Just as a final add on - the author has made BL related works before, they obviously like writing stories about the more realistic implications of a BL relationship. But you can tell that this feature is taking a back seat in their main story. I don’t doubt there might be something further down the line that gives closure to the romance subplot that are about as obvious as yellow text on a white background, but that feels a ways off with the development of the story! So, like I said. Enjoy the manga for the thriller mystery that it is, and don’t hold your breath for a kiss scene, you’ll die.
I mean, maybe people were expecting shounen-ai at some point in the story and kept reading in anticipation of it. It's not a crime to want a specific presence of a genre that people saw among the tags. No one is going to die from disappointment, but that doesn't make the disappointment any less valid.
The manga doesn’t shy away from dropping hints and giving them moments. It’s not like people came in here expecting some semblance of romantic intent and were left starved. My original comment isn’t about that, it’s the people wanting more. This manga has a story to tell which is greater than the love of two boys. There’s no doubt that the relationship will be explored as times goes on, but it moves at a glacier pace. If you read through the comments in the past and when this was written, people were genuinely upset about the lack of romantic revelation.
HOWEVER, as I stated in my original comment, this manga was never a shounen ai or advertised as one, that’s mangago’s mistake and social media who started sharing it as one. People came in here with pre conceived notions based on an accidental tag and silly tiktokers sharing this as a BL.
I don’t think people realise that this story was never explicitly tagged as shounen ai, that was mangago’s mismanagement with the original uploader.
What I will say is there are subtle hints of it. The manga obviously has a greater story to tell than “two teenage boys fall in love UwU”. People are too hung up on gender and sexuality labels that people are failing to realise that their genders barely plays a role. Because of that, it isn’t being made explicit. We know the black haired boy had some affection for Hikaru that surpassed “normal” like. The creature now inhabiting Hikaru also has showcased an attachment to him.
But Hikaru is dead. There is no “romance” in the sense we’re getting confessions from a mythical revered god like creature inhabiting the mc’s best friend’s body. That isn’t gonna happen. If you guys were reading it for the shounen ai tag hoping there would be proper romance, what have you been doing… The art, atmosphere, and deeper story have been so amazingly done that it’s kind of an insult to boil it down to a shounen ai (which if really isn’t). So, just enjoy the story! If we get more hints at the romance plot, which is priority zero, then cool! And if we don’t? You’ll live.
PS: This is for the people complaining, not the people genuinely curious (but I mean come on, we’re on chapter god knows what and you didn’t notice the lack of bromosexual love)