#I don't think people would really blame him individual rescues

[joshy-tomato]

I can support bullying the Knave for the assassination attempt. Heck yeah.

And woooow. Those parents really wanna have the law just dropped on them, don't they? What a messy family to have to be born into. That's gotta be child abuse or something related to it and forcing Furina to have to pay to see her own brother is extortion, isn't it? These people will not enjoy the rest of their lives, not after ticking off Arlecchino. They will regret trying to use not only Freminet in such a way, but Furina as well.

OG Neuvi it is then! He must be saddened at the sort of family Furina has had to deal with in her new life. I do wonder when he runs into Arle, however. Would it be before or after Furina and her get together? How shall Arlefuri even get together now that I think about it..

Divided between whether he would approve of Arlefuri or not as well. He likely saw what Furina's death, a failure on his part to protect her, did to Arlecchino. But, him being protective is amusing.

Yeah, is a pretty fucked up situation all around. Their parents are the kind of people that see their children as extension of themselves and not as individual people. But Arlecchino does enjoy seeing the charges stacking up.

Im also thinking Furina and Freminet are siblings by father and Freminet's mother was basically threatened to give Freminet over because they thought he would be just like Furina.

I can see Neuvillette feeling a little guilty over it. He knew about Furina because of her acting career and seeing how in this life Freminet was her brother he assumed she would be alright and happy. He is determined to win this case so Furina can have the happy lifetime she deserves.

I think Neuvillette would too be conflicted about Arlefuri. He never aproved of them on their past life until he saw how desperate The Knave was trying to rescue Furina from Celestia and how devastate she got when the plan failed and Furina was killed. I think they grew to respect eachother in a mutual "dont blame yourself, it was my fault" type os solidarity. However, he does think in this new life Arle is a little too intense and needs to chill and you know what, fair enough.

I think Furina fell for Arle during the whole trial process. Like, she told Arlecchino about the whole trouble with her parents because she considered her one of her few friends (along with Neuvillette but thats a little uncomfy because he is her lawyer) and suddenly seeing her being so serious and so determined to bring justice for her and Freminet, Furina got no choice but fall for her. Even more funny because Arle is not doing this to win Furina, she does it because she is furious Furina and Freminet are being used and abused.

[quirkthieves]

He really only had himself to blame. Wouldn't it be nice, to be able to say it was someone else that dragged him down, that Bakugou had screwed up something or other-- but really, Monoma knew that his injuries were his own fault. He had been too reckless, too bold, and lost track of his time while trying to bait out and provoke their enemy.

The villain in question; who went by the name Cobra, even though Monoma was absolutely certain he more closely resembled a member of Viperidae (and given how he hadn't stopped breathing, he was sure he was right)-- had managed to get Monoma in his coils and land a nasty bite in his shoulder. It wasn't pretty; more than a few bones were fractured, including what felt like an almost completely shattered collarbone, and the site of the punctures had begun to swell and blotch his skin with dark, violent bruises.

And it hurt. A horrible, burning pain that only seemed to keep spreading, accompanied by a cold sweat and uncontrollable trembling. Every jostle sent the kind of pain through his body that made his vision go white, and he had been uncharacteristically silent for the majority of their journey out of both shame and the confidence that if he stopped gritting his teeth he might just start screaming. But he knew it was only going to get worse before it got better. Monoma could laugh at a concussion, dance along to a dislocated shoulder-- but this was too much for even him. And he couldn't bear the thought of ruining the whole mission because he had played with fire.

Bakugou's response was, for a moment, more shocking than the agony of the bite. He was sure that the other boy would be dying to shed the dead-weight, and maybe laugh about it on the way out-- but instead the grip on his battered body had been re-adjusted and he was being barked at about what absolute victory actually meant.

Idiot. Couldn't he see Monoma was trying to do what was best for him? Was he stupid, or just that petty?

"I'm serious!" He can't stop his voice from cracking with the effort of raising his voice, but an embarrassing pitch shift was the least of his concerns. "You-- I'm not a rescue mannequin you turn in for points." He would squirm out of his grip if he could bring himself to squirm, but he ends up just...spasming feebly. "Secure the win first." Taking down the team of baddies was the best way to guarantee safety. That's how offensive types like Bakugou worked. No point in trying to teach that stupid, stubborn show-pony any other tricks.

