Fruits Basket ch.91

April 26, 2004 | 3 Comments

This chapter basically continues the flashback story of Kyoko and Katsuya. I find it strange, however, that Kyou seems to know a lot about Kyoko and Katsuya (since I assume this story is told through Kyou's memory). Oh well, I'll just assume that Kyoko did sympathise a lot with Kyou's fate to the point that she told him the story of her life. At the same time, since no one else seems to know about Kyoko's background, this kind of implies that Kyoko had no other person to talk to about her own past. It is sad in some ways but not unusual either because sometimes humans don't want to burden the people that they love or know with some sad stories of their life and find it easier to actually spill his/her sorrow to a complete stranger.

Anyway, ever since Katsuya took Kyoko to the noodle shop, Kyoko has been seeing Katsuya frequently. It is during this time that Kyoko finds out that Katsuya didn't get in trouble for taking her out like that because he told other teachers that she was sick. Katsuya also revealed that his own father used to be a teacher in the school and was quite respected to the point that everyone knows that Katsuya is his son. Because of this, Katsuya can use his father influence to do a lot of things as long as he doesn't go too far. Despite knowing this, Kyoko for some reason can't help but becoming attracted to Katsuya.

This, however, doesn't mean that Kyoko makes the effort to go to the class. She simply waits for him until the lunchbreak arrives. The problem is, the more Kyoko spends her time with Katsuya, the less time she has with the gang and this starts to create some discontentment among the other gang members. At the same time, Katsuya's term as a replacement teacher is finished and therefore he won't teach at Kyoko's school any longer. Katsuya tells Kyoko that he has no interest whatsoever to become a teacher. The truth is, he becomes one now just to please his father who apparently is quite strict.

Katsuya thinks that being a teacher does not suit him at all and in addition to this, he feels that he has a twisted type of personality which definitely doesn't go well with the task of being a teacher. Katsuya admits to Kyoko that being a teacher is just one of his ways in creating some kind of a 'front' to fool his father and the people around him. He believes that this 'mask' allows him to do whatever he pleases without the interference of others. Upon knowing that Katsuya also hates his father, Kyoko realises that Katsuya is probably as lonely as she is and immediately sympathises with him.

Anyway, on the last day of Katsuya teaching at Kyoko's school, Kyoko decides to come to the class just to see Katsuya teaching but her fear of others overcame her and she decides to simply wait until Katsuya is about to leave the school. The two ended up going to the beach since Kyoko appears to really love the sea. Kyoko then thanks Katsuya for all of the help that he's given to her. She promises him that she'll be a better person from now on and that she'll continue her study so that at least she can grow up like other normal people. Although she doesn't say it, Kyoko also wonders if she would have had the courage to tell Katsuya that she loves him if she were a bit more feminine.

Katsuya, however, promises Kyoko that he still wants to see her even though he's not teaching at her school anymore. While she's happy that she can still see Katsuya, Kyoko never the less wonders why Katsuya wants to continue seeing her. What's interesting, however is the fact that Kyoko said in her story that she didn't know the actual reason for Katsuya's interest in her. At the same time, Katsuya ends up working as a researcher at a pharmaceutical company while helping Kyoko with her study. Kyoko also ends up severing ties with her gang with a rather dire consequences on her part. She ends up beaten up to the point that she needed to be hospitalised.

What's worse is that when she awakes, her father and mother disown her. Katsuya, however, arrives to defend Kyoko and to tell her father that he intends on marrying Kyoko. Kyoko's father, however, couldn't care less of what happened to her daughter and allows Katsuya to take Kyoko out of the hospital. Kyoko tells Katsuya that he doesn't have to go that far for her and that she's thankful even if he decides not to see her anymore. Katsuya, however, tells Kyoko that he's really interested in her and then proceeds to propose to Kyoko to ease her mind. Kyoko wonders if Katsuya has Lolita-complex but never the less is happy to accept the proposal. It seems, however, her happiness won't last long.

Well, the manga finally arrives to the point where Katsuya proposes to Kyoko and it's not exactly a romantic situation when he did it. I'm probably wrong about it but sometimes I get the impression that Katsuya never really interested in Kyoko and simply wants to use her as a way of rebelling to his father. If that is true, I find it sad to know that Kyoko was being used by someone that she thought loves her. Having said that, that will also mean that all of the emotional strength and kindness that she shows after she gave birth to Tohru came within herself and not given by Katsuya or any other person. Which will make for a rather nice parallel to the emotional strength that Tohru found in herself when she had to deal with Kyou's transformation and has no one else to help her.

© memento 2003