Although it’s been mentioned once, I think people are mostly leaving out the obvious cues the story is giving about why Chidori says what she does to Mai—the Igarashi Event.
The chapter 81 title page is the most symbolic one of the series. It shows Old Chidori (long hair, pre-Nanoha) facing off and connecting with Present-Day Chidori.
Chidori has two specific flashbacks to Igarashi during her talk with Mai—when she references the feelings of “loving a girl” but keeping it to yourself, and trying to act as if nothing happened and “just moving on.” She explicitly knows how bad she felt and how hard it was.
She also knows that Mai hasn’t done anything wrong—she’s just liked a person she’s known for a long time (longer than Chidori has) and Mai even was supportive of Chidori and Nanoha’s relationship. (The only mistake she made was briefly thinking she had a chance when she discovered that Nanoha liked girls—you never had a chance, dear.)
Chidori isn’t just blithely ignoring a possible danger point to her relationship with Nanoha (as she explicitly says)—she’s empathizing with Mai because of what she learned from her own experience. You know—the textbook definition of a character growing and developing.
last edited at Jun 12, 2020 9:21AM