When his comments go ignored, and a precarious dodge sends another wave of pain crashing over him, he snarls in frustration and tries again to desperately writhe. Listen to me!

"I..." He was already at the lowest of the low, wasn't he? This was proof of his place in the pecking order. Might as well swallow the rest of his pride.

"I'm a side character." Suck in a deep breath, stave off the nausea. "They won't even notice me." It was one of many differences between the two of them; Bakugou was loud because he was allowed to be. Monoma was loud because he had to be. He knew very well how easy it was for him to vanish when he was silent, completely lost in the sea of individualities that were actually individual. But the other boy continues regardless.

"Look at me!" It's a sharp demand, almost shrill. Desperate. "I copied his quirk. Look at my teeth. If you don't--- if you don't put me down, I'll bite you." A wide grimace flashes too-long canines, curling up around the gum.

He was bluffing, of course. Those were his natural teeth, courtesy of his father. A quirk like that was too violent for him to want to copy it; Monoma had no intention of injecting even a villain with venom like that, and he didn't even like biting people in the first place. It made him nauseous to think about, even when he wasn't on the verge of hurling. But Bakugou didn't need to know that. He just needed to pretend like there was even a chance he might.

TRANSMISSION FROM @beastincidents : “ hey, look at me. i’m slowing you down, we both know it. it’s okay. i’ll hide and wait for back-up; you get yourself out of here. “ (monoma. teehees) TRANSMISSION ENDED / SETTLING DUST , ACCEPTING .

stubborn, obnoxious, frustrating ; these were only some of the choice words the bakugou had in his mind while he was dragging monoma away from the ongoing battle, his grip tight and unyielding. but despite their outward disagreements and constant bickering ... [ even their classes would not condone their clashes, some of them going so far to call it childish. ] ... katsuki didn't want monoma to get hurt. or killed, for that matter. he might've gritted his teeth and snarled at the other blond whenever he showed up out of nowhere to annoy him and his class, but that wasn't any basis for katsuki to actually want him gone.

it pisses him off that monoma dares to speak, but the words that dynamight is met with incurs a sense of ... shock. his gaze immediately focuses on monoma, away from the road ahead of them, to try and find some sort of sneer or joke or obnoxious laugh to follow - because oh, so you do care !

none of them come. monoma means what he's saying - to leave him behind.

the reasonable action, katsuki knows, would be to support phantom thief in finding somewhere suitable to hide. it would be tucking him away where he wouldn't be found until katsuki found backup. but ... his grip tightens, teeth bared as he lifts the other from the ground, stumbling before persisting forward. ❛ like hell i'm leaving you behind, you fucking idiot. ❜

❛ don't matter how much you slow me down. i'll kick all of their sorry asses and send them packing before they even get a chance to lay a hand on me. ❜ bitter is his tone as he hauls monoma through the chaos of the ruined battlefield, ducking and weaving between bits of fallen debris. he won't have it. he can't. monoma could be found, or worse, what if something collapses on him and he's left at the mercy of whoever found him ? ❛ a total victory means getting your yapping mouth back to the safety point before i get back in that fight. got it ? i ain't losing my fucking victory just 'cause you wanna play the sacrificial lamb. ❜

and even if he'd never say it right to his face, katsuki didn't like the idea of monoma dying out there, under any circumstance.

[suganovakawa]

𝐒𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐄 .

PAIRINGS : tooru oikawa x fem! reader , hajime iwaizumi x fem! reader

GENRE : angst , romance

WARNINGS : cursing , car accident , recovery from amnesia

SYNOPSIS : tooru doesn’t understand how special you are to him until he comes close to losing you forever . as he struggles to comes to grips with his feelings and balance it with his future , you still have to recover from your own injuries , but without your memories to assist you .

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐒𝐈𝐗 < [ 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ] > 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 .

whatever’s happening between you and hajime , tooru is not having any of it .

word count : 1.7k

saudade masterlist .

SAUDADE

( 𝐧 . ) a nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant , or that has been loved and then lost ; “ the love that remains ”

⠀the moment you walked into the classroom, tooru felt his chest compress with the sight of you and hajime attached to each other by the hip. everything about what he saw was wrong, in every single aspect of the word. it sickened him down to the stomach. digust could never fully cover the monstrosity he witnessed.

⠀what the living hell was his girlfriend doing with his best friend, of all people?

⠀dare he even call iwaizumi his best friend at this point? friends, even?

