My two cents on their relationship is that Kyouji at first innocently picked out Satomi to...

My two cents on their relationship is that Kyouji at first innocently picked out Satomi to be his teacher as a serious joke but then got attached (we only have 2 chapters but they were talking for months in the story plot) and started to weirdly groom him? Satomi was just a middle schooler so he got attached pretty easily to a strange and weird older guy that paid special attention to him, especially at the time of his youth where kids crave that. At home his family is kinda just “there” for him, and at school he isn’t particularly interesting and nobody really cares about him.

Then after lowkey traumatising Satomi, Kyouji decided to distance himself from him, probably because he wasn’t sure what was developing and didn’t want to “mislead” the kid, but ultimately decided against his better judgment and re-entered Satomi’s with a new tattoo that was a punishment. Obviously, I think he planned this sht out. Re-entering Satomi’s life as it takes a new direction, with words of affection and basically a branding that he knew Satomi would hate, he purposefully came just at this moment. Not to mention, this was all purely on Kyouji, he is the one setting the terms. Hence makes my grooming point even more valid.

Then after sometime later, Satomi hating that tattoo starts getting a job that is pretty hard on him, yet his will to get it off and “cut” Kyouji off is strong. Kyouji on the other hand is kinda there? He’s like a dog, he comes whenever Satomi calls, he buys whatever Satomi wants, he talks back whenever Satomi texts first. Satomi has a high bond to Kyouji through being imprinted on in his childhood, and the tattoo. Kyouji has nothing, we don’t see his pov on Satomi, but it’s clear his strongest motivation to stay is something hidden.

Anyways, Satomi gets confused about this whole ordeal, their relationship only exists on Satomi’s turn, it’s superficial, and unless Satomi initiates, Kyouji will never cross the line. Hence when he set the boundary of “once you get your gift, we won’t see or talk to each other” and Kyouji agreed, he got scared that his decision is too “drastic” and instinctively hugged him to keep him. Kyouji obviously knew this would happen, let’s not forget he’s the adult here, he knows and has experience with relationships. He isn’t dumb and knows how to push and pull.

Satomi then cringes and realises that this superficial relationship is being kept up by something deeper than just the tattoo and gets confused, leading to uncovering that it’s “less than love, deeper than like”, a weird in-between where it’s dependent on their weird start, him thinking this relationship would be more developed with Kyouji out of yakuza, superficial talks that lead to nowhere but keep him around, and Kyouji’s ability to keep Satomi around his finger.

Satomi confused af, asks Kyouji “what do you want from me?? What are we??” And Kyouji, in a typical situationship fashion, responds vaguely with “whatever you want me to be to you”. This makes Satomi think, that if he were to ask Kyouji to be together, would he actually say yes? Which spirals him to conclusion that there is at least some form of like there, confirming it to his friends. He then asks Kyouji to meet up to “confirm” something, that being, if he were to ask Kyouji to stay forever with him, would he agree, and how far could he push Kyouji to prove the “whatever you want me to be” point. This comes with him asking him to leave yakuza, which sadly he got a no, but asking him to stay with him forever and always, which he got a yes. Kyouji obviously loves this, and again there is some feelings pushing him to be at Satomi’s beck and call, when he can just leave the moment Satomi calls, without even telling anyone. Also him repeating “confirm something” clearly anticipating some kind of realisation from Satomi.

Anyways, we also finally get a glimpse of Kyouji’s thoughts on Satomi, in the text he sends to one of the guys, referring to Satomi as ♡, and even just not explaining who he is, as the other knows very well who he’s referring to, despite Satomi not being introduced to any of the guys since the last time (middle school), so it’s evident Kyouji talks about Satomi in certain context for the heart to not get weird reactions. Also him getting angry with the reporter, I highly suspect cuz of Satomi, he wouldn’t care otherwise, but he bothered Satomi and is clearly trailing him now, so he needed him gone.