Tear Jerker / The Flowers of Evil

• Tear Jerker: The last few chapters of volume 3 is this for all characters — yes, even Nakamura.
  • Namely: Kasuga dumps Saeki, his mother finds his dirty shirt during his destruction of the class, he and Nakamura try to escape over the mountains, Saeki follows and tries to win back Kasuga, Kasuga declares himself hollow and empty with being unable to choose between escape and assimilation, and Nakamura is anguished from being unable to escape to the other side of the mountain.
• Kasuga and Nakamura's suicide attempt, especially when Nakamura pushes him off the stage at the last minute, preventing him from going with her.
• Saeki's "The Reason You Suck" Speech toward Kasuga is heartbreaking and oddly nauseating when you take into account that she raped him yet has the audacity to invite him to lunch... and then tell him he's a terrible person.
• When Kasuga and his parents return to their hometown to see his dying grandfather, some of his relatives keep their distance from him, and later tell him that his grandfather dying was his fault and the consequence of his actions and that he doesn't deserve to be forgiven. No one deserves that kind of flak.
  • Additionally, it just shows that nothing has changed in that town, and that Kasuga leaving it was the best decision to make.
• When Kasuga finally tells Tokiwa his past, she tears up the novel she was working on because she feels she was just a replacement for Nakamura and that her own work, which he inspired her to do, was now worthless. Thankfully he is able to explain that he values Tokiwa as she is.
• When Nakamura and Kasuga reunite after the Time Skip, she tells him not to return. While they still have that connection, she recognizes that it's based on their inner darkness and self-destructive tendencies and it's for the best that they stay apart.
• The last chapter. What does it say about someone if all they can see of the people/world around them are hideous distorted darkened masses? Especially if darkness tries to enter them a few times? From Nakamura's perspective, it looks like Kasuga saved her from being consumed, which is a twisted but bittersweet way of looking at her actions.

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