⠀he wanted to go up to you and greet you, to ask about your being and if there was anything you needed. that's what a good boyfriend would do, right? then again, a good boyfriend wouldn't treat you like shit. nor would a good boyfriend blame you for things you had nothing to do with.

⠀and a good boyfriend certainly wouldn't tell you to fuck off, leading up to a car crash that would most likely ruin him for the rest of the year.

⠀"oikawa, are you not going to say anything to y/n?"

⠀shook from his thoughts at the mention of your name, tooru winced as he eyed the individuals around his desk. they all had the same face; angry, disgusted scowls meant for only him. he deserved it, he really did; he had purposely turned his head to the window the moment you walked in. he wanted to keep his gaze outside too, if not for these people around him.

⠀shrugging slightly as he looked up at his unwanted company, he spotted you standing idly at your designated desk. turning his vision slightly to the right, there was iwaizumi, paging you over and over again, but you weren't listening.

⠀no, your eyes were completely on his.

⠀his heart skipped a beat as your eyes focused on him and him alone, a million thoughts ran through his head like a marathon as he tried to understand why you were looking at him, and why you were looking at him so... curiously. did you know? did you remember everything? how much did hajime really tell you? it didn't take an idiot to know he had been spending the most time with you, so there was no guessing of what he's informed you of. as far as tooru knew, he'd already told you of how shitty of a boyfriend he was, and that he'd never be worth your time again.

⠀but if that were the case, you wouldn't have looked over at him so fondly. just one second of shared eye contact was enough to brand the image of you in oikawa's head for the rest of the day, leaving him to ponder on what he should do about you, and how to make his own life less miserable than what he had already bestowed upon himself. part of him wanted to give up, to accept that he was a complete asshole unworthy of redemption.

⠀and he would've accepted it too,

⠀if hajime iwaizumi wasn't in the picture.

⠀something about the way he looked so perfect, so delighted, so content with being right next to you, at your beck and call - it was disgusting. truely, utterly humilating. the way hajime was so quick to answer to your every need; tooru noticed it all day, the way iwaizumi came to your rescue every time you needed anything. directions, assistance with assignments, even remembering names. whatever your problem was, iwa had the solution. and it sickened tooru down to the pits of his stomach.

⠀it's as if he wanted to replace oikawa as your boyfriend.

⠀he ignored it in the past, whenever he heard rumors about the ace's crush on you. makki and mattsun would constantly tease iwaizumi about it, but would stop whenever the captain enter the room. there were only a couple of times where the brunet had fully listened in to a couple of conversations, but he never thought anything of it in the past. why should oikawa care if iwa had a crush on his girlfriend? tooru knew you were completely smitten over him, so there was nothing he had to be self-conscious about.

⠀looking at the two of you now, ignoring iwa's growing feelings for you added to his list of never-ending regrets.

⠀seeing how his best friend was able to sweep you away from him so easily, it scared tooru, to say the least. had he been planning this for a while? was he always eyeing for the day you and him would finally call it quits? tooru remembered vividly how quickly iwaizumi was to act upon you running out of the gym that dreadful day, and how he himself was frozen in nothing more than confusion. his first assumption was that you were running home, since you didn't live too far from seijoh.

⠀of course, that assumption ran clear down the drain the moment iwa returned with you bleeding out in his arms. tooru didn't know where you were bleeding from - most likely the head, assuming it was a car accident. you were fluttering in and out of consciousness, which scared oikawa back into reality.

⠀you were dying in iwaizumi's arms.

⠀he... he's your boyfriend, so he has every right to see if you're okay, right?

⠀so why the fuck won't iwaizumi let him near you?

⠀who gave him the right to tell him to stay away from you? no, he should be the one staying away from you, you were oikawa's girlfriend. his significant other. not iwaizumi's.

⠀yet, he was the one treating you the way a real boyfriend should.

⠀tooru was left alone at school again after another long day, his thoughts in a scramble as he walked around the halls to think. he considered walking into the gym, but he hadn't touched a single volleyball in weeks. did he even deserve to pick up a volleyball again? it was the sport that drove him into an angry frenzy, unleashing a chain reaction leading to your accident. it was by chance you got by with just a concussion and amnesia; it could've been much, much worse - worst being you dying. and it would've been your own boyfriend's fault.

