I was really into this manga for a while, but I didn't really like this chapter. I don't know exactly what it is but it's like the longer this manga goes on the more it fails to pull me in. Maybe it's too much fluff now? Too slice of life? Too many characters? Or maybe it's just the tone is just different enough to be removed from what I initially liked. Though I can say I really don't like it implying Shou getting bullied is her own fault for not fitting in well enough or something.
It's not that getting bullied is her own fault, but they're children. They don't necessarily know the best way to respond to things that make them feel bad. Everybody has their own stuff going on. As you get older, you learn how to better interact with your peers, to understand that you might have done things that made them sad or uncomfortable. By keeping her distance and immersing herself in her own interests, she was sending signals to the other girls that she didn't like them.
The kind response to that kind of behavior (Edit: What we should teach kids, and what manga like this does teach kids by having them sympathize with Shou in the first place) is to assume that the person has their own reasons for being that way, and to give them distance while letting them know that if they ever want to approach you, they're welcome. The healthy and moral response is to just let it be and focus on your own business. But children don't always know the healthy response and aren't always kind enough for the kind response, so some respond to what they see as disdain with a like response. It doesn't make anything better, though, it just causes more strife and upset.
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, and all that.
last edited at Aug 2, 2025 7:20PM
