I mentioned before how Rin's encounter with Yuji in the flashback is "opposite" of Yuko's when they knew Yuji during his middle school days.
I love how this episode kind of gives me that feelings.
These scenes parallel each other in ways that I just admire.
With Yuko, she experiences a gentle side of Yuji while Rin gets to witness a more violent side. Yuko's flashback is bathed in softer light while Rin's is more harsher.
Oddly enough, the person Yuji is protecting looks similar (Yuko and the guy being bullied). Other than protecting someone, in both scenes, Yuji is forced into doing it (not that he is opposing).
When the boys are talking about girls, they ask Yuji about the girl he likes. He states he doesn't have someone he likes but then they press him for an answer instead of taking his answer and moving on.
When Yuji encounters the bullies, he tells them to stop. Instead of listening, they attack and Yuji is then has to react.
Then there's the position of Yuko and the bullied victim (and Rin).
Yuko is eavesdropping and hears what Yuji says about her from the other side of the door before she walks away. This happens inside a school, in a closed space.
Rin and the victim witness full on Yuji taking on the bullies effortlessly out in the open outside.
The relationships are even something to consider and how they affect Yuko and Rin.
Yuko is someone Yuji actually remembers despite how different she looks the next time he sees her (after middle school) and has a friendly relationship with. There wasn't much in the story that tells us how much they did interact, but we know Yuji does think Yuko is a cool person and attentive to her elegance and thoughtfulness and didn't mind taking a picture with her on their graduation day.
Yuko was a loner, as we don't see anyone interact with other much. She is insecure about herself because of how she looks. Yet, Yuji is able to look past her looks. Yuko didn't.
When we're introduced to Yuko, she is worried about Yuji having a girlfriend and if he would like how she looks now (taller and skinnier). Clearly, despite having heard what Yuji did like about her, Yuko was focused on her looks. Fortunately, she chooses to not reveal her feelings for Yuji because she didn't want him to like her for her looks.
Now given that Yuko doesn't show up again until the epilogue, we don't know if she actually worked on loving herself (as she should). However, we can see that she likes Yuji and there is that chance she and him may develop a closer relationship and she gets to know him. And given her choice to not tell Yuji about her feelings before and the second time they meet, I will say this may be a sign that she will eventually learn to love herself.
Rin is someone Yuji forgotten even though he looks no different than when they first encountered each other (when Yuji was a middle schooler and Rin a high schooler) and at first, Yuji did not have a relationship at all with. Rin was just a follower of those bullies. He chooses to side with the people who target others out of their own pride and he does this to avoid being a target himself. This makes him complicit. Unlike Yuko, Rin chooses to be a part of the crowd.
Like Yuko, we can see Rin does harbor some insecurities. Hers isolated her while his is what places him as a follower and a coward and even what makes Rin cling to Yuji later in the story. Luckily, Rin does grow out of this as he does start to act on his own (examples being him saving Hana and apologizing to the bullied kid).
It's both Yuji's gentleness and violence that do positively affect them in some way.
I won't lie, Middle School!Yuji is another instance of how Yuji reminds me of Sukuna.
They both wear white and have some kind of reputation that even leads them into having a title (Sukuna → King of Curses, Yuji → Tiger of West Middle). They're loners, despite being surrounded by people. It's their aggression and gentleness that leads to someone clinging to them or following them out of either fear or admiration.
