#the bit under the cut is a few somewhat darker things abt my canon-divergence events affsffsfzfx beware

[espectres]

The fandom likes to interpret Shou as this chaotic hyperactive boy out there sitting fire to everything within reach. While yes, he is chaotic, and yes, he wouldn't mind the idea of arson for fun- it's just that when taken out of context, the course of actions he takes sounds absolutely obnoxious and unfathomable and a little concerning. But when you actually think about it, every single aspect of his plan made sense, and it's so strategic that it's actually unsettling and yes, still concerning.

He had this absolute good read on Shigeo & Ritsu from the very first moment they met and was confident enough to act upon it. Not only did he feel that connection between himself & the younger Kageyama, he also recognized how Shigeo is not the fighting type, he got to see how much insane strength Shigeo has behind all the hesitation and "cowardice". He used Ritsu as bait and discovered how far Shigeo is willing to go for his loved ones has they got in harm's way.

With all this knowledge in mind, he did what's exactly necessary to get his plan moving and the fact that he planned everything all of a sudden is actually impressive, he wasn't ready for his father's schemes to take action, he thought of everything after Toichiro's announcement of world domination. Of course his plan to get Shigeo to fight would be by giving him enough of a reason to do so, by hurting the family Shigeo loves dearly, by not giving him anyone AND anywhere to turn into except the sheer raw murderous intent and vengeance. Should he have just asked for help? Shou would argue that Shigeo would have tried to talk his way through things, find a peaceful solution to the matter, something where nobody gets hurt. And in Shou's mind this would be the most ridiculous thing in the world, because Shou knows his dad, and in the end Shou was right, there is no talking to Toichiro, and Shigeo understood that too. " Sometimes you've got to be a little hurt to understand. "

And the fact that Shigeo has simply forgiven him so easily- it still sits with Shou in all the wrong ways even though Shou barely feels any remorse for what he did. But how can you forgive someone who made you see the bodies of your family burning to death? Why aren't you angry? Where is your rage? How can you handle it so well when someone has hurt you this bad? Shou has never learnt how to be like that, he could never find it in himself to act like that, but he recognized the sort of strength Shigeo has despite all the confusion, and how much of an admirable person he is, and Shou continues to feel conflict abt it all.

Why fire though? Blood and gore make too much of a mess, kidnapping or anything but literal death wouldn't get Shigeo angry enough, but it was also a somewhat reckless personal decision he took after "learning" about Extreme Exposure therapy, Fukuda kept a close eye on him immediately, nothing bad happened.

Getting the idea to work was the craziest part tho, Higashio asked for three pigs in order to make the dummies.