Mishima is the only one of my blorbos who gets so bullied by canon that I have no courage to bully him further. I'm glad you give him all the fluff and fuzzy!

Do you have any headcanons for how he interacts with other confidants? I could see Akira introducing him to Yoshida, and asking Yoshida to offer him a job.

nah you can totally bully him harder it’s fine Mishima may have a little fluff after the Kamoshida arc. As a treat 😂

I think Mishima still retains a somewhat isolated social life throughout the course of the game tbh. He strikes me as someone who desperately wishes for meaningful human connection but doesn’t know how to go about establishing relationships, especially since he’s been bullied and friendless most of his life. Even the beginning of his confidant with Joker reads as a very professional/transactional one because of the Phansite. Of course Mishima does go through his own arc of discovering his self-worth yadda yadda but man does canon Joker really not enjoy his presence lmao, idk if you could call that an “unbreakable bond” honestly

If canon is to be believed and he’s been ostracised throughout middle school then I don’t think he’d have the social skills/experience to make friends easily either ): That one confidant rank between Joker, Futaba and Mishima still makes me cringe when he’s all like “pog you’re so pretty you must be one of those cam girl streamers k e k haha it’s a joke get it” like damn boy my face is collapsing in on itself you’ve made a blackhole thanks. I like to think Mishima goes home afterwards and screams into a pillow vowing never to speak again just so he doesn’t have the chance to make an ass of himself, but then he wakes up the next day and looks into the mirror all “the Phantom Thieves would definitely be lost without me, I’m totally not a zero or anything >:c” Mishima having the barest self awareness makes it really funny in a tragic sort of way 😂 like dude stop hitting yourself

This part definitely strays into headcanon territory, but I think he’d try to fill up his free time by hanging out in the busy parts of Tokyo (assuming he somehow pulled himself away from the Phansite), or pursuing other hobbies like volleyball — anything to stave off his loneliness really. Getting into vaguely heated discussions in the off topic forums of the Phansite is probably his favourite past time lmao (idk what he’d talk about but it’s def some deep nerd shit)

I guess Ryuji and Mishima could have a friendship of sorts off-screen? Especially since it’s mentioned that they work out sometimes (which brings me so much joy ;_; ) I could definitely see the both of them talk out their shared trauma from Kamoshida if they ever let themselves be mutually vulnerable enough. Ryuji’s a friendly enough extrovert that he could help to bridge the awkward gap between Mishima and other acquaintances, then anything could happen from there really