History Manga / MariaNoDanzai

** Atsuki-sensei, Kowase's and Shikimi's homeroom teacher '''does''' seem to care for the wellness of the students under his wing but he fails to notice that Kowase is brutally beating up, raping and torturing Yajima, or that Shikimi goes out with older men to HoneyTrap them. Even worse, when he actually becomes informed of Shikimi's illicit activities, he completely buys into the BlatantLies Shikimi tells him and doesn't press the matter further.

** As Maria ponders just who could've murdered [[spoiler:Iijima]] and why, Yajima approaches her to discuss "something she's been hiding for a while". She starts off by admitting she was present when Kowase first went missing, [[OhCrap leaving Maria nervously wondering]] if Yajima saw her and knows about her own murders... [[spoiler:only for Yajima to confess that she kept quiet because she was afraid of being suspected by the police for Kowase's disappearance. Maria becomes relieved that her secret is still safe and comforts Yajima]].

* BigDamnHeroes: After Yajima refuses to yield to Kowase, he suffers a VillainousBreakdown and tries to kill her. Yajima is saved at the last moment by Maria, who puts Kowase to sleep with drugs and kidnaps him. By the time Yajima turns around, both Maria and Kowase are already gone, [[MysteriousProtector leaving her none the wiser to her savior's identity]] (which is ironic, since Maria was the last thing Yajima thought of as she began to lose consciousness).

* {{Blackmail}}: Kowase put [[ShrinkingViolet Yajima]] under his thumb by recording her while she was stealing from a convenience store, after which he turned her into his personal toy to torment at his leisure.

* BlackmailBackfire: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Yajima after Kowase threatens to expose her shoplifting and sex videos for [[MisplacedRetribution allegedly hacking his phone]]. Having grown sick of his constant abuse by this point, Yajima practically dares him to go ahead and do it, since she'll just tell everyone about all the shit he's been putting her through.

** After Kowase gets captured by Maria and he starts running his mouth to downplay his abuse towards Yajima ([[EntertaininglyWrong which he thinks is the reason Maria kidnapped him]]) by arguing that [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization it wasn't such a big deal since Yajima never resisted or said anything]], Maria is reminded of how Kiritaka hid his own pain because he didn't want to worry her, and [[TranquilFury calmly but pointedly]] tells Kowase to shut up.

* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Kowase reasons with Maria that what he did to Yajima isn't that bad, [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization because she didn't put up much resistance and she didn't make a big deal out of how he treated her]]. This only serves to make Maria angrier at him, [[CloseToHome as she recalls how her late son kept all his suffering to himself because he didn't want to upset her]].

* DrowningPit: The punishment Maria subjects Kowase to after kidnapping him. Ironic, since he was trying to drown Yajima right before Maria nabbed him.

* GrewASpine: Following Maria's encouragement, Yajima finally decides to stand up to Kowase while he's trying to drown her. When he threatens to upload the blackmail he has on her if she doesn't give him what he wants, Yajima tells him to go ahead and do it, since having to put up with him is far scarier than the threat of ruining her future.
-->'''Yajima:''' GET OUT OF MY LIFE!

* HopeBringer: Maria seems to be this for victims of bullying; after Kowase kicks Yajima so hard that she vomits, then threatens her not to snitch on him, she is somehow able to genuinely calm down after Maria comforts her. Later, as Kowase is trying to drown her, Yajima thinks of Maria while mentally begging for ''someone'' to come save her. [[BigDamnHeroes Cue Maria doing just that]].

* IHaveThisFriend: How Yajima talks to Maria about Kowase blackmailing her. Maria retorts by encouraging Yajima to not give in and to come to her if it becomes unbearable, [[DeclarationOfProtection promising to keep her safe at all costs]].

'''Yajima:''' ...Yes.

* InstantSedation: Maria puts Kowase to sleep by injecting him with a sedative. It works fast enough that he's left completely helpless as she kidnaps him, allowing Maria to leave before Yajima can see her.

** The parents of Yajima, one of Kowase's victims who is blackmailed with [[CaughtOnTape a video of her shoplifting]], have not been mentioned, but that's understandable considering that she probably wants to keep her parents in the dark about shoplifting and being blackmailed. Yajima admitted to feeling guilty about shoplifting and believing that [[KarmicNod she deserves to be blackmailed]], implying that she is not telling her parents what's happening to her because of her belief that she deserves karma for what's happening.

