Kodomo No Jikan Period 35 (Loli Kramer vs. Kramer)

When last we left our precocious little Kokonoe Rin she was about to meet her father for the first time as he came to seek custody of her from Reiji.  Will this guy be better than the twisted and deluded guardian of our belove Rin or will he turn out to be an uncaring son of a bitch.  It could honestly take a while to find out as this new and unexpected arc continues.

Summary:  Things are off to a rocky start already as Reiji obviously despises the very presence of Rin’s father, who introduces himself as Kamihara Roku.  He has also brought council who advises Reiji as to the parents right to see his child, and Reiji reluctantly goes to the other room to get Rin.  Seeing Rin all dressed up nice Reiji tries to rip her clothes off as Aoki moves to stop him.  It seems Reiji is more than a little messed up as his reasoning for doing this is because he doesn’t want Roku to fall in love with her and take her away from him if she looks cute (what he fails to understand is most people don’t look at Rin that way, but he’s almost a lost cause as it is).  Reiji breaks down crying into Rin’s dress and she shoots a worried look at Aoki who seems to return it.

Rin, Aoki and Reiji emerge from the sideroom back into the room where Roku is and Rin has that condescending look in her eyes when she first see’s the man who abandoned her and her mother (attagirl).  Roku claims he had been oversees during this time managing his company, but is back now and wants to look after his daughter.  The counsellor calls into question Reiji’s commitment to looking after Rin as he has failed to return home from his job at a decent time to properly act as a guardian for her.  Aoki thinks to himself that Roku might be a more suitable guardian than Reiji as he is upper class, has a wife to act as a mother figure and seems to genuinely want what’s best for Rin

Elsewhere, Kagami is having issues dealing with all of this and wants to go to Rin’s house immediately, but Mimi says it’s a private matter and Aoki is there looking after Rin.  Kagami bristles at the idea that she has to leave Rin’s well being up to “the virgin” yet again.  She thinks to herself that if he fails she is going to crush his nuts. (Kagami Kuro is a goddess)

Reiji pleads his case now saying that no matter how busy he was, he would always make as much time as humanly possible to care, cook and provide for Rin.  Ultimately he and Roku are deadlocked with neither wanting to give Rin up to the other when the counsellor informs Reiji that if anything were to come to light that would be seen to make him an unfit guardian they could dismiss that right from him immediately.  This gets Aoki wondering if he wants to inform on Reiji’s kiss marks on Rin’s shoulder or not.  Reiji and Roku start arguing again over him trying to have Aki abort Rin and Aoki is becoming increasingly disgusted that neither has bothered to ask Rin her feelings on the whole issue.

Roku claims that the reason he wanted to have Rin aborted is because he thought childbirth would endanger Aki’s health and that they ended up breaking up over it (seems a little bizarre and hard to believe).  Either way Aoki says Rin should have a chance to speak finally and she and her father go to another room.  Rin tells him in no uncertain terms never to come by again because while she doesn’t believe he’s a bad person, she doesn’t look at him as a father.  He tells her to go be with his wife and not to bother her or her friends and family ever again (owned!).   After Roku leaves Rin says she’s tired and wants to go lie down.  Before he goes though Aoki gives her his cellphone number and tells her to call him if anything bad happens.  Rin says she loves Aoki and he says he loves her too (platonic) and then she goes to her room and starts thinking about Roku says about her childbirth possibly endangering Aki’s life.  It seems she is blaming herself for her mothers death as she starts sobbing into her pillows and repeating how sorry she is over and over.

The next day Aoki has been called before the board and it appears a complaint has been lodged against him for interviewing in private family affairs.  Houin desperately tries to get Shirai to call her father to do something about it, and while she pretends not to care, she does so anyway after Houin is out of the staff room.  Thus ends the latest chapter.

Thoughts: 

Well if you want my honest opinion I don’t think either Reiji or Roku seem fit parents for Rin.  Both have only their own interests in mind it seems and it was so clear this chapter that neither cared about Rin’s thoughts at all in how they wouldn’t have even bothered to ask her opinion had Aoki not chimed in.  At this point it seems Aoki understands Rin far more than either of her would be guardians.  They are also really messing her up as Reiji freaks her out by trying to rip off her clothers and breaking down in her arms (this continues the trend of late in this series of having Rin appear naked or showing lots of skin in some form in almost every chapter) and Roku plants the idea in her mind that she is responsible for Aki’s death.  Way to go douchebags.

It also sucks that Kagami and Mimi weren’t able to be there to give Rin support at a time when she’d need it most.  Kagami would have gone postal and taken down every person in the room though, so maybe it’s a good thing she wasn’t there after all.  Mimi probably wouldn’t have been able to do much either as she is somewhat naive as far as Reiji’s true nature.

In the end Aoki pays the price for being the only one who cares about Rin and his job seems to be on the line right now.  If Shirai can’t do anything to help him then he may be in trouble.  This Roku guy seems to have lots of connections and I doubt we’ve seen the last of him.  Of course we’ll have to wait yet another month to see where things go from here.

Rating: Nine Out Of Ten