Spoop's Favorite

I don't remember why when I first read this I felt emotional. But now, I just find it fun and enjoyable, not sad at all???

To me, they're playing a personal, mind game and it's really fun to read/watch now. They're playing each other and I've started to think that Big Brother isn't really pathetic. He's a little pathetic, by conventional standards, but honestly, I think he's doing it on purpose so he can give Natsuo that excuse or escape that he needs so that he can be "honest" to some extent with himself. Like, Natsuo won't come on to Kimi even if he wanted to, but if Kimi initiates and gives Natsuo the opportunity to blame him and call him perverted, then he'll surrender to his desires/whims.

And that's fucked up, I know. But they're fucked up together. I don't think anyone's a victim in their relationship. Maybe it can be viewed as toxic? But honestly, if the two players are Kimi and Natsuo, I don't think it's toxic. Because Kimi has a strong mentality and accepts everything about himself, while Natsuo's mostly all bark and no bite, and just bluffs and bluffs, it's ridiculous to hold a grudge against him. The only time he's dangerous is when he's hurt and wants to hurt back/punish Kimi. But other than that, Natsuo's criticisms don't really touch Kimi; Kimi doesn't take his words to heart most of the time because that's just Natsuo's armor talking. And that the important thing is, is that his little brother still indulges him despite what he says.

And besides, I'm pretty sure Kimi can handle anything thrown at him just from this bit of dialog:

Natsuo: Don't put that in your wank bank!
Kimi: Nothing you say will stop me.

This guy is strong!

Edit: Also, it's likely Kimi deliberately shows his perverted self/is shameless to Natsuo as his version of revenge. Kinda passive aggressive revenge for all the trouble and damage Natsuo caused by his pettiness in high school, and the continuous sharp barbs he throws at Kimi. So no, Kimi isn't really that weak, pathetic, hopeless romantic that deserves pity.

I read a pretty bad take that Daichi was being misogynist but he’s never really acted in repulsion towards women, just uncomfortable due to his childhood trauma. And he never attempted to cheat on his sister’s boyfriend, he’s just as much as a victim as she is to the guy’s ploy. I believe to understand this is to tie in the altered titular theme of this story, the idiom “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

Remember he was adopted at a young age of three. He came from a neglectful household where his mother would leave him unattended to prioritize her sex life over her own son. And his distrust seems to have stemmed from his mother who would constantly up her appearances (as seen putting on makeup in his memory) in order to appear young and appealing to hide the terrible mother she actually is. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, appearing as the role of a mother which is contrary to who she really is.

It wasn’t until he reached age three when she finally abandoned him to his adoptive father. From comparing their upbringing, the sister had definitely lived in a more fortunate upbringing in being born to a loving family. Even if the adopted father had divorced, she was spoiled on the comforts of their home and love of her father. Which makes sense because if you were comfortable being supported and loved, you would want to be selfish in keeping that love and support. Parents are supposed to feed you but Daichi in contrast had to feed himself because his mother neglected him all the time. And so upon being introduced to a new adopted family made him feel like an outsider, its evident that he still does feel estranged now that the only person who wholeheartedly accepted him is dead and he constantly claims to move out of the household on his own after he graduates.

About his sister, while it does seem she earns an income, Daichi says she doesn’t do anything in the house. We see that he makes the breakfast for everyone and lunch for himself but when the sister wants her own lunch she doesn’t because she finds it too troublesome. Seems to me she seems like the ramen eating bum stereotype, and judging from the clothes she leaves behind on the ground and her lazy attitude, I think Daichi is the one who ends up making the meals, cleaning the house, and generally is the one doing the household chores. She even admits to Daichi calling her out as a bum and claims to resolve to be a better woman. So in a way she is also a wolf in sheep’s clothing in that her clean likable attitude hides her slobby home self. Its fine to be a slob in your own home while keeping an appearance outside but from what we can infer she also seems to inconvenience the others living in the same household since Daichi (and possibly the grandmother) is the one taking care of household needs such as cooking and cleaning. The wolf claim is that she deliberately appears to be more of the innocent, perfect woman than she is to the guys she flirts at bars and brings home. While his sister is not trash like his mother, she still falls ways of being a dependable member of family. Financial support is great but there’s more to a family than helping pay for shelter.

What about Daichi? He’s being told often how honest he is and so far I think he’s definitely one of the characters so far who is a “sheep”, true to his character on the inside and out. Many other characters have commented how easily seen his moods are when he’s in love or gloomy, or even when he’s eating good food. Even when he briefly thought he was better partner than his sister, he felt bad. But being this naive and honest has its downsides, since he was swindled easily by the guy.

ALSO I want to point out that when he thought he was cheating, he didn’t consent to the alleged date rape so I find him to be a victim not an accomplice to the cheating. Not only that, even if it weren’t a scam, Daichi had never attempted to “steal” the guy from his sister before AND after the drunk incident. After being stressed and consoled by his job hunting coworker, he wanted to at least let the other party be known of his feelings. I don’t think he had any intention of getting together with him since the other guy made it clear he would break ties with his sister (when this was thought not to be a scam). If anything, the real wolf or monster in this case is the predatory scam this guy pulled to ruin two siblings’ feelings. I definitely think they were hit more on by emotional manipulation than the financial theft that took place since this was a guy they wholeheartedly loved and trusted.