The following contains spoilers for Episode 18 of Komi Can't Communicate, "It's Just Everyone's New Years," now streaming on Netflix.
Makoto Katai is the latest newcomer to Hitohito Tadano's circle of friends in Komi Can't Communicate Season 2. Despite his tough exterior, Katai is far from being a school bully or a delinquent. Instead, he's a really nice guy looking for meaningful human connection, but like Shoko Komi, he struggles to initiate conversation due to paralyzing social anxiety. Luckily for Katai, Tadano is highly skilled at reading the room and is able to figure out what he's thinking before he even says anything. This is enough for Katai to befriend Tadano, and the two boys have remained in contact ever since.
Katai makes a comeback in Episode 18 for two stories: "It's Just Everyone's New Years" and "It's Just Ice Skating." In the first story, Najimi Osana plans a social gathering at the local shrine to properly greet the new year and for friends to hang out. During the winter break, Katai has been continuing to work out with his personal trainer and hasn't spent time with anyone else. When he got a surprise call from Tadano to invite him to the shrine with the rest of his group of friends, he was elated. The invite even inspired him to plan another social outing with Tadano.
In the second story of Episode 18, "It's Just Ice Skating," a few days have passed since Katai and Tadano were at the shrine and had since been making plans for their next outing. Katai settles on ice skating, even though he's never done it before. What's intriguing, however, is that he doesn't want another major social outing with friends; he just wants to spend more time with Tadano, which implies he has a bit of a crush on him. This becomes more evident after Katai invites him to go ice skating and the latter asks if he can bring two more friends with him, in this case Komi and Najimi. Katai agrees on letting more friends join in, though internally, he wanted exclusive time with Tadano.
At the ice skating rink, only Tadano and Komi meet with Katai as Najimi already had plans. Komi and Katai immediately get shaky around each other as Komi still thinks Katai might be a delinquent, and Katai still thinks Komi is a master communicator who is checking in on his progress.
Interestingly, Tadano doesn't try to help Katai and Komi understand each other better by pointing out that they both struggle with extreme social anxiety as a way of explaining their awkward behavior. Instead, he tries to diffuse the situation by reminding Katai he had lunch with Komi before and is now on Komi's friend list. Katai doesn't quite understand what this means but rolls with it since he already sees himself as Komi's apprentice.
When the three of them get on the ice, Tadano quickly learns Katai doesn't actually know how to ice skate, though this doesn't stop him from trying to impress. On his first try, Katai falls on his back and slides down the ice, embarrassing himself. Tadano then asks Komi if she knows how to ice skate, and she states that she doesn't. Tadano realizes he needs to teach both of his friends how to skate, very similarly to how Maison Ikkoku's Kyoko Otonashi had to teach her two male suitors -- Yusaku Godai and Shun Mitaka -- how to ice skate. What differs in Komi Can't Communicate is that neither Katai nor Komi are competing with each other for Tadano's affections; they are genuinely interested in learning how to move on the ice.
Tadano teaches Komi first since she's the first to accidentally slide down the ice, and he catches up with her to keep her from falling. He then holds her hand to guide her skating, and even teaches her how to stop. This entails turning her foot a certain way, though not too much since she could accidentally turn around. Komi messes up her footing and ends up touching Tadano on the chest, which embarrasses them both. Katai, on the other hand, completely misreads Tadano's instruction of Komi. Instead, he thinks Komi is demonstrating for him how to improve his friendship with Tadano, which leads Katai to conclude he needs to hold Tadano's hand. The thought of that actually makes him happy.
When it's Katai's turn to be instructed, he once again falls on his back, but this time Tadano catches him, which makes Katai blush. He then holds Tadano's hand and allows him to guide is skating, just like he envisioned. Though Tadano merely thinks he's teaching a friend how to ice skate, Katai thinks he is getting closer to Tadano, which makes him feel elated. More than he's interested in improving his communication skills, he's just happy to have someone in his life who understands him, which makes him very similar to Komi. It'll be interesting to see both of their reactions when Komi and Katai realize they're more alike than different.