Let’s talk about the head pat:
I know I said in my previous post that I was done with the Ayame posts…but this is actually more about Yuki. So yeah, lol. Anyway!
This is a pretty important action. In Japanese culture, an adult patting the head of a child is a way to show praise, love, and other positive feelings of affection. When Ayame pats Yuki’s head here, it is a full on pat. His hand is palm down on top of Yuki’s head and there is a slight bit of pressure that makes it feel real and authentic to Yuki. You can see it on his face. The mixture of surprise that his brother is there and a sort of comfort.
Compare that with the “head pat” that little Yuki received from his mother in the flashback:
It was not directly on top of the head like Ayame’s pat was. It’s in the front of his head and as the scene continues, she physically pushes him backwards with the head pat and in the end it looks like this:
Her fingers are the prominent part of her hand patting Yuki’s head, and it looks more like she is just patting his hair really. It’s from a pretty far distance too, like she is using the head pat to keep Yuki away from her. It feels shallow, fake, utterly performative. And the way she pushed him backwards with it also fits in with her being physically abusive towards Yuki (we’ve seen her slap him in a previous flashback).
There is nothing comforting about this head pat. You can tell that Yuki gets no emotional healing or comfort from this pat. She’s using this fake cherry voice as she sings him empty praises about something Yuki doesn’t want and isn’t talking about. She doesn’t listen to him and is simply putting on a show - doing something she is “supposed” to do as a mother. That’s it.
By comparison, Ayame’s head pat is utterly natural. He waltz into the room, starts rambling nonsense about the rain, puts down a big ass bouquet of red roses, then directly addresses Yuki with “But worry not, Yuki!” and then his hand just lands firmly but softly atop Yuki’s head. There is no second thought, no physical abuse, no fake voice, and Ayame is actually directly addressing Yuki. They talked about the parent-teacher conferences before, Ayame knows Yuki’s worries since they discussed it a bit at his shop, and Ayame is pulling on that directly.
He lets Yuki know that he is there for him both verbally, through his words, and physically through the act of patting Yuki’s head. And he is keeping close to Yuki unlike their mother, who was super far from Yuki (even regardless of the Curse). Here Ayame is telling Yuki, “It’s okay. I’m here now. You’ve done great so far. Relax, I’ve got you.”
As a high school student, Yuki probably feels a bit of embarrassment over an action like this, since it is more reserved for kids, but I think his happiness and relief outweighs that. You can see just how glad and safe Yuki feels after that head pat. It’s precious! <3
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