** The first off Maria’s hit list is Kowase, who not only was a part of her son’s GangOfBullies, but also sexually assaulted other girls for who knows how long, and is not above selling their compromising pictures that he took in secret and beating them up once he’s blackmailed them into being his punching bag. Maria just so happened to catch Kowase in the act of drowning Yajima, [[MoralMyopia who he thinks is responsible for blackmailing him over HIS compromising videos]], when [[MisplacedRetribution it was really Maria]]. She has Kowase go through a LifeOrLimbDecision in the DrowningPit unless he can get the password code of the date of his greatest sin. He thinks it’s Kiritaka’s death, but [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he can’t even remember so much as the month it took place]]. [[spoiler:Kowase dies durning his struggle, and Maria unlocks the trap anyway... with his birthday, as she sees his own birth as his greatest sin.]]

* KarmicNod: One of the reasons Yajima puts up with Kowase's abuse is because, since he caught her shoplifting, she thinks she's just reaping what she's sown. Maria discouraging her from this train of thought eventually leads to Yajima [[GrewASpine growing a spine]] and standing up to Kowase.

* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Kowase, while torturing a gagged and bound Yajima [[CigaretteBurns by putting out cigarettes on her belly]], tells her to "give him some good fucking moaning".

* MisplacedRetribution: After Yajima runs away from him ([[OOCIsSeriousBusiness whereas she normally freezes in fear]]), Kowase assumes she's the one who hacked his phone. Later that night, Kowase tries to torture Yajima by drowning her, repeatedly asking her why his videos aren't on her phone and repeatedly being answered that Yajima doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

* RapidFireShutUp: Kowase repeatedly shouts at Yajima to shut up [[GrewASpine once she stands up to him]], desperate to make her go back to the way she was before (which in itself is a desperate attempt to regain a semblance of control over what he perceives to be his life crumbling apart). He does this while dunking her head in a tub full of water, which would've likely killed her [[BigDamnHeroes had Maria not intervened]].
* RefugeInAudacity: Maria [[SleightOfHandiness covertly confiscates a distracted Kowase's phone]] while she's comforting Yajima, and gets away with it by exerting her authority as a teacher and reminding him that using smartphones within school grounds is against the rules.

* SleightOfHandiness: While comforting Yajima after Kowase forces her to vomit, Maria covertly confiscates Kowase's phone, [[RefugeInAudacity before showing it to him and excusing herself as upholding the rules of the school]].

* VomitIndiscretionShot: After Kowase kicks Yajima particularly hard in her gut, the poor girl bends over and vomits on the spot, in full view of the readers.

** Kowase once tortured Yajima by [[CigaretteBurns putting out cigarette butts on her belly]] while she was handcuffed and gagged, completely helpless to stop him. Maria summarizes Kowase as a DirtyCoward who regularly targets girls that won't fight back. He later tries to drown Yajima after wrongly assuming that she's the one who hacked his phone.

* BaitAndSwitch: As Shikimi is about to be ThrownDownAWell, she is allowed by Maria to send just one text message to anyone she wants, the only limitation being that she doesn't outright ask for help. She eventually begins writing a message to [[TheSociopath Okaya]], asking him if he likes her and to come find her if he does. The scene then cuts to Okaya taking out his phone receiving a message on it, seemingly from Shikimi. [[spoiler: The message is actually from Okaya's mother as Shikimi was too scared of Okaya potentially not liking her to send the message]].

** Yajima, one of Kowase's victims who is blackmailed with a video of her shoplifting parents, has not been mentioned, but that's understandable considering that she probably wants to keep her parents in the dark about shoplifting and being blackmailed. Yajima admitted to feeling guilty about shoplifting and believing that she deserves to be blackmailed, implying that she is not telling her parents what's happening to her because of her belief that she deserves karma for what's happening.

* DisposingOfABody: Maria disposes of [[spoiler:Kowase]]'s body by [[DismemberingTheBody chopping it to bits]] and [[FurnaceBodyDisposal burning it]].

* ThereIsAnother: As it turns out, [[spoiler:there's another murderer on the loose as the police discover Iijima's body, someone Maria ''didn't'' target because he wasn't involved in her son's death. This actually unnerves Maria because she has no idea who they could be or what reason they would have for targetting Iijima]].

