Oooof Minato…. This guy just keeps putting his foot in his mouth…
It’s good that Miki had the guts to call Minato out on slapping pity/lonely labels on people, and how he onyl does it to get people to look/depend on him. It needed to be said, especially since it has always been a cloud hanging over her head every since she came to learn of his habits. But unfortunately just hearing about how one felt about being on the receiving end of it isn’t enough to immediately change his ways. While Minato acknowledges he did initially pity Koyuki because she seemed to be always alone, he claims he no longer sees her that way since she has proven she’s not as ‘lonely’ as he initially believed her to be. But there’s one problem: He’s still being way too nosy for his own good, and it’s coming back to bite him– hard.
Koyuki’s the exact opposite of Minato’s used to. The people he generally approaches typically appreciate the attention and thought he gives them, but that’s the not the case with Koyuki. While Minato’s trying to be “considerate” Koyuki finds him extremely exhausting and uncomfortable. Go figure, because this guy repeatedly fails to either acknowledge nor respect the fact she wants to be left alone.
Due to her trauma, Koyuki doesn’t want to draw attention to herself, and most of all, she doesn’t want anyone digging up into the history of her middle school days. And ever since she learned that Minato and Iragashi are acquaintances from club activities, she knew she had to be on guard around him because this guy doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. And sure enough, the idiot did exactly that. He asked Iragashi if he knew Koyuki, tipping him off that she goes to their school. Great.
And it absolutely sucks, because based on her flashbacks, Igarashi was high-time toxic to her. He would constantly belittle, mock and erode her self-confidence to the point she has grown to not only hate herself, but became truly afraid of sharing her true self to others now. That’s how much middle school’s trauma had burned her. That’s why she and Miki deliberately sought to attend a school out of the way, and Miki knows it’d be best for the to not to encounter each other.
So the moment Minato brought up middle school when she knows it’s a subject she has never spoke with him about– of course she’s going to lash out and tell him ‘he’s disgusting’! Sure it’s pretty harsh and cruel, but her fears that he had brought her name up to Iragashi has been realized! How else do you expect one to respond to such situation?
It’s clear that Minato was not prepared for such a tongue lashing response. We can see his eyes are shaking and her words are stabbing him hard. And honestly it’s probably not the first time Minato has received this kind of response– in-fact we did see his ex-girlfriend even call him out for being ’empty’. Yet despite that, its’ clear that he wasn’t expecting Koyuki to actually bite back at him.
And boy, now what impeccable timing Yota has to witness all of this unfold right in the heat of the moment.
Speaking of Yota, honestly Minato really should’ve been taking cues from him. If he genuinely wants to be friends with Koyuki, Yota should be his shining example as to how to best approach her. Koyuki is so comfortable around this guy, that they were even measuring each other’s hands. You can see just how relaxed she is to be able to interact with him that way. Better yet, she knows he’s not going to be nosy if she makes a slip up like when she mentioned about how she wished she had bigger hands to hold grip a basketball. Yota was surprised to hear she used to be on the basketball team, but when she told him she had quit mid-way, while he realized that something was amiss, the had the tact not to press for more details.
That’s why despite Minato’s claims that “it’s different now”, his approach of trying to break the ice with Koyuki feels like he’s still missing the point entirely. So his efforts to get to know her still doesn’t quite feel fully genuine to me– at least not yet anyways given he CONTINUES to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong. Not to mention, he got his own shit going on, and until that gets aired out, he’s probably going to continue feeling rather icky to me rather than someone I can sympathize with.
