Probably one of the biggest problems with analysing something is the tendency to go from one thing to another in a very specific-non-specific vibe sort of way that accumulates and amplifies heavily in a certain order (some AuDHD-pilled nonsense I guess) and then proceed to lose base with others early on. See: my rant about the diner scene memory which was prompted by me waking up in cold sweat at 3am thinking 'hey hey what the actual hell, Karua!?!'
Reason being that a bit prior, I'd found that post about Takumi having wounded his sense of identity and self worth for the sake of upholding a 'male role model' image, and I felt vindicated. What followed was a realisation he was codependent on Karua in a similar way to how Ima was on Kako. Bear in mind that up to this point, I'd thought of identity issues, of a source for instability, and posited that Takumi could be a transfemme egg (Matrix theming, yey!). So you could imagine my horror when I thought back on the diner scene in hindsight and recalled that Karua was twisting Takumi's arm into saying the promise, so that she would forgive him for forgetting about her. That same promise. That likely caused Takumi's self worth issues. As if he could even distance from her at all, most of the time.
This... sure left a bad taste in my mouth. Note that at this point, I kind of forgot that later on Karua spends a lot of time getting 'carried away'- in hindsight, it felt like trying to compensate for her relying on Takumi, to the point of making herself sick over it. She would then proceed to take rest while Takumi took over what she was doing, and to tell him at the end that she would help him out 'no matter the cost', if he was in any trouble. To which he thought she was 'getting carried away' again- because wow, where did this come from all the sudden?
I feel like I have a stronger appreciation for that scene, now.