“Don’t you think life is a zero-sum game?”
Impression
Last week didn’t turn out to be the full brunt of Haruka’s terrible childhood – and this week started off with the confirmation of what was speculated to have caused such a rift between the twins, that they were born from separate fathers, which must have been terribly rare due to the circumstances in which one…consummates with two separate people within a short space of time. It would have been more likely especially with polygamy as a long-standing custom in the Saigusa family, but the situation can’t have been peaceful with Haruka and Kanata’s parents if, a short time later Saigusa Shou went to the main house and was arrested for arson and attempted murder. Raising both Haruka and Kanata in separate branches of the family probably wasn’t the best idea, especially as soon there was all sorts of ridiculous competition over how an heir would be determined. It’s a typical attitude to have for a “reputable” family with sticks up their asses to force pressure on two potential heirs, seeing which one learnt to read first or who won competitions and prizes at school. It’s bad enough than an heir was determined this way in the first place, and it was made worse with what happened to Haruka – beaten whenever anything went wrong with the family, and discriminated against as they decided to allocate to her the status of being Saigusa Shou’s daughter. To be honest, I don’t blame her for deciding to make trouble for Kanata’s otherwise perfect life, and finding pleasure from messing it up – it must be a solace amongst an otherwise difficult life of having to put up with the prejudice.
Saigusa Shou himself doesn’t seem to be doing too great – I can see that he does have regrets, whatever they may be, though he believes that it’s better if Haruka never finds out who her father truly was. It might bring her closure either way, but it could have adverse effects if it consolidates Kanata’s position – and Kanata herself might know, and just not be telling anyone. In terms of Kanata, I’m starting to believe that she’s not as much of a bitch as she’s making herself out to be. She doesn’t exactly seem to be in good favour with the Saigusa family, who cared for outward appearances enough to completely consolidate Haruka’s troublemaker reputation by distributing those flyers around the school. Despite appearing like an antagonist towards the Little Busters, she’s defending Haruka in front of the Saigusa main house, and Riki was able to tell that she’s worried about Haruka too. Kanata actually raised a point about Riki that’s very valid – his intentions to help others after being saved himself are noble indeed, but perhaps it borders on arrogance that he’s trying to save someone when he’s new to the situation and doesn’t fully understand everything. It worked with Komari and Mio, but maybe this is on a slightly larger scale than what Riki can handle. Anyway, he’s got to deal with two different Saigusa Harukas now, though it’s pretty obvious that Kanata is the one whose chiffon cakes taste good.