⠀tooru turned the corner to bump into none other than hajime himself, who seemed to be in a hurry before laying eyes on his former captain. the two males stood in front of each other in silence, the tension grew heavy in the air. oikawa didn't want to be in his presence, nor did iwaizumi want to be in his presence. their lips were sealed, there wasn't anything that needed to be said between them.

⠀"hajime? where are you?"

⠀tooru's posture stiffened at your voice, his eyes immediately wandering to spot your whereabouts. why were you still here? why were both of you still here?

⠀"y/n..." his decision made, tooru was going to find you. even with iwaizumi here, that shouldn't stop him. as aggressive as iwa was sometimes, oikawa wasn't really scared of him. if he was going to talk to you, then he damn well was going to talk to you. and the things you deserved to hear from him were endless. "i'm going to talk to y/n, iwa-chan." he spat out the nickname, one usually addressed out of endearment, like venom. it threw the other off guard, but not long enough for tooru to walk past him.

⠀"no, you're not going to."

⠀"excuse me? get out of my way, let me go see-"

⠀oikawa grunted as he felt iwa grab him by the blazer, slamming him against a locker with animalistic ferocity. he had never seen hajime so pissed off as he was now, his teeth visibly clenched together as he glared at his fellow third year. "no, you're not," he hissed, his fists clenching around the fabric even tighter to make sure tooru couldn't escape. "you're not fucking stepping near y/n today, tomorrow, or ever. you don't deserve to see her again, so do her a favor and stay out of her life. got it, shittykawa?"

⠀seeing how oikawa was helpless in his hold, iwaizumi waited for him to reply before letting him go. seeing how tooru decided it was better off remaining silent, all he really could do was let go anyway; you had just turned the same corner and came face to face with both boys.

⠀"hajime? what are you doing?"

⠀his name sounded horrible in your mouth. tooru felt sick as iwaizumi backed up and shrugged, faking a chuckle before focusing his attention on you again. "ah, y/n. nothing to worry about, just a small disagreement is all. have you finished collecting your homework yet? i'll take you home if you are, just meet me outside."

⠀"yeah, i'll go now." you nodded, but not before looking at oikawa once more. tooru wasn't even sure how to react, only sufficing with a half-hearted smile and a wave.

⠀"you're... oikawa, right?"

⠀his heart cracked in two when his surname escaped your lips. having been used to being addressed as tooru for so long, he should've never taken advantage of it. even so, all he could do in this present moment was bite his tongue to hold back from crying in front of the two of them. "yeah... yeah, that's me. glad to know you're alright... y/n."

⠀"thank you." unsure of how else to continue the conversation, you turned around and left, not wanting to pry into their conversation.

⠀iwaizumi waited until you turned the corner to face the other male once more, his facade for you completely gone. there he was back with his angry snarl, pointing a finger at him menacingly. "i'm warning you," he seethed, "stay away from y/n. you'll just make her life a living hell again, and i won't let you ruin her life twice."

⠀tooru hadn't even gotten a chance to reply before hajime turned the corner they originally bumped into, following your footsteps to walk you home, as promised. tooru couldn't process what had just happened, his brain not able to understand that iwazumi was going to take you home. that he was going to help you with homework.

⠀that he was going to be by your side everyday.

⠀no, fuck that. he couldn't let that happen.

⠀one way or another, tooru will prove to you that he can be the boyfriend you deserve, even with iwa as a thorn in his side.

⠀"fuck you, iwaizumi. i am worthy of redemption. i'll prove you wrong, just you wait."

a / n : and how exactly is tooru going to prove that he’s worthy of redemption? well... that’s for another chapter ;) n e ways ! some of y’all have heard of me beginning an iwaizumi smau , and that’s correct ! keeping it secret though , but expect the masterlist soon :>

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closed ;

[heero-yuy]

You don't think that Keith's hope was to see Shiro? I mean that's what Kolivan says, that he desperately wants to see him.

Oh nononono

Like, obviously you can interpret things in many ways, there’s alot of layers to everything. But that trial Keith goes through wasn’t really about Shiro or not too related to Shiro until the end. It was something between Keith and himself.

And I think if you choose to see that Keith’s hope is just to see Shiro when he’s hurt, you might be missing on a way more significant thing that happens in their relationship in that episode.

Like I’m sure he would always like to see Shiro come to his rescue when he’s in real trouble haha, but that’s not what that was about at that point.

Ok quick season 2 Keith character analysis:

(or like way more in depth than this one haha, because I love what happens there and can’t shut up about it.)