* ThereIsAnother: As it turns out, [[spoiler:there's somebody else hunting down the bullies as the police discover Iijima's body, someone Maria ''didn't'' kill despite her efforts to track him down. This actually unnerves Maria because she has no idea who they could be or what reason they would have for targetting Iijima]].

** It's for this reason that Maria targeted Kowase and Shikimi first, since she reasons that, being the cowards that they are, [[SCrewThisImOuttaHere they'd run at the first sign of danger and potentially escape]] if not dealt with early on.

* DeathByFlashback: Subverted. Whenever flashbacks are shown about a specific bad character, expect the character to meet their [[LaserGuidedKarma karmic end]] soon. The subversion is that the character doesn't remember it themseslves: Maria mostly [[ThirdPersonFlashback remembers the horrors that character inflicted upon Kiritaka]] as detailed in his DeadManWriting journal.

* DirtyCoward: Kowase is noted by Maria to only target docile girls who don't look like they would try to retaliate. It's for this reason that Maria targeted him and Shikimi first since she reasons that as cowardsm they'd run at the first sign of danger and potentially escape if not dealt with early on.

** The reason Okaya goes out of his way to crush and torment Kiritaka? ''He doesn't like the defiant look in his eyes.'' And Kiritaka just so happened to have that “defiant” look in his eyes because he was disgusted over Okaya and his underlings torturing and nearly killing another classmate, all over their twisted bloodlust-game!
** Okaya forces a SadisticChoice on Kiritaka: either he jumps off a cliff, or else Okaya’ll upload a heavily edited sex video of the latter’s mother. Why? Because Okaya had the gall to demand Kiritaka be the one to upload the video, and got pissed when told no!

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played straight but ultimately subverted. Most of the bullies balk when they see that Kiritaka got run over by a truck - [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk but it’s only because they didn’t want to get arrested]], and promptly try to run away while never feeling any remorse for their wrongdoings. Okaya is the sole exception: if anything, he seems ''disappointed'' that Kiritaka died before he could torment him even more.

* FriendToAllChildren: In her role as the SchoolNurse, Maria portrays herself as this to the students, encouraging them to come to her office for help no matter what they need. While her act is mostly genuine, Okaya and his gang are the sole exception - [[BestServedCold they just don't know it yet]].

** Maria gives Kowase a way to escape death: all he needs to do is to input the number that represents his greatest sin into the cuff holding him in place. Kowase smiles in triumph once he realizes she's talking about Kiritaka's death... only to realize [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he can't remember the date of his death]]. But that's fine; after all, [[FalseReassurance Maria left him another way]] to [[LifeOrLimbDecision escape]]. At first,+ it seems that Kowase is going to be successful in this effort, [[spoiler:but then it turns out that in his DetrimentalDetermination to escape, he ends up ''breaking the knife'' and drowning]].

** The first off Maria’s hit list is Kowase, who not only was a part of her son’s GangOfBullies, but also sexually assaulted other girls for who knows how long, and is not above selling their compromising pictures that he took in secret and beating them up once he’s blackmailed them into being his punching bag. Maria just so happened to catch Kowase in the act of drowning a girl [[MoralMyopia he thinks is responsible for blackmailing him over HIS compromising videos]], when it was really Maria. She has Kowase go through a LifeOrLimbDecision in the DrowningPit unless he can get the password code of the date of his greatest sin. He thinks it’s Kiritaka’s death, but [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he can’t even remember so much as the month it took place]]. [[spoiler:Kowase dies durning his struggle, and Maria unlocks the trap anyway... with his birthday, as she sees his own birth as his greatest sin.]]
** Shikimi regularly [[HoneyTrap runs badger game scams on lonely men]] and [[ManipulativeBitch manipulates events]] to [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer socially isolate people she doesn't like]]. Maria correctly guesses that Shikimi doesn't trust anyone and that her relationships are transactional in nature, and thus uses her own tactics against her by mentioning Shikimi's side-gig to her teacher and making it seem as if she's trying to FrameUp Kinugawa, which results in Shikimi SkippingSchool. Before Maria can move to the next step of her plan, Shikimi sends Iijima after her, after which Maria decides to simply move forward and [[FemmeFatale seduce Iijima]] before kidnapping Shikimi while she's home alone. Maria then [[ThrownDownAWell hangs her above an empty well]] with a rope that's about to burn, and forces her to retrieve her phone's SIM card with her mouth while it is hidden in a box of razors, after which she allows her to send one text message to one person. Shikimi's first pick is Okaya, but upon checking their text history Shikimi realizes [[LovingAShadow he doesn't give a damn about her as he's never replied to her messages before]]. [[spoiler:When Shikimi tries to text Iijima, she realizes to her horror that [[YankTheDogsChain Maria has already turned him against her via a fake Twitter account]], leaving Shikimi to curse Maria as her rope burns and she falls into a hole festering with insects, which then crawl all over her and [[OrificeInvasion enter her body through her holes]]. [[CruelAndUnusualDeath At this point Shikimi can do nothing but scream]].]]

