Shinde Kara Honki Dasu

[MangaDex]

 

[SleepyDemon]

I really like another work by this author so after a year of no updates here I decided to read the rest of this one to solve some of the curiosities I held. Being only two volumes, it was a rather brief adventure. Maybe it was axed? I'm not entirely sure - it speedruns the "scare 100 people" thing but more or less finishes the primary storybeats it has. Here's a synopsis from what I remember of volume 2 told in procedural spoilers.

Spoiler

Sena goes about scaring bad people to level up. One person she especially dislikes is the glasses wearing male teacher who didn't do a thing to stop her bullying. She heads after him with gusto. But...scaring him doesn't satisfy her. Rather than someone malevolent she's faced with someone who feels immense guilt and is aware of his actions (or lack thereof). Seeing how his class was full of hellspawn he was struck with fear that they'd turn the collective bullying towards him and ruin his life so he clung onto the hope that Sena sticking it out would free her (and by extension him) from the bullying when she moved up a year and into a different class from her oppressors. He regrets this type of thinking seeing what it led to and his tearful apologies change Sena's opinion of him.

Spoiler

Back to the grindstone. Sena helps a young boy by scaring his bullies away and giving him a confidence boost. By physically manifesting she tortures and scares away a pervert who was trying to flash kids, inadvertently winning the hearts of a bunch of children by posing as an edgy magical girl anime character that she looks similar to. At this time Sena devises a clever way of facilitating her quest to scare 100 people: set up a request and word of mouth service so bullied people can send in letters detailing their woes and point out bad people Sena can target. This goes swimmingly at first and Sena unlocks a bunch of abilities through all the scares she's caused. But then Ruiko catches wind of it and connects some dots. Ruiko proceeds to send in a fake request and Familia points out how fishy it is for it to require meeting up in a remote closed off location. Sena, confident with all the abilities she's now unlocked, says it doesn't matter and heads there excited for it to be either possibility.

Spoiler

The door to the outdoor storage shed closes and a magical talisman that was already placed on it seals Sena and Familia inside. Ruiko emerges, reveals the duo has been bamboozled and walked right into their demise. Sena slashes at Ruiko with Wolverine-esuqe finger nail claws but they get deleted with a punch, which shakes up Sena's confidence a bit. Familia fashions the spider plushie that holds Sena's grudge into a knife and starts hacking away at the talisman while Sena says she'll buy her time so they can escape since wew this is some final boss shit. Sena throws every ability she has at Ruiko but since Ruiko's been exorcising for years she possesses the skills and mental fortitude to not only counter but remain unafraid. On top of this she's kind of like a shonen battle freak who wants to see all the things Sena can do but still - it doesn't look good for Sena since she'll eventually run out of power by using her abilities too often (think post-explosion Megumin in Konosuba). Familia cuts through the talisman but to her horror realizes she has to seek out and destroy another one. She accomplishes this in the nick of time and they run out to an empty school lot, free to escape since Ruiko doesn't intend to give chase. But this doesn't sit well with Sena since she wants to get back at her bully right now. Some more hopless fighting happens but Familia connects some dots of her own - though she countered it, Ruiko exhibited physical fear responses to Sena's claws and the knife made out of the spider plushie. That's right, Ruiko has aichmophobia.

Spoiler

Combining a bunch of her abilities with some help from Familia, Sena pulls off a pro gamer move and has Ruiko trapped while sharp needle projectiles fly straight to her face. To her eyes. It's actually illusorary, but the PTSD it triggers in Ruiko is very real and she drops to the ground screaming about the flashback we then see. Ruiko has always been able to see ghosts so she was an outsider as a little girl. Her mother disliked her weird behavior and beat the absolute shit out of her pretty regularly, holding her down and threatening to stab sewing needles into her eyes and tongue for lying (though she wasn't). In a catch 22, when Ruiko says she can't see ghosts anymore in response to being asked if she could (now actually lying to undestandably try to escape child abuse) her mother beats the absolute shit out of her anyway since she can tell she's lying. We now have answers for why Ruiko's a psycho bully, hates ghosts, has an affinity for punching and a deep seated fear of pointed objects. Cut to her now in a hospital room since Sena + Familia bailed and her bully friends stumbled upon her delirious unconscious self. She reassures them that she's fine and will continue fighting dark forces. As they reluctantly leave Sena + Familia phase into the room.

