#am I naively optimistic? yes but let a girl dream 🙏

[saph-yells-into-the-void]

I agree that Kaiser's ego has kind of been left up in the air with this decision which is why I said I don't know what is going on Kaneshiro's head. But rereading those chapters, I don't think he left Ness just because of his coordination with him or the options he gave him with his passing. I think this "restriction" a matter of leaving what was comfortable and going towards a challenge.

He has grown comfortable at the spot he had as the center of the BM team, with a system that revolved around him. When he reduced himself back to "zero," he threw away this system and his title as the "emperor" which involved throwing away his relationship with Ness.

Funnily enough, when he did this, he expanded his options to passing with the blue lock players (cue Kaiser's "please" towards Raichi....). In fact, his plays started to link up with Isagi's when he did this. As Hiori states, their "destructive power was starting to resonate."

When he left Ness, he was throwing away the freedom of being unchallenged and embracing the restrictive and challenging nature of this team.

The part I am unsure about is with Kaiser's rivalry with Isagi and how that is being sidelined. But if I had to guess, this is being replaced by the threat that Rin now poses to BM. Kaiser's "restriction" involves his environment more than his actions, aka he fights for freedom when faced with restriction. Before, it was Isagi taking everything away from him. Now, it was BM losing control of the field to PXG because of Rin's development. The rivalry won't be thrown away, but it will change in response to the changing state of the field. But once again, I'm just trying to guess the author's intent with this decision since it's not really clear. I guess we'll see with the next chapter once the "contract" is laid out.

As for the reonagi parallel, idk i still find it interesting 😭. But I can see why it can feel repetitive. HOWEVER, just because it's similar now doesn't mean it can't deviate later. Fingers crossed. This would be a great opportunity to put Kainess on a different path and make the two ships are foils of each other, especially with the Manshine vs Barcha match coming soon.

hyped for the next chapter because this will be the first time kaiser and isagi actually talk civilly to each other 😭