* TeensAreMonsters: Okaya and his underlings, BAR NONE. They ruthlessy torture Kiritaka without a shred of humanity, to the point of threatening to upload an obviously edited sex video of his ''mother'', unless he jumps off a cliff! He does just that, but gets killed when a truck suddenly runs him over. Most of the gang seemly looked dismayed at his sudden death… only because they didn’t want to land in prison and tried to run off. The leader Okaya, on the other hand, felt disappointed that his punching bag “won” now that he’s dead!

* CharacterDeath: Kiritaka Nagare '''at the very first chapter.'''

* DeathByFlashback: Subverted. Whenever flashbacks are shown about a specific bad character, expect the character to meet his [[LaserGuidedKarma karmic end]] soon. The subversion is that the character doesn't remember it himself, Maria mostly [[ThirdPersonFlashback remembers the horrors that character inflicted upon Kiritaka]] as detailed in his DeadManWriting journal.

* DirtyCoward: Kowase is noted by Maria to only target docile girls who don't look like they would try to retaliate. It's for this reason that Maria targeted him and Shikimi first since she reasons that as cowards they'd run at the first sign of danger and potentially escape if not dealt with early on.

** The reason Okaya goes out of his way to crush and torment Kiritaka? ''He doesn't like the defiant look on his eyes.''
** Exactly why he hates the way Kiritaka looks at him? Kiritaka just so happened to have that “defiant” look in his eyes because he was disgusted over Okaya and his underlings torturing and nearly killing another classmate, all over their twisted bloodlust-game!
** Okaya forces a SadisticChoice on Kiritaka by either jumping off a cliff or else he’ll upload a heavily edited sex video of the latter’s mother. Why? Because Okaya had the gall to demand Kiritaka be the one to upload the video and got pissed when told no!

* EmbarrassingPassword: AvertedTrope. When Kowase is chained and about to drown, Maria tells him to input the number representing "his greatest sin". After some thought Kowase figures out she is talking about Kiritaka Nagare's death and attempts to input the anniversary of his death, only to realize with horror that [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he doesn't remember the exact date of Kiritaka's death]]. [[spoiler:After he eventually drowns Maria unchains him by inputting [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish Kowase's birthday]]. It turns out Kowase's "greatest sin" was "being born".]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played straight but ultimately subverted. Most of the bullies balk when they see that Kiritaka got run over by a truck. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk But it’s only because they didn’t want to get arrested]] and promptly try to run away while never feeling any remorse for their wrongdoings. Okaya is the sole exception; if anything, he seems ''disappointed'' that Kiritaka died before he could torment him even more.

* FalseReassurance: After telling Okaya that she knew he intended to follow in his father's footsteps, that she used to be acquainted with his mother and that she knew how she used to address him, Maria tells him that "[[ExactWords the nurse in the infirmary knows everything]]". This is most definitely ''not'' a good thing; not for Okaya, or any of his friends.
* FlowerMotifs: Lily of the Valley is shown as an image on Kiritaka's diary and a shot has the flower covering Maria's face in her office. In the Japanese language of flowers (''Hanakotoba''), it symbolizes "purity", but outside of it, they are very poisonous, which fits Maria's façade as a school nurse and her true nature. In contrast, it is used in funerals to signify pain due to death. A notable other symbolism is the flower's alternative name: Mary's tears. This comes from the history of Virgin Mary who mourns her crucified son, like how Maria mourns her son.

* FriendToAllChildren: In her role as the SchoolNurse, Maria portrays herself as this to the students, encouraging them to come to her office for help no matter what they need. While her act is mostly genuine, Okaya and his gang are the sole exception; [[BestServedCold they just don't know it yet]].