Spoiler

Ruiko says the ordeal has drained her of her own powers so she's defensless now and they can just finish her off if they want. Sena refuses and instead goes off on her about being a bully (since she heard a bit of what Ruiko went through from her PTSD freakout). Ruiko says it's just because it turns out bullying people weaker than her feels good and ghosts have no rights, then pulls an Uno reverse card and says Sena must know this feeling herself since she's been bullying people too as a ghost. After remembering some of the arbitrary scares she's done like torturing the item scalper for hours, she becomes upset and disgusted at the idea of being the same and rushes out. Familia stays to correct the record and states that unlike a certain pos Sena actually conducted her own due dilligence and stuck to her principles of only tormenting those deserving of it. She leaves to catch up with Sena while Ruiko sits nonplussed after choking on humble pie. Familia cheers Sena up and the two speedrun the second half of the 100 scares off panel. Seriously. That part is over immediately lol

Spoiler

Back at the school the glasses teacher from before now has enough courage to address the class. He says that there was more to Sena's death than just being a simple traffic accident. That she was bullied. By this class. Horribly. One random student chirps that she didn't take direct part in it but the teacher quickly corrects her - bullying isn't just a victim v oppressor circumstance, it also requires an environment and bystanders to allow it to continue and fester. This got to where it did because people like him and her didn't do anything, thus making them guilty like people such as Ruiko who did do the bullying. Ruiko sits at her desk, quiet and serious. Still tasting that humble pie.

Spoiler

With the 100 scares over with Sena is ready to reincarnate but not before Familia treats her to a really nice last day out together. She seems really off and pensive throughout this to Sena's confusion. Sena steps through the dark portal to find the cat from the beginning holding a reincarnation ticket in its mouth and worries if she didn't actually save it. Well, turns out the cat was actually the big demon guy Familia occasionally talked to all along. Yep, he orchestrated Sena's death because he thought she'd carry enough resentment to make a powerful evil spirit and now that she's reached a certain threshold he wants to eat her to absorb that power and bask in the tastiness. The entirety of the scare quest wasn't for her reincarnation but to fatten a pig before slaughter, so to speak. Reaching out to Familia for help proves pointless, as she tells Sena it is what it is and to accept reality. Familia was a puppet on a string this whole time, designed to deceive and lead Sena to this point - without a will of her own. Except for now. Just before Sena gets NOM'd Familia slashes at the demon to free her but this leads the demon to explosively cut her in half horizontally with one of his claws. She begs Sena to abandon her and escape but Sena refuses. One part to try and save Familia, one part because this twist is just too much. Sena ends up getting eaten anyway and for a brief moment gives up as Familia struggles in vain to try and stab the demon. But before she can melt, she refuses to let it end like this and uses her ghost powers full blast. Her own claws pierce through the demon's stomach and she explosively cuts him in half...vertically, so this mf is just instantly dead. The reincarnation ticket flys down, Sena and Familia celebrate, then Sena points out that because Familia's so spirited right now maybe she's ok. Familia then assures her that no, she actually IS dying right now and only sticking it out due to willpower. Sena tries to use the reincarnation ticket on Familia but Familia not only refuses, but also says it wouldn't work on her anyway since she's a soulless doll rather than a former living being. She gives Sena one last confidence boost to give life another try before scattering into magic particles. Sena cries and says she'll do just that, walking down a dark path holding the reincarnation ticket.

Spoiler

It is now 15 years in the future. Sena has reincarnated into a new person with a new name (but for convenience sake I'll call her Neo Sena) and has the ability to see ghosts. She doesn't clearly remember her past self but does have some lingering deja vu about things that often has her walking around her old neighborhood. Neo Sena isn't bullied but still doesn't have much confidence. In class she's bothered by a creepy ghost who gets its head exploded by a backhand punch from her teacher. Yep, Ruiko is Neo Sena's teacher and...she's completely different. She's friendly, supportive and recognizes that Neo Sena has an ability just like she does. Understanding what problems this can cause, Ruiko sensei promises that she'll support Neo Sena as an ally and that she's free to come to her for any help she needs. After an assured Neo Sena leaves Ruiko finds another evil spirit and exterminates it similar to how she was as a battle maniac bully. Ruiko says to herself that she's still not a big enough person to leave wicked spirits to their devices which is...an improvement to her implied no ghost at all self in the past I suppose. Neo Sena heads to her old neighborhood and says hello to her old mother who invites her inside for a visit. It turns out Neo Sena's deja vu wanderings led to her befriending her old mother and it's during this visit that she remembers who she is. She beelines for her old room only to find it converted into a storage room. After some more talking and feeling that her old mother is about to cry, Neo Sena decides to go mask off and says something the old Sena would, holding her hair the exact same way she did as Sena. Dots connect in the mother's head and while she does cry, she also happily says that Neo Sena's free to visit whenever she wishes. But now that her memories are back, Neo Sena finds herself wondering about whatever happened to Familia.

Spoiler

Which is answered pretty quickly. In class the next day Ruiko sensei announces there's a transfer student that will be a new member of their class. Enter Familia's reincarnation (henceforth reffered to as Neo Familia). Neo Sena is equal parts surprised and overjoyed, considering how Familia seemed sure she'd just cease to exist after death. Turns out she did end up developing a will and soul of her own through her brief friendship with Sena. But unlike the original, Neo Familia is even more outgoing thanks to not having a evil presence reminding her of being a order following doll that needs to keep up an appearance. Neo Sena and Neo Familia hit it off well and are pretty much instant best friends, bantering away as they did in the previous life. Neo Familia also comes to remember who she was and the two continue their friendship this time as two regular girls. The manga ends with Neo Sena musing about life as a callback to the first chapter.