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Japan had always been a country with severely entrenched class divisions. Coupled with the prevalence of clique culture, it was hard for people in the middle class to enter upper-class circles—no, not just hard...
Forget middle-class people trying to break into high society. In this country, even after moving house, it took skill to integrate into the neighbors' social circle. For example, you had to bring a housewarming gift—or rather, a greeting gift. And there was an art to gift-giving too: if it was too expensive, people said you were showing off; if it was too cheap, they said you were stingy. That was one of the reasons most Japanese people were reluctant to move.
Trying to enter a social circle was truly a headache.
Don't think that was an exaggeration. Moving house was nothing—even socializing after having a child took effort. Trying to casually join the little circles of new mothers...
All one could say was, hehe!
The park made its entrance! This was a problem every new mother had to face. Of course, social butterflies were excluded. If you weren't one, then all you could do was watch your child get bullied by other children. If a new mother wanted to step in and help, a bunch of new mothers who had formed their own clique would tell her, "Your XX did this and that. If it weren't for XX..."
If they ran into someone who wasn't good with words, they would absolutely be roasted into questioning their entire life. Even leaving aside those who were inarticulate, if the girls in the Service Club faced such a situation alone, they could only endure it.
Adults could endure it, but what about children? Well-behaved children could endure it too, but because they were too yielding, they would instead