#<- literally just got on lunchbreak and has not read the event uet

[thrilling-oneway]

THE THROWAWAY PARAGRAPH WAS THE PART I GOT RIGHT?????

2nd year event?! I saw the announcement and am now very curious and excited, especially since this is happening before Mafuyu’s coming up. Have the 2nd years ever had an event about them? What are your thoughts about this group? I know you have some because I saw your tags 👀

Below cut

It's SO gonna be a WxS key story like no way out of it. Given that they're both lims that probably means that it's gonna have a lot of screentime for the boys (well, Rui is a given, it's his event), so there's no way they won't bring up the current WxS plot. Honestly making this a Rui event was an amazing idea because it connects so much with his arc with his fear of growing up and having to leave what he has now behind. And by the looks of the card he made new friends!! Which actually makes it all the more gut punching because he's never really had friends and he only gets a whopping one whole in-universe year with them now.

It's also really cool to see that the Miyajo girls are there. I reckon Shizuku (and Airi, but to a much lesser extent) will get like a mini version of STEP by STEP! with Mafuyu. Because think about it, if Shizuku and Airi leave formal education, that makes Mafuyu the only MC Miyajou 3rd year. I think it'll be really neat to see all the second years interact more because they've never been given much of a chance before outside of a few short scenes, and I think Rui and Mafuyu's dynamic in particular is really interesting. I don't know how much they'll interact in this event, if at all, but I'd like to see more there. Rui is very emotionally intelligent - so long as it doesn't apply to himself - and he's also very very observant, so although having him notice where Mafuyu's issues was unexpected, it wasn't necessarily surprising, and I'd like that to be followed up on even if it is arguably more effective as a passing encounter moment.

I'm guessing there'll be a sweet making and tea ceremony part, because those are the event teams and also Airi's favourite food/club so I think that would be a nice laid-back bonding moment from the 2nd years and who knows, if that does happen then maybe they'll ruin the 3 seconds of peace we get from by reminding us that Airi is moving to credit course and won't be doing clubs anymore.

I'm assuming they'll throw in the excuse for the two schools interacting is that they both happened to be on the same school trip at the exact same time.

Also, the event description. I have thoughts.

from @/pjsekai_eng on twitter

I'm guessing the reason Rui has little interest is because 1. aforementioned fear of getting growing up and moving on and doesn't want to face it, and 2. doesn't have many friends at school, let alone any in his class (it's outlined in KAMIKOU FESTIVAL! that he has never particularly been one for school events because everyone would push him away. We've had Cheerfes since then but you get my point). But it looks like maybe his classmates are actually more willing to be friends with him now?

And then the event name

same source as above

Hey look that sounds like a Wonderlands x Showtime inevitable disbandment reference. Atp I'm starting to think the reason I'm so invested in their current arc is because of how much it resembles a Love Live plot (mod makes shameless LL reference #3 billion what else is new?). Enjoying your youth while you can because there's so much fun stuff you can do and you're surrounded by people and it truly is an experience that you won't be able to quite match later on. It's simple but incredibly effective and emotionally driven. Especially since the age high school is in Japan really is like that bridging period between childhood and adulthood. And linking this to Rui and Tsukasa's event cards specifically...

They seem to have tied the folklore theme with a school uniform theme. And I'm going to pick this apart because I'm already 643 words in so why stop now? I feel bad for excluding Shizuku from this but we've never had too much on her school-related past. The most we got was Draw Your Bow In This White World which was only set 1 year pre-canon so not counting it.

Anyway. I've seen several people point out on Twitter that Rui's limited hair is the same hairstyle that he had as a child. That stuck out to me because we know from flashbacks that that was when people started to steer clear of him at school and he lost a lot of friends, and I wonder if that's going to be brought up in the event, especially since it seems that he's going to be making new friends.

In a similar vein, Tsukasa. I'm sure most people noticed that he's basically wearing his middle school uniform except with glasses. Like Rui's lim linking to when he was most lonely, Tsukasa's does as well. It's established in On the stage of dazzling light that he was pretty lonely during middle school because it was when Saki got moved to a hospital out of the prefecture.

I don't know if this was intentional because Shizuku's doesn't visibly follow that theme, but prsk does like some good symbolism and lim sets quite often have one that sticks out from the others for whatever reason. If it wasn't intentional then good on them for somehow doing this. But it does make a lot of sense, y'know? Cherishing the high school memories because the ones before now were a bit shit?

1 2 (heh)

Being frank I don't entirely know how Japanese school trips work but judging by the card it looks like Rui and Tsukasa got put in a group together? I hope their friendship gets some depth and development added to it with this event because they actually have an interesting dynamic underneath the Oddball 1-2 comic relief that has a lot of underutilised potential. Like what I said in those screenshots - Rui wants to know more about the SEKAI, but since it's entirely derived from Tsukasa's psyche, it means he has to get to know Tsukasa better, and they still aren't on much of a more personal level of friendship almost 3 years after that card story. The fact that both of their lims seem to reference the points when they were most lonely... I think that could be a good starting point for them to bond over. Obviously the circumstances were completely different and Rui was driven into depression by it, but what I'm saying is that it's a start.

Also like the very intentional parallels between Rui and Mizuki and their loneliness and their connection with the rooftop Wonderlands x Showtime main story chapter 5 My Footprints, Your Destination chapter 8 Tsukasa and Ena and the personal impact they had on those two respectively something or other and the fact that one side of that parallel has surprisingly little depth to their relationship idk

Oh and this part from the very end of A Canary Sings In A Quagmire. Though they might stall on it for a bit longer since it's a plot thread that was only just introduced. I reckon if it does get brought up it will just be in internal monologue or Rui just mentioning the concept in passing or being vague about it rather than actually addressing it (Emu and Nene aren't here and I think they will probably be around when it gets fully unpacked). If they do decide to face it directly then I wouldn't mind but it seems too soon to me.

Finally, I reckon we might get some more Shizuku and Tsukasa interactions. It's kind of guaranteed to be fair but you never know. Their dynamic isn't hugely deep or anything but it doesn't need to be, like they only know each other because their sisters were friends. Anyway I don't really mind if all they do in the event is talk about their sisters and what they've been up to themselves - it's pretty cute.

I'll be reading the event in my lunch break tomorrow so long as it is on sekai.best by then, so if anyone wants to ask me more about it then feel free. Watch literally none of what I just wrote happen in the event.

If I said that almost all of the 2nd years are in my top 10 would that justify the word vomit?