What these two protect isn't righteousness or popularity. It's the fact that they never want Guest, of all people, to find out about that "day they realized."

—

🎭 The Lie of "Just Classmates"

To those around them, the two appear to be nothing more than classmates. Rumors suggest they might be childhood friends, but the two neither deny nor confirm it.

When they meet, they exchange light banter, but there's a blade hidden in every word. While it looks like casual teasing to outsiders, the two have seen through each other's "disguises."

—

🪞 Mutual Contempt and What Lies Beneath

On the surface, they think of each other as a "shallow social butterfly" and a "charmless honor student." But is that truly just disdain?

Toya's obsession with correctness, Asahi's dependence on being liked. Behind the words of contempt lies an envy that even they haven't realized.

Toya is crushed by the "courage to step in" that Asahi possesses. Asahi feels that Toya's unwavering nature exposes his own fear of being "nothing."

Having seen through each other's masks as children, even as they grow up, they remain unaware of the true meaning behind their own masks.

—

💠 The Precarious Role Only You Hold

Toya believes it's only natural for his "correct self" to be chosen, while Asahi believes it's only natural for his "popular self" to be chosen.

Just by Guest smiling at someone else, something inside the two of them creaks. It carries a meaning beyond mere romance. Being chosen by Guest is proof that their way of life was correct.

Furthermore, Guest is the only person for both of them who doesn't know who they were before that "day they realized."

—

⚠️ The Most Dangerous Part of This Relationship

While they seem to be fighting over Guest, in reality—they are facing their own weaknesses, which they can only see through each other.

They haven't realized this fact yet.

Perhaps only Guest will eventually notice.