#( anyway we dont mention the quality of those screencaps - )

[saiakv]

SUGURU'S RELATIONSHIP WITH NANAKO & MIMIKO is a complicated one. My personal take on it deviates from fandom in some things and alligns with in others. This post is moreso meant as a guideline for how I tend to portray it, of course, so to keep it flexible I'm mostly writing from Suguru's POV — and the facts of what is happening during the course of those 10 years. Every rp partner's take on the twins will be different, so this meta will be adjusted accordingly to verses, of course.

In spite of what Suguru himself claims this relationship to be ( a patron, a protector ) everyone in his group knows that he is the twins' adoptive father. They just don't call him such, a defined boundary has been drawn when it comes to how they should refer to him. But as with all things in the new life he built for himself, this too is filled with contradictions. For be it with a bratty whine from Nanako or Mimiko's softer mumbling, when it comes from their lips, 'Master Geto' sounds like 'dad' all the same.

PART ONE: FOUNDATION.

Suguru's own childhood took place in a very nurturing and loving home. His parents were kind people, even if they weren't capable of understanding or handling the potential in their son. They encouraged him to pursue his own goals in life, believed that he would make something of himself; ergo naming him after the excellence they believed he stood for. As with many children whose parents harbor high expectations of them, that in turn lead to Suguru acting ahead of his years and suppressing many typical childish behaviors that were not seen as 'appropriate'. He felt the weight of those expectations and it molded him into a person with a high sense of responsibility — soon after discovering his abilities, he also realized the weakness that plagued his own parents. They were susceptible to curses and he wasn't. His family home was suddenly too small to house him, his parents too fragile in his eyes. He soon learned to hide his encounters with curses so as not to worry them, to keep his powers an open secret to protect them. Suguru could no longer be himself around his parents, feel their love under his skin as before — so all that was left for him to grasp onto was the feeling of being needed by them.

This feeling prevailed in his formative ages; it's not something he's necessarily aware of. But he needs to be needed. It was the origin of a savior complex that later spiralled into a messiah one with his meltdown, age 17. His motto as a teenager was 'I have to grow stronger, so that I can protect others more efficiently'.

Nanako & Mimiko on the other hand are unwanted children without a sense of 'home'. It is unknown whether they have a biological family that consented to their mistreatment or not. But judging from their background it is safe to say that these two did not an 'adult' figure they could safely rely on growing up. Regardless of how being feared and detested has shaped their individual dispositions, they are still children — there is a deep seated need in every child to feel protected, the same instinct that guides foals back to their mother in the herd. When they come across someone who checks every box, who rescues them from the only life they've known and immediately offers them acceptance for the thing ( sorcery ) that had condemned them thus far, it is only natural that these needs are finally accessed.

This is one aspect of this dynamic that is often emphasized in fanon and as a result Suguru would be depicted favorably as a parental figure. But if we go back to the initial moment that this familiar bond was formed, we get a much different picture.

PART TWO: FORMATION.

Suguru's expression. That was the first image of him the girls saw; and it is no less disturbed than their own — wide eyes, uncertain, they don't know what to expect from this man who might as well be the one who kills them after he was summoned and he is struggling to piece together the thing he is witnessing through his own shock. It is not until after the massacre has taken place that Suguru presents a calm and reassuring smile.

When arriving to the village, Suguru had still been in the throes of his own personal debate, after it was incited by Tsukumo. He has already lost his faith in the system he is serving, realized his part in it and saw the dead end ahead of him if he continued to work as a jujutsu sorcerer — but he has no alternative in his mind, yet. Think of it as, he is trying to cross a hostile river and the girls are that one stepping stone that suddenly appears, making the distance a little less impossible to jump.

Nanako & Mimiko were Suguru's new reason. At least in my personal take of things, of course; this was not the drop that tipped the glass but rather a new incentive, a new reward appearing at the end of his never-ending marathon. It was in that moment that he could finally make his choice, because he had something new to believe in; a better world for these two, who had suffered so much simply for being born stronger. All Suguru had suffered before had sufficed to make his resolve falter; but if it hadn't been for the twins he would not have been able to justify that next step.

What he tells Satoru about it next is rather telling: Satoru points out the fact he murdered his own parents and Suguru responds with 'they are not my only family anymore'. The presence of his parents had been that last branch he'd been dangling from that kept him unable to decide if he hates non sorcerers or if he protects them. So, the girls coming in to replace that pushed him to make that call.

PART THREE: CO-DEPENDENCY.

After the massacre, Nana & Mimi had nowhere to go. The more responsible option in that moment, the one that better aligns with the values of the man known as Suguru Geto, would be to hand them over to the officials, authorities or otherwise ensure a stable housing environment where they could receive the proper attention and care.

Instead, Suguru takes them with him in the uncertainty of his new journey. Mind you, at that point there is no assurance that Suguru is going to succeed, no solid plan and they will most likely have to be on the run for a bit until he can make arrangements. It is very possible that the girls asked to stay by his side as well, but ultimately Suguru did expose them to a potentially unsafe environment and had them rely sorely on him for their protection. ( disclaimer: no, I am not implying he is a 'bad person' for this, obviously he's 17 and traumatized so he doesn't have the best judgement over the situation either ) We could say Nana/Mimi barely even had a choice on the matter of following, given their background.

So ultimately the relationship that begins to form is centered around the premise that Suguru is building a new world for these girls, rather than merely loathing non-sorcerers. In Suguru's mind annihilating the non-sorcerer population is a secondary task before building a new world where sorcerers can thrive — by overthrowing the notion of quantity > quality that he believed the world was ran by. So ultimately, Suguru is doing this for Nanako and Mimiko. In that light, the relationship takes a darker turn.

On the one hand there's the brainwashing. These girls are inevitably parroting his ideals of racism and hate without exercising their own critical thought on the matter. The 'love' they describe towards him is so extreme that it drives them to put their own lives in danger over and over if only to aid, satisfy or rescue him. And that's not to say Nana & Mimi couldn't have just been the sort of people to do that, but even so Suguru would have influenced them into 'going all out' like he did throughout his life.

And then on the other hand, there's the fact that Suguru, in thinking he is creating a better world for them to make them happier ( he had already admitted for himself that this was not an option for him, after all ) actively damages the relationship by going forth with his risky plans and becoming more and more consumed with his delirium. Eventually causing them grief and their own demise.

The point of this rant is not to trash the muse, of course, every one of these choices can be explained in ways that feel natural for his character to react with — but to highlight the conflicting nature of this relationship. Suguru holds a very deep sense of caring for the twins, but ultimately what happened back in that moment, was the synapsis of impulsive empathizing needed for someone with a massive savior complex to empathize and devote himself to the cause. And yes, he makes a decent parental figure later on, he has some very positive traits that aid him with that. The girls probably had a good life with him, overall. But the dynamic never changed and it was a condemnation for them in the end; they were the one end of a co-dependent bond ( someone who needs to be needed meets someone who needs them ) the end that was left loose after Suguru died, to deal with the consequences of this sort of bond.