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Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Cover
Information
Chapter Title Run
Volume 2
Pages 37
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Chapter 6
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Chapter 8

Run is the seventh chapter of the Birdmen manga series. In this chapter, Karasuma discusses what it means to be a hero with Sagisawa, and also tells Sagisawa of his friendship with Kamoda. When a dinnertime conversation with his mother goes poorly, Karasuma flies off into the night, only to encounter a blackout.

Summary[]

The thought of being a hero still gnaws at Karasuma, and in the stairwell leading to the roof, Karasuma asks Sagisawa for his thoughts, inquiring about the conditions to be considered a hero. While Kamoda believes a hero is strong, cool, nice, and popular with girls, Sagisawa thinks it must be lonely to be a hero. Karasuma agrees, feeling that superhumans suffer from a sort of emotional paralysis, which results in isolation from normal people, similar to how he was unable to feel the heat of the flames aboard the burning ship.

Karasuma believes this is why he feels uncomfortable around Takayama: he doesn't want to deviate from the masses. However, Sagisawa points out that Takayama must understand the pain of others, even suggesting that he's been feeling everyone's pain this entire time. This only further solidifies Karasuma's will to return to normal.

Sagisawa comments that Karasuma is strong, but in a different sense than Takayama, and muses on whether this is why he and Kamoda are such good friends. Though Karasuma is flustered at Sagisawa's observation that Kamoda admires him, he recounts his time in third grade, when Kamoda and his friends bullied Karasuma.

After luring the bullies into a deserted construction site, Karasuma had pretended to jump off a high ledge and proceeded to barricade the only exit out. After letting them panic a bit, he flies a paper airplane over the fence telling them the way out, with a final threat of filling their shoes with wood louses if they continued pestering him. The next day, Kamoda, who was highly impressed by Karasuma's antics, insisted on becoming Karasuma's friend.

Sagisawa confesses that he had always wanted to become friends with Karasuma and Kamoda, since he often saw them together at the park and envied their closeness. Karasuma is extremely taken aback by this confession, and considers this to be a landmark achievement for himself. Later on, his female classmates confront him about his friendship with Sagisawa, and are shocked to find out that he has Sagisawa's phone number. Karasuma escapes to the bathroom, thinking that this is how heroes are born (according to Kamoda's definition of a hero).

At dinner, Karasuma's mother chatters about trivial things, to which Karasuma responds coldly, before she confronts Karasuma about sneaking out at night. She tells him to stop, since high school entrance exams are just around the corner, and also requests Karasuma to stop hanging out with Kamoda, believing him to be fundamentally incompatible with Karasuma. She continues to push Karasuma on attending cram school again, capping off her long lecture with the sentiment, "I have to raise you properly, or people will think I'm a bad parent." This pushes Karasuma over the edge, and he stands up abruptly, knocking his food aside while telling her that it wasn't his fault that his father left them.

Karasuma retreats into his room, regretting his incisive words. He thinks about how cruel the situation must seem to his mother's perspective, and wishes desperately to become a shellfish, unable to hurt anyone. He thinks back to Takayama's words, to the scene of the fire, where he saw the world from Takayama's eyes for an instant. Though Takayama had beckoned him forward into the flames, Karasuma finds himself fervently rejecting Takayama's world, unfettered and free, for fear of what he might do, as someone who isn't kind-hearted. Unable to stand these thoughts in his head, Karasuma flies off into the night seeking solitude, only to find the gaping hole of a blackout-to-be awaiting him above the clouds.

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