Kusunoki's Flunking Her High School Glow-Up - Vol. 4 Ch. 24 - I was hopelessly in love with you

[FarAndLow]

God I want to Yeet this girl into the ocean.

 

[Rafalga]

Hebikawa is a sociopath. Don't go with "oh she is so mature and level headed after all" before the childhood flashback. Don't forget, she is "relieved" because she thought he was avoiding and being repulsed by her for some "serious" reason. Which she knows she has some and thought he caught on or saw through.

Also, reverse the genders on the siutation if you are still having trouble empathizing with the MC. Imagine a shut off bullied girl in school approached by a seemingly well behaved popular dude in order for him to look good / compassionate in public than gets shittalked behind her back (and to her face in the end as well) by the same boy.

We would have pitchworks ready for everytime he appeared in any page.

 

[vanillasundae]

Ahhh~ Hebi-sama smiled a lot today! 🥰

Dude got indirect rejection and created a self inflicted trauma. Afawk Hebikawa is just being nice to him to up her own social status quo, no direct harm or bullying done. Though it looks on one panel she knows he's listening to them and directly-indirectly hurt him.

I hope Hebi and Kusonoki gets to be really good friends. Imo base on previous chapter it's probably Kusonoki is the person that Hebikawa aspires to be.

Aspire? She hates her

 

[Rafalga]

I hope Hebi and Kusonoki gets to be really good friends. Imo base on previous chapter it's probably Kusonoki is the person that Hebikawa aspires to be.

She doesn't "aspires to be" like Kusonoki. She just finds her puzzling and thinks that noone can be this pure and naive. She is projecting since she herself is driven by pure "gain and standing" from her relationships.

 

[Ludd_]

Blackmail using the fact that he used to be fat?
I'll chalk it up to teenage insecurity.

Anything can be blackmail as long as the person being blackmailed doesn't want the thing to be revealed.

 

[ItsThatBriGuy]

Thanks for the new chapter!

Also other than that, I think it is okay if Kusunoki still wants to be friends with Hebikawa, but I hope Hebikawa will not do exploitative stunts to her just to make her "show her true colors"; it seems that this is how Hebikawa likes to run things on people she is interested in. If things go wrong with Kusunoki, she might make Kusunoki hide back into her shell again, and discourage her from opening up to people again.

She has a stronger Shizuki to run back to this time if things get as bad as they might. (One that she's on the cusp of understanding why she might want to run to him whether things go badly or not, i might add.) And, after this, he's not only stronger but actually has some resolve to protect Kusunoki, not just use her as a shield to protect himself anymore. The quest won't happen. Probably.

 

[KanzakiYuu]

It was all in le head.

I actually had a friend in junior high who acted exactly like Hebikawa. She would talk to me, chat with me in BBM (blackberry messenger) and act kindly towards me. In reality, when we were close to graduate, I heard from another friend that she badmouthed me, was grossed out by me, and overall being mean whenever she had the chance to. At the time I was devastated by the news; and it wasn't like I heard all the insults thrown directly, so I instantly kept my distance the very next day.

Still, I grew out of it pretty quickly, which, eventually, he has too just like everyone else. Deal with it and move on.

Hebikawa isn't as bad as my friend, though (as of recent revelation).

 

[ItsThatBriGuy]

I really don't get the conflict here... Kid was a loser when he was younger and can't move forward, that isn't everyone else fault.. dudes projecting his own bullshit on everyone else instead of just owning up and moving on, he seem like a genuinely annoying person I wouldn't want to be around irl

The major thrust of this story is his haltingly slow efforts to move forward (and the frustrating events that sometimes set him back). He took enormous strides here and i don't really get what people who think otherwise were reading.

 

[Esgar]

There it is. even when you are legitimately bullied by a woman, there’s no way people will ever accepted as fact. And they will jump through hoops to somehow make the male victim into the person who caused the whole thing.

There is always one of you. Always. Every Fucking time.

It's so fucking stupid. This entire chapter we see her sadistically pushing him, knowing that she caused him a trauma that makes him feel ill. Not once does she show any concern over it, she just keeps prodding him and gloats over how terrible she made him feel with little effort from herself. Yet, people here try to make it seem like his trauma is "made up" and that she was actually innocent.

 

[Esgar]

Hebikawa is a sociopath. Don't go with "oh she is so mature and level headed after all" before the childhood flashback. Don't forget, she is "relieved" because she thought he was avoiding and being repulsed by her for some "serious" reason. Which she knows she has some and thought he caught on or saw through.

Also, reverse the genders on the siutation if you are still having trouble empathizing with the MC. Imagine a shut off bullied girl in school approached by a seemingly well behaved popular dude in order for him to look good / compassionate in public than gets shittalked behind her back (and to her face in the end as well) by the same boy.

We would have pitchworks ready for everytime he appeared in any page.

