#I've wanted to talk about Tsumugi and it's been fun to gather up my thoughts on her

[ginjithewanderer]

[Homare Arisugawa] Emotional Orange SSR — Backstage — Poolside Memory — Part 2

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Thank you Rina for the raws!

Translation under the cut

Izumi: It's a travel magazine.

Azuma: I read that magazine from time to time, too. Their articles are very tasteful.

Guy: Are you going on a trip somewhere?

Homare: Yes, actually—

Hisoka: ... Arisu, we're out of marshmallows.

Homare: Have you already eaten my backup supply!?

Tsumugi: We're back.

Azuma: Tsumugi, Tasuku, welcome home. Were you out doing street acts again?

Tasuku: Yeah. ... That said, how come you're all gathered here?

Homare: Ah, actually, I was planning on taking a solo trip. I was just looking at a few things in this travel magazine.

Tsumugi: Ooh, how nice.

Hisoka: ... Get me lots of marshmallows.

Azuma: Hehe, he's like a cat you're leaving behind to watch the house.

Guy: Have you found any nice locations?

Homare: Yes, I thought this hot spring resort seemed nice, but...

Tsumugi: Oh, they talked about this resort on TV a while ago. Apparently the inn is making a buzz lately because it was done by a famous interior designer.

Tasuku: Well, popular inns like this one are definitely completely full around this time of year, though, right?

Homare: Yes, that is true. Of course this summer will be-

Azuma: Huh, this rental vacation home is...

Izumi: Do you know it, Azuma-san?

Azuma: ... Just as I thought. The owner of the vacation home on this page is an acquaintance of mine.

Azuma: Just the other day, they posted on Inste saying a reservation had been canceled, so...

Azuma: Should I ask them if it's still available?

Homare: I appreciate the offer, but it's much too big for just one person.

Azuma: Then, why don't we all go?

Homare: What if our schedules don't align and we can't go to the resort pool!? 

Tsumugi: ... Mine is flexible around this time.

Tasuku: I'll be free after a performance, too.

Guy: Mikage and I can coordinate something around this time as well.

Homare: And so the tables have turned completely.

Azuma: What will you do? If you do want to travel alone, you can just say so.

Homare: ... Naturally, I've decided we should go. Let's all make unforgettable summer memories together!

Azuma: I'll contact them, then.

Tsumugi: How will we get there?

Tasuku: The car should be good...

Homare: ... I thought I would have to wait until next year again, but I see I was too hasty with that.

Izumi: (Hehe, Homare-san seems happy.)

Izumi: It's great that you get to go with everyone, isn't it?

Homare: Indeed. You'll be going, too, of course?

Izumi: ... Yes. Please let me join you!

Izumi: Wow, this is beautiful...!

Tsumugi: I love how spacious it is.

Hisoka: It's nice and cool here...

Homare: It really is splendid! I'm already feeling poetic inspiration welling up inside me!

Tasuku: Why don't you give your poetry a rest, just for today?

Izumi: What should we do for dinner?

Azuma: It looks like the owner filled the fridge with all sorts of ingredients.

Guy: ... With all this, we can make anything we want.

Tasuku: How about a BBQ then?

Izumi: Since you even brought me along with you, I'll take charge of cooking!

Hisoka: ... We'll just be having curry again.

Tasuku: No doubt about it.

Izumi: Is there something wrong with that!?

Tasuku: That way, it'll be more of a camping trip than a BBQ.

Homare: Since we're here, why don't we each prepare one dish?

Homare: After we've finished, whoever's cooking we decide is the worst will have to play a punishment game.

Guy: There aren't many difficult dishes to make at a BBQ, but that sounds good.

Tsumugi: That sounds fun.

Azuma: I don't mind it, either.

Homare: It's decided, then!

Homare: We're free to do whatever we want until dinnertime, so let's think about what to make at the BBQ.

Guy: Understood.

Izumi: Whoa! There's a pool in the garden!

Tasuku: Huh, it's big. Should we get in soon?

Azuma: I'll hold back on that.

Hisoka: Me, too. Changing clothes is a pain.

Homare: Unfortunately, I didn't bring my swimsuit. I'll pass my time relaxing with a book.

Tasuku: ... Then why did you choose one with a pool?

