#mob’s also no stranger to mixing affection and resentment.

[daisyachain]

I like an interpretation both where Mob is fond of Teru and a little cheesed that he is. A) fits with the 100% arc B) it’s fun. Mob does consider Teru a friend. More than that, he thinks of him as admirable. Impressive. Teru’s the smart, popular guy who can talk to people and get girls, he’s saved Mob’s beloved little bro a couple of times and he’s a reliable substitute if he needs time away from S&S. They’re not the besties of besties, but in day to day life Mob really looks up to him and does care about him.

In the depths of Mob’s subconscious though, he remembers what it was that Teru did to him. 100% doesn’t just go berserk, he intentionally hurts Teru in a way that parallels what he did to Mob. So Mob hates him then—does he? His truest self lashes out where it could never hurt Ritsu…except 100% isn’t his truest self. That’s what the anime cut that I hate the most, which is Mob and 100% negotiating. 100% is instinct and base emotion, Mob is the conscious regulation, and Mob really does care about Teru as a friend. Hurting him drives him to consciousness and then to tears. Teru awakens the kind, careful Mob even as a part of Mob just wants a rematch.

Neither part of Shigeo can be removed. The 100% can’t be denied and the Mob can’t be buried. I think his relationship with Teruki should express that duality and the way I like to see it played out is Mob being hopeful and happy that the cool guy on the block offers him unconditional support. He gets used to hanging out with Teru. He gets used to always having him somewhere in the back of his mind as the person who can be him when he can’t be him (cf previous post about Teru being the substitute when Mob is out for an arc). He just sometimes wishes that the person who is always so kind, lovely, witty, who makes him feel so comfortable—he wishes it was anybody else. But it’s not! The guy who did the worst things in the world to him is someone he can’t help but like, and that’s what’s interesting to me