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Because she miscalculated [[EvilIsPetty how petty and impatient Shikimi was]], Maria is forced to [[IndyPloy improvise]] and [[SexFaceTurn seduce Iijima]] when [[DisproportionateRetribution he is sent to beat her up for taunting Shikimi]]. Maria quickly understands that Iijima could easily give her name and face to the police once Shikimi's death is investigated, and decides to kill him to prevent that. Ultimately she can't bring herself to do it after seeing an illusion of Kiritaka remind her that Iijima is not guilty for his death, and [[EveryoneHasStandards Maria agrees that killing him would be excessive]]; instead, she decides to silence him by other means, but finds that Iijima has disappeared after Shikimi's death. Maria has to race to find him before the police or Okaya's gang can find him first.

** Maria gives Kowase a way to escape death: all he needs to do is to input the number that represents his greatest sin into the cuff holding him in place. Kowase smiles in triumph once he realizes she's talking about Kiritaka's death... only to realize [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he can't remember the date of his death]]. But that's fine; after all, [[FalseReassurance Maria left him another way]] to [[LifeOrLimbDecision escape]]. At first it seems that Kowase is going to be successful in this effort, [[spoiler:but then it turns out that in his DetrimentalDetermination to escape, he ends up ''breaking the knife'' and drowning]].

* InstantSedation: Maria puts Kowase to sleep by injecting him with a sedative. It works fast enough that he's left completely helpess as she kidnaps him, allowing Maria to leave before Yajima can see her.
* {{Irony}}: Nagare jumped to his own death to prevent her from being sexually exploited. In order to avenge his death [[TheUnfettered his mother lets herself be sexually exploited]], ultimately making his sacrifice to protect her completely pointless.

** The first off Maria’s hit list is Kowase, who not only was a part of her son’s GangOfBullies, but also sexually assaulted other girls for who knows how long, and is not above selling their compromising pictures that he took in secret and beating them up once he’s blackmailed them into being his punching bag. Maria just so happened to catch Kowase in the act of drowning a girl [[MoralMyopia he thinks is responsible of blackmailing him over HIS compromising videos]] when it was really Maria. She has Kowase go through a LifeOrLimbDecision in the DrowningPit unless he can get the password code of the date of his greatest sin. He thinks it’s Kiritaka’s death but [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he can’t even remember so much as the month it took place]]. [[spoiler: Kowase dies durning his struggle, and Maria unlocks the password anyway with his birthday as she sees his own birth as his greatest sin.]]
** Shikimi regularly [[HoneyTrap runs badger game scams on lonely men]] and [[ManipulativeBitch manipulates events]] to [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer socially isolate people she doesn't like]]. Maria correctly guesses that Shikimi doesn't trust anyone and that her relationships are transactional in nature, and thus uses her own tactics against her by mentioning Shikimi's side-gig to her teacher and making it seem as if she's trying to FrameUp Kinugawa, which results in Shikimi SkippingSchool. Before Maria can move to the next step of her plan, Shikimi sends Iijima after her, after which Maria decides to simply move forward and [[FemmeFatale seduce Iijima]] before kidnapping Shikimi while she's home alone. Maria then [[ThrownDownAWell hangs her above an empty well]] with a rope that's about to burn and forces her to retrieve her phone's SIM card with her mouth while it is hidden in a box of razors, after which she allows her to send one text message to one person. Shikimi's first pick is Okaya, but upon checking their text history Shikimi realizes [[LovingAShadow he doesn't give a damn about her as he's never replied to her messages before]]. [[spoiler:When Shikimi tries to text Iijima, she realizes to her horror that [[YankTheDogsChain Maria has already turned him against her via a fake Twitter account]], leaving Shikimi to curse Maria as her rope burns and she falls into a hole festering with insects, which then crawl all over her and [[OrificeInvasion enter her body through her holes]]. [[CruelAndUnusualDeath At this point Shikimi can do nothing but scream]].]]

* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Kowase, while torturing a gagged and bound Yajima [[CigaretteBurns by putting out cigarettes in her belly]], tells her to "give him some good fucking moaning".

