Blight (害悪, Gaiaku?) is the forty-fourth chapter of the Koe no Katachi manga and the second chapter of Volume 6.
Summary[]
Yuzuru sits alone in the hospital’s waiting room. She begins thinking about Shōya’s fall from her family’s balcony and how the impact of landing in the river knocked him out. Shōya was saved by someone passing by and immediately taken to the hospital, suffering major damage to his shoulder and buttocks. Two days since the fall, he still hasn’t woken up.
Yuzuru sees Miyako Ishida entering the hospital and grabs her attention, telling Miyako that the hospital told her no visitors and that no one picked up when she called the salon. Miyako replies that Shōya changed rooms and invites Yuzuru to come visit him with her. Yuzuru tries to call Shōko so she can apologize to Miyako but is interrupted by Yaeko, who walks up to Miyako with her ever unreadable expression. Miyako begins apologizing for troubling Yaeko and is stunned when Yaeko bows into a dogeza and apologizes to her.
Miyako pleads for Yaeko to stop, believing Shōya did something to Shōko to cause this to happen. Yuzuru shows Miyako a photo of Shōya saving Shōko, telling her that he stopped Shōko from taking her own life. Yuzuru mimics her mother’s bow and offers her own apology to Miyako, who asks them both to stand up and tells them to please be happy that Shōko is safe. When Miyako asks if Shōko is feeling better, Yuzuru replies that she isn't able to walk very well before Yaeko tells her to get Shōko.
On her way to get her sister, Yuzuru bumps into Miyoko Sahara and Tomohiro. Tomohiro learned about the situation from Shōya’s mother and told the others. Yuzuru tells them Shōya’s room number and says she has to go get her sister. Tomohiro goes to visit Shōya while Miyoko goes with Yuzuru to find Shōko. Outside, they hear someone yelling and find Naoka ranting at Shōko while assaulting her. Naoka pulls out the letter Shōko wrote to her and begins reading it aloud.
In her letter, Shōko expresses her inability to feel confident in her perception of reality, realizing that she tends to learn the truth about things after everyone else. Shōko explains that she’s always forced a smile and used neutral responses to avoid upsetting people, expressing her desire to fit in with others and her guilt for the burden she puts on her sister and peers. Her false smiles were a way to cope with being torn between what she feels are two conflicting desires and it made her happy when Naoka was able to recognize what was bothering her for so long.
Naoka sarcastically tells Shōko that she’s welcome before striking her across the face, telling her to stop playing the tragic heroine and calling her a blight. Miyoko steps in between the two and tries to stand her ground against Naoka, who insists that Shōko wants to be beaten by her. Naoka pushes Miyoko down and begins making fun of her for wearing heels. Miyoko tells Naoka to stop ignoring other people’s feelings and asserts that she’s Shōko’s friend when Naoka claims that Shōko uses strangers to fight her battles. Naoka grabs Shōko by the hair and begins striking her again as Yuzuru watches on in horror. Yaeko arrives at the scene and interrupts Naoka’s assault by slapping her clean across the face.
Characters[]
In order of appearance:
- Yuzuru Nishimiya
- Miyako Ishida
- Yaeko Nishimiya
- Tomohiro Nagatsuka
- Miyoko Sahara
- Naoka Ueno
- Shōko Nishimiya