#kieran being anxious and awkward makes him unable to make friends

[theviolenttomboy]

By the looks of it, unlike Naranja/Uva Academy, Blueberry Academy is age restricted since we only see kids as students there. Since Kieran is in class 1-4 and Carmine is in 3-2, it's safe to assume that Carmine is only two years older than him despite being like a foot taller.

Logically Carmine got in first, and then Kieran two years later. So Kieran would've been on his own until then. I imagine he still had no friends during this time; I mentioned it before, but Japanese rural villages like Mossui have a population issue.

In the Higurashi series, which takes place in the 80s, there's less than a dozen kids between elementary and middle school age in Hinamizawa, and they all share a single classroom and teacher. In timelines where everyone gets to live (lol), the school eventually shuts down entirely when all the kids age out and no one replaces them. It also appears that anyone who wants to continue their education has to move out of the village entirely.

I don't think I've seen a teenage NPC in Mossui? When Pecharunt brainwashes everyone in town and brings them to Loyalty Plaza with it, besides Carmine, they're all middle-aged or elderly. The time Kieran was alone was probably when he frequently snuck off to Ogerpon's cave.

Of course, this also means Carmine never had friends in Mossui either. Thankfully she at least has Amarys at school. Until then though, they literally had no one else to hang out with, and they still only hang out with each other when they're home because the situation hasn't changed.