Life Chapter 31 Discussion

I am so proud of Sonoda for not only standing up to the obvious bullying that Ayumu has faced for weeks (if not months) by this point, but actually showing no hesitation to go on a rescue mission. He clearly tries his best to do what he believes is right. A lot of the time, characters like his end up portrayed as a hero, which is not his case. It makes him come off as more realistic in my eyes, and I think his character type is often underappreciated. He is not stealing the show, he is not the hero, but he does what he believes in. It's inspiring to me, as someone who was in his situation in my youth. Bullied, and seeing others get bullied also, but too afraid to intervene and stand up for others, or myself. He is inspiring because, in this chapter specifically, he finally stood up to his long-term tormentor, Akira.

To quote him near the end of this chapter: "The worst part is that you're not even crazy. You know exactly what you're doing, and you don't even think twice." While murder is technically wrong, I don't think a whole lot of people are crying over Akira's fall from whatever floor he fell from at the end of this chapter. I personally gave him many chances to turn over during this entire volume, and he kept doing the "bad thing", to the point of an almost cartoonish evil. He blew his last chance for redemption in my eyes when he intentionally left Ayumu to die to the flames of the burning hospital a chapter or two ago.