#What Sho Minazuki DID without a Plume

[wyrdle]

I'm totally with you on the pre-P3 timeline. I love love love having exact dates for everything, so the lack of information is sooooo frustrating. Even worse being a Sho fan as there's barely anything, best I've got is that the experiments on him took place in 1999 (mentioned by Labrys in the P3 side as she's heading to the top of the tower), and according to the manga he was 8 when he nearly died during "combat training", so if you take the info we get in the manga as canon then he'd be the about same age as the P3 3rd year trio. Idk if it's helpful in any way, I'm just a bit insane about the guy. Sorry for coming in here and rambling.

Oooh! Interesting!!! And don't worry about being insane about the characters lol I am the same with tomato boy's horrible dad. Honestly, the bit I focus on is whether it's before or after the explosion from 10 years ago for sequence of events.

Here are some of my footnotes: Spoilers and excessive yapping ahead

Child experimentation and pursuit of inducing personas + evokers were only conceived post-Mitsuru's awakening within Tartarus. Which is post-explosion. (Source: In-game notes, Persona 3 Club Book)

This makes a lot of sense what with the creation of Theurgy/new equipment for SEES. Not saying child experimentation didn't happen pre-explosion era, but it certainly didn't stop. These all had to be Kirijo group-sanctioned activities, Ikutsuki did not work alone and without support.

The above implies that Sho + Strega + other child victims were only worked on post-explosion too, as the only reason they did so was to gather as many Persona users to explore Tartarus. So maybe? Late 1999, immediately after explosion? Once Tartarus exploration trapped a bunch of kids and failed though, the experiments were dropped. Strega escaped before this. Sho got into a coma before this.

The issue with timeline starts when Sho's plume of dusk scenario seems to be the key to the creation of Anti-Shadow Weapons. The existence of Minazuki inspired the researchers to trial Aigis, Labrys and their brethren needing a plume of dusk to develop their sentience. (I need a source for this though, lol.) And Aigis needs to be around pre-explosion to be able to trap Death.

Soooooo. The timeline/sequence of events is shot to hell haha. I might've mixed up "Discovering a plume of dusk contains a soul in robots so they can use personas too >>> Let's try putting this in a child so he can get a persona" reasoning timeline... but it makes less sense in this direction.

Now for my personal thoughts: I believe the game wants to frame it as being "pre-explosion" and during Koetsu Kirijo era to idk. Bundle all the evil to that time, place all possible evil on Ikutsuki, and suggest they've turned a new leaf, but are maybe burdened by the ethical issues in pursuit of it. At least, that's how I've conceived Takeharu Kirijo. "The ends justify the means, unfortunately" type beat. It matches up with how he wants to distance himself from Mitsuru, too. Still, it is his Kirijo Group covering up the incident that killed Ken's mom, his Kirijo Group that decides Eiichirou Takeba should remain slandered in public eye and for Yukari + her mom to experience the fallout. Wtf.

Forewarning for Ikutsuki yapping ahead lol.

Unfortunately, they decided Ikutsuki (as the last representative of "old-world" Kirijo group) became the easiest scapegoat for all of this heinous shit. I have opinions about their use of him as a character like this, because it's so cheap. In P3 game's story alone, his (+Strega's) role in the story is meant to be an antithesis to Protag + SEES. So what does that mean exactly? Throwing away bonds/not forming them, seeing no meaning in living after pain, finding meaning/will to live in the pursuit of death etc.

These are all extremely sympathetic points for Strega, for Sho, for literally any character that "experiences the doomerisms". But in the case of Ikutsuki, suddenly it is of no consequence. The writers hate him/don't care for him as a character, when he could be so intriguing. Why does he believe the world needs to be remade? He's the last mouthpiece for the dead Kirijo group cultists too, so!!!!

All persona games have always explored how people are complex and how causing suffering is often the result of suffering- yet Shuji, the guy who actually kills himself / seeks death so doggedly / deludes himself into a prophecy that would make living just a bit longer more bearable is. Just crazy I guess. Guy who spent 10 years like this, taking solace in the fact that Nyx is coming...

Sho's actions mirror Ikutsuki's, Strega believe in Nyx, that implies something for Ikutsuki too lol. That's lost to everyone because he's never given more reason to exist on screen besides to torment people with his puns.

