The "best friend" line surprised me, but it didn't ring that weird once I thought about it. I mean, Kase thinks more like a typical guy athlete than like a modern ordinary person of either gender, let alone like a typical Japanese young woman. For her, spending time with someone and running a lot of races with them = friends. Doesn't matter if they've never said a meaningful word to each other, what's that got to do with friendship?
Well, not only that, they also live together, occupy the same space throughout both days and nights, and contrary to what you're saying here, actually have shared some meaningful conversations, and taken care of each other? That's why Fukami fell for Kase in the first place, it's not that weird that some of that sense of closeness would develop both ways.
I mean, I was surprised that Kase considers her a best friend, because I was surprised Kase thought of herself as having a best friend, since she seems so independent, (and Yamada-focused,) but if she has one, it would definitely be Fukami.
That line actually made this whole arc make...a little more sense to me, from Kase's perspective? I still think basically every decision she's made throughout was objectively the wrong move, but it makes more sense if she's trying to preserve what she considers a close friendship that seems like it's in jeopardy.
And that attitude in turn explains why she considers this person a friend and yet had never before considered telling her anything much about herself . . . to her, that's kind of irrelevant. What makes them friends is that they spend time trying to run faster than each other. And to be fair, that in doing so they sort of passively absorb a sense of the other person's character. Communicating facts with words isn't really part of the deal.
I do think the fact that Kase has considered Fukami her personal rival almost since they met has a lot of bearing on it as well. Kase is the kind of person that respects and admires the people she competes with.
I kinda want to re-read this series with hindsight now, actually.
last edited at Dec 12, 2023 11:46PM