Tsumugi: Ahaha... there, there.

Part 3

[emilycollins00]

hello! i've recently stumbled across your works and i really love your characterization and writing uwu if it's not too much, is it okay for me to request for a scenario where some actors accidentally found out that their director is actually good dancer? like maybe somebody was watching tv and 'hey doesn't that backup dancer look familiar?' ((you can decide on whoever finds out about it and you can also choose to use izumi's name or just write mc)) AAAA thank you very much! ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡

Thank you, dear! 💕 I feel so happy when I read I you guys like it. Sometimes it gets difficult to not fall into OOC!

I opted to choose Izumi, mainly because I don’t think I’ve written anything with her even though I love her so much! As for the actors, well, couldn’t decided wich one so everyone is making an appearance.

 Hope you like it!  💕

The dorm discovering Izumi’s dancing skills

“Tenma, hurryyyyy”

“Yeah, yeah... Uh? Hey, who didn’t wash their dishes this morning, it stinks!” the summer leader complained outloud, leaving the kitchen with Misumi with the last chopsticks and glasses to place on the lounge. 

Tsuzuru entered and looked at the sink, frowning. Indeed, it smelled awful. He walked towards the couches to get the culprit.

“Itaru-san, don’t ask me why, but I know whatever that was in that plate was yours. Please clean it right now”

“Oh shit, my shield fell” 

The man in question was laying next to Kazunari and Banri, all of them most likely playing a battle game, judging by the way they were staring intensely at their phones.

 “Itaru-san!”

“Yes, yes, one minute…”

“Dang, Itaroon! You can’t pull something like that to win, I don’t have any more resources!”

Omi put a hand on Tsuzuru’s shoulder when he saw the scriptwriter was about to start scolding them “It’s okay Tsuzuru, we have enough plates. Itaru-san can clean later so dinner doesn’t get cold”

At that moment Juza, Taichi, Muku and Sakuya arrived. 

“Ah, Omi-san! After Tenma-kun and Misumi-san finish the table will be set” the cheerily the spring leader informed approaching them.

“At least we get things done quickly, having so many people at Mankai” Tsuzuru smiled tired but gratefully at the four of them “…although it would be quicker if others offered to help from time to time” he looked at the gaming group and a certain pair watching TV.

“Tsuzuru, this program is too important to sip!”

“You mean to skip? Also, I truly don’t think so. That’s one old program you’re watching” he looked around resting his hands on his hips. No one had moved an inch “That indirect was also to the rest of you, you know”

“Noted” 

“Aha”

“So you want me to set the table instead of trying to come up for ideas with customes? Fine by me”

Misumi and Tenma entered before an argument could take place “Table’s set. Someone should call Masumi, Sakyo-san and the winter troupe. They were in the practice room with director, right?” 

As if by pure summoning, the last spring member arrived, taking off his headphones “…I��m here”

“We are here too!” Tsumugi waved as the rest of the winter troupe entered talking to each other. Their play schedule had been decided and they had had a run through while Izumi and Sakyo discussed the final details for the performance.

“Okay then everyone, time to dig in!”

                                         …………………………..

Everyone sat on their chairs and started moving plates around and refilling glasses with drinks. It wasn’t often, due to the difference in schedules, but some nights the whole dorm got together and opted to eat at the same time. It was a bit of a mess but in the end, everyone had fun.

Citron was still watching silently the TV when he paused it, concerned. Getting up, he headed to the dinner table as everyone ate and talked “Director?”

Izumi looked up, stopping  herself from grabbing the delicious tonkatsu in front of her “You called, Citron? Ah, leave the TV and sit, come on. Omi’s food will get cold!” she motioned the chair that was empty.

He did as told, but kept his eyes locked on her “Director I must ask you an important question”

“Uh… ok?”

He nodded as his chopsticks grabbed some rice “Are you maybe a twist?”

Everyone turned to him, confused, but not surprised. The young woman found herself blinking in confusion too “…Twist?”

Masumi nodded in agreement “You can twist my heart anytime you want”

No one even tried to contradict the young boy, still trying to decipher Citron’s meaning.

