My Last First Kiss - Riku's route.
Now updated with the r/otomegames WAYR Wednesday version of the write-up.
May contain inaccuracies regarding the plot because I'm still highly emotional and frustrated over Riku's route, lol.
Many dislike the childhood friends trope because a lot of the time it's a cop-out for deeper relationship development, but personally I don't mind it. I think the idea of old friends knowing each other in and out and having that familiarity grow into romantic love is cute, so choosing this title was a no-brainer for me.
I picked Riku in particular because 1) kuudere and 2) wow that preview CG of him with the puppy? So sweet. Why not, right? And, well...
Well.
Reading Riku's route was a headache and a half. The entire time I wanted to shake MC's shoulders and tell her, "Not him, I don't think he's right for you. Please go find someone else, please."
I don't think I've ever felt this strongly about that over any other LI before. More often than not I can handwave things because, hey, fiction, but I think this is why it grated on me a lot:
One of the themes in Riku's route was about the importance of communication in a relationship. It's first shown with how Riku and MC's relationship with each other back in high school fell apart because neither were able to talk things through—mostly on Riku's part, as he hadn't even given MC the chance to say anything. Instead, he chose to distance himself from her without saying anything and both eventually drifted apart.
Yes, folks. He's a ghoster.
The theme also came up in Mr. Ito's (Riku's photography mentor) and Yukiko's (mentor's girlfriend) relationship. Mr. Ito was neglecting Yukiko in favor of his career and it left her very lonely. Unfortunately Yukiko's much like Riku in that she couldn't convey her feelings to her partner, and instead took everything in her relationship with, "It can't be helped, that's just how [Mr. Ito] is."
Riku's also a lonely one because he still hadn't gotten over MC and all that, and so he empathized with Yukiko's feelings of loneliness. Being the considerate gentleman he was, he then became complicit in an adulterous relationship with his mentor's girlfriend! No feelings, no strings attached of course. They each just needed a bedwarmer for those cold, lonely nights.
Given that the theme of communication was so apparent in this story, I expected Riku's character development to follow accordingly.
Spoiler alert: I wasn't satisfied with how it went.
For one thing, I expected there to be a more...substantial conversation about Riku's and MC's breakup. Instead, MC shouldered the blame for their breakup (apparently it's her fault they broke up because she hadn't noticed Riku's feelings—girl...while yes, she could've asked Riku about it, Riku also didn't have to ghost her like that), she apologized to him, things were suddenly okay, and then they reminisced about the good old times together.
The conversation hadn't addressed anything properly. Riku hardly even acknowledged the ghosting he did and it looked like all they did was sweep their issues under the rug.
I thought, okay, maybe they'll bring it up again later in the route.
(They didn't.)
After Riku and MC had that superficial conversation about their first relationship, they started seeing each other again. Yet MC wasn't certain about where they stood with each other because Riku hadn't said anything and MC was too timid to straight-up ask him about it. At the very least MC knew that even if she and Riku went on dates that didn't mean they're exclusive, and that made her even less secure about their relationship.
I figured, hey, this is all part of the conflict and maybe something will happen for Riku to finally spell things out for MC: that he isn't seeing Yukiko anymore, that he wants them to be exclusive, etc. You know, just so that the air is clear between them.
(He did no such thing.)
Ah, but I haven't gotten to the best part yet!
Back when she first dated Riku, MC wanted to go on a date to Tokyo Tower like in her favorite drama, but held off on asking Riku because she knew very well he didn't want to go. Apparently Riku knew all along and even told MC this, saying he didn't bring it up because he really didn't want to go.
To make up for all those years ago, Riku made plans with MC to go to Tokyo Tower.
I should mention at this point that Mr. Ito had told MC in private that he'd known all along what was going on behind his back and purposely let things be because it addressed Yukiko's needs. He then told her of his plans to go abroad for work, distancing himself from both Riku and Yukiko. He hadn't told either of them yet, of course, and MC didn't tell Riku about it either.
