Exactly how i felt about it. The rapist to lover trope just feels particularly worse here as the author clearly went to great pains to realistically portray their messed up relationship on the bus route as sth that's violent, traumatic and humiliating. Suddenly within a few panels it changed to all sunshine and unicorns. It went from sth like 7.5 or 8 to 4/10 for me. Or I'll just pretend the last 2 chapters didn't happen.
Yes, exactly- the sunshine and unicorns ending was just wrong, and I can’t imagine that author wanted to do it this way based on the relative strength of the rest of the story. I pictured something like the bus crashing into an icy lake or side of a cliff with a somewhat prolonged harrowing life and death struggle for survival. Reaching in pain/ swallowing water, one might end up dying and the other surviving but forever altered.
First half to 3/4 of this story was really riveting 5-star material in the way of tragedy and/ or horror. Somber bus driver and salaryman passenger meet years later after childhood friendship ended in unspeakable act of violence. Roles are reversed as the no longer small, prepubescent victim exacts revenge upon his attacker. I love the suspense and ominous sense of dread on those dark, winding bus routes with only driver and passenger on board. Rape is portrayed as violent, brutal and humiliating throughout the story, until...it isn’t . I really appreciated the dialogue between them concerning vocations, expectations and class differences- made the power dynamics between the two more interesting. Unfortunately, the conclusion just doesn’t work - their relationship could only ever be tragic and fraught after everything that happened between them. It’s like a publisher convinced author to take what would be presumed to be the popular route here.