Komaeda isn’t entirely to blame for how Seiko was treated
I just saw a post on this very topic and I thought I would throw my two cents in after looking in the seiko tag.
Let’s get one thing straight: Komaeda was to blame for the chaos on that day given the fact of how over the top his plan was, with many points of failure, without his negative luck effect being considered/factored in (Goddamnit, Komaedz u idiot lmao). I can definitely say that this was probably the most dramatic and worst way that Seiko and Ruruka’s ‘friendship’ could have ended.
Now you may wonder why I put friendship into quotation marks. If I’m quite honest, I don’t think that there was equal balance in their relationship. I think their friendship being ruined some sort of way was inevitable and to me, it’s clear from this episode. In the Future side, you see a clear divide between the three already; Ruruka and Izayoi vs. Seiko which indicates that something must have happened in the past for them to end up in such a dynamic. Here in the Despair side, you can see that one side of the friendship is give and the other is take To me, it still seemed that Seiko was being taken advantage of and an obvious example is having her talent being used to make Ruruka’s talent seem even greater in the exam. From what I’ve gathered, Seiko clearly has a much more timid kind of personality and is very dedicated to her work. She also wants to have friends around - this seems to be manipulated by Ruruka who seems to have a much more dominant and perhaps bossy personality.
Of course, I’m not going to deny the fact that Ruruka could easily have had genuine feelings of friendship toward Seiko. When she gets upset that Seiko won’t eat her sweets (can’t really I mean... the braces), it’s an indication that she may want to give something in return. After all, she’s close to Izayoi and gives him sweets all the time. Perhaps she wanted to do the same thing for Seiko? Considering this though does not discount the fact that Seiko wasn’t treated that well, with Ruruka using their friendship as leverage to get drugs from Seiko. Like I mentioned before, it seems rather manipulative.
Now... what if Ruruka had picked up the wrong drug anyway? What if she had misheard Seiko or forgot when she went to pick it up? What about a situation in which Komaeda had not arrived before Ruruka and Izayoi?
I feel as though that if she had ended up with the laxative without Komaeda’s luck influence, Ruruka’s reaction toward Seiko would have been the same. In the end, when it came to that drug, it was all about using Seiko’s talent for herself. She does not think at all about the possibility of having fucked up and picking up the wrong drug. She doesn’t have a thought in her mind of “maybe I should have checked with her I picked the right one” No. Immediately her first thought is to blame Seiko blindly. Now granted, in a situation like that where you’ve been embarrassed in front of so many people, you’re going to be in a frenzy. It just bothers me how when Ruruka essentially ‘has no filter on’, she blames Seiko and denies their friendship so quick.
In regard the extent of their friendship over time, how close they were may or may not be explained with flashbacks or references across the two sides. It has been revealed to us that they have known each other a long time ,and of course I have to consider the fact that feelings of friendship could easily be genuine and exist between the two. The details of their friendship we will probably never know. After all, the Despair season will have 12 episodes and we are already a third of a way through. I don’t think there will be time to explore other significant moments in their friendship. However, I don’t think it was a healthy friendship at all so like I said; the ending of this friendship was inevitable.
