rawr!

“She says… when they first started coming after her, the Border base wasn’t built yet. Nobody knew about Neighbors. So when she asked for help, nobody took her seriously. And then… there was one friend who did.”

he very explicitly excises his own memories of that time from the story he tells osamu. so we Don’t know about what rinji did at the time, how he felt about it, any of that. and in chika’s firsthand account of the time from chapter 179, she Also doesn’t mention Rinji specifically.

“My mom, my dad, and my classmates… none of them believed me. None of them except one friend.”

although when she tells yuma about her situation she says she told both of them her secret. so thats there at least

to me, the most interesting read on the situation is that he didn’t believe her either at first. maybe he changed his mind after aoba disappeared, or maybe in the wake of the first large-scale invasion and Border’s appearance, when ‘monsters who kidnapped my sister’s friend’ became a story with a lot more people who could tell it. either way, it’s clear that he suggested that chika get help from border, and she refused. it’s also clear that he doesn’t think much of their parents. 

“We’re the only ones who can look after her.”

“We might die or get captured. Your parents would never forgive me if that happened.” “But that goes for you too…” “It’s not the same.”

(admittedly, he’s talking to a fourteen year old kid: in a very real way it isn’t the same. but that’s kind of belied by telling that same fourteen year old kid that he and rinji are the only ones who can look after chika, huh!)

Manga spoilers so skip this paragraph if you'd like but Reghi briefly comments on this! In chapter 202, when Jin introduces Osamu and Yuma to Rata and Reghi as the two Tamakoma ambassadors, Reghi actually thinks to himself "They're just kids." They're just kids, the Neighbor thinks—the same Neighbor that is seventeen, the same Neighbor in the same expedition team with Yomi. He's probably used to adults handling stuff like these and I definitely don't blame him for it but Reghi. Reghi I'm gonna hold your hands when I say this. There aren't anyone else for them to spare. Those available are either younger, occupied with other stuff as the strongest A-Rank squad or the Branch Director or as an Engineer or Mother Trigger operative, or is Hyuse. Those who are older are not even in Tamakoma and even then there are like barely twenty ranked agents and operators who are actually above the 18 y/o mark. I literally called the 20 year-olds "fossils" in one of my posts and you want them older???

It just puts the freshness of Border into perspective. The majority of Meeden didn't even know about Trion until five years ago yet now they're forced to deal with trion soldiers on a daily basis. More of them pop out each day, more nations start recognizing the growth of Meeden and carry out actual invasions instead of stealing some citizens like they always did, but the speed the agents get older stays the same. The actual soldiers can't help their case because they're late to the party and their trion glands have already stopped growing by now. There isn't anyone to help, so it's up to the kids to save the day. Considering the fact that there are so few any adults in their roster right now it's going to take Border another decade until adult agents become the norm.