#can you tell i've read the story like 10 whole times SLDFKGH

[miumiins]

Mary Jane gives me many feelings 😔👊 Fumi and Kai’s dynamic, Kisa and Sou-chan going unhinged, SOU-CHAN’S DEVELOPMENT IN GENERAL I CRY—And I know he gives the first-year crew a hard time offstage, but Ootori is such an underrated and versatile actor, especially as Bukuro! So many feelings…

Slight spoilers, but if you understand it, can you explain the story of the Winter Performance for me? It was hard to follow, which is a shame because the voice acting was wonderful! (That, and I have a Shirota-senpai bias) Thanks for your consideration 😊

HONESTLY otori talks Like That but he wants to put on a good performance just like anyone else, he just. needed to learn how to work together with his classmates

and gosh i'll try SLDKFJG i'll put it under the cut bc it's long (+ spoilers) but excuse the romanization/translations of certain things bc i don't really know how it's intended to be written in english LOL

oh rama havenna takes place in a city called havenna, the city of desire and pleasure, where people don't have to be ashamed of, well, their desires and pleasures.

chicchi (kisa) is an outsider of havenna, who came to the city to become a mugwort seller ("yomogi uri" in the game) under the alias "chikachiina", and what that job entails is, someone who will burn some mugwort as a sort of incense(?) and put men who are unable to sleep, to sleep. this job is sort of seen as like.. one of the most vulgar jobs within the city; so in a sense it's like a brothel minus the sex part i guess?

rukiola (shirota) is a girl who, despite being born in havenna, absolutely despises the city and dreams of leaving it one day, even more so if it's together with fugio (souchan), the most popular man in the city. rukiola HATES mugwort sellers bc later in the story, it's revealed that her father, fakio (otori), was taken by his current lover domina (neji), a well known mugwort seller, leading him to leave rukiola's mother, who is also later revealed to be dead.

the story follows chicchi and rukiola who are best friends, but chicchi is hiding one big secret, that she's a mugwort seller, and refuses to tell rukiola bc she's afraid of being hated by her one and only friend in the city. the only reason rukiola hasn't found out yet, despite chicchi being dyed in the scent of mugwort, is bc rukiola's nose is clogged and is unable to smell things well.

pretty much everyone except rukiola knows that chicchi is a mugwort seller and there are a bunch of instances where chicchi almost gets found out (fugio calling her by her work name in front of rukiola, rukiola noticing the smell of mugwort bc she's undergoing a therapy thing to improve her sense of smell again, etc). there's also this big love square like miguel (fumi) → rukiola → fugio → chicchi (maybe pentagon??? if u include jire's (suzu) feelings towards chicchi too)

in the beginning of the story, fugio is being chased by a bunch of fans, and is helped by chicchi and rukiola, and as thanks he prepares vip seats for his next show. at the show, he throws a flower into the audience, meant to be for chicchi, but rukiola catches it instead. because of that, rukiola has a huge misunderstanding, and her dream of leaving havenna together with fugio only grows stronger.

since then rukiola is always carrying around said flower, and sniffing it, bc she likes the scent, thus the reason why she's undergoing therapy to improve her sense of smell. one day she's walking in town with the flower in hand and bumps into domina, the last person she wants to see. domina, who is now stepping on the flower, is saying a bunch of stuff to provoke rukiola, and even goes as far as to ask "i wonder how that woman who was thrown away by fakio is doing" leading rukiola to say that she had already died. rukiola then says she wants to leave havenna as soon as possible, together with her beloved fugio. after hearing that, domina tells her that her "beloved fugio" is always going to pontalchia (the name of the shop chicchi works at) buying said mugwort, and that he's enchanted by a girl named chikachiina. domina tries to say more but is interrupted by miguel, saying that everything she's saying is complete nonsense.

with doubt in her heart, rukiola heads over to pontalchia anyways, and second guesses herself, saying that she shouldn't doubt people bc of what domina said, but she sees fugio head into the shop. there, she catches both fugio in the shop as well as chicchi in the middle of working at the shop. rukiola is absolutely shocked at finding her dear friend doing the one thing she despises the most, and chicchi is horrified that her secret was found out. rukiola demands chicchi to explain herself, and when she does, rukiola is still upset about the whole thing and leaves the shop.

rukiola heads over to the church to confess because she wants to forgive chicchi, she tried to, but her mind's a mess that she can't even think straight. she then says that maybe it was all rukiola's own fault, and that if she had been better, her parents wouldn't have separated in the first place, she would have been able to forgive chicchi for being a mugwort seller and hiding it from her. there, she continues to ask god for forgiveness.

against her wishes, fugio tries to take chicchi to leave the city with him, and there jire appears with a knife in hand telling chicchi to choose between leaving havenna together with fugio or going back to pontalchia with jire and punish fugio for using the shop's funds for personal reasons(?). chicchi refuses both choices, stating that she came to havenna of her own volition, therefore she will leave of her own volition, not because someone else wants her to become pure like when she first came to the city. it's also revealed here that jire was the one who got domina to reveal chicchi's secret to rukiola, because he didn't want her to be dyed with the scent of mugwort anymore, because he loved her.

chicchi is walking along the streets, on the verge of tears bc she lost her dear friend, and kisa who greatly empathizes with chicchi's feelings because of her own situation (lying about her real gender to her friends so she could follow her dreams of performing at univeil) cries together with chicchi. she runs into rukiola and apologizes. she didn't want to be hated by her bc she liked her, because she was her friend. rukiola, with a smile on her face, asks chicchi for forgiveness. chicchi says rukiola didn't do anything wrong but forgives her, and rukiola forgives chicchi as well. kisa thinks to herself that it's chicchi who was forgiven, not kisa, but shirota whispers into her ear saying that he forgives her as well, no matter who or what she is, he forgives and accepts all of her and she's important to him no matter what, leading to the big crying scene.

in the end, rukiola asks chicchi why she came to havenna, and chicchi just says that she simply just wanted to try being a mugwort seller. the story then ends with the father of the church (kai) walking along the streets of havenna, who runs into chicchi, telling her that he's unable to sleep. there she offers to burn some mugwort, and it ends with him saying "oh rama havenna"