Report 71

Plot
Arata and Chizuru sit down, and Chizuru tells Arata the issue she wanted to consult him about is the change in the relationship between Rena and Honoka. Arata says he does not know anything but that he too has noticed something is odd, and wonders why Chizuru did not ask Rena and Honoka directly. While she had not thought about it before, Chizuru suspects it is because of her lack of confidence in her social skills. She further tells Arata that the previous year a girl in her class was bullied and she wanted to help her, but her attempts to stop the bullies only made it worse and eventually the girl asked Chizuru to stop trying to intervene. The story reminds Arata of her harassed prior co-worker likewise asking him to accept the way the system works and to grow up, even though she agreed that what was happening was wrong.

Chizuru continues her story, telling Arata that she regrets that she never considered how her attempts to stop the bullying impacted the victim. Arata asks what happened to the girl, and having expected something worse, he is relieved when Chizuru tells him she transferred to another school.

Arata also decides to share his similar experience with his co-worker, under the guise of the victim having been a senior student in his previous school. Reaching toward his neck in unease as he begins to talk, he tells that just like with Chizuru, his attempt to stop the bullying upset the balance that the victim was trying to maintain in her world. As he recollects the events from that time, in his mind Arata wonders why it was that the matter came to a conclusion that he is horrified to think about.