#''tsubakura sama~'' (tsubakura & suzumi)

[maideninorange]

I love your SuzuTsuba tag it's so funny

Me too! It's so so cursed. I love it. It's one of my favorite funny relationship tags for Len'en characters I've come up.

Which is utterly hilarious to me, because I don't even ship it in either a platonic or romantic sense. And yet there it is lol.

[aleph-destroid]

IT'S TIME TO GET RAMBLOMATIC (pls don't due me)

I've decided to compile some of my observations concerning Monochroids that COULD potentially hint at something in the near future

Chapter I: Speculation on to who activated Monochroids

At first, I thought Monos were activated by Suzumi before leaving to search for Tsuba and I think it is like the most obvious conclusion to go to; however, with the findings made by Yike (shout-outs to the goat), and something that I myself can confirm - I believe that Monos are actually activated by Tsurubami

Rei-kun refers to their creators, Tsubakura and Suzumi, with honorific "-sama". However as it was noted in the wiki, Tsurubami is the only other character who is referred to as "-sama" - and they also accidentally said "go/ご", which might be a part of "ご主人様" - aka master. Given that if we're going to think that Tsurubami is the person who has activated Monos - it makes sense why Rei-kun currently thinks Tsurubami as their master - as they're the current user/exploiter of Monochroids.

Not only that, there are also signs of tampering (with Rei-kun).

Clothes are the most obvious thing as their clothing looks pretty traditional, which is quite unusual not only because those were provided by their "master", but also because overall outsider characters don't look traditional - wearing blouses as opposed hakamas (with exception of Yabusame, but I suppose it's more of a Yabusame thing)

There's a question of Zelo-chan and NiLU since they don't look traditional as well - but remember: Rei-kun was pretty much abandoned early on, they might not even have clothes at all when they were first discovered (besides their hat I think, on it we do have a camera and a flash, suggesting some kind of espionage? But it could be for recognition reasons).

However there are more subtle ones. When Rei-kun gets asked a question that is "forbidden", they get a protection error.

The formatting of such an error is quite intricate, something that you might face when programming, that ends with a comment "Hmm~, Rei-kun doesn't really know~" However, there's also an omitted version of it that just shows that comment. It would be easy to think of it as a mere variation, but it was noted that it happened on TWO (well, not really) occasions:

1. When Rei-kun was asked to elaborate on Xeno a's relationship with them as they did refer to them as their "buddy" (because while Xeno a is an outsider, it was never implied that our outsider group even knows about them)

2. When Rei-kun was asked to elaborate on Tsurubami's life in the outside world

Xeno a as we know is a buddy-buddy with Tsurubami, and I suppose the reason why Rei-kun can't say about their life is because Tsurubami doesn't want to have their image of a powerful dictator crumble to the ground. I think the reason why the error messages were omitted on that front is because Tsurubami tampered with their code to enforce new censorship, and because they deemed long "programming error" formatting too unnecessary

There's also an issue of bird's eyes. At first I thought it was just Tsubakura working with some sort of "energy provider" and it's their way of naming those eyes: however knowing Tsurubami's ability - it actually makes sense for them to give those eyes to Monochroids and thus releasing their potential energy (ha got'em). And it already happens with "???" race units as before they were just some random tools, but now they have the potential to become something much more greater (while not being Tsukumogami who have to age 100 years to even gain life, again they're listed as "???" Race, not "Youkai")

With Rei-kun, they were already quite unfinished, yet required less energy, thus they have only one eye. Zelo-chan however is explicitly stated to be a living weapon, which is already energy consuming - so they have two eyes. And NiLU seems to be more of a trooper character with their attire resembling a regular soldier so maybe they have one eye? Let's wait and see their reveal (eventually)

And given that they're "Goodwill Ambassador of Mugenri", and while Tsubakura did know about the "other world" it's not like they knew its name (having to clarify the name when they were isekai'd by Tsuru)... Gee, that bastard is trying to propagandise Mugenri to the entire world.

And I think that's all for Rei-kun specifically. For Zelo-chan I can't really say much since they don't really speak much and serve more as a companion to Rei-kun...

HO-WE-VER! NiLU refers to Tsurubami as "Tsurubami-san" and Tsurubami is THE ONLY CHARACTER THAT NILU REFERS TO WITH PREFIX (and "-san" is quite respectable prefix too symbolising superiority). They don't use it even on their own deadbeat creator ffs. And their speech has a more softer/nervous feel, not something that is present throughout the game. Sure it's got debunked with the release of Main story mode, but I would argue that Main Story happens before the back issues chronologically; NiLU here is more courteous with Doc Yabusame and Kurohebi (using -hakase and -san respectively) and curious - while in Back Issue they're more curt. Perhaps they're more or less accustomed to the reality of their situation

Plus Tom looks like that "flying snake thing" midboss that was cut with their batty wings and a tail... But given what we saw in MW trailer, it's very debatable; but again, that "snake" didn't have any Bird Eye motif and if you believe what I said about other bird eyes, perhaps Tom is pure energy.

