#bc dang choosing an ATHLETE as your target feels really shortsighted girl

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

you know...there's a chance sayaka's murder plan might've actually worked if she hadn't targeted somebody so fucking athletic. like, leon was one of the best athletes in the country and given a damn title because he was so athletic. he himself admitted he was the best player on his team despite hardly even trying, he was so gifted. i understand why sayaka targeted him - we saw him trying to impress her with his musical aspirations/"talents" earlier in the chapter, and he definitely seemed the most likely to be swayed by a summons from her. but like girl you didn't foresee that it might be difficult to overpower a renowned athlete? sure, he's not SUPER tall (5'9") or super heavy (148 lbs - about average for his height but light for a baseball player), but he was strong and had excellent reflexes. not to mention that she herself is pretty dainty. like there were a LOT of flaws in the "i'm going to surprise him and overpower him" plan when the target she chose was a damn ultimate athlete

so the hypothetical question is: could the plan have worked if she'd targeted someone else? let's look over the options. given who she is and what her general plan was, it feels obvious that she was going to target a boy, because boys are generally a little bit more swayed by her. so our non-leon options include byakuya, hifumi, taka, mondo, hiro, and makoto (no one knew chihiro was a boy at this point, so chihiro isn't included in the list). we can take makoto off the list, since he's the one she was trying to frame. byakuya and taka i don't believe would have actually responded to her summons each for different reasons (taka because it's against their decided-upon rules to be out at night and also a boy and a girl being in each other's rooms at night is "unwholesome" according to his own words lol, and byakuya cause he simply wouldn't give a shit and also would not think it was a good idea to listen - evidenced by him not responding to sakura's similar summons in chapter 4), so they would not be good options. mondo is a pretty huge and muscular dude who had exhibited some aggression and anger issues at this point (we all remember him knocking makoto out cold on day 1), so there's no way she ever would've chosen him as a target

which leaves us with hiro and hifumi as the options. and honestly...i think either of the two might've worked. yes, hiro is notably taller than leon (6'0"), and hifumi has a considerable size advantage on sayaka. but neither of them are athletic. hifumi obviously, and while hiro is pretty tall he never displayed any particular athletic prowess and in a later chapter it's shown that he is indeed susceptible to being snuck up on. i think they both would've responded to her letter and shown up - hiro ended up doing exactly that twice in later chapters (3 and 4), and hifumi later fell for and was manipulated by celeste's feminine charms AND in sayaka's murder trial said "who could resist the charms of the ultimate pop sensation?" (or something along those lines) so i'm positive both would've shown up at her summons for one reason or another. as for her actually sneaking up on them and overpowering them when the time came...it's possible. hifumi can't react quickly and could not run away fast, so she's got a shot if she can stab the right part on his body. not to mention he hated the idea of hurting girls or whatever so he might not have fought back anyway. hiro has proven he can run alright but his reflexes probably aren't the best and he can be snuck up on, and he's also on the stupid side, so if she gets the jump on him it's possible she can do it. this is all assuming she doesn't ultimately chicken out no matter who it is

so i actually really do think her murder plan might've worked if she'd chosen a different target, particularly one of those two. and then the whole of the DR universe is irreparably changed