So. Just as Riku and MC were about to leave on their meaningful (emphasis on "meaningful" because it's tied to their shared history), planned date to Tokyo Tower, Yukiko came crying to Riku about how Mr. Ito's leaving. Riku's in shock at the news, naturally, and was momentarily conflicted over what to do.
He ended up going with Yukiko.
Now, I'd totally get it if Riku had explained what the fuck was going on to MC so that MC understood the situation better. If there's a friend in need of comfort, go lend a shoulder and all that. And I can imagine Riku was hurting too.
He didn't clearly explain the situation though (this is the only bit I can forgive, being distressed would give him less of a clear head), and I should mention at that point he still hadn't cleared it out with MC that he was only exclusively seeing her. So...MC seeing Riku leave with Yukiko, someone MC knew full well was Riku's fuck buddy? I think we all can guess what it looked like.
It totally looked like Riku left MC to bang Yukiko, that's what.
To add insult to injury, once Riku had finished his business with Yukiko he went back to MC and tried asking her again to Tokyo Tower with him. Talk about terrible timing! Really terrible. It made MC look like an afterthought. In MC's POV it only drove home the fact that she was chosen second and she was justifiably hurt about it.
(I was pissed. Enraged. Incensed. All the angry words. As someone who values quality time above all else, being flaked on this way is a huge turnoff unless the LI does something to make up for it later. Riku, bless his heart, did not make up for it later in my opinion.)
But wait, there's more!
MC rejected Riku's second invitation to Tokyo Tower and the guy took it as the ultimate rejection, that it was a sign for him to give up on her. Uh, hello? Deciding things on your own without talking things through with MC again?! Wasn't that how your first relationship with MC ended??!?!?!?
Sure, Riku went back to MC's place to try again one more time, only MC wasn't at home due to work and this guy took it as yet another sign that he and MC weren't meant to be. Dude, going about things on your own again without talking to MC properly?!?! SERIOUSLY? You live in the same goddamn condominium too, so what exactly is your excuse for not coming back to her apartment when she's home?! Oh my GOD I wanted to eat my phone.
All this happened toward the tail end of the route, by the way, and so I was wondering, "Where the heck is the character development?!"
Well...it came too late. I felt it was shoved in at the last minute as if someone suddenly remembered, "Oh, right. We kept going on about communication and whatever. We gotta bring that back lol." By the end of the route Riku told MC she helped him realize the importance of communicating his feelings better and all that, and demonstrated this by telling her he loves her, but I thought it fell flat. It all sounded like lip service. Why? Well, what else had Riku done to show that he was starting to learn how to communicate better before the confession scene?
There had been multiple opportunities for him to have done so over the course of the story, but he just didn't. There were just too many things left unsaid and I didn't like it at all.
Taking all of that into consideration, I couldn't take them getting together as a satisfying ending without having addressed any of their issues properly. I will say though that there definitely are such relationships in real life, so if anyone's into the drama of messy and ambiguous relationships fueled by miscommunication where nothing is truly solved except through the Power of Love, this is probably the route for you.
Haaaaaah, it was a very frustrating story to read, and not even in the fun way. At least with Iori (Scandal in the Spotlight) I had fun getting angry. With Riku, though? I wanted to take MC far, far away from him. Besides the whole communication (or lack thereof) thing, I reaaaaaaaally didn't like how flippant Riku was about infidelity. MC obviously disagreed with it too, but the subject never came back up and apparently everything is totally okay now because they're dating.
"I love you" simply wasn't enough here.
tl;dr Morimachi Riku's route, for all it tried to center the story around the importance of communication in a relationship, did not do well in actually presenting that theme in his characterization and I'm frustrated about it. That, and I want to throttle him because he did other things I didn't like and MC deserves better.
He probably gets better but I'm too angry to find out lol
(It took everything within myself not to dissolve into an incoherent rage of keyboard smashes HAHAHAHAHA good gOD if Morimachi Riku was a real person I'd tell all my friends to run away and not date him lmao. Even a friend of mine said his story would fit in perfectly over at r/AmITheAsshole, pfft.)