A fixation on redemption (Rent-A-Girlfriend Ch. 225)

Ruka makes a surprising move in the chess game between Mami, Kazuya, and Chizuru, and we finally see the meat of the conversation she had with Nagomi twenty chapters ago. It’s tempting to look at Ruka’s actions this week and think that she has finally come to grips with the situation and acted like a reasonable person instead of a petulant child, but to me, it is too little and far too late. Let’s take a look.

The time has come, but does this show Ruka's true nature?

Who is Ruka Sarashina?

This chapter does a good job of reviewing Ruka’s feelings. It’s not a necessary touch for anyone who has followed the manga closely, but it is easy to forget that Ruka is motivated by her heart condition. After all, we once went over a hundred chapters without it even being mentioned, and Ruka became a run-of-the-mill clingy girlfriend instead of someone constantly looking, specifically, for heart-pounding experiences. Ruka’s heart condition is both central to her motivation and, on a day-to-day basis, seemingly irrelevant, but it is part of her character, along with the invasiveness of her attraction, like getting a cake for a random non-anniversary or clinging to him obsessively. When Kazuya’s romantic temperature is cool, Ruka responds not by lighting a comfortable fire but by blasting him with the heat of a thousand suns. If he doesn’t love you, overwhelm him with affection and demands until he does. That is the only way to beat back your own insecurity.

Ruka has only relented in her pursuit of Kazuya a handful of times:

1. On New Year’s Day, Ruka backed off once she saw just how much Nagomi loves Chizuru and how difficult it would be to supplant her (36), along with a large helping of the author speaking directly to her face through a fortune (because Miyajima feels subtlety is for nerds).
2. Ruka decides to try to play it more low-key with Kazuya, realizing that she’s pushed him too hard. She says she really wants him to like her (46), a sentiment that doesn’t last long after Kazuya seems ready to ask her out for real… only to go back into Chizuru’s clutches.
3. When trying to seduce Kazuya, she backed off once he told her he was happy she loved him… but wouldn’t sleep with her until he loved her back (65), which… I’m not sure I can imagine many women being happy about. And even then, she still tries to bamboozle Chizuru into thinking they slept together to mark her territory.
4. After Sayuri takes a turn for the worse, and on the heels of crashing Kazuya’s birthday party, Ruka expresses concern for Chizuru (92) and says she’s calling a truce. She would later help with the movie under the same terms.

The reasons Ruka backed off here, aside from (4) above, largely had to do with a calculation of what satisfied her or what would help her win Kazuya’s heart. Only her willingness to call a truce with Chizuru, in the wake of Sayuri’s downturn, even suggests that she can be a moral and compassionate human being.

So with that in mind, what are we to make of Ruka Sarashina? I present two options, and you can decide which one to believe.

She’s just been searching for something, and she’s found it

The opportunity is ripe for Ruka, and yet...

Let’s take this whole thing 100% seriously for a moment, reservations be damned. Ruka has a heart condition. She has had to refrain from things that give her joy, out of fear that it might affect her health. Kazuya has been something, or someone, she could throw herself into totally without fear.

With that in mind, why would she give up when she’s on the precipice of having the clearest shot yet at Kazuya’s heart? Because she is a good girl in some ways, as we saw with her restraint concerning Chizuru and Sayuri. Moreover, it never really was about Kazuya. He was an avenue to what she really wanted. She does love him; she says as much, but what she really hoped for was to be well, to be like everyone else, to feel alive like they were.

Now look at that conversation with Nagomi.

Ruka may have thought she'd never be seen this way.

Ruka is alive! She is energetic and spirited. Through meeting Kazuya, she has unlocked that part of her heart. She no longer needs to be selfish in this respect. She can love Kazuya truly and respect his right to deal with the situation on his terms. Her major insecurity, that she would never be like other people, has already been removed.

But is that really enough?

It bears saying, however, how profoundly little the plot point of Ruka’s heart condition has mattered in the course of the series. For a long, long stretch–from Kazuya taking her on as his provisional girlfriend to their post-movie date (140), it wasn’t even mentioned! So one can forgive some skepticism that this is really what motivates her still.

And in the meantime, Ruka has done all manner of things that range from merely territorial to vile. The latest condom lie is just part of a long list of examples, such as calling Kazuya a pig and Chizuru a slut (138) or becoming even more territorial when Kazuya asked her to break up with him (180).

And yet, Miyajima clearly wants us to sympathize with Ruka, just as we are intended to with Mami and her “heart-rending” past. Miyajima paints a picture of a scenario in which there are no true villains, just hurt and desperate people doing awful and desperate things. Ruka has done enough now to earn some measure of redemption. No doubt when Mami is pushed to her breaking point, the nature of her complex will become clear to someone else, and she will be forgiven and redeemed, too. Kazuya and Chizuru will be happy, and everyone else will find some way to move on. It’s all fairy dust and roses, then.

Moreover, this act of selflessness feels like something far from a catharsis. It doesn’t entirely fit her; there is still great tension in Ruka. It’s not like she’s given up on Kazuya completely, and it’s far from clear that what Nagomi saw in her is enough. This could be merely a step.

But a crucial part of writing a character arc, as Miyajima seems to want to do with Ruka, taking her to the point where she can let go of Kazuya, is giving a compelling alternative reward. Considering how little time and energy has been spent on her heart, one doubts that leaving the little girl who longed to be normal behind will really be enough for her. At best, after all the love she’s felt for Kazuya and showered him with, it will feel like a paltry consolation prize, but she will probably take it with a smile anyway, and we will be forced to be happy for her because the pain isn’t satisfying at all.