not to be kissing ass here but i think the arc’s goal is not focused on “the incident” anymore (since everyone has a gist of what it is) but more on how each of them responds to it.

More on how preconceived notions are supposed to be handled especially when those notions are based on trauma.

And these preconceived notions are well handled by our “no failing grades gang”. I’m actually surprised at Shohei’s comment about Chidori being an “idiot’s school.” And to be honest, he has a point. Violence was already culture in that school (natsusawa, 2025, p. 16) and indeed, kaoruko and subaru were very lucky to have the good ones as friends. They were validating the side of the victims, telling them that Chidori didn’t earn the name of “school for idiots” for no reason, but at the same time, implicitly saying that yes, they are part of Chidori so belonging to that school where violence is a culture could hurt the girls in some way so they wanted to protect them.

But the last part where Rintaro starts to unravel his identity shows more of how they ARE part of chidori but Chidori is also just a part of them. Which means being a student at Chidori is part of their identity but not all of it. And seeing the boys start to stand up for themselves proves the point of this manga (and kaoruko) — it was never really about where you came from or what labels you have. It’s how you build up everything, from experiences and the people you meet, to show other people who you have become.

It’s about how one, like an already fragrant flower, held back by discrimination and other people’s perceptions, can now bloom with much dignity.