______Warning: Contains spoilers!________
I really liked how, right from the first meeting with Haruki, you can feel how much more mentally mature and easygoing he is. The fact that he helped the protagonist start to “accept” and work through his own internal issues made the scene feel much deeper and more interesting, and it made me even more excited for their future interactions.
And also the scene with Mark after he comes back from the gardener’s cabin, when the protagonist calls him out and tells him some harsh truths — from his reaction, you can really tell through the writing how deeply it affected him mentally, and how he started rethinking the way he treats you. It made the scene much more captivating, intense, and emotional, to the point where you start sympathizing with and getting attached to him as a character, because it feels like there’s an actual reason behind the way he acts. I thought that moment was really important for the character development, because those are the moments where we truly see people evolve and grow as individuals.
And after punching the wall, the way he just hugs us and they fall asleep together in silence makes it feel like he genuinely cares about being with you. My spirit went absolutely crazy. I loved it.