Exactly, and just look at this chapter alone. She knows that something is making him feel physically ill just by looking at her. She knows that she treated him poorly back then and participated in bullying him (even if she may not know that he knows that). Yet, she still pushes him into this conversation, manipulating him to come with her, tells him how "close they were" (hah), and basically just gloats over how terrible she made him feel.

A normal person would be worried about hurting someone else unintentionally. She never once showed concern in this chapter (only fake concern). She constantly smirks when he mentions what he has been through and the crush he had on her. She clearly relishes the fact that she made him feel like that and that he has been pining over it all these years. She clearly enjoyed telling him that she was completely indifferent to him. It comes across as sadistic.

That's not "mature behavior." And his trauma isn't fake, either. Being a lonely, bullied kid and finding out that the one person who showed you kindness was actually two-faced, meaning that the only source of appreciation that he had was fake - that's more than enough to develop a trauma. And the way that she is acting in this chapter shows that she hasnt changed at all. That she has no remorse whatsoever. And that she will continue messing with him and the person he loves. How the fuck do people take this chapter as a reason to exonerate her of all wrongdoing?

There's something very wrong with some manga readers. Maybe it's a lack of empathy for male characters? Maybe it's an attraction to "evil" women? It's gotta be something.

 

[Niisan002]

Multi uno flips

 

[KSN]

How the fuck do people take this chapter as a reason to exonerate her of all wrongdoing?

There's something very wrong with some manga readers. Maybe it's a lack of empathy for male characters? Maybe it's an attraction to "evil" women? It's gotta be something.

I think because Hebikawa is cruel towards Shizuki in a way that is awful but not unusual. That the core conflict here is something fundamentally normal (a nasty insult thrown around in gossip) makes this chapter feel like a deflating moment.

There's no emotional bond that heightens the drama, either. They weren't close, so this doesn't feel like a betrayal so much as something completely normal: a person shittalking someone they act nice to.

In real life, would someone like Hebikawa be considered an asshole? Yes, but not of an exceptional variety. So for a lot of people, a character like her doesn't read as the kind of antagonist she's set up to be. She's just a mean kid, and there are a lot of mean kids in the world.

My reaction to this chapter was, "That's it?" I hope that goes some way to clarifying at least one perspective beyond lacking empathy for male characters or liking "evil women."

 

[Sonaldo]

Based Hebikawa. She handled the whole thing in much more mature manner than Shizuki.
I like how it puts into perspective just how immature Shizuki has been acting about that the whole time.

I'm not joking when I said Hebikawa as a character is so much more interesting than everyone else. Like it's pretty clear she's not the villain of this story.

 

[Sonaldo]

To be honest, she doesn't really seem that bad, she's not comically evil, she's the kind of evil you see in teenagers, lol. She'll grow out of it.

I don't even think she's evil. She's just normal? Like the guy is at fault here. She said it right. He made up a version of her in his head and got angry that's not the truth. She didn't even treat him that special. He's the one conflating it because of his insecurities. Hebikawa is genuinely the most interesting character in this manga

 

[Esgar]

I think because Hebikawa is cruel towards Shizuki in a way that is awful but not unusual. That the core conflict here is something fundamentally normal (a nasty insult thrown around in gossip) makes this chapter feel like a deflating moment.

There's no emotional bond that heightens the drama, either. They weren't close, so this doesn't feel like a betrayal so much as something completely normal: a person shittalking someone they act nice to.

In real life, would someone like Hebikawa be considered an asshole? Yes, but not of an exceptional variety. So for a lot of people, a character like her doesn't read as the kind of antagonist she's set up to be. She's just a mean kid, and there are a lot of mean kids in the world.

My reaction to this chapter was, "That's it?" I hope that goes some way to clarifying at least one perspective beyond lacking empathy for male characters or liking "evil women."

Expecting more drama is one thing. But to completely dismiss any wrongdoing on her part just because there wasnt any further drama is unhinged. Suddenly turning on the MC as if he has no reason to feel hurt or traumatized by how she treated him is also absurd. And she hasnt changed. She is the same manipulative bully as back then.

Her not wanting to blackmail him or deliberately ruin his life does not erase her bullying him. Your argument is like saying "well, he only beat her up, he didnt rape her or anything, so he is not that bad afterall. Hell, she has no reason to be whining about it." Hyperbole, but it's the same logic.

None of what we learn here erases her sadism towards him in this chapter. And it most certainly doesnt mean that his trauma "is self-imposed." It's still very much real. And I fail to see how she suddenly becomes any less of an asshole than we already know. All we knew about her, from chapter 1, was that she was two-faced towards the MC during a very tough time in his life, causing him to develop a trauma. She deliberately hurt him. It wasnt some accident or a mistake.

To him, she was the only person showing him any appreciation at all, and she was clearly very manipulative, even in this chapter. I fail to see why you are taking her actions so lightly, so my confusion remains. It still seems like my thesis is correct here: yall lack empathy for what you consider to be "beta" male characters and are very quick to forgive "evil" female characters. I guess because you are attracted to them? Idk.

