#which rui would still be in for this to be a mixed event

[karamell-sweetz]

if i WERE to vote in this poll i would have to agree with you tbh. realistically the only non-n25 person i can see getting involved is rui and even then idk if that’s enough to constitute an entire eight-chapter substantial mixed event

unless they stuff it with past mzri flashbacks which i would be VERY pleased with. they did it sort of with mizu3 (kimi no yoru/ribbon) they can probably do it again

for archival/research/copium purposes

[utsukurou]

The best thing that a SAT student can do for Mizuki is to write a 6 paragraph essay !!

Why Mizuki Akiyama is a transgender woman- an essay

  The arguments on Mizuki’s unconfirmed gender is endless, usually divided in two sides. One of the sides insist that Mizuki is just a man who likes feminine clothing, and that it is further clarified by her most recent character event. However, many people deem those claims as disrespectful and untrue, including myself. I will now explain why Mizuki is not a man, and specifically transfem.

 Firstly, Mizuki’s self-expression is that of a typical trans woman’s. From many of her scenes in the game, she is shown to enjoy traditionally feminine things, and dress in feminine clothing. People might claim that her preferences does not decide her gender- and while it is true that aesthetics and clothing styles has nothing to do with someone’s identity, further evidence on this behalf exists. Mizuki is not only shown to enjoy ‘girlish’ things, but she is also shown to feel comfortable as a whole while presenting herself in a feminine way. This is often the case for most transfem people, who also enjoy presenting themselves as feminine. This is because it validates their desire to be accepted by society as who they really are- a woman.

 Secondly, there are multiple design-wise hints related to her identity. The most common one found is from her first casual outfit, in which she wears a blue dress, aligning with her pink hair, and eventually making them the trans flag colors. Many of her cards also have colors of the transgender flag in them. One of its prime examples is her 4-star card in the mixed event, ‘You Are My HERO’, in which she is seen in a blue-themed room but with a pink tint. Furthermore, in her unit’s respective Journey To Bloom animated clip, the online profile pictures of the members were revealed. Mizuki’s profile picture was shown to have a blue outline with pink laces, which are also colors taken from the transgender flag. 

 Third, there are several symbolisms in her room that proves her identity. Her room in the past mostly consisted of blue, which is known to be a traditionally masculine color. The mirror in her room is also covered up, which is often thought of to symbolize how she felt uncomfortable looking at herself in the mirror. This is all a result of gender dysphoria, something that many other transgender people go through. But her current room consists of mostly pink, which is a color traditionally associated with femininity. This may symbolize that she is beginning to feel more comfortable while expressing herself. The mirror in her room, which was formerly hidden away, is no longer done so. This might show that she is no longer afraid to look at herself in the mirror, as she feels more confident and reassured with her identity.

 In addition, the pronouns usages in-game further supports this point. The first example for this point is Rui’s way of addressing her. Rui usually addresses others with the Japanese suffix ‘-kun’, which is often used for men. He even uses this towards women, but with the exception of Mizuki. This is because he knows that she would feel uncomfortable being addressed with a masculine term. In the past, he also used ‘-kun’ on her like he did with everyone else, but this was before he found out about her identity. Furthermore, Mizuki’s first-person pronouns are ‘boku’. It is often known to be a masculine pronoun, but it is actually one of the few gender-neutral pronouns in the language. It is thought that she uses this on herself because, even though she is starting to accept herself, her overall confidence is still growing. In short, she simply does not feel reassured enough to use a completely feminine term on herself.

 In conclusion, many elements in the game, such as the self-expression, design and symbolism hints, and the pronouns usage, strongly implies that Mizuki is a trans woman, and because of this, it would be insensitive to the transgender community to call her a man or call her by ‘he’ or ‘him’. I truly hope that after reading this essay, more people are able to realize the things that SEGA does not say directly, and is able to provide further support to the people that Mizuki represents.

[demodraws0606]

WxS THEORY : Rui is driving himself into a corner

Ok I needed to make a big rambly analysis post again because I just read this post that absolutely rotted my brain (pls check it out) -> https://www.tumblr.com/sankatsuka/741871319388389377?source=share

I kinda want to share my overall thoughts on how Rui is being written overall and what I think it could possibly lead to.

Introduction.

So okay... we can agree how colorpalet writes Rui is weird as shit right ?

Like, this is very obvious when you look at Rui's two most recent events Backlight and Curtain. Both of them actually end on cliffhangers, leaving things open ended with hints at future problems. In fact Curtain Call's consequences haven't been fully addressed yet as Rui still hasn't talk about Asahi to WxS and we know he's coming back.

