#KouAo

[hewoweens]

beloved yaois

[requinum]

finally bought it almost 10 years after watching youtube playthroughs and the nostalgia is insane (also discovered re:connect and. wow)

[imadhatt3r]

This dialogue is sooooo funny, they're really channeling that "early 2000s comedy catty gay besties" energy, like... You said it, girl-friennnd

[asarigg]

About: Part 5

TAKING BACKSHOTS (I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TITLE THIS)

Something that I find quite beautiful is that when they have sex in Reconnect they put a lot of emphasis in their bodies. Whenever there’s something that excites Aoba, when he describes it, it’s something natural about Koujaku, his hands, his gaze, his voice. His voice being a thing especially makes me laugh because it’s not the first time and it’s ironic that the one with the voice powers is Aoba. Of course, when they hold hands too, for him it’s an ideal mix of the romantic and the erotic.

What I want to point out by this is that there are no additions, there is nothing but themselves, naked, in their essence, completing each other. Especially for Koujaku, who's bare body means a lot of exposition. There are also references to nature, of course there’s Ren and Beni, but more importantly they talk about how red and blue merge in the sky at dusk, and when Aoba sees the maple trees in autumn covering the mountains he mentions how beautiful it is, it’s not subtle at all.

The maple (紅葉) can be seen as a symbol of transition, peace, transformation even reincarnation. There is also a tradition of going to see the maple leaves just like with cherry trees in spring, it’s just less known and widespread. You can see in ukiyo-e that their leaves are used to accompany an autumn or romantic scene, as well as in poems, so it can be related to love and the longing for a lover.

Why call your boyfriend handsome when you can tell him that the autumn maple leaves dressing the mountains of his homeland look beautiful when they all turn red.

FOOD

A recurring theme in general is Aoba’s cooking, but we can see that chronologically, since he was a child, he has always wanted to cook something special for Koujaku. When he was a child, he tried to bake a cake for his birthday by himself, without help from his grandmother, he wanted to do everything himself. It didn’t turn out well and he wanted to give Koujaku something else, but he ate it anyway because what mattered the most to him was that Aoba had made it for him, he had made it with love. This greatly influences the way Koujaku sees food. Aoba is embarrassed when he says he can taste his love and wants to deny it, but he keeps cooking for him, regardless.

Cooking is something everyone has to do every day, but there’s something really special about cooking good food for someone else, or receiving someone else’s food. Just as Aoba’s and his mother’s smile have left a deep mark on his memory, so has food. That’s why he’s so enthusiastic about Aoba cooking for him, when he says he can taste his love as the most special ingredient, he really means it. Natural, honest, homemade. He sees love in smiles, and he sees love in the meals he eats, in the kitchen, in home, in family.

The noise of a full, lively kitchen, which for him is a dream. He gets away from the silence of his own apartment, and with the noise he camouflages any opportunity for negative thoughts to flourish.

GETTING LOST

There’s a part, during the conversation they have in the staircase, where he says that he wanted to take a walk, but would probably get lost around there. Which is strange because he eats and sleeps in that house often, there’s no way he doesn’t know the area, that’s his second house!! Not only that but when he comes back to the island we know that he went to Aoba’s house from memory. Like it’s impossible he gets lost here so it’s either NC doing their thing or he just trying to put an excuse as to why he’s waiting there, the truth being that he was just worried and wanted to talk to Aoba but didn’t have the courage to, so instead of calling him he just stayed there, like a guardian dog.

BURNT SKIN

It’s never explained why the tattoo has the effect it has on Koujaku. It gives the entire thing, mixed with all the symbolism and spiritualism we’ve talked about, a fantasy magic feeling. But it is said that it’s a Toue experiment, so we can guess it’s some kind of nanomachine tech that was introduced in his body through the ink, then infecting his body and brain, probably impossible to remove, oomfie imadhatt3r suggested the idea of it growing back and flourishing after Koujaku tried to remove it somehow. The real problem is already an essential part of his body, not just on the surface.

The tattoo canonically feels like it burns his skin, and either it’s real physical pain or ghost pain from when he was being tattooed, but regardless of that it’s curious that his peonies can resemble burnt skin. They also get redder as he loses his sanity, like it’s constantly burning, hurting, reminding him of that day.

[cameleonvermillon]

Aoba warning Koujaku about Sly: heads up, I don't know if he likes you... the last time he tried to come out was when he wanted to destroy you :(

Sly the first time he fronts post good end: what up bitch boy I'm using your face as a chair for the next three hours

[tomotoad]

[corrctyhills]

some dmmd stuff

(aoba koujaku noiz you three please stick together)

[sweetishlemon]

I made a kouao meme like 10 minutes ago and it's the greatest.

[lukosei]

Best pair best pair 🗣️🗣️🗣️

(Also just in case: I did not forget koujaku’s face tattoo I just decided that it simply will not be visible from this angle + with his fringe it is very busy around his eye already 🙏)

[asheroixart]

more kouao i should probably post too

[helminth1c]

yapi so good u start belyeveing in happiness again

[eroguromi]

okay so i finally played this game after wanting to for 10 years and uh. yeah kojaku 4 life ❤️

[hopelilies]

i finished dmmd

[imadhatt3r]

We really don't talk about the fact that Koujaku was raised as the son of a fucking YAKUZA LEADER enough. You KNOW he was forced into doing the most insane shit, and you KNOW he's like that stereotypical dad that randomly drops some lore about the horrific thing that was done to him in childhood and never elaborates.

He plays shogi with Aoba for some reason, and he has a crazy winning streak, so Aoba obviously asks "Damn, how are you so good at this?" and Koujaku casually replies "I was forced to play shogi with my father's buisness partners for money and he'd hit me if I lost" in the most casual tone ever, like this is how everyone was taught.

And it never ends with him. He just randomly remembers insane things from his childhood when he talks to Aoba and says them. "When I was 15 I was goaded into snorting coke at my father's buisness party"; "My father took me to a brothel on my 18th birthday"; "I was forced to cut off the finger of one of our subordinates when I was 14". He never says anything more.

And Aoba is, of course, is mortified every time. He tells Koujaku that this is crazy and his father was evil and none of this should've happened, and that he's always there to talk about anything he wants, but Koujaku doesn't understand why Aoba is so worried for him- it's the past, it doesn't bother him at all now (so he thinks). To him, it's all small potatoes when it comes to what happened in that period of that life, which, after all, included him being branded and attacking/killing his mother.

So he downplays it all, because he thinks it shouldn't bother him anymore- and you know, it doesn't, it really doesn't. He gets paralyzed for a second when he remembers and feels dread festering in the pit of his stomach, like he's once again a kid with no way out for a second, but it's nothing. It's nothing.

[asarigg]

Maid day bla bla bla

Saw everyone got drawn in a maid dress except koujaku so i had to do it myself 😔😔🫦🫦🫦

[asarigg2]

Lord have mercy

I’m exhausted from school I’ll try to post a privatter link for the sake of Koujaku’s gorgeous dick