“I don’t think Citron means twist”

“…Twix”

“Yeah Hyodo sure, Citron meant Twix. I swear your brain is a fucking sugar cube”

“You are sweet like a twix to me, director”

“Ugh, someone tell the Psycho Stalker off”

“Y-yuki-kun!”

“Citron, I don’t think your phrasing is right” Tsumugi laughed as he saw everyone starting to debate. 

The foreigner crossed his arms, deep his thought “Mmm… this word is meant to be a clone… of another person! Is it close enough, Tsumugi?”

“C-clone?!” Taichi looked up from his seat, eyes wide open “Director has a clone?!”

“Guys, come on...”

“Mhm… I might be wrong, but maybe Citron meant if our dear director has a twin?”

Citron gasped “Twin, yes! Azuma’s wisdom is as always precise!”

The winter member received the compliment from the blond with a soft laugh as the rest frowned. Sakuya raised his hand from the other side of the table “U-Um! Why do you say that, Citron-san?”

“You have sisters?” Tasuku raised his eyebrows at Izumi.

“Of course not! I’m an only child”

“But that cannot be. I saw you with my two very eyes!”

“Me?”

He nodded seriously, getting up from the chair and turning on the TV again “I will demonstrate now, the director’s clone!”

Izumi sighed. Why couldn’t they have a normal night? Just for once. It was weekday for christ’s sake. The sudden gasps and exclamations brought her back to reality.

“It really looks like Izumi-san!”

“She looks younger though, is it really her?”

“Waaah, director you are moving so beautifully!”

“Wait, seriously?”

Izumi got up and approached the TV screen, concerned for the amount of attention it was getting “Come on, how can I-“

“That is you, isn’t it?” Sakyo pointed the TV with his head.

As everyone came to the realization that it was indeed Izumi. the woman in question stood there, watching her younger self.

“Oh, you meant that!” she sat on the arm of the couch, forgetting dinner and the fact that everybody was still trying to make sense of it. Their director? In TV? “It’s not been that long but... ” she laughed “Might be the one and only time I made it for a play in a performance, come to think of it!”

Kazunari, who was at that point recording the whole situation, turned his phone towards her in awe “I am beyond SHOCK, director! What play? How come we didn’t know you danced so well? Any declarations?”

She pushed the phone away from her, laughing “I did my studies and entered in the dancing club from my university for a change of peace”

“But this amazing choreography? The moves? Not to mention you are totes on TV!”

She looked  back at the TV and a smiled appeared. Competing in friendly dancing competitions had been nice at the time “That program shows musicals, right? My university dancing club just happened to want to enter the competition and we decided to do a mute dancing play trying to tell a story without speaking. Forgot it had been recorded then”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at each other.

“…Oh”

“That’s right”

“Director had another life before Mankai…”

“Feels weird to think about it”

Izumi blinked confused. Of course, she had tried to make a life outside of acting! It had been rough, but she had had to come to terms with herself that she had to move on, at the time.

“Ey, ey, director let’s dance too!” Misumi grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the courtyard. She found herself stumbling to keep up.

“W-whoah, Misumi-kun, we haven’t finished eating!”

He laughed releasing her as he tried to copy what they all had watched “That looked fun! What other dances did you do?”

Izumi laughed at his excitment.

“Well, there was nothing specific…?” she listed a few songs on the top of her head. The rest of the dorm gathered around the frames of the courtyard, watching curiously. 

“I also want to see director’s dancing!”

“Anyone has a phone?”

“On it~”

“Enough! Why are you…” Sakyo came out too, ready to start scolding when one of the songs mentioned before started playing and saw Izumi’s bright face.

It was as if some kind of adrenaline had been injected into her, enough to make her body start moving along the music, not a single movement being wasted.

It had been a while.

                                       ………………………………

“Oh my, such a stunning view… the turning of grand jetes! If this moment was to be engraved…”

Hisoka frowned next to him “Arisu… you’re too loud. Can’t enjoy it” 

“Director… is really good!” Sakuya was practically beaming as he watched Izumi moving around “She looks like a fairy!”

No one there disagreed. Her movements flowed, taking away the breath of every person in that familiar audience. Izumi had never been able to act well, but somehow her dancing expressed more than she could in a play.

Omi smiled at the view and crossed his arms “A pity I left the camera in my room” he looked at his left and saw how Sakyo looked at her.

