March Comes in Like a Lion (３月のライオン)

Feelings (Continued)

A-Anti-bullying measures?!

Wh-What's wrong, Kiriyama?

Did something happen?

Tell me everything!

It's okay, Kiriyama!

No matter what happens, I'm on your side!

No, it's not about me.

Really?

There's nothing you want to discuss?

Right now?

Of course not. In the first place...

...I'm not being bullied.

I'm just being ignored.

I don't have any friends. Or more like...

BLUNT

I'm not in anyone's field of vision.

Kind of like that.

SLAP

Well, never mind me.

I'm a professional at that.

After all, I've been eating lunch by myself for over 11 years.

SPARKLE

Professional? In what?

Kiriyama!

I see. A third-year middle school girl.

In a family that's helped you out a lot, huh?

First of all, it's a shame about that other girl who switched schools.

But...

I think she was really lucky to have someone like Hina.

Otherwise, it could have had a sadder ending.

Now, it's actually really important that Hina was able to talk to her family about it.

The worst thing anyone could do is not talk about it, and keep it bottled up.

Not talk to their family or their teacher...

But when it came to her friend, Chiho, she told her homeroom teacher about it.

But she got brushed off, apparently.

The teacher said she was "misreading the situation."

Dammit! So she's that type of homeroom teacher, huh?

She got stuck with one of those. Poor kid.

She was probably desperate when she asked for advice, too.

I can get the teacher's perspective,

but that's no time to be running away!

So I thought I would ask your opinion to get the school's perspective.

UGH

JEEZ

UGH

JEEZ

UGH

JEEZ

I thought you could give me a hint on how to handle this.

S-Sorry.

Kiriyama, look at this.

BULLYING

School bullying problems getting worse!

Severe bullying. Please talk to us.

If you do a search on "bullying," you'll get 89,100,000 hits.

Do a search for "bullying countermeasures," and you get 2,200,000 hits.

And nowhere in here is a solution that'll work 100% of the time.

There.

Take a look at this homepage.

People who are being bullied. People who are doing the bullying.

The parents of both sides.

People who saw it happen.

People who were bullied in the past. People who were bullies in the past.

That teacher could scroll through 200 million pages

from several years and encounter a mess of muddled arguments.

The thing is, there are thousands of sites like this.

M-Mr. Hayashida? Mr. Hayashida...

But you won't find an answer in any of them.

I mean, there's a distinct "answer" for every one of these people here.

It's a quandary.

People who want an apology.

People who want to defend themselves.

Parents who want to avenge their children.

Parents who want to clear their children's names.

People who want their bullies to get the same treatment.

People who want to return to their circle of friends.

The configurations of the positions and personalities of people involved are all different.

That's why there's no "perfect answer" that can work for every case.

But that doesn't mean you should give up.

If you think, "there's no answer to be found so I'll do nothing,"

...then you'll get nowhere.

But at least we've come to know what not to do.

And that's to stir everyone up with cries of "We have to solve this,"

while ignoring the victim's feelings, and moving ahead too fast.

I say your daughter is the one who's lying!

My kid said she didn't do it!

Your daughter's obviously a delinquent!

She's tormented the hell out of my daughter!

Um, I've distributed surveys throughout the school about whether bullying is going on.

- There's no need for that! - You're going to pay for this.

No, stop! Stop! Please stop!

If the victim doesn't want to make a big deal out of it, or even get more people involved,

then it's wrong for the families to cause a commotion at school, even if it solves the problem.

I heard she was bullied during second year.

Oh, really?

The whole school got involved.

Wow.

Because even if the bullying died down, if they feel out of place there,

then it was all for naught.

So the important thing is to ask Hina about what kind of solution she's hoping for.

It's okay if this takes time,

so be sure to listen patiently to all of her feelings on the matter.

I see. Got it!

SCRIBBLE SCRIBBLE NOTE NOTE

But actually, what's surprisingly effective is being able to say "Stop it"

when the bully does something to them right then and there.

That all rides on whether she's the type of person who can say that or not.

Well...

Tell me about Hina.

About Hina?

Hina, let's see.

Um...

She's really energetic, with a loud voice...

Uh-huh. What else?

She laughs a lot, and gets angry or dejected easily.

You could say she's relatively complex.

And pretty vain...

And for someone who's so cheerful, she doesn't have much confidence in herself.

But she's strong at heart. Very strong.

Kiriyama's been watching her closely, huh?

Huh?

Could this be...

Could it possibly be...

...a flag?!

H-Huh. You don't say.

So, um... Uh, what?

I-Is she cute?

Yes, she's cute.

Oh, I'm just asking for data purposes...

Um, so, in what way is she cute?

Uh, she has big eyes, small, thin arms and legs, long, glossy hair...

CREAK

NERVOUS NERVOUS

And then there's this, to confirm, just in case...

Kiriyama...

Um, about that girl... How can I put this?

I-Is she important to you?

Yes. She's very important to me.

BLUNT

I intend to do anything I can for her.

Diving into the atmosphere of adolescence!!

Kiriyama!

If she's in trouble, I want to do anything I can to help.

After all, she's my lifesaver.

I have an obligation to pay her back. That's my duty as a human being.

Um, Kiriyama?

Kind of has a bad feeling about this

Whoa!

HOME TUTORING

Sorry, I got carried away there.

No, no, you were fine.

I was thrilled to see a new side of you, Kiriyama...

HEAPS

280,000 per month x 9 months Total 2,520,000

Say, Kiriyama.

What is this?

Shishi-ou Tournament Total 3,600,000 ~ 8,000,000

Um... And what's this?

It's a bracket for a shogi tournament, right?

And maybe all of these scrawled numbers are...

Total: 3,600,000-8,000,000

Total: 1,500,000

...money from matches?!

No, but since I was making a proposal, and if I didn't hold it down to realistic figures,

it would just be irresponsible lip service.

I have a debt to repay, so I just can't be dreaming all day.

Oh, good. My calculator still works.

And so...

...from this point on, I can't afford to lose any matches.

Serious Eyes

"I can't afford to lose any matches."

Wood Carving

Is that what you said without any hesitation?

Oh, it's about time for my workshop. I have to run!

Mr. Hayashida!

Thank you very much for your advice.

It's given me food for thought.

I would appreciate it if we could talk again about this.

He's a little off.

Well, excuse me!

This kid is just off about something!

That's what the teacher's heart was yelling out.

I have to check!

I have to put my life as a teacher on the line and do something!

Before Kiriyama takes those documents to her house and makes a speech!

Otherwise he's going to lose her!

Rei Kiriyama, 5th dan, 18 years old, with calculator in hand, will intervene

in the life of that girl to whom he owes a debt.

Oh no! What am I going to do?!

Would Hayashida, his homeroom teacher from last year,

be able to stop him from running amok?

Stay tuned and you'll find out.

Feelings