Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
Agreed. If not for that, he'd leave Arata alone. However, I think he was aware that when someone in "good standing" in the class starts hanging out with a person marked for bullying/ostracization (which Arata sadly was) that this can have a really negative effect on the person "in good standing". In other words, it can cost him or her that good standing. I think that Taichi wanted to ensure that this didn't happen to Chihaya. Was that his only motivation here? No, jealousy was probably a large part of it.
Children are not immune to these sorts of sociological impacts or concerns. In fact, they're often more susceptible to it than adults are.
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Agreed. Kids have a survival instinct that makes their radar better than an adult's when it comes to that.
I don't disagree that concern that Chihaya would be "tainted" was a part of Taichi's motivation. That's cold - no concern for Arata, but only that Chihaya would be impacted? But that's the reality of childhood - hanging out with the wrong person can make you a victim of the same bullying. In fact, Taichi had a personal stake because if Chihaya become an "untouchable", then he would face the hard decision - take the terrible risk of being branded an untouchable himself for continuing to hang out with her, or stop hanging out with the girl he has a huge crush on?
Again, I don't condemn Taichi for this - I think it's perfectly normal self-preservation mode for a child of that age. But it is that kind of survival instinct that allows kids to be bullied to the point of becoming hikokomori - or worse.