TLDR: I'm so so so salty about Shuji haha. Sorry, he's my fave because he's essentially "What if unhealable mental illness in man" which is horrifyingly sad. The concept of him is so delightfully doomed. Rounding back to topic (OOPS), the timeline messiness was likely to just set up some nebulous evil to contrast next to SEES as well as give them hurdles to overcome. I just think they should've fleshed out parallels in the human condition to experience hurt and contrast of how to live with it though, haha.

[systematicallycapricious]

What a strange man... He seems to make that child happy, at least.

I seriously look forwards to the day I can apply this to the project it stems from. But in the meantime I shall post it here, as for the greater Sho Minazuki fandom, it should basically serve as a concept for a humanized-Tsukiyomi design, even if a few details are tweaked to be more in line with the AU. ^^;

(Also, Sho’s hairstyle isn’t in his iconic style nor the one the Ultimax manga substituted here because... well, AU plot reasons, but also because it’s fun to think of what other hairstyles he might’ve had when he was younger. xP)

[shadowtarot]

CHM: Gonna bring in someone who could act as a Red Herring: Ryuji is walking home and ends up being approached by Sho Minazuki, now in his early 20s. Sho takes Ryuji to the side and "politely" (with a combat knife) asks to chat. He offers information about the Kirijo Group in exchange for info about the Thieves and their methods, just out of general curiosity. Should Ryuji agree, Sho spins his info in a way that makes Kirijo sound super evil, referencing his scar and his dead "dad", etc.

Chariot’s Mystery Part 11

Ryuji’s checking the chat log following a new message being posted on the site Futaba got contacted.

Everyone’s in a bigger tizzy now that this group wants to contact the Phantom Thieves. The chat turns into a voice call however as Zenkichi points out that constant text spam is getting too hard for he and Maruki to both keep up with. Putting in his earbuds, Ryuji mostly listens to the others talk as he walks home. Being in public, he can’t safely say anything regarding what’s going on. “They definitely have some smart players in their group if they’d link Alibaba to the Phantom Thieves solely based on modus operandi.” Makoto sighs. “But that leaves the biggest concern: is this group trustworthy enough to hold communication with?”

“It sounds too risky given what we know so far.” Zenkichi states. “We’d need a better understanding before we can even attempt to interrogate this group. I’m planning on heading to Iwaitodai soon, so save any big contact with these people until we have more than just Ryuji there.”

“Yeah, that sounds like the safest plan right now.” Ren nods, though it’s not like anyone can see that. “I can’t leave Inaba without arousing suspicion right now. Even if my record’s legally clear, people are more on guard with even the most simple action of buying bread in school. If I could feasibly send Mona I would...”

“If the situation calls for it, I can create some sort of excuse to pull you out of school.” Zenkichi explains. “But I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that...”

“Ryuji, how close are you to getting home?” Futaba moans in boredom. “You’re the only one over there and we NEEED updates!”  “Just a few more blocks I promise, I’m still not used to getting around here and-”  Something cold and flat touches the back of Ryuji’s neck. ...metal.  “Ryuji? Did something happen?” Maruki calls out. “You gotta learn how to turn down the volume on your earbuds, kid.” A voice states. “...come with me and don’t you DARE go the other way.” “Ryuji don’t comply, just run!” Zenkichi states. “What’s the description of the-” “Gramps...did you not hear what he said? I believe his ‘mugger’ heard our Phantom Thief talk.” Sophia explains.

“Shit.”

Ryuji silently complies with the red haired mugger. “What are you wanting...” He finally says as they reach the far end of a dead end alleyway. “Call it an Intel exchange. You want info on Kurijo yeah? Tch, I have more experience with those people than you’d ever want to have.” Now in better light, Ryuji can observe the x shaped scar on the guy’s face. “And what are you wanting in return then?” Ryuji looks the older man in the face. “I want to know how your group pulled off that...Change of Heart thing. I’m not gonna leak any of it, not like it’d do any of us any good right? People who don’t have Persona would think we’re nuts.” The rest of the team is hearing that convo, and is messaging via text to avoid being heard.

