"Elementary schoolers are truly an enthusiastic yet realistic group of creatures." Mori Shinra said, as if struck by a thought, as he walked to Tsurumi Rumi's side.
"Just a bunch of idiots..." Tsurumi Rumi agreed in a low voice.
Her voice was extremely cold.
Paired with her calm expression, even Yukino would have to be called 'Little Rumi' in comparison.
"Well, if you must say, everyone is pretty much the same. Smart people are a minority. Or rather, in the eyes of the vast majority, the so-called smart person is the real foolish one," Mori Shinra replied.
Tsurumi Rumi looked at Mori Shinra, her gaze tinged with confusion. "By that logic, are you a fool too?"
"I can't rule out that possibility." Mori Shinra didn't mind being called a fool in the slightest.
The word has no real bite anymore; saying it almost sounds like pouting. "If I'm a fool, then you're pretty much a little fool too."
Tsurumi Rumi gave Mori Shinra a look one might give a simpleton, as if to say, 'Are you alright?'
"Who goes around calling themselves a fool..." Tsurumi Rumi muttered under her breath.
She couldn't quite comprehend his logic.
"In the end, the idea of who is a fool is just someone else's subjective opinion. Setting aside innate factors, the only one who can decide if you're a fool is you."
"So?"
"Do you envy them?" Mori Shinra was referring to the group of elementary schoolers huddled around Hayama, laughing and playing.
They looked so happy.
"N-no... I don't." Tsurumi Rumi shook her head instinctively, but there was hesitation in her voice, as if she was undecided.
Her demeanor ultimately came across as a case of sour grapes.
Clearly, Rumi herself didn't know whether she was envious or if she longed to rejoin the group, which is what made her seem so lost.
But her hesitation indicated that she did, in fact, want to go back.
After all, no matter how precocious she was, she was still only a sixth-grader.
Things like breaking away from the group and adapting to loneliness are things most adults cannot even do.
Mori Shinra did not point this out, instead changing the subject. "Let's go develop the photos together tomorrow. By the way, have you taken any other pictures since then?"
"No." Tsurumi Rumi's reply was short and firm, almost reflexive.
"This is a rare opportunity. Don't you want to make any memories?"
"If it's this kind of memory... keeping it would only add to my troubles. So I don't need these memories." Tsurumi Rumi said this as if trying to convince herself, then added, "Once I get to middle school, I'll just make friends with classmates from other places."
You could see Tsurumi Rumi was also trying to save herself, doing everything she could to find a way out, even if that 'way out' was still, in essence, just running away from the present problem by trading time for space.
Just as Tsurumi Rumi's voice faded, a similar, yet more mature and cold voice interjected. "Unfortunately, that is impossible."
Yukinoshita Yukino bluntly extinguished Tsurumi Rumi's pleasant dream.
Tsurumi Rumi looked at the older girl who had suddenly interrupted, her eyes flashing with incomprehension and the anger of being contradicted.
Yukinoshita Yukino ignored Tsurumi Rumi's displeasure, delivering her judgment in concise, clear sentences that even an elementary schooler could understand. "Your classmates will end up in the same middle schools. Everything will just repeat itself. The 'classmates from other places' you speak of will either join them, or be ostracized along with you. When that time comes, how do you think those classmates will choose?"
"..."
Yukinoshita was not wrong.
In Japan, when moving up through the school system, whether one enters a local public middle school or a private middle school, one will inevitably run into classmates from elementary school.
Because of this, the negative image from elementary school will follow Tsurumi Rumi like a shadow into middle school.
Even if Tsurumi Rumi does make new friends in middle school, that image will eventually be conveyed to her new friends through various channels.
At that point, whether Tsurumi Rumi likes it or not, her past experiences will become a topic of gossip or ridicule for her friends.
If she can accept that, they might remain superficial friends.
If she cannot, everything will return to square one.
Of course, it's not impossible that Tsurumi Rumi could get very lucky and meet wonderful people who, upon learning her past, would not be biased and would even stand up for her.
But given the atmosphere of Japanese schools, rather than praying to meet such good people, it is more practical to think about how to save herself.
Rely on a mountain, and it will collapse.
Rely on people, and they will run.
In a situation with no connections, to gain a foothold in a Japanese school, the first thing one must do is strengthen their own heart.
One might not reach Yukinoshita Yukino's level of seeing all jealous people as lowly idiots, but one must at least be like Hikigaya Hachiman, who can live perfectly well even without friends.