And now onto "NiLU is somehow connected to Shitodos" theory...

---

Chapter II: Possible Correlations with Shitodo Siblings?

Obviously, since we have Suzumi as the third protag, naturally it's logical to think that NiLU is based on them, however Tom started acting... Weird, saying that the answer lies in their heart as to why Kuroji is abiliti-less. So let's draw the comparisons

1. The belts, as they correspond to the Shitodo siblings colours (barring Kuroji, but they were always purple). There's also a point to be made with White belt being separate and way higher from the other three, which is pretty much Shitodo dynamic 101

2. The collar being the trademark black with white lining. Of course it could be me farfetching it, but we have Hoojiro, be it her pre- and post- redesign has a drastically different way of styling her collar (could be distancing from Shitodo siblings); hell, her blouse is pretty much THE biggest hint of her connection to Shitodo siblings

3. The attire and general genre of the game. Kuroji is a military strategist; NiLU, judging by their attire, is more of a soldier (i.e. the one who follows the orders), as their design seems to be inspired by Japanese' WW2 soldier outfit (the hat and puttees) + rain cape to conceal the body. Plus well, BotC is a strategy game

4. One of the key words shown in the opening was "Think" spelled with the same Kanji as Kuroji's hat in EE. That's also far-fetched, but still

5. Just... The overall odd focus on Kuroji here, being the one who NiLU should keep a close eye on since they're the closest one to being a human.

6. Suzumi already has a baby in the form of Kurohebi, the oldest baby

So there. Please also read my analysis of NiLU in BotC to get the "full picture"

[jiuzifake]

Everyone's favorite informant, Suzumi! They're so cute!!! JP text translates to "I love you, Tsubakura-sama♡♡ I'll kill you♡♡" (faces to someone who doesn't know Len'en) …Yeah they would def say that LMFAOOOO

[singular-yike]

Gimme your theories about Mast- I mean Tsurubami-sama~

Hm yokie dokie! I've two main ones, but I'll be interspersing some minor theories here and there as well. In any case, let's go over them one by one:

1. The Eye of Senri's Thousand-Yard Stare

The first theory I have ties quite heavily to the Eye of Senri, the mysterious item often used as a symbol related to the Senri Shrine.

Below: An Eye of Senri from BotC

Important to this theory are three particular instances of the eye:

The eye on Tsurubami Senri's hat

The eye held in Tsurubami's hand in their EE appearance

The eye that appeared on Tsubakura's hat from EMS onwards

Long story short, my theory is that Tsurubami uses the eye they hold in their hand (3) to see through the eye on their hat (1), which they granted to Tsubakura (2), in order to monitor Mugenri even from the Outside World.

So, now we can go over the details that make up the theory, as well as other minor points I came up with:

1A. Tsubakura Was Given Tsurubami's Eye of Senri

My main point here is that the eye on (post-EE) Tsubakura's hat and that on (EE) Tsurubami's hat are one and the same. This idea came from this conversation:

EMS: Tsubakura's Bad Ending Tsubakura: "C'mon, the opponent was using a sacred treasure against me. It was totally unfair." Yabusame: "You got something sorta similar too, right? From the former priest." Tsubakura: "You mean this hat? Unfortunately, it seems to be sleeping in."

Depicted below: Tsubakura talking to their hat. (EMS: Tsubakura St.1)

It's almost certain that they are referring to Tsubakura's hat, or rather, the Eye of Senri on it, as the sacred treasure.

My theory is that Tsurubami literally gave them the same eye that was on their own hat, and there are two possibilities as to how Tsurubami did this:

Tsurubami transformed their hat into a copy of Tsuba's hat, which we already know they're capable of doing, and gave it to them.

Tsurubami somehow transferred the eye alone onto Tsuba's hat.

Either way though, the outcome remains the same, Tsurubami's hat Eye of Senri is now on Tsubakura's hat.

1B. The Eye of Senri's Function

This next part is my own speculation on what a possible function of the eye could be, specifically: That it allows one to see across vast distances through the eye.

This idea came from its name, the "Eye of Senri" (闡裡の瞳 senri no hitomi). (As a side note, we get this name from Fumikado, as they're the only character to ever mention the eye at all, in any capacity.)

