Responses
I think that is one of the manipulation methods Haruki uses. He deliberately confused Taichi (and readers) to make Taichi think about him all the time and make Taichi keep wondering what the meaning behind his behavior was, he selfishly just wants to make Taichi worry about his behavior only. And still don't want Taichi have a friends even though he knows Taichi can't really make friends lol
The childhood friend is obsessive, which I thought could be interesting. Like, why is he obsessed? What are things he does because of this? But when I read what he does it felt like he was strangely distant towards Tachi, the person he's supposedly obsessed with. For example, he's obsessed with Tachi but he goes out of his way to ignore him and spend time with their classmates instead, he even tells Tachi 'school is different'. When I first read this, I thought he was doing this to get a rise out of Tachi, or being purposefully mean. But the story seems to show him constantly with a pained expression, like it's Tachi who did something wrong/not understanding. So my confusion is, why do this? Why ignore Tachi the whole day, then act obsessed getting all up in there tasting his vomit after school Why do this? Just hang out with Tachi in school! he's already shown he can't really make friends on his own and if y'all hang he won't be mad at you, ain't he the most important guy to u?
On a separate note, I really hope Tachi learns how to communicate to people. I've experienced fake people before, it's never pleasant when they act super close when they want to and drop you when it's inconvenient, it sucks! So I get where Tachi is coming from, that he resents childhood friend for doing this and not taking the hint to shoo! But it's clear he doesn't really know how to express his emotions effectively, and it's in the way of his goal; to break free from childhood friend and connect with others.
Overall, I hope the author drops some context to why these two act like this, cuz as of right now I'm not very sure why Tachi is so awkward (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and why childhood friend is so contradictory (there's alot wrong with that...)