However, it's not just that that could be pointed out as strange, in fact, in both of these events Rui fails.

In Curtain Call, he fails to understand his own feelings as he accepts to join Arcland.

In Backlight, he fails to understand how to fix the issue in the movie

Not only that but those events both show Rui isolating himself from WxS (with varying levels of severity) trying to figure out the problem and fix it. Often to the point where WxS get mildly concerned for him and want to help him (again with varying levels of severity).

Both of these events seem to show that Rui is stuck on something, there is a reason why he can't seem to solve the problems that he's facing weither major or minor.

So, clearly there is a reocurring problem right ? If Rui seemingly keeps on failing then colorpalet has to be setting up something.

With Curtain Call it seemed like what they were setting up was some kind of confrontation about the disbandement but Rui is weirdly set aside in the Emu's event. Which it doesn't feel like a mistake considering they chose to make it an Emu event instead of Rui on purpose when they couldn't have it be a Tsukasa focus.

In Happy End, Rui's communication with WxS is very limited. His feelings never get personally confronted as he mostly just attempts to try and fix the situation until he's met with rejection to which he just very much gives up. It's only when Emu's brothers offer an olive branch that Rui finally jumps at the opportunity to speak.

However, despite it being a hopeful step forward...it doesn't fix Rui's issues here. In fact he withdraws from even speaking about his situation with Asahi which for me is the baseline of Rui being honest with his feelings.

Sure, he does end up helping in Happy End and his feelings are reafirmed but...he also fails here. His first plan to keep them together fails because he didn't communicate with them, it's Emu's brother that truly end up coming up with a solution at the end.

So what is Rui's problem ? What is the red flag that colorpalet keeps waving ?

2. A concerning pattern

Post-Curtain Call helped highlight a very clear pattern with Rui.

It's a toxic mix between his abandonnement issues and self sacrificing nature.

Rui gets insecure a lot about how his potentialy missgivings could affect WxS, to the point where it's become a concerning pattern.

-Dazzling Light Event (and Nene Canary Event) : Rui gets insecure over not being able to be a suitable director for Tsukasa and hurting his acting in the process. This insecurity comes back again in Nene's fourth event in Rui's side card story.

-Shibuya fes with Mafurui : He almost hurts his fucking leg because he couldn't bear the idea that he could inconvenience WxS

-Disbandement Arc : He refused to talk to WxS about his feelings and still hasn't talked fully about them with Asahi. He literally isolated himself to make a plan to keep WxS together behind their back.

All of these show that Rui still has this fear that he could do something that would set him apart from WxS and that often influences his actions.

Rui's issue here is a lack of priority and a self sacrificial nature that borderlines on self destructive at some poiints. Everything he does is motivated in some sense by WxS.

Recently when he mentions his dreams and ambition like in Tsukasa's most recent event, he wants to make WxS shine. It's the subject of one of his early second art stickers.

"I'll bring out your strength"

Which... let's talk about Rui's dreams and amibitons.

3. Rui and his dream

A lot of people characterise Rui as extremely passionate which is true....or is it really ?

Okay here me out, I don't think we can deny he definitely has a lot of passion for what he does but we can't deny there is definitely something going on.

First of all, Rui is the only character where we don't really have an event of him trying to progress towards his dream, backlight is the first one and it shows him failing.

Second of all, Rui is the only one to have been ready to compromise his dream for WxS which has not been the case for anyone else in WxS. Sure Emu left Pheonix Wonderland, but she knows she'll come back eventually.

Which like leads me to this realisation with his second event specifically it's name, Revival My Dream.

The event where we see Rui at his happiest, fully comfortable in where he was compared to now.

His dreams has never just been to bring people smiles, what he always wanted was a way to connect with people with shows to have a group of friends that actually liked him and didn't reject him for being weird.

But he was bullied into accepting that he didn't actually care about other people, he rationalised that maybe accomplishing his dream alone would make him happy but his friends are part of his dream.

It's this conflict between his dream and his relationship with WxS that is fucking him up especially post-curtain call.

He has to support WxS, he has to be the reliable one, he has to figure out how they can still stay together...

But why ? Why does he put that responsibility in himself

Even then in the Backlight event he's so obsessed with finding the answer himself

Because he's still on that mindset, similar to wonder-halloween just a lot less severe. WxS saved him and they mean the world to him that he'll just allow to be trampled just to make them happy. In fact you see that with even more simpple fun moments with how he ate Touya's rancid cupcake just to make him happy, it's shown time and time again he will sacrifice his own needs for the needs of others to a dangerous point.