The blond’s eyes followed her figure entranced, not moving an inch.

A few minutes later, Izumi stopped, breathing heavily after song. She looked up, greeted by a big amount of applause. Were those claps for her? Her cheeks grew hot. She didn’t remember last time she got an applause and smiled bashfully.

“Fufu that was wonderful, Izumi-san”

“Epic. I think I just fell in love all over again, director! Gonna need to post the clip on my instablam!”

“Not bad. I guess currian has another thing she’s good at, uh”

“Well, if we ever have a dancing play, now we know who to ask for notes, isn’t that right, Tsuzuru?” 

Taichi gasped in excitement looking at the scriptwriter “Oh man, I definitely want to do a dancing play now, girls would love it!”

Of course, as theatre fanatics as they were, the conversation headed into their future performances.

“Maybe like a musical?”

“But dancing as you act is…”

“I want to do a triangle dance in our play!”

Izumi laughed, gaining everyone’s attention “Okay, okay, this is enough. Let’s go back and finish dinner. Can’t believe you all tricked me to dance in front of you, geez” she still felt her breath uneven from the workout.

“But you did look beautiful out there, director” Tsumugi smiled as he pushed a complaining Taichi and entranced Masumi inside.

Tasuku sighed as he watched everyone returning to their normal behaviors “Well, I guess we must thank you are more an acting addict than a dancer” he sent a small smile to Izumi, placing a hand on her shoulder and going inside to help the adults tame the youngest.

Izumi was about to follow when she heard Sakyo’s voice from behind “You danced well”

“Ah, Sakyo-san, thanks”

He dropped his eyes momentarily before looking at everyone going back to finish dinner inside “…Think you will miss it? Dancing like that”

Izumi lifted her head up and closed her eyes, enjoying the night’s breeze. She had set it aside for so long she hadn’t really been able to think about it.

Dancing to her was like turning back the clock, returning to a previous life that might have been good. However, she had always felt something was missing. 

She smiled tenderly. Just thinking about everyone at the dorm made her heart go warm. 

“It’s become a good memory to keep”

She tore her gaze away from the night sky to smile at him, assuring him that she was being honest to those words just said.

True. She had loved dancing, but theatre? Ah.

That was her life.

_________________________________________________________

I enjoyed it a lot, hopefully, you guys did too. Have a wonderful day!  💕

[oumakokichi]

Hello! Thank you for sharing your wonderful meta! What do you think about the Mastermind? I personally find them to be very interesting and also a fun subversion of the previous parts of this franchise.

Hi! These two questions were about the same topic so Idecided to answer them together instead of one at a time! Oh boy, where do I start?

Personally, I really like Tsumugi. I find having her as themastermind to be refreshing. For once, finally, we have an antagonist who isnot Junko, or controlled by Junko behind the scenes, or related to Junko at all.The fake-out with the Junko cosplay was excellent too because it was theperfect way of raising my dread levels until subverting the matter at the end,and god I was so relieved. Basically, I really like that Tsumugi is not Junko.

Don’t get me wrong, Junko has been an iconic antagonist forthe last 6 years or so. She’s remorseless, terrifying, devious, and incrediblymemorable. But seeing her pop up again and again when the spotlight could havebeen given to other various antagonists would have worked so much better. Kamukura,for instance, is fascinating, but I find his potential stifled by having Junkoonce again come back in full force at the end of sdr2 and therefore removingthe focus from the issues Kamukura represented. I had high hopes for dr3’sFuture Arc at first even, but then the Tengan thing was so poorly foreshadowedand poorly handled in general that it was an even bigger letdown than if zombieJunko had popped up from the grave and claimed credit for everything onceagain.

Tsumugi is, thankfully, not another Tengan. Her status asthe mastermind was very much foreshadowed (I mean, plenty of people did see itcoming), and almost everything about her is meant to subvert the Junko-varietyof antagonist in some way or another. The fact that you almost forget she’seven there in most chapters is intentional, and exactly what she was countingon in order to get away with half the shit she did. Where Junko was less of a characterand more an unstoppable and destructive force of nature, Tsumugi feels verymuch like a person who’s not beyond huge mistakes beyond her control and who’scertainly not infallible and all-knowing. Given Junko’s knack for future-visionthanks to her super analysis, I felt this was a very nice change.

