#also yes i think hiros depressed no i dont have that much canon evidence yes we exist

[midnightdemonhunter]

*folds hand under head* op your rant was stellar, please tell me more about their lack of empathy? You make some funky fresh observation and points (◍•ᴗ•◍)

OKAY SURE THAT WAS QUICK

Alright so I think its pretty widely agreed that Celeste is uhhh not a very empathetic person.

She uses people for her own means, manipulating Hifumi constanlty by isolating him from the group (preventing his friendship with alter ego and sowing seeds of distrust between him and taka) and just generally uses Hiro, taka and hifumi in chap 3.

Shes cold and priorities money over people, planning an elaborate double murder, something far more cold blooded than any of the other blackened were capable of. Basically! Shes low empathy!

But!!! I think Hiro is too. Hiro is not at a big caring empathetic guy, he's self serving and doesn't trust anyone. He doesnt have any friends (something he admits to makoto) and he just,,,is also pretty cold.

A great example of them both being low empathy is their reaction to Alter Ego, specifically on the subject of her sentience, and how validated it is to genuinly care for her.

Spoiler alert! They think its weird as fuck and that "its" just a computer program, it doesnt have feelings, and there's no point in caring for it. (This juxtaposes nicely with hyper empathetic makoto's view of alter ego being a real friend)

They don't feel any sort of sympathy/empathy/emotion for the computer! They're low empathy!

Hiro's low empathy is also apparent in who he tries to connect with, and how.

The only two people Hiro ever actually tries to reach out to ingame (not counting fte which are initiated consistently by makoto) are Toko and Taka.

These two people are charecterised at those times by their isolated, quiet and plainly depressed state. Hiro only decides to reach out to them in specific because he can really easilly link their behavior to himself. (Aka he has undiagnosed depression and thinks "wow huh big mood")

He also uses himself as a basis for helping other people, mainly only being able to empathise with other people by connecting their pain to his own past pain.

He does this verbally and jokingly when Hina is stressed and confused about the supposed ghost she saw in the locker rooms.

His quickest way to try and help someone is by offering up a similar experience in an attempt to bond and connect. (He also puts himself down to put herself up, painting himself as stupid, but that habit of hiro's is a whole other essay altogether)

He's also just generally quick to throw other people under the bus, jokingly or not, whether its demanding makoto's organs or insisting the kid killed kyoko, or instantly not trusting sakura when she's revealed as the traitor, then attempting to KILL her as his first solution when he assumes she's gonna kill him, cause hes not able to put himself in her shoes and think about what her real, kinder, more selfless motivations might actually be.

The man is low empathy!! He finds it hard to feel bad for people, finds himself assuming the worst of everyone always in the killing game, and is only able to try forming genuine connections with people he sees himself mirrored in.

Once again!! TL/DR: Celeste is low empathy obviously cause shes manipulative and willing to kill 2 people for her own motivations, she and hiro share unempathetic views of Alter Ego views and her sentience, and hiro is only able to be sympathic to people he can really easily relate to!!