4. What it means for Rui's future

I think all these things will end up catching up to Rui

We saw this with Tsukasa, we saw his ups and downs of trying to improve and fight his insecurities led to him having a breakdown.

All these things just keep on building up and colorpalet is very unsubtle with how strange they are with his sad expressions in the tetrad 2dmv and his trained cards (which i can go deeper into).

This could go again in different ways but eventually WxS will have to confront him about it, finally make him communicate his feelings for once.

Again we still have Cyberpunk Deadboy and what it could signify for the future of Rui's arc which I already talked about

It's all just really strange and weird there are even stranger things that i could talk about but i'm eepy so i'll leave it at that lol

[nuikasa]

(Sending brains waves telekinetically to you)

What if Jesterkasa appears in a kasaverse side comic?

I haven't really thought about giving my Kasaverse a side story with Jesterkasa but it might work to develop more of his story and how is everything related to him.

as for other aus involved to kasaverse I see it a bit hard for now but I'll think about it.

I still need to update the charts and maybe put all of them together but since we are at it, I'll leave a updated chart for Jesterkasa since I'm sure a lot of you are interested to know about him more.

his name code is literally how is he called by other Tsukasa's since they don't tend to call themselves 'Tsukasa', they are all basically part of Tsukasa himself so it wouldn't make much sense. Jesterkasa is basically 'Piero' which is how the jp fandom refers to him I believe? and I've seen some has called him that way before.

The others have other code names as well, very related to their card set like Lilykasa is simply Lily, Torpekasa is probably the only one that goes by his role name because he acts exactly like him (mixed with Tsukasa's loud and honest personality, Torpe has a beef with Jesterkasa because of that, the incompatibility shown on the event is the exact reason why they beef so often)

Knigthkasa goes by Miles (if I don't use japanese my next favorite one is latin, if you excuse me), Kingkasa as Rex, Spadekasa as Ace and that's all. All the Rui's also have code names too but lazy to point them out, and the Rui call all the Tsukasa equally by Tsukasa-kun, it's something they all agree to always keep, sometimes they change between their star and some dovey lovey shit Rui would say (the funniest thing is that this is how Tsukasa views himself in Rui's eyes since they are all made by Tsukasa's feelings as well)

you can tell I love to ramble about my aus haha sorry, hope this helps tho.

[alivish]

PJSK 4.5 Anniversary Event Predictions

The announcement is coming out tomorrow. I probably should've done this earlier, but whatever I'm doing it now.

I'll mainly be talking about what I think the event will be and the accompanying Bloomfest cards that will be revealed.

Eventwise I think we're getting a vocaloid only event, like Connected through SEKAI's Cherry Blossoms or Resonate in The SEKAI! Your Song!, or we're getting Rui5.

I know ColoPale confirmed that there would only be one character focus per month before World Link starts, but I do not know what Limited Events are. I do not know if they are viewed as the last event of the month or the first event of the month. I know they technically start at the end of the month, but more often than not they end spending more time as the start of the month. So my predictions will be taking both possibilities into consideration.

Vocaloid Only Event

If lim events are considered the last event of the month, I think it makes the most sense for us to get a vocaloid only event.

Two main reasons. Firstly, the last time we had a vocaloid only event was in 2023 with Resonate in The SEKAI! Your Song! (not counting World Link), and I think we're long overdue for another mixed vocaloid event. Secondly, we're going to get exclusively event stories for the next five or six monthish, I think they might just give the missing Vocaloid a hairstyle so they have free reign during the next five or six limited event stories to use whatever vocaloid they want.

Each Vocaloid is missing one hairstyle for a specific unit, MMJ Miku, VBS Luka, VBS Rin, N25 Len, WxS Meiko, and N25 Kaito do not have limited hairstyles. And I think they just want to get it over with so they can use any vocaloid for the lim events later on. Plus it's a good chance to get a unit boost for World Link if you don't have one.

Obviosuly, MMJ Miku and WxS Meiko are going to get cards if this were to happen. Miku might have more hairstyles than anyone but it's Miku, and it's also due to the Movie Cards and that one random hairstyle you could get from Gacha for some reason, so I think it's safe to say that she'll still get a card.

Between VBS Luka and VBS Rin I think Luka will get the lim card, cause Rin literally just got a Lim card in the last Lim event and I don't see Colopale giving her one back to back, she isn't Kohane after all.

