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The core difference between Yuuto and Kiriya (aside from the fact that Yuuto is on a real show and Kiriya is from the purely fictitious post-cancellation “episodes” of Hibiki) is in the motivations behind their behavior. Kiriya (pretending he exists, for the sake of argument) was a selfish dick who was motivated primarily by his own entitlement. Yuuto, on the other hand, is a nice and caring person; we see that in the glimpses of his future self. He acts like a dick, though, because of his situation and how he chooses to handle it.

Yuuto is a teenager - I’m not sure how old exactly he’s supposed to be, but he’s probably about the same age as Ryotaro. He’s been caught up in the events of the show for reasons we’ll find out later, though, so he’s doing what a lot of teenagers would do in this kind of situation: trying to act like he’s super cool and in complete control of what’s happening. He’s a jerk to Ryotaro because he wants Ryotaro to think that he’s this awesome badass who totally knows what’s going on and who’s way cooler than that Den-O loser. But, as we see with him buying the vest and getting coffee, he’s absolutely still just an immature teenager.

One of the many, many great things about Deneb is that he not only completely ignores all of Yuuto’s bluster, but simultaneously calls him out on it while apologizing for it. I hadn’t made the Jiiya/Tsurugi connection before (probably because, like I’ve said before, Kabuto did not stick in my long term memory), but it’s very much that kind of dynamic. The core difference is that Deneb tries to compensate for Yuuto’s worst impulses instead of enabling them.