Small note about relationships within the 180-verse:

I try not to step in and defend characters too much, but I had to say something about this.

Riku is not a slut. There's a large difference between having multiple failed relationships, and going around and sleeping with a ton of people. Riku never randomly sleeps around. Each person he develops a relationship with means something different to him.

In 180 and LNOL, I'm trying to portray two extremes of the relationship spectrum: the fairytale "happily ever after" vs. the modern "let's just fuck" pleasure principle. In LNOL, Riku is seeking a "happily ever after," but to get there, he finds himself experimenting all along the relationship spectrum: casual friends, friends with benefits, fuck buddies, actual boyfriends/lovers, taboo desires, random encounters, nonconsensual gratification...

Some characters (like Riku and Seiya) may seem to be preaching some really twisted and wrong morals along the "let's just fuck" side, but—they're not really preaching anything. I've met people like this, so this is more like my attempt at covering the realistic (but grittier?) side of society. Not everyone has happily ever afters. Not everyone stays with the first person they fall in love with. Not everyone really knows what love is. Some people spend their whole lives jumping from person to person to person, from sexual exploit to sexual exploit, and never find a happily ever after.

I'm tired of people calling Riku a slut when, by today's standards, he's really not. Especially when you learn his whole story through LNOL. Just because Riku has had sex with a few people over the five years between LNOL and 180 doesn't make him a slut. He's a horny teenager. He tries his hand at a few types of relationships. Not a slut!