Since my last aftg re-read I’ve been thinking a lot about Kevin Day, and specifically about whether the view we get of him through Neil’s eyes is accurate. Over the course of the series, Neil consistently fails to recognize subtext (relatable), particularly when it comes to emotions (i.e. Andrew being into him and Neil not picking up on it, Matt consistently trying to gently ask about his sexuality and Neil never really picking up on what he means, Neil being utterly confused about what the bets on him could be). Neil is, however, very open about and aware of his love for Exy: beyond being good at it or enjoying it, playing makes Neil feel human—it’s one of the first things we learn about him.
Since Kevin is also obsessed with Exy, this is the side of him that Neil sees most often. Almost all of their interactions are centered around Exy—even their conversations about the literal mafia are inextricable from the sport they play (thanks, Tetsuji), so it makes sense that, in book two, Neil is saying that “The only thing that mattered to Kevin was Exy,” especially when considering that both Andrew and Aaron make similar statements in some of their first interactions with Neil (“Where the court is, Kevin is. He can’t exist without it” and “Exy is the only thing he cares about,” respectively). Given Neil’s obsession with Kevin (the way he’s tracked his success and is fixated on his survival), it’s easy to forget that, at the beginning of the series, Neil doesn’t know Kevin. They played a game of Exy together once, years ago, and then didn’t meet again until Kevin came to recruit Neil for the Foxes. For years, all Kevin has been to Neil is a horrific memory and a set of Exy stats, so of course when they meet again in an environment centered around the sport, that obsession with the sport is all Neil sees. In many ways, I think Neil intertwines who Kevin is with who he is from the beginning: in the same breath as he’s saying Exy is “the only thing that made him feel real,” he’s stating that “Kevin was proof Neil was real.”
I don’t, however, think this is a complete view of Kevin. I think there are hints of this in the way that Andrew’s appraisal of Kevin differs from Neil’s and Aaron’s: not that Kevin only cares about Exy, but that he can’t exist without it—he’s tied to it. Andrew’s not making a sweeping claim about Kevin’s feelings so much as expressing his irritation with Kevin’s obsession with the sport, and he’s not wrong: Kevin is inextricably connected to Exy, not only because Tetsuji raised him to be the future of the sport alongside Riko, but because Exy is Kayleigh Day’s legacy, and so is Kevin’s life, and (at least in the eyes of the world) those two are never going to be fully separate. Even if they were, Kevin would choose Exy because he genuinely loves it (that much is evident in his dedication to practicing until he has his skills down just so, and in the choice of the Trojans, who rely on skill and teamwork and incredible understanding of the game to win, as his favorite team).
I think TSC in particular shines extra light on Kevin by giving us Jean’s view of him. Things as simply as his choice of major become much weightier—history is something Kevin is apparently so passionate about that he convinced Riko to study it with him and convinced Tetsuji to let them do it, even though Kevin’s literal purpose at the Nest was to be the best (or, I guess, second best) Exy player, and the stated purpose of the Ravens all sharing a major was because academics were seen as less important. Jean’s comment about how “Kevin saw nothing but the court, but Jean had stopped hoping for more than that years ago” initially seems to support Neil’s line of thought, but I think that’s a much more personal reflection from Jean, really, because the rest of Jean’s narration shows a much different version of Kevin than we see through Neil’s eyes. Even though Jean has more reason than maybe anyone to feel that Kevin cares only about Exy, given the way he left the Nest, Jean recognizes that this isn’t true. He trusts in Kevin’s care for him, trusts his judgment in sending him to the Trojans.
Kevin’s care for other people doesn’t often come through, and I think that’s a combination of the way that he is as a person and the way that he’s painted in Neil’s narration. He definitely has moments of being incredibly callous (e.g. when Seth dies and when Andrew is being taken off his meds), but he also does truly care about people. He cares about Andrew, even if his “make Andrew care about Exy so he has a will to live” strategy is deeply flawed. He cares about Jean, evidenced by the magnets and postcards he would give him ad the work he put into setting things up so Jean could be on a team where he was safe even giving up some of his own secrets in the process. he cares about Neil, who he encourages to run (even though that would destroy the Foxes’ season) and tries to stop from going to Evermore at Christmas and trains every night by request, even though they both think Neil will die, and stands up to Riko for.
More than anything, I think the biggest evidence that Kevin cares about more than Exy is the faith that he has in people, time and time again, because that faith is in such contrast to his standard disdain for people. He has faith in Wymack taking him in (Jean says that he never doubted it), faith that Andrew will protect him at the Foxhole Court, faith that Jean will help Neil at Evermore, faith that Neil has a bright future. After a childhood spent mired in, at the very least, intense emotional abuse, it’s honestly amazing that he’s able to move forward with that sort of trust in people.
All that to say: I think there’s a lot more to Kevin than we see, and I especially think there’s a lot more to him than Exy. What’s his favorite period of history to study? Did he spend a lot of time picking out the magnets for Jean on his trips? When did he start drinking to try to stop his emotions (something that Neil never deeply addresses but which is a whole different post because this is already FAR too long)? What did he think when he first found out Wymack was his father? When he re-read Kayleigh’s letter over and over again, was it because he was reveling in knowing who his father was or because it was a tangible piece of the mother that he’d lost? Was he even worse about critiquing Andrew & Nicky et al. about their food choices when he first arrived at PSU because of the Ravens’ diet thing? I need to know everything about him that isn’t his love for Exy.
