Annshm

so back then in noroshi arc, during the endo fight. we remember how sugishita "motivates" sakura, right ? it was very much a tough love kind of thing, where the point of what he said to sakura was that even though he had his fears and anxieties, he couldn't be dragged down by them; and that he had to carry them with him and still continue fighting, because sakura had declared to become their leader and follow in umemiyas footsteps

i personally think that was kind of. harsh 😭 i agree with it, but only because nirei and suo had said their pieces before that. they accepted sakuras weakness which i feel he needed in that moment more than anything. they wanted to show him that he wasnt alone.

i think it was only because they reassured him like that, sakura could be in the mental headspace to understand what sugishita said, and it all worked out because i do think sakura needed that win against endo (technically non loss ig) for himself, so like i do think that it makes sense that sugishita said whatever he said to him.

now, back to the present arc.

so sugishita usually sleeps through everything or atmost he has his head propped up on his desk, thats all. however, when nirei narrated what had happened between him and suo, he was extremely focused showing how invested he is

here, when umemiya says to focus on sakura because of how badly he is hurt, the rest of the main cast of furin agree. they know how badly sakura is hurt, that this kind of hurt is new to him, and they agree to support him through his suffering.

but, sugishita seems to be thinking something. for me, this expression reads as him being conflicted

now, its been pretty clear how much the class depends on sakura as their source of determination. they rely on him as a captain wuite a lot. its clear that they felt that suo was a very reliable person too

i think the class being so quiet is because of something beyond just feeling worried for suo and sakura. sakura and suos absence affects the mood of the class a lot, both of them are people that the class draws strength from just their presence, i think

basically it feels like the class is lost, and theres no one to lead them.

so yeah basically i think sugishitas just gonna go yell at him again next chapter 😭 i mean i get it !! nirei did say that suo looked like he was suffering and if they let themselves get convinced by what endo said, especially sakura, thats gonna cost them more time and energy that they can use to make a decision regarding suo.

if the class needs sakura, and if maybe even suo needs sakura and furin and he doesnt know it yet, sakura can't afford to give up on him, as a friend and as the grade captain. which is what i think sugishita is going to convey in the next chapter when they show up at his house

but yeah like i also kinda want sakura to just have a break already 😭😭 i feel so bad for him, kotoha pretty much says everything we were all talking about, like as to why sakura would take suo leaving the hardest. LIKE I KNOW that what sugishita says is going to cause something good to happen but i dread the way he's going to say it ahajshsjs

okay so like. i do think these following panels were a prelude to momijikawa's arc but considering that sakura was thinking about the people he was attached to at that time, it kinda got me thinking about the present suo arc

"but i already spend all my time with them"

guess who just fucking left

"can i continue to protect everybody from outside threats?"

now ofc i cant say this for sure but there's most definitely some kind of issue or problem that sunfei is facing, that probably has nothing to do with makochi

as bofurin is right now, it cannot do anything to intervene with sunfei's situation. they only get involved when theres something going on in their turf, or if it's to do with one of them. their caution towards outsiders is an effect of this strong sense of collectiveness, i think.

this kind of thing is overriden like during roppoichizawa because the trio and tsubaki were present and shizuka is a friend of tsubakis.

but thats why suo had appeared apathetic and turned aggressive towards nirei i think; to appear as someone who had nothing to do with them, so that even by extension of nirei or sakura he couldn't be considered one of furin.

even if we take the angle that suo harmed one of furin's, that would make even less sense as that would be kind of like outright aggression towards the red chanpuru and frankly it doesn't seem likely that furin would take that direction.

so suo has already left furin, was always an outsider to makochi, and had already sworn his loyalty to a different group. but this is not going to change nirei's and sakura's resolve to help and reach suo ultimately, i think.

im going off on a slight tangent to the previous chapters, where togame tells sakura that a sakura cannot be an ume, basically establishing that sakura is going to become a different kind of leader than umemiya

now, umemiyas vision was to do with eliminating the gap between the people of makochi and the delinquents of furin, so that they could work on defending the town together from outsiders. so umemiya's vision that brings normal folks and delinquents on one side by kind of uniting them against a common antagonist, the outsiders

the logic that ume uses is that when the furin students come to know and understand normal folks, they'd start caring about them too.

and now, in this current rc arc, we have a grade captain who was an outsider, who is now chasing after an ex vice captain who is also an outsider, about whom we know nothing about and cannot understand yet.

the way suos character was set up in complete mystery, it's pretty clear that in this arc he is going to be known by his friends, especially nirei and sakura. they are characters built for gathering information and mutual understanding respectively, and right now they are more desperate than ever to truly know suo

sunfei so far seems to care quite a lot for the red chanpuru and bankokugai. it seems that he has sacrificed a lot for it, and despite it being maybe only partially voluntary, he has his people that he wants to protect.

and when they come to understand sunfei and therefore everything that he cares about, a place technically unrelated to makochi, they're now going to care about the "outsiders of furin" too. i think furins motto might have to change, then.

and we know that sakura is already technically attached to outsiders, back when he was thinking about his wish, he wanted to be with shishitoren too.

and sakura has brought together other outsider groups to align themselves with furin— something that happened because of the actions sakura took, that umemiya would've never thought of doing himself.

everything so far has shown how sakura has been slowly influencing the furin that umemiya reforged. in this arc, all these changes might accumulate to show how sakura, as a grade captain and as someone who is going to become leader someday, might end up changing the way bofurin does things definitively, i think

MB IF I JUST RAMBLED ABOUT THINGS WE ALREADY KNOW but that bit about umemiya using understanding to bridge the gap in makochi was so nice i wanted to tie it into the present arc. i was always thinking about how sakura would become a different leader from ume, and i feel like we're really going to see it in this arc. considering that ume is getting quite involved too, im looking forward to the interactions between ume and sakura regarding the suo issue.