honestly i was sold on reigen as a character the Moment he said the line "you felt that cornered?" bc to me that moment def seemed like the type of thing most adults would snap at a child for. when children are told not to do something so drastic (especially if they've experienced the consequences of it before, like mob w ritsu) and they then proceed to Do It, there's a good chance they felt forced to do so, and there's an even better chance that they feel horrible before, during, and after doing it. they are afraid to be yelled at and they are Angry that they're going to be yelled at in the first place bc it was their only choice. a lot of adults simply don't bother to dig into it more, and they see this surface level Kid "Acting Out" Routine and they blame the kid and not the circumstances that shaped that behavior
i expected mob to get an earful abt it, or at least one of those eccentric but oddly wise lectures, but instead reigen said that. "you felt that cornered?" bc he Knows mob and he knows the poor kid would never try to hurt somebody else unless it was absolutely dire. even with ritsu's explanationβthat mob had no choice in order to protect his brotherβi still kinda expected that evil little "doesn't matter, don't harm others" slap in the face against the idea of self-defense. but reigen subverts expectations, like he has a talent of doing
there's something so compassionate about the phrasing of it, too. so empathetic. so quietly horrified that grown people would make a child feel like lashing back is his only option. they're turning a kid into a hunted animal, and reigen is beginning to realize just how cornered mob must've felt, to fall back onto something he never wanted in the first place
and don't even get me fuckign Started on ritsu's "they had a rule like that...?"