Keith’s fear is that he will let his feelings (or like the things he wants) be in the way of the greater good.

We’ve seen that with Keith throughout season one and in season two. He always strives to think of the bigger picture and believes individual sacrifices are necessary in this war.

We dunno why he’s like that yet, but he really has something against selfish people that think only of themselves and end up hurting many others. 

Then he discovers his Galra connection in episode 3.

And then he is seen looking at his knife alot, the only connection he has to his past and his real identity and family, knowing that this might be what allows Zarkon to track them and puts them in constant danger.

And Keith realizes he can’t throw it away.

Then in episode 4, we see them face Lubos, the Olkari king. And Shiro says this to him:

Notice Keith’s face there..

Then Keith says “You’re no king!” And then does this to everyone’s shock:

Lance says: “Whoa Keith that came out of nowhere!” but if you pay attention, seems like Keith is kinda taking out his issues on Lubos there.. He knows he is doing something very selfish by keeping that knife and putting his teammates in danger.

Then comes the line about how “everything is related” . Which seems to me like Keith is just looking for excuses to keep the knife and convince himself it’s not so bad if he’s Galra, everything is connected, there’s no evil in the world. Like sure, that’s a nice and deep look on life, but that’s not what Keith is about haha, I dun think he managed to fool himself.

Then in episode 5 Zarkon finds them again. They are exhausted from this constant running and when they get a break Shiro tells them to go rest.

Keith can’t sleep. (neither of them can…)

Then they keep playing hide and seek with Zarkon for awhile and Zarkon almost takes control of the black lion again.

This is getting serious. Keith thinks he is putting in danger not just his team, but the universe aswell. And he feels guilty.

In episode 6, Allura blames herself, and Keith is like “Wait, maybe it’s me” and everyone like “Keith wtf?” but Keith doesn’t tell them about the knife. He says something about “How Zarkon imprinted on him during their fight”

They decide it doesn’t matter how he’s tracking them and come up with some plan to attack the Galra and Shiro tells them to go rest.

Keith doesn’t leave with the others. He stays. Seems like Keith wanted to share his secret with Shiro but chickened out.

And I don’t think it was because he thought Shiro might have judged him for being Galra or something, but because Keith was scared Shiro will ask him to do the right thing and give up the knife. 

In Keith’s mind, giving up the knife is the right thing to do for the sake of the universe. But he can’t find the strength to do that.

That night he has the nightmare

And with all his fears about it all, he realizes he still can’t let go, so he decides to leave.

He’s in his paladin uniform and has a big bag with his belongings. He wasn’t checking if Zarkon was tracking him, he was probably thinking “I will go to find the blade of marmora and find out who I am, and then decide if it’s all worth it.” 

(Maybe even he’s going in the red paladin armor to keep his place on the Voltron team or maybe some sort of reassurance for himself..)

Allura fucks up his plans… But they both leave. This really puts the team in alot of danger. 

Then he has a pretty harsh conversation with Allura about the Galra and “How quickly they turn”. And Allura says “I will never count on them for help!”

Making Keith realize again that he will most likely will have to choose between reuniting with his family and being a paladin of Voltron.

And even after they realize they are both really needed on the Voltron team, Keith can’t give up the knife so he can just go back.

Only after Coran tells them Zarkon is not tracking them through them they go back. Then Shiro takes the blame for Zarkon tracking them on himself and his weak connection with black, so he works on their bond. Keith looks for answers to his past in the mall.

By the time they go to the Blade of Marmora base. Keith is pretty much going crazy and I think he really doubts himself if he even belongs on the Voltron team, since he found himself doing something very selfish that he thought was putting them all in danger and he still couldn’t give it up. I think he also blames it on his possible Galra heritage.

Keith is probably thinking “What if I can’t trust myslef? What if Allura was right? What if my Galra blood will make me turn on my team like Allura said, because fuck, that is exactly what I did.”

Keith is kinda struggling with the question of “Am I really a good person? Am I going to hurt people?” 

And his fear is that he will find out that he is not a good person, and his hope is to prove himself that he’s not selfish, that he does put the greater good above his own desires.

And this what his trial was about.

Shiro was there as a symbol of Voltron and what’s right and good for the universe, and to stay with Shiro he had to sacrifice the things he so badly desires (not necessary bad things, just things he really wanted all his life). 