“Your buddies went silent, huh?” The man leans forward to him. “Shoulda been like that from the start.”

“...” Ryuji silently waits instructions. He can’t just trust some random crazy with a knife with knowledge of Persona to not leak their operations to the people they’re researching. “I might change my mind about not speaking a damn word about this if you don’t cough up the info now.” He’s getting less calm as Ryuji continues to not give a reply. “...we don’t have much of a choice in the matter Ryuji.” Morgana finally says. “Explain what you can.”

“Get his name first though.” Ren adds.

“Give me your name, I’ll give you what you want then.” Ryuji glares. “A tough guy eh? Well I’d say that if you weren’t just buying time waiting for orders like a helpless runt. But fine, names Sho but that’s all you’re getting until you cough up the details.” Sho leans up against a brick wall, arms folded. “...we alter the behavior of someone’s shadow buy stealing the desire that corrupts them, the heart of the issue.” Ryuji explains.

“Come on, that sounds like you’re simplifying it. I’ve seen no way to steal ‘desires’ by those means with the Shadows I’ve fought and observed.” Sho shakes his head.

“The method we use to access that world isn’t accessible anymore. So I can’t explain it in better detail without showing it.” Ryuji retorts. “Ugh...fair enough. Well here’s my end of the deal then.”  Everyone listening in on the convo pays close attention to possible intel being shared. “Kirijo’s done all sorts of experiments on people in terms of getting them to awaken to Persona pre-maturely. I was a victim of those experiments, and the only human still around to tell the story properly. Forced experiments using Plumes of Dusk, creating combat robots with Persona capabilities. ...a lot of people died that had those plumes shoved in their bodies or were pushed through such hardship just to get them to come,” Sho looks at Ryuji, who’s now visibly shaken by these details. “I was ‘Adopted’, only to be experimented on..denied a lot of the basic human rights and abused. The damn thing gave me a split personality, and only one half had access to my Persona. I was trained to kill... and they’re still using those Persona-using Machines. Two are still active.. between that, and the fact that Persona forced out by the group had a tendency to go out of control and kill people...the company has a lot of skeletons in their closet. figuratively and literally.” Sho stands up strait from where he’s leaning. “...the Government has them in their pockets. Yet they don’t fully know what they’ve caused in the past...or will keep causing in the future.”

He walks off...leaving Ryuji to stand there alone with his thoughts. “Human experimentation...they’re no better than Madice...” Haru sighs. “Joker...what’s our move?” Sophia asks. “We make that contact with the group. Not for a friendly interview, but as a letter of challenge.” Ren states. “Futaba, can you try to hack Kirijo’s security and force a live broadcast of us to communicate just within that building?” “Give me a bit to get everything set up. But it’s one hundo percent doable!” Futaba snickers.

[wyrdle]

Big Sho Minazuki fan here, I think it's a shame that Ikutsuki wasn't fleshed out any further. Like he's exposed as a bad guy and then immediately just... falls off.

YEAH. it's such a shame, when he's like the perfect foil character to MC lmao. One gains strength from bonds, the other has none/is incapable of it and thus sees no meaning in living. I'd have loved for his social link to be one which stays permanently at 1, regardless of what you do with him, as an illustration of this. And instead of SLs talking at you about things, he becomes your confidant and you reveal more about yourself and your friends lol. Throughout this there's the risk of revealing Pharos sealed within you, thus links to Aigis' shutdown etc, as well as an undercurrent of "This man is not normal" beyond his puns lol. I'd have loved to see the puns taken further as a masking tactic, one that whilst he personally enjoys, is still cover up lol. Maybe nearing November, as his excitement to finally die grows, you learn more about him as a person finally. idk lol I'm doing Atlus' job in making the earlier parts of the game fun and intriguing to carry you through the months.

ANYWAY. his relationship to Sho is so fascinating to me, because it's wild that Sho is even left alive tbh. For a guy who views death as deliverance/freedom from suffering+ his saviour complex with SEES, you'd think he'd pull life support off Sho and recollect the plume of dusk from his dead body. So there's plenty reason to kill Sho if he were just any experiment, and start over, even wipe a potential loose end to his research with Kirijo group. But he doesn't, and even leaves Sho with an inheritance I assume is hefty enough to last him his lifetime. So yeah, I feel like there was some twisted care and affection for Sho as a son, coming from the guy who, if set up properly next to P3 MC, whose nihlism is born from lack of bonds combined with who knows what he went through.

