Rudeus is on a warpath! His sister has become a shut-in and he's been there, intimately, and he knows exactly what causes someone to become a shut-in and how emotionally crippling and difficult it can be. And as her elder brother, it's his duty to help her through this and tear a new one into anyone responsible
!
Of course...none of her class was actually outwardly malicious to her (but what an accusation to the teacher!). All they did was compare her to him and his high pedigree...meaning it wasn't the class per se but Rudeus' own stature that was responsible
!
But what can Rudy really do? After all this time, can he be the person Norn needs right now? Will she even let him? But at least this time he has a wife and friends alongside him to support him and push him to be there for Norn
.
Good strategy by using Princess Ariel to collect most of the girls and letting Linia/Pursena sneak Rudy in...all so he can make it to Norn's room and talk to her. But he's not just facing Norn, but also his past self
.
Rudeus is now in the same position as his elder brother when he was a shut-in...trying to talk sense into your shut-in little sibling even though nothing you say, however well-reasoned, gets through to them because you don't think they really understand you or what you're going for. And eventually they just give up. Rudy regrets how he left things with his elder brother, but now the one thing he can do is not give up on Norn
.
For Norn's part, she's hated Rudy ever since she saw him beat up their dad and she's always judged him for that, and then she saw him "carousing" with a drunken woman and thought she was stuck in a place with no one who really loved her or cared about her. Even Rudy giving in to her demands made her feel like he didn't care about her at all. And that's before she kept getting compared to him and the pressure, saw girls stealing panties for him, and it became so suffocating she had a panic attack and couldn't keep going
.
(Her roommate actually looks pretty interesting though...)
But on some level Norn understood Rudy isn't the person she thought he was, and she wants to understand him better as her older brother, it's just difficult for her. But that he was willing to open up to her and be honest about his own inability to help her finally lets her see him as the older brother he is and pour out all her tears next to him
.
Sure, they didn't actually talk about anything and Rudy doesn't completely understand Norn's problems, but it seems like after crying it out and accepting Rudy Norn has a better head on her shoulders, is happier and more open to her brother, and making friends. And that's all Rudy could have asked for. And maybe some day he can make peace with his own brother through Nanahoshi
.
And with everything going so well...here comes Turning Point 3
.