Found In Your Wings

Today, while reading Kanae Hazuki’s Say “I Love You”, something caught my attention – that something being chapter 28 at the end of volume 7. This chapter focuses on Asami, a kind-hearted high school aged girl, and Megumi, a professional model and also a high schooler. Megumi, to put it politely, is not the nicest person and before this chapter I always dreaded seeing her appear. In particular, she is sharp-tongued, holds herself and others to high standards, and also stands out for her work – this invites many detractors. Earlier in the series, she also tried to manipulate the relationships of Mei Tachibana, the heroine of sorts in this series. In this chapter, Megumi is forced to change dramatically as she faces an unprecedented bout of bullying – in light of these difficult circumstances, a thoughtful gesture by Asami.

 

As depicted above, one day Asami finds Megumi’s desk (identified based on clues that are not shown). Once past her immense surprise, she decides to carry the desk indoors, despite facing questioning from her peers and apparently struggling to carry the desk (image to the right). (To me, she says “upsy daisy” for this reason!)  Though such an action is undoubtedly sympathetic, I can greatly respect that Asami worked against the classmates that had targeted Megumi through this action; she risked becoming a target of the bullying efforts herself.

Asami’s description of her action is especially heartwarming (depicted in the image to the left): "Sometimes when you see something, I think it's okay to make it so nobody else does." Though such do-gooder-ism is generally decried in society – in fact, some characters complain about Asami putting the desk back – she is earnestly following her faith in Megumi, someone she clearly values immensely. Asami’s effort here is to break the cycle of bullying that seems to have begun.


Similarly, Asami adds that, “I am going to do what I can […] so she’ll have at least a little less of the

bad memories” (as depicted to the left in the top two panels).  As someone who faced this cycle earlier in the series, she is taking her experiences and pushing for a more positive environment in her own way that will include Megumi, flaws and all. (Asami was referred to as “melon monster” on account of her breast size and was excluded by many of her peers as a result.) Juxtaposed with a series of notes falling out of Megumi’s shoe locker, including “wannabe rich girl”, “don’t get cocky”, and the implied “slut” or “bitch” (depicted to the left in the bottom panel), this statement is especially powerful.

Though Megumi’s words are more or less as blunt, she learns – to her surprise – that Asami saw her as a nice person. From this experience, Megumi comes to realizations about how others perceive her AND how she would like to be as a person; rather than lean one way or another, she comes to her own conclusion that she will make a strong effort to be true to herself without trying to push others away. Judging from her bright-red face and pensive eyes, Megumi was finally able to confront herself and journey towards her true self (as depicted below). Though she is still not a character I am particularly fond of, I am immensely grateful that she could begin to find her way – and, kudos to Asami for showing her that light.  

Fittingly, the title of this chapter is “Found in Your Wings,” with an image of Megumi with butterfly wings.

Works Cited
Hazuki, Kanae. Say "I Love You". Volume 7 (2011). Print.