@ponderousorb has likened him to a real life saint called Thérèse of Lisieux, who was chronically ill and eventually developed "chosen one" or other strange beliefs as a coping mechanism whilst living. Basically whatever the pun guy went through in his life twisted him into viewing everything so bleakly and his "selfish" desire to be a Prince a coping mechanism. Dude's depressed and suicidal at his core, and of course combined with being embroiled into a death cult... well. Can't be a good parent lol.

Of course, all of the above is just my input/perspective/spin on his character. The games seem happy to leave him as a madman without elaboration about his brand of nihlism. I think if they did, Sho's story wouldn't have changed, but at the moments where Shadow Shuji popped up, stuff would've been more layered beyond whump for Sho. (Potentially flashbacks of interactions between them that leave Sho so pitifully confused and torn... ooft ouch).

It's a fun time to ponder how Shuji and Sho might've been like, if neither had been part of Kirijo Group. I like thinking Shuji might've at least tried to be there for Sho, if he wasn't off feeling like a miserable waste of space. Still not a good parent and neglectful, but I prefer thinking Shuji didn't find pleasure in causing him pain lol. Maybe it started off as clinical then eventual caring, but unfortunately he's deluded himself so hard he might've even thought he was doing Sho good by making him jacked lol. Whatever momentary guilt that'd surface, would be shrouded by his delusions. Idk, he offered SEES a "place by his side" for judgement day since they played such a large part, I can imagine he wished for Sho to reap the "benefits" too.

TLDR man's fucked in the head truly, but narrative (and most persona fans lol, not their fault tbh) never expands on it to investigate the tragedy of nihlism this way. It's such a big plunder on their end tbh, would've made him more interesting as a an antagonist, and certainly bolstered the game's core themes. Like. Why DOES this guy and old Kirijo group want death so badly lmao. The other guys are dead, Shuji is the only remaining mouthpiece for it... and we get absolutely nothing. If we knew his story, we could piece together the sort of underlying motivations of Kirijo group lol.

But anyway. Yeah. Lots of fun stuff, left unexplored! Apologies for the ramble I'm speed running my thesis on Shuji Ikutsuki 🤣

[systematicallycapricious]

I guess a humanized/Persona-less AU?

Like often, stuff from the P4: Arena series ahead! No stuff for the other games yet though.

Labrys:

Labrys is a 1st year in senior high and a human in this. She attends a different, more prestigious school than everyone else though.

She lives in a family with quite a few sisters, both older and younger than her (not a ridiculous amount though, maybe like 7-8 at the most?), with extraordinarily strict parents when it comes to academics and lifestyle/career choices and all, and they demand nothing less than perfection from all of their children. They also toxically encourage their children to compete for who can be the best among them and win the most of their parents' favor, which Labrys has been naturally gifted so she's generally been at the 'top' out of all of her sisters?

Labrys is the student council president of her school even as a 1st year, and is always working really hard and doing her best to maintain a cheerful and fair demeanor around others.

024 is alive in this and is one of Labrys's older sisters who's since graduated and moved out on her own and gotten somewhat away from their demanding parents/family. She meets up with Labrys from time to time, and she often tries to be guiding/supportive of her in understanding that she doesn't need to be perfection to have worth as a person, and listens to her issues with an understanding of having gone through them before. Their other sisters aren't really as close to 024 as Labrys is, since they're less willing to listen to her idea that they need to be anything less than perfect?

Labrys, 024, and their sisters probably have more human names in this AU? "Labrys" might be a nickname for Labrys though.