His dad was there as a symbol of Keith’s “selfish” desires or like his biggest wish. And to stay with his dad, he had to sacrifice the good of the universe.

Keith can’t decide between the two. He chooses his knife first, then he chooses Voltron.

In the end I think he found it in his heart that he cares about the good of the universe more, but it was a painful decision. When Keith walks out that door i think he is broken and empty. He lost the thing he wanted most in world. And he still doesn’t have his resolution, he’s still very confused. That’s why the blade doesn’t activate yet.

And the decision is still not complete in heart, he still keeps demanding to know “What does this knife means??” after that.

And that’s where Shiro comes in, running to his rescue, and protecting him and his right to keep the knife.

In that one action Shiro shows : Faith in Keith and faith in the Galra not being all bad. And says “What’s important to you is important to me and I’m with you no matter what.”

Shiro shows Keith unconditional love and support.

Something that apparently, Keith did not really expect.

And I think Shiro is able to understand what Keith needs so bad, because he also needs that for himself. Shiro has been struggling with the same questions, the same uncertainty about his dark past, the same doubts of “Am I really a good person? Am I worthy of piloting the black lion? Do I have a dark side that will make me hurt other people one day?” and I think the trust and faith Keith showed in him all this time, might have been a big part of what’s kept him going.

Shiro is not the perfect leader they all see him as, Shiro fucks up pretty badly, and Keith was the only one of the team that saw his imperfections and his struggles. And he still kept believing in him and his leadership. It’s not something Shiro really says to Keith, but I think he got alot of strength from Keith’s faith in him.

And seeing what Shiro does for him at the end of episode 8, I think Keith just goes “Wow, ok… What more can I possibly want? I have everything I need right here.” and the knife and his Galra family just lose it’s meaning in the light of what Shiro just did for him. 

(Which you might think is a good thing, but unfortunately I think Shiro just became the most important thing in the world to Keith. ( which wasn’t the case before episode 8, Keith’s family was as equally important until then.) and there’s like no way in hell that’s not gonna be used against him at some point. Keith’s trials are not over.)

And you can go waaaay deeper into this, and go into Keith’s abandonment issues, his past… not gonna do that now, but Shiro sticking by his side like that was a very meaningful moment to Keith. 

And I don’t think he was hoping for it, because seems like he just really didn’t expect it, the thought of someone sticking up for him like that just didn’t cross his mind.

Season 1 and season 2 are actually one season split into two parts. You have to think of them as like one story arc.

And if you pay close attention to the parallels in both parts, you’ll see that one of the biggest focuses in it is the love Keith’s and Shiro’s have for eachother. And it doesn’t matter what kind of love it is (platonic/romantic/familiar ) or what direction it might take in the future. 

It’s love. This is a love story.

We have Shiro doubting himself in the first part, Keith doubting himself in the second. And after episode 8, they are together and ready to fight with the darkness that might exist within them, believing and supporting eachother and find comfort and strength in one another.

Although Shiro went MIA very fast haha, so we’ll see what will happen with that.

This is just my take on this ofcourse, I’m sure there can be other interpretations, but I think that what happens there was more significant than Keith just hoping to see Shiro come to his rescue when he’s in trouble.

[oumakokichi]

Hello! Sorry to bother but I have a question, if you don't mind answering them. So I've seen some people actually shipping Maki and Ouma together, what are your thoughts on that?

You’re not a bother anon, I don’t mind at all!

Hmmm…I can’t say that it’s a ship I would personally ever becomfortable with shipping at all. Like Gonta/Ouma, I feel like there’s way toounhealthy a dynamic there, and if it’s important to remember in certain shipswith Ouma that there’s always a potential for power imablances or unhealthy behavior,then it’s also important to remember when the same applies to other charactersas well.

There’s really no way to get around the fact that Maki completely,100% hates Ouma. Loathes him. With a passion. Like, that’s pretty much hermotivation for going to kill him in Chapter 5—that and the fact that she wantedto rescue Momota, who she did undeniably like (even though he actually wasn’tin any physical danger at all). It’s also a fact that she did, definitely,unarguably want to kill Ouma right from the start in Chapter 5.

She didn’t go over to the machinery bay with the intentionof debating or intimidating or tricking Ouma into spilling information and thencuring him. Her intentions were very specifically “torture for informationmaybe, then murder.” She wanted to make it a slow, brutal, painful death,because she thought Ouma was the mastermind of the killing game and the leader of the entire cult ofdespair, and she was being manipulated brilliantly into thinking along theselines by Tsumugi.