And since Yukinoshita had said this, it meant she had already chosen her route for helping Tsurumi Rumi: to make her strengthen herself and adapt to the loneliness.
"You're actually well aware of this, aren't you? But you still cling to an unrealistic fantasy," Yukinoshita Yukino continued.
This was too blunt. Mori Shinra worried if Tsurumi Rumi could take it. He also noticed that Yukinoshita's lips were pursed tightly, as if she was enduring something, like remembering her own old scars. She saw her past self in Tsurumi Rumi.
In fact, Yukinoshita Yukino was relatively lucky.
She was sent abroad by her family during middle school, which allowed her to largely escape the social liabilities of the Japanese school system and get a fresh start.
But Tsurumi Rumi might not be so fortunate.
Although one could tell her family was well-off, it was just "well-off."
Compared to a prestigious family like the Yukinoshitas, who had been established in Chiba for ages, her family was at best ordinary middle-class.
Even if they could afford to send her to study abroad, her parents might not be willing to pay such a high price.
Not every parent has Yukimom's insight and resources.
And Tsurumi Rumi's reply confirmed Yukinoshita Yukino's judgment.
"So it's true... You're right. I really am a fool."
Mori Shinra raised an eyebrow at this. "What did you do?"
Tsurumi Rumi shook her head, her gaze fixed on the crowd.
She narrated flatly, her voice hollow, "There were several people who were excluded before... But usually, after a while, things went back to normal, and everyone would start talking again. It was sort of like a passing fad. Each time, one person would start it, and everyone else would follow."
Mhm. This matched Mori Shinra's stereotype of the Japanese school atmosphere. If one wanted to conduct an experiment on the herd effect, Japanese schools would be the perfect petri dish.
"So this time it's your turn, and you think it will be the same as before?" Mori Shinra continued.
"No..." Tsurumi Rumi's perception was clear. "This time is different."
"Because the one who was first excluded wasn't me, but someone I was close to, someone I talked to a lot. He was excluded, so at the time, I, like everyone else, kept some distance from him... Then, I don't know when, it became my turn. I didn't even do anything." Tsurumi Rumi's small face revealed a pained expression.
Yukinoshita was silent for a moment. "You don't need a reason to be ostracized. If there truly must be a reason, it's that you are different from others."
"Is that so. But I am certain this time it is because of that person." The person Tsurumi Rumi referred to was likely the one she was close to, the one who had been ostracized first. "I told him many things. And it is precisely because I told him too much that I ended up in this situation."
It was just a short sentence, yet it was rather chilling.
Clearly, what Tsurumi Rumi meant was that the person who was ostracized first used their private conversations as an 'indulgence', a ticket to buy back the 'friendship' of the others.
As one knows, conversations between close friends often go deeper.
Some things are only meant to be said to a best friend.
Once they are brought out into the open, the meaning they carry becomes entirely different.
Some things weigh nothing until they are put on the scale, but once they are, they weigh a ton.
From Tsurumi Rumi's initial description, one could tell she disliked or was disgusted by this random trend of exclusion. She might have told that person this.
Furthermore, at the sixth-grade level, kids are beginning to become aware of the opposite sex. Topics about love are new and exciting, so it's natural to have the urge to confide in someone. Because this is also an embarrassing topic that can't be discussed openly, it is only told to trusted people.
Clearly, when that trusted person breaks that trust, the disaster begins. Elementary schoolers, at an age where their minds are not yet mature, will always feel that close friends are completely trustworthy.
They don't understand that once a secret is known by a second person, you must be prepared for it to no longer be a secret.
Not everyone in the world can be a good person; ordinary people are the vast majority. And the vast majority of ordinary people may act like good people due to societal morals and legal constraints, but in a crisis, they can turn into bad people without hesitation. Human nature is the last thing that can withstand scrutiny.
To be betrayed by a close friend, to be used as a scapegoat, and to have all the past actions that built the relationship become the sharpest arrows stabbing you... This is a heavy lesson on Tsurumi Rumi's path of growth. Although the price is high, if she can learn from this experience, her interpersonal relationships might go more smoothly in the future.
But without proper guidance, no one knows what Tsurumi Rumi will ultimately become. At least for now, Mori Shinra could already see emotions of regret, anger, and resentment from her.
After all, having been treated like that by a friend, it's not impossible that Tsurumi Rumi might use the same or a similar method to return to the group. But is a group rejoined through such despicable means truly meaningful?