It's quite likely that it was derived from the Japanese word for clairvoyance, specifically in the sense of "seeing much further than normally possible".

The word is "senri-gan" (千里眼), literally "thousand-mile eye". The two words share the pronunciation of Senri (闡裡), although written with different characters, followed up with a word for "eye".

1C. Tsurubami's Use of the Eye

The final point in my theory, and I admit its flimsiest part, is how Tsurubami uses the eye to look back into Mugenri from the Outside World. Full disclosure: I have no actual proof for this section.

I theorise that Tsurubami is looking through the eye now on Tsubakura's hat to periodically check on Mugenri. Perhaps through that curious artefact with an Eye of Senri on it they held atop their right hand in EE.

Below: Tsurubami from EE, with the Eye of Senri still on their hat, along with the curious artefact floating above their right hand.

And yeah, that's the theory regarding Tsurubami, Tsubakura and the Eye of Senri, though I do have a bit of a bonus too:

1D. The True Eye of Senri

The eye appears everywhere in the series: It's on Tsubakura and Tsurubami's hats, on Xeno a's cards, on the ??? race units in BotC, on some of the monochroids and even as a part of Suzumi's outfit.

It's to the point where sometimes I wonder whether it's merely a symbol or something more, however, Fumikado gives us this in RMI:

RMI: Bottle Opener Team St.5 "Honestly, I would've liked to get my hands on the Eye of Senri, but I'm sure that the Emperor will be pleased enough with my current pair."

This certainly seems to imply that there is a "the Eye of Senri", and not only that, but that it (or they) actually function as eyes, capable of vision and everything.

This seems to match up with what we know about the hat eye, and it's my personal minor theory that the eye Tsubakura now has on their hat is the Eye of Senri, sacred treasure of the Senri Shrine.

2. Tsurubami and Rei

Rei, or rather, Monochroid[Rei] = _Type_iX01[Tsubakura];, is a monochroid who promotes the Len'en project on Trick Nostalgie's official YouTube channel, amongst other things.

Below: Rei's full design.

Rei carefully straddles the line between out-of-universe mascot and in-universe character, but as an in-universe character, one of the biggest mysteries they pose is where they came from.

My theory, is that Tsurubami Senri, upon reaching the Outside World, reactivated Rei and released them into the world as we see them.

To understand how I can to this conclusion, let's first take a look at some background information:

2A. Rei's Origins

Rei's origins are extremely mysterious, the closest to a concrete origin story we have are what Hoojiro Shitodo thinks it might be.

Although ambiguous, Hoojiro thinks that Rei's quite similar to an abandoned AI project back from (presumably Tsubakura's) research centre.

However, they also note that the project's data was frozen and should have died out by now. Therefore, Hoojiro suspects that whoever "revived" Rei must have been someone involved with the project.

After being reactivated, they were apparently made to be the "goodwill ambassador of Mugenri", and while we don't know how they looked before this, it's also notable that their design now features an Eye of Senri.

2B. Rei's Reaction to Tsurubami

Back when the official OSTs to Len'en 01 to 04 were uploaded onto Trick Nostalgie' Official Channel's official YouTube channel. Rei would make an announcement for each video's upload, and give a small comment on the song or its related character(s).

When Tsurubami's BPoHC theme, Deteriorating Eternal Dance Engine, was uploaded, Rei made the following comment:

Rei Tweet "Go-…… Tsurubami-sama!! I wonder what the dictator of Mugenri’s previous age is doing right now~? (← Said in a monotone voice)"

Below: Thumbnail of the Deteriorating Eternal Dance Engine video.

Here, Rei almost referred to Tsurubami with something starting with "go" (ご), but quickly swapped to "Tsurubami-sama" (鶴喰さま). While it's impossible to really know what Rei was about to say, my personal guess is "go-shuujin" (ご主人), "Master".

This wouldn't be the first time Rei references having a "master" either, they apparently once received new clothes from a "master" roughly a month prior to the above tweet.

Additionally, the tweet also seems to imply that Rei does actually know what Tsurubami is up to now, perhaps in the Outside World. This is supported by some other tweets:

Rei Tweet (Regarding a piece of Tsurubami and Tenkai fanart) "Dazzlingly beautiful!! I suppose even Tsurubami-sama must’ve had such a wonderful period in their life~!" Reply from Twitter user @__biberiye__ "'Must've had'? Does that mean things are different now?" Rei's Reply "Hmm~, Rei-kun doesn’t really know~."

Rei Tweet "Rei-kun’s never been to Mugenri, and they’re not sure if they’ll ever get to either! (*╹▽╹*) What is Tsurubami-sama doing right now? Hmm~, Rei-kun doesn’t really know~."