There’s supposedly only one bottle of antidote for thepoison Maki selected from Saihara’s lab, which is why she couldn’t go get morefor Momota after she thought Ouma drank the only one there was, but it’s prettyapparent that she had no intentionsof saving Ouma or valuing Ouma’s life as a human being no matter what. She’s anassassin; such things don’t matter to her. As far as she’s concerned, you’reeither with her or against her, and Ouma had already pretty firmly put himselfin the “against” category.

If Ouma had never put his plan into action and locked herout of the machinery bay, she would’ve come running back to give the antidoteto Momota herself and still let Ouma die horribly and slowly in agony from thepoison. Naturally, she didn’t think there’d be a school trial to arise fromthis because she assumed Ouma was the mastermind himself, but there’s nodenying that her recklessness and disregard for Ouma’s life at all was her own doingand ultimately what caused her to make such a horrible mistake.

And likewise, while Ouma clearly valued Maki’s life as aliving, breathing human being even when she showed no such value for his (hehad no incentive to let her live unless he clearly didn’t want to get anyoneelse killed the way that he had in Chapter 4, and it would have been too, tooeasy to get her executed for her own mistakes and crimes in Chapter 5)—he stillclearly disliked her as an individual. As someone who truthfully, honestly,from the bottom of his heart hates killing and the idea of taking lives, Maki’sstatus as an assassin is pretty much the literal antithesis of everything Oumastands for.

He wants her to grow and develop as an individual, and heclearly wants her to confront her past, it’s true. He wouldn’t have outed herSHSL talent to the group and essentially forcedher to confront the issue if that weren’t the case. But he’s also not anoptimist by nature. His cynicism and pragmatism means that he knew, sooner andbetter than any of them, that Maki’s nature as an assassin and the things shehad been trained to do made her a prime target for the mastermind to use as apawn, and meant that she was the single best person to suspect of being likelyto kill.

Even before the boiling point that things reached in Chapter5, there were huge warning signs early on that only Ouma paid attention to.Maki choked him in front of the whole group, with almost no one except Momotaactively protesting her actions, twice.She had so little self-control over her urges to kill that she literally wouldhave taken a life without even thinking about it if Momota hadn’t been there toremind her of the basic moral fact that, “hey, murder is wrong.”

And that’s terrifying,precisely because the rest of the group turned such a blind eye to it. Ouma’sextreme doubt and cynicism was at the wrong side of the spectrum, but everyoneelse’s unthinking belief and willingness to go “oh no, Maki would never go thatfar even though she’s a trained assassin” was also wrong. That was something Ouma tried to drill into everyone’sheads as early as Chapter 2, but things in Chapter 5 went so south so fast not onlybecause of his own actions, but also because everyone else made mistakes too,and Tsumugi was able to take advantage of the conflict and confusion.

I really can’t ever say that I ship something where theentire ship has a basis on mutual hatred, distrust, and loathing the veryembodiment of what the other person is. It’s not healthy, it’s not fun orinteresting, and it really doesn’t make any sense to me. Trying to ship Makiwith someone who she thought was the mastermind and blamed for the entirekilling game doesn’t make sense to me. Trying to ship Ouma with someone whoseentire profession and training and being repulsed him on some level, as well aswith someone who literally, physically choked him and came to torture and killhim in Chapter 5 doesn’t make sense to me.

I can’t help what other people might ship, but as far as mypersonal preferences, it’s just really not something I’m comfortable with. Justas it’s not fair to Gonta to ship Ouma with him when there’s absolutely noequal footing in that relationship, I can’t think of Maki/Ouma as being fair toeither of them (and yes, I’ll say Ouma is the one at the greater disadvantage in this case because of Maki’s very noticeable physical advantages over him).

There are plenty of other potentially healthy relationshipsfor both of them, and dynamics that would be really interesting or fun toexplore. I just can’t say that I’d ever personally be interested in any kind ofromantic shipping dynamic between the two of them.

I hope I got my point across pretty okay! It’s not a secretat all that I enjoy Ouma as a character, but I also enjoy Maki as a character,and I hope I’ve conveyed that well! Both of them are extremely flawed andinteresting, and while I definitely don’t like or enjoy them in a romanticdynamic, I do enjoy them individually, and I enjoy seeing them with certain other characters as well!