Sho:

Sho’s still Ikutsuki’s child in this; most likely adopted, as it might look better on Ikutsuki’s reputation to have ‘saved’ a kid from the foster system? Ikutsuki’s still the gentle-mannered, dad-joker chairman of the local highschool, having a ton of renown and prestige in the city they live in… that’s not a good thing for Sho, given the true nature of his adoptive father. Sho still has Minazuki in this (but it was a natural occurrence, most likely, meaning there might potentially be others, might not… I’m kind of tempted to put a Tsukiyomi whom differs from Minazuki by just staying utterly silent and unmoving/unaffected-seeming in the face of abusive things?), and Minazuki frequently makes attempts to run away from home… which also don’t end very well thanks to his basically everyone else knowing and liking his dad. That, and stuff similar to it, also gives Sho the community-reputation of an "ungrateful, troublemaking punk-kid", so they all more or less turn a blind eye to what those behaviors could mean, as they perceive it as him choosing to be that way and indulge in bad personality traits rather than it being an effect of him trying to cope with and escape an abusive situation.

  Alternatively, Sho and Minazuki could be actual twins in this, but otherwise their situation with Ikutsuki is roughly the same. Going completely off the normal path of dissociative disorders I usually take with Sho and Minazuki characterizations though (also please bear with me here, it’s been a while since I’ve read a lot into stuff aside from dissociative disorders and abuse dynamics <_<;), the two might be on the Autism spectrum, leading to a comorbidity of Alexithymia (which could potentially turn out to have been Schizoid Personality Disorder instead.. but I’d need to do more research to discern for sure. It might just be actual Alexithymia) for Minazuki, and some kind of anxiety disorder and ADHD (maybe hyperactive-impulsive type?) for Sho.

Minazuki would have largely hypo-reactive senses, while Sho’s would be hyper-reactive (with a special emphasis on noise and touch being overwhelming for him). Minazuki’s the only person Sho can tolerate touching him, but even then that’s only bearable in small amounts.

To go a bit more in depth on that, while Sho is very sensitive to particular frequencies (higher-pitched ones usually), specific sounds (for example, foil crinkling), too much conflicting noise at once, and sudden loud sounds, he has a hard time recognizing the volume of his own voice (both audibly and internally.. like, muscles and etc. things involved in speaking), so he’ll often speak a lot louder than he realizes he is. Earplugs generally don’t work for him either, as most of the ones he’s tried are immensely uncomfortable due to their textures, shapes, etc. He’s found a pair of headphones that are comfortable enough and help block out some of the noise, so he usually wears them when he has to navigate public transport and crowded public spaces, but not while in school or at home (he isn’t allowed to in both instances). He does really like the clanging sounds that swords make when they collide though, as well as that whooshing noise that swords, knives, and etc. make when swinging them through the air, as it doesn’t bother his hearing and it sounds cool. The sound of bamboo/wood striking bamboo/wood is also one he enjoys, so he’ll usually try to get wooden chopsticks when he eats things and start tapping them together, sometimes to the point of ignoring his food.

Touch-wise, his issue mostly comes from the sensations against the surface of his skin, so he can tolerate a firm grip on his arm better than a light tap, for example (but it’s still pretty uncomfortable for him). He prefers more form-fitting clothes when he can, as clothes too loose are constantly brushing his skin at random times. Mostly texture isn’t as big of a deal, and he does enjoy exploring various textures with his hands, but there’s a few that can set off immense discomfort for him (silicone, especially when it gets kind of tacky, being one of them). When it comes to pain-related things, he’s okay with needles, since he doesn’t think they hurt that bad, but he gets anxious over the part where the administrator has to touch him to be able to use them. Similarly, smacking any part of his body into something doesn’t really hurt him that much, and the weirdest thing about scrapes is the weird pulling sensation that the healing process makes. It’s not really uncomfortable though, just weird. (Also along those lines, gore as a subject doesn’t really bother him, so he’ll often go on about it at length or in details that other people would get squeamish over. He’ll happily go into weird details about the sensations various injuries and such can cause.) When he has to deal with crowded places, Minazuki does his best to act as a physical shield for Sho and provide a barrier between Sho and other people so Sho doesn’t get touched as much. (He mainly accomplishes this by using his arms to maintain a clear space around Sho, while trying not to touch him too much himself, or attempting to mimic other people’s methods of communicating the message of ‘stay away’, such as glaring or maybe asking them to back off?)

I haven’t thought a ton about his other senses yet, so I don’t really have notes on those for now.

