I don't think he was chill, we can see little by little the way he start to feel her pain and presence. She infected him and made Ryoichi lose himself. More like, he become a insect like her and was atracted by Kikuko pheromones.
It still seems dumb as hell to me. I just think it would’ve been better if it was maybe longer and if him becoming like her was more gradual. It felt like his mother dying ended up being completely unnecessary because he forgot about it so quickly.
Not only that, but I also just didn’t find Kikuko sympathetic or likeable in the slightest. In fact, she seemed very bland to me, as if she were nothing except for a pretty face. Plus, I found her a bit too over-powered for my liking. Usually that wouldn’t concern me in the slightest, but I found it didn’t help like her at all even though I’m pretty sure we were supposed to like her at least a little bit.
Though, this is all just my opinion on it. All I think is that it could’ve been done much better, because it was so short I found that all of the characters were very one dimensional. It’s just an agreed to disagree situation, I would say.
I thought it was good at first, but it suddenly became so irritating to read. People may not agree with me, but Kikuko’s character is just so insufferable. I could barely stand it. And Ryoichi was like chill with it? Nah. That was super annoying too. Overall it had a strong start, but I feel like it went straight to the pits.