of him that Koharu cannot. Madoka understood the pain of his past and Yuzu understood the pain of his deep love for Koharu. They were a part of his self that needed comfort and he saw it to them that he had the responsibility to comfort them because he knows what they feel. He needed them and they need him.
Koharu on the other hand, was something he didn't need. Something out of ordinary in his life. Something innocent, precious, and someone who always shines blindly for him. All the things he can't do, and he doesn't try to do like playing piano again no matter how Madoka begs, he easily did for Koharu. Koharu was a big contrast to who he was. He obviously was still expecting to see Koharu even after 12 years. It's also funny how he never once showed emotion when Madoka and Yuzu tried to leave, yet when he first met koharu and the time Koharu tried to leave he immediately broke down crying. The fact he also had a panic attack when Koharu tried to leave, and how he was crying desperately. He looked down on Koharu and the memories with Koharu flashed the same way it did with Madoka but with Koharu it was longer. With Madoka it made him understand the pain in Madoka and the toll on her but he didn't choose her. But with koharu when that memory flashed the question came. "If I told you that I love you and you alone, would you please stay?"
Koharu never made him choose because Koharu knew him better than anyone. Koharu found comfort in that relationship with Yuzu and Madoka. It’s also not talked enough on how the manga continued, the less she showed jealousy and started to genuinely enjoy the polygamy. But if she did make him choose, I think even if he denies it. He would have chosen her than the two. The other two gave him something the only two could understand, but what Koharu gave him was happiness.
Again it's just my own opinion on this manga, I'll never know what was going on in the writer's mind when she or he wrote this.