On Minazuki’s side of sensory things, he’d actually be pretty sensory-seeking in a lot of areas, even if he represses a lot of his urges to seek out sensory input to appear less “abnormal”. Like Sho, he doesn’t really feel pain, although unlike Sho, he does have a hard time feeling internal indications such as hunger and thirst. (He mostly realizes thirst when he goes to speak and his voice comes out scratchy, or else he starts coughing a lot when he’s not sick.) He’s just kind of gotten into the habit of eating at specific times to negate any possible issues with starvation. His balance is a little bit off, but it’s hard to tell most of the time as he’s adapted to making movements to avoid and hide this fact (such as trying to keep both of his feet on the ground at a time, and not lift his feet too high while walking). His spacial relativity is also a bit off, so he can be a bit clumsy and bump into things without intending to, and as a result has adapted to giving the things he can potentially bump into a very wide clearance when possible. This isn’t very possible in places such as the subway however, so he has to put extra care into trying to make sure he doesn’t stumble too much. (Which he has gotten better at as he’s gotten older, but it’s still one of the more challenging aspects of his daily routine. When he was younger, he’d constantly fall over when the subway pulled in and out of stations, as well as trip on the stairs and small bumps scattered around the stations.) Sometimes Sho will help catch him when he does lose his balance in those situations, since he sticks pretty close to Minazuki in crowded places anyway, but if he outright falls then it doesn’t really occur to Sho to try and help him get back to his feet, and Minazuki doesn’t ask.

When it comes to food, he doesn’t often enjoy things, but he either finds them interesting (as in deviating from the norm in a mildly positive or neutral way) or just ends up with stronger flavors/seasonings because he couldn’t taste them in their moderate amounts up until that point. In particular, he tends to prefer spicy and sour flavors, since they tend to be stronger and register in his taste buds more, followed moderately by salty things, and then an absolute dislike for sweet flavors. He tends to stay away from fruit and desserts as a result of that, with the only exceptions being fruits like lemons which have only a very mild sweet flavor undercurrent to the tang of their sourness. Textures-wise, he tends towards crispy food, while he has a genuinely difficult time forcing his body to try and consume chewy foods, as the sense of disgust is so strong his body tries to reject it on instinct.

Touch-wise, he’s indifferent to light touches, but he does enjoy deep pressure contact, such as tight/firm hugs and heavier blankets. (Or at least, he assumes it’s “enjoyment”, as he recognizes that he feels differently somehow that doesn’t seem to be in a negative way, but it’s not radiant and uplifting like ‘enjoyment’ is often described as. His body seems more relaxed though.) He can’t always be under blankets however, and doesn't really ever get such hugs, since neither his father or brother really give them, he's highly standoffish to other people so he's not particularly close to anyone else, and Japanese society is kind of aversive/non-conducive to casual physical intimacy like that anyway. As a result, he will idly hug himself at times without always realizing it, such as if he’s crossing his arms and is pressing them firmer to his chest than he really has to, or angles them to wrap around his chest more than just folding his arms. (He also often has his arms crossed as a result of this probably, not really aiding his surly image.) He used to try to wear heavier clothing too, but learned that it was something abnormal and frowned-upon to do (both by the public and his father), as well as learned of the logic that summer clothes are meant for summer and winter clothes for winter (largely thanks to school-issued uniforms, but also somewhat clothing stores and general society probably?), so he doesn’t do so anymore.. with the exception of winter, as then it’s permissible and makes sense to wear very heavy coats and sweaters.

He doesn’t feel heat very easily, but humidity can start to make him uncomfortable. (Sho actually shares this trait with him)

I’m not sure about his remaining senses yet either. They might be more in the middle for the most part when it comes to sensitivity, or leaning a bit more towards hyper-sensitivity? With the exception of olfactory maybe, as I feel like he wouldn’t be easily bothered by strong smells or odors.

Both of them would have troubles with understanding social cues, though Minazuki would learn how to adapt faster and be good at masking his autistic traits, while it would take Sho a very long time, and he would not be good at appearing “normal”. Minazuki also has a natural affinity to language, though he does have trouble finding the words to express things on occasion (especially when it comes to emotions), while Sho really doesn’t and often gets worked-up over being unable to properly express himself. Though, Sho actually has a pretty good grasp on the literal definitions of most words, it’s just the subjective definitions and implied meanings that elude him. (I’m undecided on if he’d still try to make puns like this or not; if he does, they would make little sense or humor 98% of the time due to that fact, thus why no one would laugh at them.)

