i feel like people are being insensitive. for number one this isn’t Ue’s story. It’s...

The story started treating Ue as an afterthought at some point even tho he is one of the leads. Even to OTHER characters he was just becoming a Yuki replacement. That was one of the bigger issues. U can grieve but people still tuned in for a BL abt the main couple, not about the dead ex lover and how everyone wished he was still alive. They were forcing Ue into some weird position as his replacement. Even Ue was influenced by Yuki with the whole song writing. The issue is: there was too much of that. No balance.

i came upon this comment some time ago and at that time i was one of those people that hated it whenever Yuki was brought up because then it would mean no moving forward for both Ue and Mafuyu, especially the latter. but this comment made me stop and think then...and hold off from smashing either a thumbs up or a thumbs down lmao. it took me a while but now i can finally say that the whole Yuki saga was necessary for Mafuyu to grow and develop. it was excruciatingly painful since as you said, he is grieving and most readers weren't on board with that, but it was necessary and i don't care if people still think otherwise but with them graduating at the end of the manga it felt like both Mafuyu and Ue both came a long way with their characters individually. it was a mess for sure with how Yuki kept getting brought up but they came a long way. personally i just hope we get to see a Mafuyu smiling at the thought of Yuki now because that would mean his grief had passed but i mostly hope the timeskip sequel will focus more on Mafuyu and Ue in their newly developed characters (i mean, wow ten years). i don't think were safe from any dramas tho like i feel like we're probably gonna see new problems arise and develop seemingly new but familiar frustrations (i hope not) but i guess that's how most stories go anyway.