Between N25 Len and N25 Kaito, I'm sure most of you are thinking Len cause Kaito has been getting so much love, while Len hasn't really done much in the 5th rotation, but I think N25 Kaito makes more sense for the Lim. I think they're going to use Len for Mafuyu6, which could be a Lim, since that event will probably be about Mafuyu and Mafumom and I feel like they're more likely to use Len for that even since he represents child Mafuyu or something like that. So N25 Kaito is my answer.

So the four stars will probably be: MMJ Miku, WxS Meiko, VBS Luka, and N25 Kaito.

All of L/N vocaloids have lim hairstyles already (we know colopales favorite), so it'll probably be L/N Rin as the three or two star (in spite of the fact she got a lim recently) because L/N Len has already travelled the SEKAI and taken part in a vocaloid mixed event, I don't think WxS Len has done anything recently so he might be there too.

That is if Lim events are seen as the last event of the month.

Rui5

Rui5 confuses me, because the only time it could happen without a back to back WxS event is this month. We're getting VBS WL on April and WxS WL on May, and the only characters left for the fift rotation is Shiho, Honami, and Rui.

Whenever I try to envision when Rui5 will happen nothing works. Let's assume that Bloomfest will be a mixed event.

Bloomfest -> VBS WL -> Focus 1 -> Focus 2 -> WxS WL

Focus 1 being a Perm event while Focus 2 is a Lim event.

Rui5 isn't going to be Focus 2 obviosuly, cause that would just put it back to back with WxS WL which wouldn't work. It could be in Focus 1 cause Colopale gave Minori a lim only two events after the first MMJ WL and Haruka5 did only have two event between it and MMJ WL. I feel like only one event in between is stretching it, but it's definitely possible.

But colopale always makes sure that every unit has gotten an event before restarting the rotation, and I don't think they'll just skip WxS and suddenly restart. Rui5 has to happen at some point next month and it being Bloomfest just makes the most sense to me (This only works if Lim events are seen as the first event of a month).

There are many issues with this, mainly the fact that it's more likely that Lim events are seen the final event of the month, not the first. Also the fact that Tsukasa and Nene got cards recently, though Nene's was only a three star. Colopale's card distribution has been a lot wackier since WL though...

Whatever we'll find out tomorrow.

Bloomfest

Now that the event had (kind of) been decided all that's left is the two characters who are getting Bloomfest cards.

We can eliminate everyone who has gotten one already. We can also probably eliminate all of VBS because they're definitely not getting Bloomfest cards right before their WL.

I'll eliminate Kanade, Ena, and Mafuyu since they're not getting back to back four stars. I want to say no to Tsukasa, Airi and Mizuki, but Minori and Tsukasa did get their Colorfes cards even though they had gotten four stars already that month, though there was an event between them and at that point there were limited choices regarding the characters who needed a Colorfes card. I'll keep them on for now, but unlikely.

We're getting rid of Saki and Emu, I do not think there had been an event where a character got a lim hairstyle in back to back months, there's at least been one lim event buffer. And lastly, no Airi or Shizuku, cause everyone else has 6-7 lim hairs while Airi and Shizuku already have 8 and I think they're gonna get everyone to seven first befor someone get their ninth (Miku does have 9 but she's a special case). We can also scratch Miku out cause they're definitely saving her bloomfest for the fifth anniversary.

That leavse us with Luka, Len, Kaito, Ichika, Honami, Shiho, Minori, Tsukasa, Nene, Mizuki.

We're left with 10 characters that could possibly get a Bloomfest card.

No Leo/need character has gotten a Bloomfest yet, so there's definitely going to be one of them there.

If the prediction for Rui5 is right, I think they just might abritrarily pair up a L/n member with a vocaloid.

If my prediction for Vocaloid mixed event is right, that just makes this a lot harder. The two characters who are paired up for Bloomfest should have some sort of relationship, like how An and Haruka are childhood friends (or that could be just a coincidence and I'm looking too deep into this). Or they just randomly pair up a character with a vocaloid (I do not associate Kanade with Meiko or Rui with Rin, feels like Rui and Mizuki should have gotten their Bloomfest together, whilr Kanade could have been with Honami).

None of these characters have that much of a connection in my mind, and I can't use a vocaloid since I've used them all in this event. Weirdly enough I think the best option is Shiho and Minori, they have a couple events together, they're prettt good friends, and one of Minori's events Shiho and Kohane played a very important role. I think it could work.

