Welll, I'm not happy with the situation, but Comadrin I think you're overreacting here. Testament to how emotionally involving this manga is. As to the kid . . . He's into Hibiki and normally anyone in love always thinks they'll be better for the person they want than whoever that person might currently be with. So he's going for her. Nothing really wrong with that. And I mean, from his perspective, she's with an old man in an illicit relationship that puts a lot of stress on her; he's rescuing her. And he's doing it without trying to blackmail anybody, which puts him head and shoulders above most third wheels in these sensei-student things. I don't actually like him, he's too damn smooth for my taste and I'm not clear how much he actually cares about Hibiki or what he sees in her, but I can't say I think he's exactly done anything wrong.
Now sensei on the other hand . . . he is suffering from a failure of nerve, a crisis of confidence. He knows the same things his competition does: He's older, maybe too old, and because of the teacher thing just being in a relationship with him is hard on Hibiki. Might she be better off without him? And then along comes this odd case, a guy Hibiki's age who is somewhat like a younger model of him . . . mature interests and outlook, interests and hobbies in common with Hibiki. It's understandable that he might have the thought that she'd be better off with the latest model year rather than the version with too many miles on him. But he let it prey on him too much . . . aided somewhat by that smooth young man, who is to some extent actually playing him, poking his weakness oh so politely. Kind of odd to see the teen manipulating an intelligent adult, but if you have the right handle . . . Self-doubt is easy, and while on the other hand he should be trusting Hibiki and her feelings . . . other aspects of his role tell him that no, he shouldn't, that she's just a kid.
Now he doesn't actually want to lose her. Not at all. But he's got himself convinced that that's selfish of him. But if he's trying to do what's for her own good, what she would "really" want now that she has better choices available, then the unfolding logic of this line of thinking points to the notion that it would be best if she could be in a situation to realize that herself; the "ideal" is if she's given the choice, and chooses what's "best" for her; then he hasn't hurt her and can send her off to a more normal relationship and blah blah . . .
It's a bunch of nonsense, but I can see how, once the doubt begins to gnaw, and once you start down the chain of reasoning, you can end up with a notion of "what's best for her" that gets farther and farther from your actual experience together, and from what she really needs and wants. One problem of course is that love is not a bunch of checkboxes on a list of qualifications. But if you fall into the trap of thinking that "mature" means "logical", you can end up trying to make yourself apply Vulcan thinking to emotions and fucking everything up.
But I don't consider him a cad, at all. He's trying to do what's best for her; a crisis of confidence and a failure to respect her own autonomy has pulled his ideas far afield from what actually is good for her, but that's fear and foolishness, not bad intentions or even, in an odd way, a lack of courage. For that matter, this basic pattern comes up quite a bit in romance manga even without age differences or responsibility issues. The girl or guy thinks "I'm not goodlooking enough for him/her, not smart enough, not cool enough, people don't think we look like a couple, so and so fits better/looks better with him, I should give him up for his own good" and is generally brought up short with "Hey, let me decide who I love and what I want, you fool!"
Although another kind of fear may be involved as well--my wife, who is older than I, used to occasionally get into dark moods where she felt like she should drop me because she felt I would inevitably leave her due to her age and rather than be left desolate she would be better off doing the leaving; we would have huge arguments . . . over time she has gotten more sure of me and it doesn't really happen any more. But it gives me a certain perspective on Itou's position.
Which brings us to chapter 75, where, she having failed to choose what's "better" for her with a free choice, the inevitable end point of the chain is reached where Itou, with a push from the kid, takes away the other choice by dumping her "for her own good". I started to see this coming as far back as ch. 66. It's almost a relief that we're finally at the crisis point. Now she can tell him off major league, and her friends may well also jump down his throat; I hope it resolves quickly.
Notice that he had quite a bit of difficulty doing it, especially considering his normally pretty calm personality.
Edited by Purple Library Guy, 20 October 2013 - 09:09 AM.