Responses
I've read this manga a few times and I read every now and again to refresh my memory of it. Love what you said here! I completely agree with you, especially what you put in the last two paragraphs! Wonderful, wonderful way to put it.
Got people saying that 'they're not falling in love with each other'. I think it's actually pretty likely that they are. Mainly because the uke is repeating his crush's name over and over like he's trying to hold onto it. And while he's getting raped, he can't bring his crush's face to mind and immediately turns to touching the seme's face. At the same time the uke is seeing for the first time that the seme cares about him as indicated by the beginning. The seme's actions are absolutely drenched in pain which make this manga more heartbreaking.
What I think other readers are seeing is too much reality. Rape in the Yaoi world is a touchy and complex subject. I personally tend to hate it when it moves from fantasy rape to realistic rape and this scene plays with that line. But this one stays in the fantasy rape realm through the uke's reactions. The uke is not drawing attention to the act, that's not where his focus is. His focus is on what's going on behind the scenes. The feelings of both of them.
IRL rape is an act of dehumanization, often deliberate rather than subliminal but it can be that too. In Yaoi rape has different purposes and to judge a manga with rape needs to look at whether those purposes were sufficiently fulfilled, or if you're more strict, whether the rape was necessary to demonstrate them. In this case I'd say the answer is 'yes'. Their relationship was sex based so that's how they were communicating, the entire basis of their relationship and in this brief look we can see that they don't communicate in other ways. The uke indicates the seme is normally rough after their first encounter indicating the seme has been trying and failing to communicate his affections but the uke isn't getting it. The violence is explosive, demonstrating a loss of control. The seme's face is devastated demonstrating that the purpose of this is loss.
The last word from this manga is that you can be scared of FULFILLING love as you are letting it go. From the way the uke is trying to grasp at his crush at the end and failing, I think the indication is that he's scared to let go of the fantasy of his crush but he's also scared to start feeling things for the seme.