YMMV / The Gift of Rain

• Ho Yay: Oh so much between Philip and Hayato. Mostly on Philip's side; his narration sounds exactly like he has a crush on Hayato. Doubles as No Yay: Philip is a teenager and Hayato is over thirty years older than him, Hayato is Philip's teacher, and Hayato has been manipulating him since their first meeting.
  [Hayato] had become a defining feature in my life. I missed spending my mornings with him, watching him, listening to him, anticipating his moods, his whims. I longed for the way the sun fired up his silver hair, the way his teeth glinted behind his smile, his wry humor, and the hidden sadness within him.
  • A rather odd scene comes after Hayato injures Philip's wrist during a training session. Philip is unable to use chopsticks afterward, so Hayato feeds him with his own chopsticks. As in, he picks up the salmon, holds Philip's mouth open, and places it in Philip's mouth.
  • Hayato believes they knew each other in previous lifetimes. Philip dreams of one of their lifetimes, where they were friends and (probably) lovers turned enemies, suggesting they're stuck in an eternal cycle of Reincarnation Romance and Star-Crossed Lovers.
  Hayato: Remember always that I love you, and have loved you for a long, long time.
  • Then there's the bit mentioned on the main page under Does This Remind You of Anything? — they're fighting, but Philip describes it as if they're having sex.
  • Worth noting that although Hayato had a romantic relationship with at least one woman (Michiko), Philip never marries and never shows any interest in women.
  • Philip outright says he loves Hayato, and the context leaves it very ambiguous if he means platonically or romantically.
  • Philip dreams about "taking care of [Hayato], preparing his meals, spending the rest of my life learning under his guidance...". Leave out the bit about learning, and it sounds exactly like Philip wants to be Hayato's lover.
  • Philip compares Isabel and Peter's relationship to his and Hayato's. Later he asks Isabel what she sees in Peter, who's much older than her. The implication is that he's thinking about the age difference between him and Hayato.
• Moral Event Horizon: Uncle Lim crosses it when he betrays Isabel to the Japanese solely to get back at Philip. He knows what they'll do to her, he's worked for her family for years, she has nothing to do with Ming's death, and she's working against the Japanese — y'know, the guys who are actually responsible for the tragedies. And he still hands her over out of petty spite.

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