I think that's the beauty of fiction. It tends to replicate the same emotion of being thrown away in its most literal sense. In real life, it would be, as you say, like being kicked out or being taken to foster care. However, in order to show just how cruel it is, this story made it that oujino and his step brother was like literal trash whom their father could throw away. This shows when Oujino simply told his father that he was the broken one and he should treasure his new family instead of making the same mistakes. That is why it also felt lax when the father just apologized to his new family with the promise of teaching them about kisses and hugs.
It may seem negligent but it showed that sense of "brokenness". And the way to "fix" it was confronting the issue instead of "easily throwing it away". Cause you know, it was told in the beginning when they were picking stuff up, people throw away things so easily.
you're quite right: the writer was certainly playing on all the meanings of "broken", "fix", "useful", etc. and taking her message to a very literal sense (almost laughably). i mean i do love the idea of a trash collector/fix-it-guy taking in an unwanted teen. the irony of the garbage guy being cleaner/purer than the rat dad. the idea of discarded or supposedly irreparable items (or people, in this case) finding use or value again. the ideas that "broken" doesn't apply to just inanimate objects, and "fixing" isn't always done with tools (with hare and oujiro "healing" might be more appropriate). all these ideas provide rich tenor to her story...but yeah, the make-up bit with the father and family was just soo rushed and unbelievable. that dude has psychological issues. that was the only unrealistic thing for me. i understand what she was trying to convey, but it just bugged me at the time. i just sometimes get sucked in to a story, and the image of the poor younger brother in a wheelchair (labelled as 'not-working') pierced my heart. i've calmed down since tho XD
thank you for your feedback!
Yeah. Especially since the kid suddenly woke up and things were patched up so easily.
generally i am a fan of younger seme x older uke too, so bonus!
BUUUT i need to get this off my chest. oujirou's parents are like the most despicable organisms to slither on this earth. who the hell puts a child out like an old/broken appliance? ever heard of foster
care if you're so inept/incapable as a parent?? honestly i feel so worried for touta. he can't stay with those pricks! they tried to throw him away like trash! i know it's not the focus of the story, but i feel the author was grossly negligent in tying up that subplot. the father's a worthless, soul-less jerk, and the replacement mother is a mindless drone apparently. not to mention oujirou's original mother, who abandoned him. >:( gosh. thank goodness for kindhearted, beautiful people like hare-san. <3 <3