Tear Jerker / One Year on Probation

• The in medias res beginning, which implies Akira tried to kill himself.
• Readers get to see how emotionally affected Akira is by his criminal record and how everyone shuns him for it.
  • After making his first friend in his new school, that friendship is shattered when Ryuji inadvertently causes Kamoshida to expel them like in canon, despite Akira trying to stop Ryuji from attacking the teacher. Faced with his probation possibly being revoked when it barely started, Akira starts to avoid Ryuji. Luckily, the two reconcile.
• Downplayed, but when Makoto offers to help take Akira to the hospital, she seems saddened when Ryuji assumes that she's doing it because a teacher asked her to.