* MisplacedRetribution: After Yajima runs away from him ([[OOCIsSeriousBusiness whereas she normally freezes in fear]]), Kowase assumes she's the one who hacked his phone. Later that night Kowase tries to torture Yajima by drowning her, repeatedly asking her why his videos aren't on her phone and repeatedly being answered that Yajima doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: [[spoiler:The password that unlocks Kowase's chains is ''the date of his own birth'', since "his greatest sin" was actually coming into this world. Kowase was never able to figure it out since he mistakenly thought the "greatest sin" Maria was talking about was the anniversary of Kiritaka Nagare's death, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday which he didn't remember anyway]].]]

* TeensAreMonsters: Okaya and his underlings, BAR NONE. They ruthlessy torture Kiritaka without a shred of humanity, to the point of threatening to upload an obviously edited sex video of his ''mother'', unless he jumps off a cliff! He does just that, but gets killed when a truck suddenly runs him over. Most of the gang seemly looked dismayed at his sudden death… only because they didn’t want to land in prison and tried to run off. The leader Okaya on the other hand, felt disappointed that his punching bag “won” now that he’s dead!

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: An interesting example where the perpetrator appears to feel already that vengeance is empty, but continues anyway. Mari Nagare was once a happily married woman with a loving relationship with her son, Kiritaka Nagare. Unfortunately, her son died, and the investigation told her and her husband that they believed he was DrivenToSuicide by AbusiveParents. But when Mari Nagare read her son's diary, she learned the truth that a [[GangOfBullies group of bullies]] inhumanely [[BullyBrutality tortured Kiritaka]], and he died in a prank gone wrong. Mari Nagare snapped and dedicated her life to getting revenge on her son's bullies by killing them. [[ThatWomanIsDead She divorced her husband, changed her name to her maiden name, Maria Akeboshi, cut off contact with her friends, got plastic surgery]], and two years later begins to hunt down her targets. She's got revenge on two of her son bullies so far, Tsubasa Kowase (who would [[SinisterSuffocation drown his victims]], so she [[DrowningPit drowned him to death]]] and Kumiru Shikimi (who [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor laughed while her son was force-fed cockroaches]], so she was ThrownDownAWell and was [[CreepyCrawlyTorture eaten by insects]]). Maria, however, takes no joy in getting revenge or killing her son's bullies, no matter how much they deserve it, just sitting down and feeling sad and empty after the bullies die. It's implied that either she always knew her revenge would be empty, or she realized later but continued because she wanted to avenge her son, and [[IveComeTooFar she'd already gone too far to stop]].

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* YourMom: As if Okaya and his lackeys weren't depraved enough already, they send Kiritaka a sex video with Mari's face edited on top, then tell him how "fuckable" she looks. Finally, Okaya gives Kiritaka a SadisticChoice: jump off the cliff they're standing on or he will spread the video on the internet.

* SelfServingMemory: When Kowase is near death in chapter 4 he pictures himself with his friends lovingly smiling and having fun while lighting sparklers on Kiritaka's face. Everything is shown as a fond memory of times spent with friends, instead of the horrific brutal torture it actually was.

* SleightOfHandiness: While comforting a student that was being attacked by Kowase (to the point that she ended up vomiting from the abuse), Maria covertly confiscates Kowase's phone, [[RefugeInAudacity before showing it to him and excusing herself as upholding the rules of the school]].

* MetaphoricallyTrue: When Kinugawa questions Maria on her last conversation with Shikimi before she started SkippingSchool, Maria realizes that she's in a bit of a pickle: she can't admit that she taunted Shikimi, she can't lie about what she said on the off chance that Shikimi shared it with Kinugawa, and [[RevealingCoverUp she can't refuse to answer without seeming suspicious]]. So what does she do? She [[CrocodileTears tears up]], expresses her words to Shikimi as [[PartingWordsRegret a poorly-phrased warning born out of concern]] rather than a taunt, and [[SarcasticConfession blames herself for Shikimi's disappearance]]. Kinugawa buys her act and drops the subject, leaving Maria to realize Kinugawa hadn't figured her out after all.

** Shikimi essentially runs a "[[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/badger%20game Badger Game]]" scam, wherein [[ReallySeventeenYearsOld she lies about her age on her dating profile]], [[HoneyTrap lures emotionally vulnerable men into love hotels]] by acting in a loving manner (even taking great care not to have them spend much on their dates to fool them into thinking she cares about them) and extorts men them out of exorbitant amounts of money in order to not reveal they attempted to have sex with a minor.