The following contains spoilers for Episode 19 of Komi Can't Communicate, "It's Just a Misunderstanding," now streaming on Netflix.
Komi Can't Communicate Season 2 began to expand its cast of characters with the introduction of Makoto Katai in Episode 13. Katai also lives with extreme social anxiety, which makes it difficult for him to communicate with other students at Itan Private High School, making him very similar to Shoko Komi. After befriending Tadano and Komi, Katai has become a recurring character throughout the season, having last appeared in Episode 18.
Now that Katai is somewhat firmly established, Episode 19 introduces a brand-new character to join Komi and Tadano's group of friends: Shisuto Naruse. As his name suggests, Naruse is the class narcissist whose name is an obvious pun on the word "narcissist" when written in the Japanese name order. Introduced in a similar fashion to Katai, Naruse introduces a fictionalized version of himself to viewers while his friend Chusaku Kometani "translates" what he's really communicating to the viewer.
In his own mind, Naruse considers himself the handsome protagonist of Komi Can't Communicate. He is obsessed with his own appearance, takes extremely good care of his hair, and just like Narcissus from Greek mythology, he loves staring at his own reflection. He claims that admiring his reflection makes him feel better after a stressful day, and when he's not obsessing over his looks, Naruse is obsessing over western pop music idol Justice Beaver (an obvious reference to Canadian singer Justin Bieber).
One day when Naruse shows up in class, he notices that in the nine months he's been in school, he hasn't been noticed by Komi, which concerns him. When he speculates on the reasons she hasn't been talking to him, he correctly assumes it's due to social anxiety. He then changes his mind and decides she's just waiting for him to approach her. In his opinion, she's the only classmate with a beautiful body comparable to his own, and imagines her seeing him as the "honey bee" to her "flower." With this mindset, Naruse decides to take initiative and introduce himself to Komi.
As Naruse approaches Komi, he is immediately interrupted by his classmates, who seek to protect her against him. Naruse interprets his classmates' behavior as them being his fans and that they are jealous of Komi for having his attention. Of course, none of his classmates actually like him, but it still makes him happy to think they were "looking out" for him. While it may seem as though Naruse is full of himself, his "narcissism" may be surface level or just a phase he's going through. This becomes more clear when he is threatened by an actual narcissist like Ren Yamai, who wants him to stay away from Komi.
Unlike Naruse, Yamai does possess many of the hallmarks associated with the clinical definition of narcissism: she lacks empathy for others and has a grandiose sense of self-importance. She feels entitled to Komi and tries to love-bomb her as a way of manipulating her behavior, and also craves admiration and special treatment from Komi. Yamai has her golden children and scapegoats among her group of friends, and responds poorly to criticism. She also exaggerates her own achievements and takes advantage of others, including Komi.
While Naruse does fantasize about his own beauty and success, his shallow behavior is no match for Yamai's genuinely narcissistic behavior. When Naruse finally gets the chance to talk to Komi, he doesn't try to win her affection by love-bombing her the way an actual narcissist would. Instead, he tries to get her number by impressing her with his looks. He doesn't succeed, but he does manage to get Tadano's number and tries to impress him with sexy selfies of himself. While this confirms that Naruse also craves admiration, it's once again not to the level of Yamai, who tends to violate personal boundaries on a much higher level.
