#am i huffing copium? perhaps. but it makes sense with that frame. like. if he didnt like aoi why the hell would he be happy marrrying her

[chocottang]

losing my mind over teru being surprised that he was unhappy with the arranged marriage.

he just assumed this version of himself would be happy marrying aoi. which leads us to the assumption that if in our timeline he was engaged to aoi, he would be happy. so we can assume he DOES have a crush on her, or at least enjoys her company enough that he wouldn't be mad about marrying her. which leads me to believe that the reason why he didn't enjoy the date with aoi was not that he doesn't like her, but that he doesn't like this version of her, becasue it's not his version of her. because she was acting way different than how she normally does with him, and because she acted with what semeed like unearned intimacy.

he doesn't feel uneasy because he dislikes her, he feels uneasy because this isn't the aoi that he knows, the one he likes. and he was happy when he realized that she doesn't like him because that's more like his timeline's aoi, the aoi who is in love with akane, the aoi he can never have, but admires from a distance, never making the mistake of getting too close because it would only hurt him when she inevitable becomes official with akane.

i think of it like if you gave someone a clone that looks and sounds like their crush, but was seemingly head over heels in love with them for no reason. sure, some may like it for some time, but it's ultimately not the real thing: its not the person they love. and they didn't put in the work to make them like them, or had any real intimacy, so the clone's attraction seems fake. so, they eventually won't enjoy it.