#i have never gotten to write her interacting with kadoc. pspsps emo boy

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nobody asked but here's some thoughts about how ritsuka feels about kadoc bc this is a dynamic i think about a lot

first: it is crucial to establish that, above all else, she thinks of him very positively, and preeeetty much always has. yeah, even back in the russian lostbelt, she thought he didn't seem like too bad of a person, and now she knows for sure that he's got a good heart. she also looks up to him, to a degree--he may not be anything special to mages, but to ritsuka, his skills are something to aspire to (if anything, he makes a better role model in this regard than any other mage she knows, except probably waver--this is a level that might actually be attainable for her). and she wants to be his friend! in fact, post-olympus, she does think of him as a friend, though it's of course not up to me to say whether the feeling is mutual.

but! it's not all sunshine and roses. i like to say ritsuka and kadoc feed each other's inferiority complexes because, well, they kinda do. on her end, this comes in two forms: guilt and fear of replacement.

the fear of replacement part we saw pretty well illustrated in the garden of lost will, so i'm not gonna elaborate on that much more. besides, it mostly goes away when they start working side-by-side. but guilt?

remember that dressing-down kadoc gave ritsuka back in yaga russia? because she sure does. constantly. she doesn't resent him for it, oh no--why would she? everything he said there was the objective truth. she did steal team a's shot at glory, she is unqualified and unskilled, and that did (and still does) lead to an awful lot of avoidable casualties. so no, she doesn't hold it against him, that he said things she knows are true to her. but she can't forget what he said, either.

and yet, she still likes him. still admires him. still wants to be his friend. because that's just like her, isn't it? as long as she can see some amount of good in a person, she's willing to forgive or look past an awful lot. positive to a fault, this one. i don't think it's a bad thing, in this case, but i do think they would benefit a lot from clearing the air around their insecurities regarding each other.