Especially of note here is that "Hmm~, Rei-kun doesn’t really know~." is a set phrase that Rei always uses when they aren't allowed to say something, like when something is set as restricted information in their code.

These combined with Rei's re-emergence as the "goodwill ambassador of Mugenri" and having an Eye of Senri on their hat suggests, at least to me, that Tsurubami is Rei's mysterious master.

2C. How Tsurubami Accessed Rei

The question is then, of course, how Tsurubami managed to access Rei. After all, Hoojiro tells us that only people involved with the project should have any access to it at all.

Well, we've already seen how! Tsurubami and Tsubakura are apparently extremely similar in appearance, to the point where a simple change of clothes was enough to fool almost everyone in EE that Tsurubami was Tsubakura.

It isn't too far of a stretch to believe that, even without magical clothing transformation magic, that Tsurubami could have convincingly acted as Tsubakura and accessed their research centre, along with everything inside of it, like Rei.

And that's my theory on Tsurubami and Rei, that Tsurubami, once in the outside world, snuck into Tsubakura's research centre and reactivated Rei.

I'll admit, this theory relies on a lot of speculation, and I can't even give a good guess as to what Tsuruabmi wants with Rei.

Perhaps to learn more about the Outside World through Rei's database, the Akashic Records? Or perhaps they want to draw the Outside World's attention towards Mugenri for some reason? It certainly worked on Haru and Hoojiro.

So there we have it, two major theories I have related to Tsurubami. They do rely on a fair bit of speculation, but nevertheless, they are what seem to make the most sense to me at the moment.

While they are what I believe are the likely truths at the moment, do keep in mind not to lean on them too much. With a series like Len'en, anything can happen, so we must be impartial when considering the possibilities, as nothing more than that, possibilities.

As always, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[incorrect-mugenri]

Suzumi (Hamee): In 20 years, I guarantee you I'll be Tsubakura-sama's second spouse! ♪

Tsubakura: What happened to my first spouse?

Hamee: Nothing you can prove~

[maideninorange]

How did Suzumi hurt Tsubakura? Why did they hurt Tsubakura? Are they sorry?

Strap yourselves in folks. This one is gonna get dark.

(TW: Abusive relationships and Suzumi being Suzumi)

Generally speaking, I've always contextualized the relationship between Suzumi and Tsubakura as a very toxic relationship. Both initially fell in love with each other because they admired the other's brain. Not just in the intelligence sense (as both are that plenty), but more in the sense of just how the other thinks. Suzumi admired Tsubakura's tenaciousness even in the face of more squicky experiments, and Tsubakura admired Suzumi's for their own peculiar way of thinking (as well as for not backing down from the aforementioned squicky experiments).

However, what started out as strong passion soon turned very, very rancid. Suzumi started becoming more and more controlling, and Tsubakura started withdrawing more and more into themself in response. Tsubakura's witty bite began having more vicious, even cruel, undertones when they talked together. They began to fight more and more while their experiments became more and more unethical, until one day, it all went too far.

Tsubakura never told a soul what exactly Suzumi had proposed to them that day, but the look in their eyes on the very rare occasions they bring it up ensures no one has ever tried to dig any deeper. Whatever it was, it caused Tsubakura to end the relationship. But not before one final act of sabotage to ruin this life's long work of theirs as retaliation when Suzumi refused to let them just walk away.

And that's when everything went to hell. Heartbroken and betrayed, every positive memory Suzumi had of Tsubakura turned into a bitter poison. So in response, they decided to destroy Tsubakura's in retaliation. But since Tsubakura never had a project they held in similar value, they turned to the one thing they did: their friends and family.

The nuke incident was just the beginning. Suzumi took to trying to kill, and in some cases successfully killing, Tsubakura and their friends. They did their damnedest to make them utterly alone and miserable. And just when Tsubakura thinks they're safe, there they are to make things worse. It wasn't until Mugenri that Tsubakura ever felt even a little safe again. And even then those days are numbered.

Is Suzumi truly sorry for all this pain? Perhaps a little bit. They have always been a very lonely individual for a variety of things, and Tsubakura was the first person to truly care for them without a string attached. It's just that since these people are so rare, it made them want to do everything they could to keep them. Their ambitions soared higher and higher now that they had someone to care about, only for that person to stab them in the back when they finally revealed their magnum opus to them.

Perhaps they recognize that they are ultimately the one at fault for pushing them away? They never did truly listen to Tsubakura, now did they? ...But those regrets don't matter anymore. Where there was once love there is now only hatred. They will not stop. Not until they see that look of pure agony and betrayal forever etched into Tsubakura's face like they did to them.