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Ben is not even written to be a smart person, he's very misguided that some of the main cast calls him out on it. Does he change throughout the story? I don't think so but I'm kinda hoping there would be a trajectory with his character where he ends up becoming an anti-villain of sorts, it'd be different to see that.

I'm defending Carlos's new appearance here and say that him looking alot older than the rest of the cast does make sense. Not only it ties into his mature personality but here's another reason:

Carlos is always frowning, in real life frowning more often can actually make you look older because it causes wrinkles (if you look closely, Carlos already has prominent frown lines ) granted, smiling and other facial expressions do cause wrinkles but there's this misconception about how it takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 muscles to frown (that might be true but other research kinda contradicts that). The point is that Carlos would look more younger if he smiles more but it makes sense that he looks older because it not only ties into his mature personality but also smiling seems to be an indication of Carlos's character development.

(Spoilers for Carlos's route)

I analyzed Carlos way too much because I love him lmao

I'm starting to think Carlos has a HUGE inferiority complex that he always hides behind a mask, that mask being his perpetual need to be a perfectionist. This is due to holding himself in such a high standard that he even thrusts this on others in order to feel superior by being the better example. It's his way of seeking validation, if he thinks of himself as better than other people then all his problems would just go away. That's why he's very overly critical towards the others (mostly Ben and Bryan), assumes the worst of people, highly competitive or the perpetual need to prove himself, mood swings, and even making others feel insecure of their abilities. So what happens when somebody calls him out for his BS or when he fails to meet his high standards? Well, that's when you get too see the real Carlos. After being called out by his brother about how his behavior caused pain in others, it's that realization that stabbed Carlos extremely hard (harder than his facial scar lmao) that he felt like he's nothing but a failure, being reminded all over again about how much of a burden he truly feels deep inside. Carlos already hates himself for being a gay man as he seems to repress it hard because he believes he brought shame to his family because of that, now add another cut through his skin about how he was the one who feels responsible for his brother's downfall. It's his choices and actions that he feels extremely guilty of, not to mention the anxiety he got from it, that he goes as far as to put people beneath him just to feel better about himself and once he realizes what a huge mistake he's been doing, it felt like everything had been crushed to pieces, he felt like he had no one due to pushing people away, he felt like no one truly cared for him, he felt alone, depressed and that he got nothing else to live for. Carlos would've broke down... if it wasn't for Ben being there for him (could you imagine if Carlos went alone to visit his brother, what would've happened to him instead..?).  I find it ironic that Carlos believes that the actions of other people is what he sees as genuine yet Carlos is the least genuine person between the main love interests just solely based on his actions. If he's finally able to overcome his inferiority complex instead of hiding it by all that superiority then he could be so much happier. He's a deeply flawed yet complex and morally grey character, he's not entirely bad but he isn't entirely good either (man I love the writing for this VN).