SPOILERS AHEAD — Lessons From The World God Only Knows Part 2

Aoyama Mio (Flags 3–5)

For the second part of the series, we’ll be skipping Flag 2 (which serves to explain Elsie’s appearance to the other characters). In Flag 3, we’re presented to the second capture target, Aoyama Mio.

Daughter of the owner of a major company, Mio flaunts her wealth whenever she can. She has a very expensive car, a driver, and very soon after her first appearance she proceeds to purchase a whole bakery’s worth of a certain product.

So, what’s this girl’s problem? What’s going to be the “gap in her heart”? After all, her life seems to be almost perfect, from the point of view of many people. Her arrogance isn’t as much a problem to herself as a problem to others, so that wouldn’t be the cause.

That is, until we discover that Mio in fact lives in a rundown apartment, since her father has died and the company has declared bankruptcy. This leaves her in a very interesting position, as she doesn’t want to let go of that lifestyle. And there is the central problem.

Throughout the arc, there are various signs that, not only is she resisting changing her ways of living, she’s completely refusing that her father is even truly dead. Her father was her symbol of a wealthy lifestyle, and served as a connection between her and the world of wealthy people. Also wanting to avoid rejection directly from said world, though, she refuses any invitations that she received since her father’s death. That is, until our main character forces her to.

Is that really for the best, though? Staying in a lifestyle that you really can’t maintain, that doesn’t welcome you, just because it’s what you used to be? Change is scary, but even so it is necessary to accept it. Of course, Mio’s case is extreme, but smaller cases happen to people all the time. Haven’t you ever found yourself accepting paying more for a meal or a snack just because that’s what you’re used to having? Sometimes, letting go is important.