It took me a while to pin down why I went through the gamethinking of her as such a spectacular actress, and then I realize it’sprecisely because she’s trying way too hard. It’s not as if her acting seemsvery convincing or incredible. In fact, most of the time it seemed far tooforced. Her screams were too shrill, her “tune out everything around me” modefelt simply spacey and ditzy, and her flustered inability to cosplay anyone notfictional seemed more like someone pretending to be embarrassed rather thangenuinely mortified or upset.

But it’s exactly because of how much she seems like she’sforcing it, and like she’s a bad actress, that I think it flew over most of thecharacters’ heads in-game. Even Ouma, who knew the culprit behind nearly everytrial before the trials even began, couldn’t pinpoint her, and neither couldSaihara for the longest time. And it’s because she flies under the radar. Hersupposedly bad acting and overall plain, uninteresting persona gives herexactly the image she needs to go unsuspected.

I know a lot of people have taken her obsession with the DRfranchise in the ndrv3 universe to be some kind of bashing from Kodaka on hisown fanbase, but I really don’t think that’s what he was going for. I thinkthat as a “SHSL Cosplayer,” and as someone who only ever wanted to embody afictional ideal of something she found “interesting” and “fun,” I feel likeTsumugi is really Kodaka’s attempt at getting people to question why they like they things they do.Fiction doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and unhealthy obsession with it can lead tohorrible consequences. Tsumugi and many of the characters in ndrv3 took thefictional events of dr1 and sdr2, and instead of gleaning the truly importantmessages from them, only wanted to emulate them instead.

For Tsumugi, executions and murders and horrible sufferingall around weren’t something negative or terrifying, but something she wantedto imitate instead. They were “fun” and “entertaining,” not even because likeJunko she truly got off on human suffering from the bottom of her heart, butjust because she found them a fun divergence from “normal, everyday life.”Death and grief lost meaning and consequence in the DR series within ndrv3because it was seen as something removed from real life, something exciting andnew and different from the grind and routine.

And that line of thinking is very dangerous and it’s verypresent in real life. There are a lot of people who perhaps come to idolize orwant to imitate things that are better off left in fiction, or who come to blurthe lines between real life human beings and their perceptions of them asalmost character-like, caricatures of themselves. A lot of people on theinternet have glorified things like serial killers or mass shootings (much toother people’s disgust, thankfully), and I think the reason this happens isn’tnecessarily because of malicious intent so much as it’s just…an uncheckedobsession with something that people consider “happens in fiction,” even whenit’s going on in real life, all the time, and should be addressed with care.

Even in her execution, I feel like Tsumugi embodies thiskind of feeling of being super removed from everything around her unless she’sliving vicariously through the excitement of something else. As soon as theJunko clothes come off, her expression switches from the trademark “I don’tcare about death, it’s so despair-inducingly pleasant” grin to just plain oldTsumugi, and her blank, bored expression. Even in the face of a very real deathand real destruction all around her, it wasn’t something she reallyrecognized as such, because it was all she had ever idolized and obsessed overin her interests.

I think that’s just really fun as a concept to getaddressed. Tsumugi never struck me as a representation of Kodaka’s take on thewhole DR fanbase, but instead as a portrayal of dangerous obsession and fixationon concepts or ideas without truly understanding the real life consequencesthey cause.

I also think it’s very fun that the truthfulness of most ofwhat she said in Chapter 6 is up for debate at the moment. Junko always had asort of word-of-god authority to her in that even when she would switch moodsand personas at a moment’s notice, you could still generally trust that when shewas talking about her rules in her game, or about despair in general,she was going to be telling the truth. But there’s no word-of-god guarantee forTsumugi’s words, and it’s hard to tell how much of everything in ndrv3 wasentirely her doing, or if she just sort of took the producers’ plan and ranwith it and went way, way out of control with it.

It just further serves to highlight ndrv3’s focus on truthbeing entirely a matter of perception and belief, and while I do think that atleast some of what Tsumugi said has to have been true, I like that there’sstill room to make other arguments and little lingering doubts abouteverything. It makes for really fun theorizing and debating, and I’m enjoyingseeing a lot of that going on in the fandom right now!