You guys don’t quite realize that this story is set in Japan, author is Japanese, and manners and stuff also Japanese. Of course no one obliged to respond to someone else’s feeling towards them. But, it’s Japan. So, there are 職場の人間関係 aka manners between co-workers. Also 上下関係 aka why janitor has anything to do with higher positioned person. Also, not sure if you know, Japanese people have, like, a life credo: to work for the sake of society; to not ruin established rules by your own feelings. And by ignoring that girl feelings (that everyone knew about, and were bothered by it) Tooru basically made everyone uncomfortable for his own sake (there even was a moment when Tooru asks some random co-workers about this girl and realizes that she talked to basically everyone around him, desperately trying to get closer). He could have dealt with it long ago but preferred to just ignore the matter. Once again, it’s how I see it from perspective of a person who knows some Japanese and read some books and articles on their society. And well, I’m not actual Japanese so take it with a grain of salt.
You guys don’t quite realize that this story is set in Japan, author is Japanese, and manners and stuff also Japanese.
Of course no one obliged to respond to someone else’s feeling towards them. But, it’s Japan. So, there are 職場の人間関係 aka manners between co-workers. Also 上下関係 aka why janitor has anything to do with higher positioned person. Also, not sure if you know, Japanese people have, like, a life credo: to work for the sake of society; to not ruin established rules by your own feelings. And by ignoring that girl feelings (that everyone knew about, and were bothered by it) Tooru basically made everyone uncomfortable for his own sake (there even was a moment when Tooru asks some random co-workers about this girl and realizes that she talked to basically everyone around him, desperately trying to get closer). He could have dealt with it long ago but preferred to just ignore the matter.
Once again, it’s how I see it from perspective of a person who knows some Japanese and read some books and articles on their society.
And well, I’m not actual Japanese so take it with a grain of salt.