#Niki thinks it's amusing and adorable and he just loves his little monkey

[ridiasfangirlings]

Reading Niki's chapter in Zero Fragments, we know that Niki had no interest in anyone or anything. However, within the same story it is said that he was only interested in one thing. And in several fragments it is alluded that that something is Saruhiko, like when he calls Kisa to find out about Saru. In addition, he himself stated that he should spend as little time as possible so as not to lose interest in anything, thus explaining why he was absent for long periods of time from home, so Ridia-san, how would you describe the type of interest that Niki felt for her own son? What do you think Niki could have found in Saru "interesting" to attract her attention? Do you think that Niki somehow believed that Saruhiko was a bit like him?

The part where he asks if he was scared when the disaster happened somehow left me wondering if Niki actually thought her son was similar to him…

That makes me wonder if Niki came to feel what it is to be a father in her way. And it reminds me of the short story where Fushimi owns a flower shop and there they talk about Niki being a good father to him.

It was definitely pretty strongly indicated in the Zero Fragments chapter that Niki’s only thing of interest is his son, and specifically just seeing his son miserable and upset. I wrote a little bit about it here when the chapter came out but Niki strikes me as something of the opposite of Munakata, where Munakata is able to find endless fascination in the things which interest him Niki gets bored by things easily and that’s why he only shows up at home every now and again, so that he doesn’t become bored of Saruhiko. It’s definitely a twisted sort of ‘affection’ (if we could even call it that), I think Niki’s feelings for his son are really more like a child who’s found a particularly interesting toy — Niki doesn’t really seem to think of his son as an actual human child who needs affection and guidance, instead Saruhiko is really just there for Niki’s amusement. And what amuses Niki the most about him is watching Saruhiko get angry or upset, Niki enjoys seeing Fushimi miserable because to him it’s the cutest and most interesting thing in the world. That he’s actively traumatizing his kid for his own amusement doesn’t really enter into Niki’s thoughts, because he’s only interested in the things he wants and nothing else.

Regarding Fushimi being similar to him, I wonder if Niki really thinks that. He taunts Kisa with the possibility in the All Characters story but I’m not sure if that’s Niki bringing up his own feelings as opposed to just assuming what Kisa thinks, that Kisa hates her child because he reminds her of her shitty husband. I actually feel like maybe Niki considers Fushimi to be similar to Kisa as well and that’s why Niki finds him so interesting — like we know Niki tires of things easily and doesn’t really have any attachments himself, but he’s still married with a child. Similarly in reading the All Characters story and how Kisa feels like Niki is someone who has the ability to pull her away from her chosen path I found myself wondering if that was part of why Kisa chose to not to be close to her son, that she basically ‘sacrificed’ Saruhiko to Niki’s interest. So going on that headcanon, I wonder if Kisa did have some quality that drew Niki to her and made him gain enough interest in her to actually marry her (and he still seems to have some affection for her too, like he may not be as interested in her as he is his monkey but he still shows up to bother her at her birthday party in the First Contact manga). Then when she had a child those same qualities that were passed down to Saruhiko caused Niki to switch the bulk of his interest to the kid and Kisa was basically able to finally go do her work as she wanted, provided she lets her husband abuse their child in return. 

And the impression I get from Niki is that he probably wouldn’t like Saruhiko much if Saruhiko really was similar to Niki. They look alike but Fushimi clearly has a different disposition, even Fushimi’s twisted side isn’t really the exact same as Niki’s. When he’s taking on Niki’s mannerisms to taunt Yata, for example, it may be for his own amusement but at the same time I feel like Fushimi is trying to hurt himself here as much as he is Yata. And Niki doesn’t destroy the things he himself loves, he plays with those until he’s bored — it’s the things that Fushimi Saruhiko loves which Niki constantly tries to break. In fact on that end, I think if you broke a lot of Niki’s precious things he might laugh and shrug, the only precious thing he really would care about at all is Saruhiko. Meanwhile Fushimi gets upset and even cries when he’s a child and those are the reactions that Niki loves, the ones that are entirely different from his own, I think he loves how this kid is his and looks like him but at the same time always reacts in ways that Niki doesn’t expect (ways which are normal for a child, but Niki wasn’t a normal kid and so he doesn’t understand that).