Quote:
Originally Posted by Arabesque
I view it differently. I think that what we are seeing here is an extension of what had happened at the end of the festival arc, where after what seemed like being outsmarted by his best friend in such a seemingly effortless manner, whatever little confidence Satoshi had in himself ended up being obliterated, and what he is saying now reeks of him thinking he is worthless.
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He probably had self-esteem issues all throughout middle school. In terms of skill, he defines "average." He's good at trivia ... and that's about it. Take the cooking contest. He can tell you all the dishes being prepared, but Chitanda crushes him utterly and completely in terms of cooking output and quality. On top of that Mayaka has him beat when it comes to innovation and ingenuity. Being hyper-competitive, and doing anything to win; it's all about his self-esteem. Winning would've given it a lift, even though his definition of "win" was demonstrably flimsy. When he finally realized that crowing over wimpy victories wasn't doing him any favors, he overcompensated by going in the "pretend he doesn't give a <GITAH CHORD> about anything" direction. Only that too isn't sustainable, as it is inevitable that he'll end up in a situation where he absolutely has to take a stand one way, or the other. Where he's gonna roll the "hard six."
Though Oreki's blossoming probably isn't helping matters much. Being so competitive in his youth, and being so unable to actually put up much of a fight; he probably hung out with the ever-gray Oreki, because Oreki didn't care enough to be much of a contender, and took everything in stride with little more than snark. Only now, every time, Oreki solves something with the might of his throbbing brain, Satoshi's mediocrity stands out in increasingly stark contrast. While he, superficially, laughs it off; it really burns him up on the inside.