Minazuki would be very routine-oriented, though he wouldn’t recognize any stress not being able to follow those routines would cause him. It would be evident in how he starts pacing a lot more, mumbling to himself, and his overall increased irritation(external behavior and internal lack of patience) though. He also has a bit of an inflexible mind when it comes to these things; for example, breakfast must only be eaten between 5am and 9am, lunch between 10am and 2pm, and dinner between 3pm and 7pm, so if someone tries to eat a breakfast thing during lunch hours, it just doesn’t make sense to him. Attempting to eat something from one meal for another, that isn’t usually a kind of food that can be eaten at multiple/all times anyway (like rice I think?), generally tends to agitate him because it just doesn’t make sense. He’ll do it if he has to, but it’s not something he likes doing.

Sho would be easily upset by things he isn’t expecting, though he doesn’t have the same need to do things in specific ways like Minazuki does. Doing things wrong, or being treated as if he’s doing something wrong, without any explanations as to why is a trigger for him. Sho would also have a hyperfixation on swords, knives, and sword fights of most kinds, and would excitedly babble about them to people regardless if they want to listen or not. He talks very fast and jumps thoughts very fast though, so most people get annoyed with him very quickly.

Sho would fidget a lot. He’d always be tapping his feet or fingers, rocking in his seat, waving around his arms, making clicking or similar noises with his mouth, cracking various bones and joints in his body (quite loudly), and etc. Not being able to do so is absolutely stifling to him, and he wouldn’t really be able to focus on anything aside from the need to move. Minazuki, meanwhile, would have learned to subdue his urges to engage in stimming behaviors by this age (they're both like 15 in this by the way, I forgot to mention that), though you might catch him doing smaller things at random times, such as wiggling his fingers, rotating his wrists, swirling his tongue around his mouth (he keeps his mouth closed when he does it though, so it just kind of looks like he's randomly working his jaw), running his fingers over the hems of his clothing, rocking his feet back and forth (not very pronouncedly though; it's just a slight 'heel-toe-heel-toe' motion, usually while he's seated since he might go off-kilter if he did it while standing), clenching and unclenching his hands into fists, and probably some others too. He doesn't really engage in rocking motions of his whole body though, since those are more obvious, and thus he worked on quelling them first, while pacing is usually only reserved for when he's in his room at home or when he's in a space where it doesn't matter as much if he's moving around to that extent, like a park. Stimming helps him focus better and not get overwhelmed as easily, even if he tries to assert to himself that they're pointless motions he shouldn't be making. Not doing them doesn't affect him nearly as much as it affects Sho, as he can still focus most of the time if he doesn't engage in those behaviors, and it won't lead to immediate physical manifestations of stress and overwhelm either, but they still overall have a positive effect on him to do. 

“Friendship“ mystifies both Sho and Minazuki, albeit for different reasons. Minazuki doesn’t understand the feelings behind it that people usually cite as being an integral aspect of it mainly, so the point of companionship kind of eludes him. Mostly, when he’s in school, he sees classmates chatting with their “friends” instead of focusing on schoolwork, which to him seems like an improper use of time when they’re supposed to be working on schoolwork while at school. The teachers always say not to talk unless it’s necessary for an assignment, so them going against that rule just doesn’t make sense to him. Sho meanwhile doesn’t understand the social aspect of it mainly; he thinks he’s acting the same as them, but nothing ever goes the same for him as it does for other people, and he just can’t get why. Ikutsuki’s constant implications that he’s doing things wrong somehow also really doesn’t help this issue. As a result, he often feels lonely and like he’s an alien or something, and this can also couple with his frustrations of being unable to use the words he wants to to express himself, as he ends up wondering at times if he’s even speaking Japanese right or not and if that’s why people always give him such funny faces.

