#its 'tsumugi misread his entire narrative purpose and role' and again ironically thats what makes him fit it

[ei-mugi]

YESSSSS this eimugi CAN be written in a way where it has a satisfying conclusion in the present/future but the meat of it is really the war era. like eichi moving on to wataru(/fine) and tsumugi moving onto natsume(/switch) are both the best outcomes for both of their arcs and what will lead them to happiness in the future, sure.

but there is so much going on with both of them and their views on their relationship during the war and it ties in so nicely to those themes of Humans & Gods/Normal Ppl & Geniuses and Narratives (i.e. plays, books, tv, myth and legend, narrative roles, literary intent, etc). and on a personal level to them it's fascinating, too. i think tsumugi's unwillingness to consider himself having a role in his own life is ironically what allows him to cling to eichi so much, because eichi certainly isn't that warm to him in the war beyond basic pleasantries. but eichi (not unlike wataru) is so absorbed in what the war IS and who he is as a person and as a character in his own narrative that he can't see beyond it or consider what tsumugi may be thinking or feeling. i see a lot of reference to wataru's reliance on narratives to form or obscure his identity but not a lot on the same thing for eichi. then again i havent been reading many enstars essays lately lmfao.

i could elaborate on all that more but im worried about rambling excessively. but it really is all about them being such opposites thematically but then at the end they both have their revelation about how the other viewed them, and they both swap. eichi's the one who tries grasping onto tsumugi, but it's too late, tsumugi's already solidified his rejection and so rejects him in turn. eichi had been right, at that point it really had been too far into his plans for them to not complete themselves, even at his own death. and eichi had always kept himself so separated from other people, intentional or not (hospital), that like natsume i think he hadn't really experienced that kind of loss before. i dunno

Could I hear ,, some of ur mugi ships since you mentioned it briefly,,

omg dude its like basically every graduate ill eat it all up im so serious BUT if we're going into specifics i specifically pair him with:

nagisa, hiyori, rei, kaoru, wataru, shu, mama, and the angstiest one of all......... eichi himself (although i ship those two differently from the rest)

i just love the way tsumugi interacts with these people it makes me giggle so much. and like all of them (par kaoru and eichi) are pretty eccentric in their own ways and i just fucking love tsumugi being unable to keep up with them. and its ESPECIALLY funny having characters like rei and wataru lust for this absolute Nobody. it all just brings me sm joy

i know some people dont like ei/mugi but i feel like the beauty of it isnt "wow i hope to see these two get together some day!" that you typically expect from shipping, its moreso that lingering feeling of what used to be. what couldve been. that painful feeling of "Oh i really fucked this up didnt i" from eichi. that sense of betrayal tsumugi experienced. their relationship is one that is deeply important to me, and it saddens me a bit when people dont take the time to actually look into their relationship just because theyre so obviously not good for each other. sometimes having the characters end up together isnt the point of shipping ! sometimes the point is simply "these two have a relationship that fascinates me deeply and makes the cogs in my brain turn like crazy and i need to study them" and thats what theyre like to me. i love their dynamic alot its something that feels so incredibly Real