Kimitte Watashi no Koto Suki Nandesho? - Vol. 1 Ch. 5

[ShinduPK4]

Calling him pathetic is pathetic, tbh. It is a high school setting. Dude is socially inept and out of his comfort zone trying to somehow get by and she knows. This situation clearly was incredibly uncomfortable and out of nowhere for him, caused solely by her.

The panels were pretty over the top and the author went out of their way to showcase his negative reaction to pretty much EVERYTHING going on there in that moment. The author also overly showcased just how ridiculously much she swooned for the friend and how positive meeting him was to her.
She also didn't tease him this chapter, she straight up imagination flirted up another guy verbally in front of him to then tell him "but I am fine with settling for you!", punch in the gut while making fun of him (from his pov), calling him out for being jealous of his best friend. That is plain vile.
How is he not allowed to be overwhelmed, conflicted, mad, pressed etc. and ask her stuff that is relevant in that moment?

Ngl he do be extremely spineless but she went above and beyond to rile him up and destroy his mental this chapter, on purpose.
"Woah he was nice, how lucky to have such a good friend" and teasing him is not equal to what happened here, being "Woah you are well liked by this prime hunk alpha hottie that is lusted after by the whole stundent body! Not telling you if I want him! But I won't even bother properly reassuring you, just trust me bro, I am fine with you right now!"

Big L for both you and her.

The only pages when she was talking about his friend were 8 and 9. Besides those two, she was hugging MC and complimenting him; she even fucking hugged him and told his friend that she and MC are dating before all of this happened.
And on those two pages? On the first one, she was clearly complimenting Shimokura's attitude and devotion towards MC as his friend, and on the second one, she was only talking about OTHER people swooning over Shimokura - she just mentioned that he was popular. After this, the person who started actually talking about Shimokura's good features was MC, not her.
The only thing I can agree with you on is that her reassurance was weird, but that's all. The only way someone could've taken all of that the wrong way to this degree would be if they were a pile of insecurities with low self-confidence, which MC seems to be. So maybe you feel this way because you identify with the MC.
Besides, even if his inner reaction were to be justified, the way he showed it was cringy as fuck, and that won't change.

Big L for you, and good luck in your future relationships. I really hope your partners don't accidentally compliment someone.

 

[Giga]

Thanks for this chapter, Radeon.

---

On one hand, I find Kuroya's behavior repulsively weak. There's no need for the degree of timidity and sensitivity he exhibits, nor the self-centeredness.

On the other hand, a certain measure of it is justified: Shiramori is playing around, by evaluation of her actions. Every expression of interest she conveys to him is either preceded or succeeded before long by something that mitigates her advances; it would not be unreasonable for anyone to think she's refusing to commit, as all her actions indicate constant hedging. Shiramori herself said that their relationship is a "trial" right at the beginning, and even said it to the guy himself; you don't say that to someone you're genuinely interested in getting together with, as it signals a noncommittal stance and no real concern for that person's separation from you--essentially, a lack of seriousness.

Someone with more self-esteem would not have taken it from her--like, for example, Shimokura; this is probably why Shimokura said what he did to her, having the experience with females that he does. Whether or not this is the case with Shimokura, it's very likely the reason she feels comfortable giving Kuroya the runaround: Kuroya thinks more highly of her than she does of him, as he looks up at her and she looks down on him; Kuroya can't imagine someone like Shiramori being interested in someone like him, while Shiramori--fully cognizant of both her own popularity and Kuroya's regard of her compared to himself--does not mind floating the idea of the end of their relationship into his mind.

She's pretty brazen, too: she added the fine print ("Right now,") right before the affection. Kuroya was right to ruminate upon that, as she wouldn't do this with someone she liked that she couldn't stand to lose. At this point, she certainly appears to feel she could do without Kuroya--all her messaging suggests it.