just because this friendship is necessary to the continuation of the game, it should have been presented better by the game, instead it is "imposed".
and it's not a question of help (even if I don't see why Maya and Josy as friends, or Bella, couldn't help MC anyway to fix his room) but of relationship (not even a phone call for a birthday wish...).
the Lis are more acquaintances than friends, but they are quite intrusive
even worse after a rejection, remaining at the last chapter: Jill has all the reasons in the world to want to keep her distance from MC, even if she kept him out of every decision, but how can they remain friends?
We all know that the friendship of Tremolo with the girls that he rejects as romantic interest is a narrative resource to maintain them into the main plot of the game. But it´s a narrative resource that not always works. Let´s see:
- Jill: let´s imagine that Tremolo doesn´t want a romantic relationship with her. Let´s say that her smile scares the shit out of him or whatever. Jill helps Tremolo when Chad assaults him. That´s reason enough to maintain a friendship with her. She´s clearly a nice girl and Tremolo is grateful. Also, she covers Tremolo´s back with Tybald after Tremolo´s shenanigans at the prep´s party. Makes sense that, even if he´s not in Jill´s route, he learns to play the song for her, helps her in the concert and in general try to be a good friend for her.
- Bella: again, let´s imagine that Tremolo only want to be a friend of Bella´s. Makes sense since she´s old, married and a teacher. Bella helps him when he´s naked in the parking lot, reason enough to be grateful. Also she´s really understanding when he goes drunk to the
date dinner, and also is a teacher. It´s always good to have a good relationship with a teacher if you are a student. Again, makes sense that Tremolo cultivates and maintains that friendship.
- Sage: I can´t possibly imagine a reason why Tremolo wouldn´t want a sexual and romantic relationship with that bombshell, but whatever. Let´s imagine that. Sage tries to manipulate Tremolo at the beginning of the game to spy Chad, and Tremolo ends up being a target of Chad and the Alphas. Its not a good beginning for a friendship. Actually, I don´t like that presentation of the character of Sage at all. But we can´t change it, so... Then Sage keeps asking for favors: teach me how to play guitar, teach me self defense... It makes sense if Tremolo is looking for something, but spending so much time with a girl that is mostly asking for things and that is a potential source of troubles with a half-man half-gorilla like Chad, only by "friendship"... I don´t thin so.
I think there is a good reason why Tremolo would want to be friend of Sage: he can met the other HOTs thanks to his friendship with Sage. But that should be explained with a line of dialogue or some kind of interior monologue of Tremolo. It´s plausible that Tremolo wants to be Sage´s friend, but it´s not well explained.
- Quinn: Again, let´s think that Tremolo only wants to be a friend of Quinn and nothing more. A DIK Tremolo would like that kind of "bad" girl and he would enjoy the banter with her. Again, it´s difficult to see Tremolo looking only for friendship with a girl like Quinn. It always makes more sense if he looks for sex with a girl like her. She doesn´t seem to be the kind of girl that has real friends, she seems to be always looking for something or having a hidden agenda with all the people she met. But again, she´s the vice-president of the HOTs, and a good relationship with her could lead to a good relationship with the other HOTs, so it could make sense, if it were better explained.
- Maya & Josy: Tremolo is forced to fall for them, or at least have a big crush for the both of them. And then he discovers that they are actually lesbians, into a relationship, and have been manipulating him. Also, they are a big source of drama and problems. There is no way in hell that a boy with two testes and half of a brain would want to be a friend of them. The only possibility to maintaining a relationship with them would be Tremolo wanting to be bigamous, or wanting to steal Josy from Maya, or Maya from Josy. Maya is Derek´s sister, and Derek is Tremolo´s friend. Well, makes sense that Tremolo would maintain a correct relationship with her to not make Derek uncomfortable, but never a real friendship. But actually, Tremolo spends even more time with them that with the Li that he wants as a couple. It doesn´t make sense at all. That´s why I think that M&J characters have been hammered into the plot and the game would be better without them. IMO, DPC should have reserved them for a dedicated game. A linear VN in which the player only has they as LIs, or something. I would not play it, but I suppose it would have its public. But DPC has created the backbone of the plot around two characters that shouldn´t have any special relationship with the MC, unless the player is clearly following their route. Thats a great mistake, IMO. M&J don´t belong to BaDIK.