[houkoholic]

I've said it before, the way Kitamura rejects Taiga in episode 2 is true to the normal Japanese way of rejection, he is not sending mix signals. Taiga's way of rejection is considered rude and degrading by Japanese culture. This is totally opposite to Western style of thinking where people think wishy-washy is rude/bad and clean cut direct is good. In Japan direct is consider confrontal and people are suppose to read between the lines. This is a very real cultural difference and why Americans/Westerners always had trouble dealing with the Japanese in business because the Japanese will never say yes or no directly in negotiations, and this communication difference happens in real life in Japan in everyway imaginable.

Taiga has fantasies about Kitamura is only because she didn't want to give up, not because Kitamura didn't reject her fully (which he most definitely did, by Japanese standard, when he said "hey we can be good friends" which is THE most standard polite rejection line in Japanese culture). It is not something that you can fault Kitamura for as he is playing by the rules.

Also it is okay for some people to want to be friends of the opposite sex without going romantic, Kitamura (and Ryuji) is the type of people that does that.