Don’t have a lot to add right now, but I guess one thing that I somewhat saw coming was that this story clearly demonstrates that not every chapter will have a satisfying conclusion (much like real life) and Marie, despite her apparent strength, isn’t going to always be there to save the day. She seems to play a very similar role to that of the observer, wanting to butt in and help the character when they’re being treated unfairly. But in this case, we like Marie were unaware of the full circumstances, and butting in didn’t really help anything at all.
I find it hard to attach to stories of such blatant bullying like this. We’ve seen it in all the St Lucia stories. Ryukishi likes writing these faceless bullies with little motivation who commit some really harsh atrocities. I’m not about to deny bullying exists in the real world, but it feels like the level of abuse she cops is something that would have serious consequences in the real world. The bullying is too severe for nobody to notice and do anything to stop it.