I got the feeling that Yamasaki never feared Hatakeyama as much as he feared his own feelings. He feared being just a plaything for Hatakeyama since Hatakeyama never clarified his feeling for Yamasaki before his first "attack". This tells me that Yamasaki wanted a deeper relationship than sex friends. A hetero will not care if a gay guy is hitting on him for a one night stand or asking to marry him, he's gonna flat reject the offer. The same applies to anyone faced with being hit on by someone they really don't like. It's a flat rejection, not an, "I don't want to be your toy." Yamazaki was also afraid of eventual rejection due to his "boring" personality, as his first girlfriend so delicately put it. Yamasaki even admits this much later in the manga. He gave Hatakeyama mixed signals because he wasn't sure of his own feelings himself. He wanted something from Hatakeyama, but he just didn't know exactly what that was until he knew Hatakeyama not only loved him now, but had loved him from the start. Human minds are adept at filling in blank spaces. Unfortunately, what our minds fill in to those spaces is often wrong. So, we kinda need to see a full picture before it "clicks" in our heads what it is we're really seeing. When Yamasaki heard how his presence had changed Hatakeyama's life for the better, it finally "clicked". He finally saw the real picture instead of what his mind had been filling in.
I still found Yamasaki annoying and difficult, but I see all tsundere characters that way. If a real person acted the way tsundere manga characters act, they'd be hospitalized for schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder. LOL
This here is so true!!!
I appreciate how the mangaka went for the realistic characterization for Yamasaki and I love that; but at first, Yamasaki was a typical mary sue. He was the kind, down to earth guy who's only known for being clumsy at work. This made him less realistic.
I get where people are going and I do think Yamasaki's response to being almost assaulted is very appropriate and human. The thing is he's being portrayed as a good guy but in actuality he's not. That's why a lot of readers hate him.
Yamasaki never asked to be loved by Hatakeyama, so it would be normal to him to ignore Hatakeyama's feelings, but outright twisting someone else's words for their own convenience is just harsh. He could have just rejected Hatakeyama, but he ended up putting words in Hatakeyama's mouth and that is not the right way to go.
Furthermore; if, say, he didn't like Hatakeyama at all or if he still considers Hatakeyama as dangerous, he would not have gone to the hotsprings with him - much less invite Hatakeyama together in the baths (Even if it's to prove a point. They were both alone in a secluded area.)
This kind of thing happened a few more times to the point someone might think twice if Yamasaki was doing this on purpose or not. I'm well aware Yamasaki never intended to.. say, "seduce" Hatakeyama, but he's putting his guard down wayyy low for someone he considers dangerous to be with.
Someone might argue it's because they both established that they are going to continue as friends that they can be THIS CLOSE - but you as a person; if someone told you their feelings and you rejected them, telling them you can only be friends, of course you wouldn't let them too close to you. This is why Yamasaki looked like he was leading Hatakeyama on and why it feels like he's toying with Hatakeyama's feelings. If a person knows their friend has feelings for them, they would usually set boundaries; but we weren't able to see those boundaries persist consistently through out the first few chapters.
Tl;dr: It looked like Yamasaki was leading Hatakeyama's feelings on that's why a lot of people hate him.
Yamasaki should have just turned down Hatakeyama firmly because it looks as if he's still leading Hatakeyama around by the leash with what he was doing. He never dumped him straightforwardly (which you should be doing in the first place if someone you know has had a crush on you for a long time and you don't like them) so of course the poor guy will think he still has a chance with Yamasaki if only he behaves. So you see, he's not entirely blameless either but I hate how the author placed all of the blame entirely on Hatakeyama.
Anyway this got too long Σ( ￣□￣||) I just want everyone to hear out some of the reasons as to why we hate Yamasaki.