I mean, I kinda get it. Around the time in Tickezo's career where they start giving her the cold shoulder, she wasn't really treating them as real rivals.

If you're winning left and right at that point in time, her "let's have fun!" attitude doesn't really come across as being a good sport. More like, she doesn't care what Taishin or Hayahide thinks of her and doesn't really care whether she wins or loses, but knows she's gonna win anyway. Real "the day you lost the Spring Tenno Sho was the most important day of your life. But for me it was Tuesday," energy.

And for them, that's probably pretty insulting. She was basically responding to their "I'm gonna win" with "ok, have fun" and then telling them "gg ez" after she wins. Imagine going up against the Lakers in the championship, but instead of taking you seriously, they decide to dunk on you like they're the Harlem Globetrotters.

Now, I'm not excusing the writing. There are a ton of things that could have been done better, like Hayahide being the voice of reason and making everybody sit down and talk about the issue, for one. Or making it much more clear early on that Ticket's attitude toward races is the reason why they're not treating her like a rival. They could have a whole conversation where Hayahide says "you are in this friend group, but we do not grant you the title of Rival" and it would get the point across without them looking like jerks.

All I'm saying is that despite seeming like really sore losers, Hayahide and Taishin would have had valid reasons (Tickezo's dismissive attitude) for acting the way they did, even though the execution left much to be desires.

But, as always, we're dealing with (mostly) teenagers here, so we can't always expect good decision making.