The following contains spoilers for Episode 20 of Komi Can't Communicate, “It's Just The School Field Trip,” now streaming on Netflix.
Makoto Katai and Shisuto Naruse are Hitohito Tadano's newest friends in Season 2 of Komi Can't Communicate. Despite Katai's outward appearance of looking like a violent delinquent, he's actually one of the sweetest guys in Tadano's group of friends, who is strongly implied to have a crush on Tadano. He isn't the only hyper masculine-looking boy who gives off strong gay vibes, however. As the latest newcomer, Naruse also displays his fair share of gay behavior, most notably in Episode 20, “It's Just the School Field Trip”.
For the planned school trip to Kyoto, the homeroom teacher of Tadano's class assigns her students into groups of three boys and three girls, with no mixing of genders. This proves to be fortuitous for Katai as this means he'll get to not only be in the same group as Tadano, but he'll even get to sleep in the same room as him when they get to their hotel room in Kyoto. To Katai's good fortune, it plays out exactly like that: he gets placed in a group with Tadano and Naruse and even get a room together, along with three other boys who are reputed to be their class delinquents.
On their first day in Kyoto, all three boys carry on like they normally do on an ordinary day: Katai struggles with social situations due to extreme social anxiety, and Naruse continues to admire himself in front of others. At one point, he welcomes two teenage girls to take his picture, even though they specifically request that he take their picture in front of a historic site. Tadano, of course, ends up spending time with Shoko Komi, who follows him wherever he goes.
It's not until the class goes to their first Japanese-style hotel for the night that Tadano gets to spend some quality time with Katai and Naruse, which also proves to be one of the gayest nights of his life. After being assigned a time slot to use the hotel's public bath by their teacher, Tadano, Naruse, and Katai join the three delinquent boys in their group to the men's bath, where they end up doing a lot more than just taking a bath together. Despite the three delinquent boys being intimidated by Katai's enormous size at first, they start to feel more comfortable around him when Naruse takes notice of him.
As the boy who's used to having the most attractive body in his class, Naruse finds himself quite impressed by Katai's physique and even admires the care he puts into his body. When Katai forgets to bring his skin lotion, Naruse offers his own and uses that opportunity to talk to Katai about his body care habits before requesting that he take off his clothes. At first, Naruse's request causes Katai's social anxiety to flare up as he doesn't know what to make of Naruse's strange request. Fortunately for Katai, however, his intentions are soon made clear.
After trying out a variety of outlandish positions, Naruse and Katai manage to find the best poses for a photo session. The photographer who is tasked with shooting Naruse and Katai together in poses that show off their attractive bodies is Tadano. At first, Tadano doesn't know what to make of Naruse's request, but soon eases up when the three delinquent boys decide to join in, thinking the photo shoot looks like a fun activity to partake in. Together, all five boys pose together and Tadano ends up taking various photos of them.
During the photo session, Tadano finds himself having fun and appears to warm up to the idea of being friends with Naruse. Not only does Naruse turn out to be a really nice guy who is fun to be around, but he isn't as narcissistic as others make him out to be. Unlike an actual narcissist who feels a need to maintain a level of superiority and competes with others who threaten that position, Naruse is genuinely welcoming of Katai and enjoys the fact he has found a kindred spirit with him.
With Naruse and Katai now being firmly established as friends thanks to their mutual love of body care, this sets up more exciting interactions between them in the future, complete with homoerotic text. Additionally, by having Naruse and Katai within his circle of friends, this affords Tadano the opportunity to expand his social interactions outside of Komi and Najimi Osana, which creates interesting opportunities for character growth.
If Tadano had fun with a photo shoot he didn't think he'd enjoy, there's a good chance he'll be able to discover other aspects of himself he's not yet aware of, thanks to Naruse and Katai being able to take him out of his comfort zone.