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We're already seeing the positive effects of Yukiatsu baring his hentai, angst-filled soul to his old friends. My friend and I discussed his behavior towards Naruko. A few points came up.
1 We've established he's insensitive (not mean, just slow) when it comes to girls. Without Tsuruko's hint he would never have gone after Naruko.
But here's the thing. Unless Tsuruko and Yukiatsu are so familiar they can communicate through riddles, it really wasn't much of a hint at all! Could anyone in that situation have foreseen the pinch Naruko would find herself in? A stretch, even for Sherlock Tsuruko.
And yet, based on this wafer thin circumstantial evidence, Yukiatsu goes after her. He hangs around during karaoke and tails her when she leaves with the stranger. For a friend he's hardly seen since 8-10 years ago, he's really going out of his way to be protective.
Maybe the cold-arrogant-jerk thing is just a phase, and he's really a sweet guy. Maybe Yukiatsu is thawing. Or maybe he does fancy Naruko a tiny bit.
2. After the rescue, Yukiatsu escorts her home, and that to me is where he scores the big points: He cares enough not to leave Naruko alone after what she just experienced. And in his bungling, insensitive way, he does help take her mind off the incident.
He also witnessed enough to know with near-certainty that Naruko is in fact a virgin; certainly not the type used to visiting hotels with men. But he asks anyways, almost rhetorically. I don't know why. Maybe as my friend suggests it's because he himself is not a virgin; a possibility she doesn't like to entertain, but finds plausible.
I think Yukiatsu's possible motivations for his behavior towards Naruko has been thoroughly discussed: He's teasing Naruko in order to learn where she is now and whether she still likes Jinta, etc.
I also think that his asking Naruko to go out with him may not have been all kidding. People focus on the offhanded manner in which he pops the question--confessions are supposed be climactic moments in teen romance--but this is Yukiatsu we're talking about here. Yukiatsu the brick, Yukiatsu, who would probably propose to his future wife during break time in the office with the same nonchalance.
To Yukiatsu, well on his way to recovery from running in drag at night, dating is probably the normal, right thing to do. Part of a regular high school life, moving on and all that. As fate would have it, sitting in front of him is a childhood friend whom he just rescued from rape and whom he's reconnecting with. And she's pretty, despite the disagreeable taste in clothes. So... *Shrug* "Hey, want to go out with me?"
That's about how I picture it.
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