A lot of times, when Minazuki gets too overwhelmed, he ends up going nonverbal.. which really does not help that feeling of overwhelm, as language is something he’s normally well-acclimated to and good at using. Sho gets loud and physically active, hitting things and himself while screaming or sobbing. (I think I’m missing a lot of information for this kind of stuff though, so consider this tentative until I find said information and either verify or vet and correct it. ^^;)

Minazuki doesn’t mind listening to Sho’s ramblings, though he does get irritated at Sho for preventing him from fulfilling his routines like he prefers to (which is the primary source of arguments/fights between them, as Sho then often doesn’t get what he’s doing wrong, even if by now he has some awareness and respect for Minazuki needing to do things in a specific way). He also tries to help calm down Sho when he gets too upset, partially out of ‘Dad will bring worse consequences due to Sho’s upset’, partially out of ‘people don’t seem to get this upset, so we probably shouldn’t either’, and partially just because it’s a weird uncomfortable feeling he has when he sees Sho upset, and Sho returning to being calm usually makes it stop, so he assumes that it’s related (and maybe even what it feels like to care for another person? It doesn’t quite match what he’s heard other people describe it as though, so he’s still holding out on calling it that officially, to himself).

The two of them are also pretty keen on their surroundings and other people (albeit in a bit different of ways from one another), and it’s frequent for them to point out things that other people might not perceive or overlook. (For example, if someone’s supposed to be passing a stack of papers back through the class, but it suddenly stops and people get confused as to where it ended up, they’d likely know the answer immediately, as they were keeping track of it, or in Sho’s case mostly, just couldn’t stop hearing where it was.) This also means that they’ve picked up on a lot of each other’s idiosyncrasies, so in general they usually keep them in mind. Sometimes when they get upset though, or if they want something that the other doesn’t want to give, they use those against each other (they don’t have a very good role model, after all, so they’re not exactly being taught better on that).

Over time, Minazuki got into the habit of lowering both the volume and pitch of his voice for Sho's sake (since their default voices are a bit on the higher side and Sho's hearing is just more sensitive overall). So as a result, despite being twins, the two of them sound different from one another. Sometimes Minazuki's voice floats back up into a higher register or louder volume, but generally he's been doing it for so long that speaking lower and quieter is basically automatic for him.

(More specific notes on Sho’s anxiety and ADHD... eventually. I gotta refamiliarize myself with those topics first. ^^;)

  Alternatively still, the twins scenario but Minazuki does just straight-up have SzPD, while Sho ends up with BPD.

  And a final alternative could be still twins, but Sho develops OSDD-1 or DID while Minazuki doesn’t, and ends up with an introject of his twin in his system because Minazuki always seems to be so unaffected by everything, or is the primary figure of care in his life, and that’s something his brain thinks it needs to cope. In this instance (and maybe others), Minazuki is treated as superior to his brother in some ways by Ikutsuki, so Sho is often left with punishments that aren’t shared with Minazuki, and Minazuki is often given rewards that aren’t also granted to Sho. Unfortunately for Ikutsuki, if he even cares about this anyway, Minazuki still cares a lot for his brother, so rather than ostracizing him and getting an inflated ego to bully him with, he still does his best to do what he can for Sho, like sneaking him food or helping him with his schoolwork. Minazuki is well aware of the favoritism his father plays, and it makes him both uncomfortable and angry. (Sho, on the flipside, doesn’t really know better.. well, depending on the system composition, and thus thinks that this is how things should be and he deserves the treatment he’s getting, since he needs to do better still to make his dad proud.) (Also, Minazuki still has some increased sense of pride and self-worth due to his treatment growing up, but as of late he’s been gaining new perspective on the dynamics of his family, so he’s started thinking about things a bit differently. When faced with strangers, he’s somewhat prideful and fairly self-assured, so he doesn’t always consider their opinions as holding any merit until he decides to think otherwise. With the growing hatred towards his dad for causing him to become this way though, and of course how wrong he is about Sho, sometimes he tries to allow himself to take people’s opinions as correct over his own without the prideful dismissal first, since thinking he’s always right would just be playing into his father’s ploys, and he wants to do nothing that that man wants him to do.)

Etc.:

I have ideas for some of the other characters from P3-4 and Q1 for this, but they need more work before they’re in any form of shareable. There’s a serious over-abundance of ‘adopted kids’ for flimsy reasons… >_<;