The way she acts is not normal. It's not harmless. Faking being a friend to a very vulnerable person and bullying them behind their back is not normal. Learning about how viscerally you hurt that person years later and only gloating over it, pushing them to reveal their vulnerabilities, just so that you can manipulate them and their loved ones - that's not normal. The cold indifference to the consequences of her actions is sadistic, cruel and, once again, not normal. Remember, she pulled him out there to have this conversation. All he wants is to put this behind him and not see her, which is entirely fair after being hurt by her before.

So why is everyone acting like it is normal? Like it's somehow so "mature" and "based"? And, even worse, why is everyone acting like MC is in the wrong for being heavily traumatized by it? That he is "immature" for daring to be hurt by someone who did that to him? Someone who clearly has zero remorse for it, but rather just gloats over it? What happened to yall that you consider this kind of thing to be totally OK and expected?

It's genuinely a bit sad to see people be so emotionally stunted that they think an obvious sociopath who bullied and manipulated a vulnerable kid is entirely innocent and that the bullied kid is just a whiny bitch who "made up his trauma."

 

[KSN]

Her not wanting to blackmail him or deliberately ruin his life does not erase her bullying him. Your argument is like saying "well, he only beat her up, he didnt rape her or anything, so he is not that bad afterall. Hell, she has no reason to be whining about it." Hyperbole, but it's the same logic.

I'm not sure whether you meant to quote me, since I don't think most of your comment relates to what I said. I was explaining why, despite what Hebikawa does in the story, some people are reading her actions as less significant than the narration made them seem.

And don't call a stranger emotionally stunted because they made a comment you disliked without fully reading it.

 

[Esgar]

I'm not sure whether you meant to quote me, since I don't think most of your comment relates to what I said. I was explaining why, despite what Hebikawa does in the story, some people are reading her actions as less significant than the narration made them seem.

And don't call a stranger emotionally stunted because they made a comment you disliked without fully reading it.

What? I read your comment just fine. It pretty much entirely dismisses her actions as "normal" and claims that she "didnt betray him." It reads like the reasoning of a sociopath just like Hebikawa, with the way that it dismisses bullying and the trauma that it can cause. Because it's apparently common and therefore OK, right?

this doesn't feel like a betrayal so much as something completely normal: a person shittalking someone they act nice to.

There is nothing normal about deliberately faking a friendship and calling someone disgusting behind their back. Especially to a person you know already is in a vulnerable state, being heavily bullied. To show fake kindness because you feel a sadistic pleasure from propping up your ego by talking to someone "beneath you." If that's normal to you, then I seriously question your character. This is very much the opinion of someone who is emotionally stunted. Maybe it's because you experienced it and now think that this is the norm? In that case, I feel sorry for you. But I do wonder if maybe you act like this yourself if you think that it is so normal and such a nothingburger?

In real life, would someone like Hebikawa be considered an asshole? Yes, but not of an exceptional variety. So for a lot of people, a character like her doesn't read as the kind of antagonist she's set up to be. She's just a mean kid, and there are a lot of mean kids in the world.

Because, apparently, "there are a lot of mean kids out there," so fuck all of their victims, right? "It happens to everyone! They have no reason to complain or be traumatized by it!" But we should suspiciously enough not antagonize the bullies, right? They need to be protected from such harmful labels?

She is still very much the same antagonist that she was in the first chapter. If anything, she is even worse. Because she reacts with sociopathic indifference to how she hurt him, gloats over it and then continues to manipulate him for her own gain.

But I guess all the edgy sociopaths here think that she is so "based" and really showed that whiny "beta" how the real world works, huh? But, of course, how dare he think that he was wronged! "To say such things about our heckin evil waifu! 👅"

 

[KSN]

But I guess all the edgy sociopaths here think that she is so "based" and really showed that whiny "beta" how the real world works, huh? But, of course, how dare he think that he was wronged! "To say such things about our heckin evil waifu! 👅"

I do not understand how you are reading these conclusions into what I am saying. There are people who aren't shocked by what Hebikawa did because what she did isn't necessarily shocking. It's a thing that almost everyone has experienced to some degree (i.e., being spoken badly about behind your back). That doesn't make it good, it doesn't mean "fuck the victims," it means that the reaction this chapter provoked was mixed in part because people were led by the narrative to expect a much more novel backstory.

Go ahead and Ctrl + F on my posts, I've not referred to Hebikawa as "based" or anyone as a "beta." You're shadowboxing with a user who doesn't exist, at least not on my account.

 

[Heviax]

total hebikawa win!

100%

 

[Rafalga]

What?

Don't need to essay for everyone. Following chapters will show how she really is. There are like 2 chapters entirely dedicated to her. Don't wanna drop bombs on everyone but there is even an indication that she does compansated dating with older dudes.