Long was the one character that made me want to drop this series way back when. And now he's the character that made me think, huh, I'm glad I didn't. Nothing justifies any of his past actions or behavior, but this chapter confirmed that he isn't a creep or a villain lurking in the wings. He's just a teenage boy who made some astonishingly stupid choices to try to get his crush's attention, and realized he now has to live with the consequences. He can reveal that cute childhood memory now precisely because it won't change a thing.
I really do like how this story has been developing.