So those are my predictions, I'll probably be very wrong and the reveal tomorrow will probably show that it's a mixed event featuring Rui, Shiho, and Luka or something like that, but whatever it was fun.

TLDR

Two possible predictions:

1. Vocaloid mixed event

Four Star: MMJ Miku, VBS Luka, WxS Meiko, N25 Kaito

Bloomes: Shiho and Minori

2. Rui5 with L/N + Random Vocaloid Bloomfes

[accirax]

Oh yeah, I should tell you someone put up a playlist of double greetings that get purchased and posted to youtube. Be sure to check it regularly for updates!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-zCAWYLWAhgP-oVAOQY-CeJ8MdAbxhiO&si=mnWMd_ixvWkLVdit

Here's my fav from it - https://youtu.be/bRpx5sUooAw?si=r6IWBBMEfnRPghG2 <- THESE are the kinds of greetings I wanna see! Where All-Stars contestants, or contestants from separate seasons who have *never* met or talked much finally get the chance to.

Oh yeah, here's some more individual ones:

https://youtu.be/GLIf8WwvlIg?si=worrOiB4soqjl0ZO (according to one comment this is a Rui Kamishiro costume? Correct me on this-)

https://youtu.be/oRAq93UIEQk?si=5UY5hHKOBg3XuP83 (still waiting for someone to quit beating around the bush & ask either of them what their situation is)

https://youtu.be/poFh1LiG5wA?si=JCG1oX9V8MIcK8ax (Damn, poor Jake was getting ghosted by everybody! 😂 (also what's a stem major-) Perfect opportunity here to fulfill Dan's wish and buy a double greeting~! (*cough* with Alec or Drew or even Gabby) )

https://youtu.be/RYsrkVeoT88?si=Ao9dkCk3d-UHUe4f (Glad someone brought this back~! It was deleted for a while)

https://youtu.be/nLkks-hMht4?si=ohA1dTZUpdGTWaQZ (This was pretty much already explained in the recent episode of Nick Reacts but I'm happy it was confirmed here too (BTW you should totally start watching Nick Reacts if you haven't already, it does sprinkle some additional lore here and there on top of being entertaining)

oh, nice!

aww, that was really sweet! honestly, it makes me wish that one of the spinoff series was dedicated to showing life at the Loser's Motel instead of either the staff or tomjake. (although, both of those served their purposes decently as well.) it makes sense that some of these characters who spent a good portion of their DCAS time in the Motel together would be friends-- especially two as kind as Tess and Ashley-- but since we didn't see it, it's still kind of a "wait, what?"

also, does Tess know Will? or is Ashley just saying she should introduce them? and how good is Ashley at gaming...?

that is a Rui-inspired costume! it's from the mixed event Never Give Up Cooking, and his card A Sudden Trial-- a card which I have B) (i actually pulled on that gacha wanting to get Toya or Kaito, but i won't complain...) of course they had to dress Alec in a Rui costume before asking about his hypothetical feelings about other men. as i always say, "you can't spell fruity without Rui." (/j)

definitely a shipper bait greeting on the whole, but i appreciate getting the timeline on his and Cheryll's relationship as well. if only we knew for sure how old Daniel was. then we could figure out how old Alec was when he and Cheryll tied the knot...

so, i guess it was math that Alec was teaching Fiore in the DCAS finale! i sort of assumed it was English-- y'know... because of Alec's whole deal...-- but i guess we already know that Fiore is capable of reading some pretty intense literature for her age, so she probably doesn't need much help in that department.

and, the comic collection comeback! i wonder if Alec being a fan of comic books was always in the cards, or if all of this has just snowballed from Alec saying "quirk" in the superhero episode. either way, the more we learn about Alec liking superhero media, the funnier it is that he had no powers in the superhero episode. buddy, you missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

felt on the "bad at texting" part-- i always want to send messages to my friends, but i can never come up with anything to say. RIP Jake, though. at least he had Miriam?

apparently, in a spanish greeting, Dan said he was studying physics engineering. i bring this up because i was trying to figure out if "just living with my parents and watching DC" was literal, or if he's also being a student at the same time. he would be 21 as of DCAS, so if we assume that he started college at the average time (~18 years old), he'd only be 3 years into his degree. probably still a student, then. no shade if he wasn't, i was just trying to figure out if he was a victim of the current job market.

a STEM major is someone whose (college) major falls within the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics. in the US, at least, these majors are generally considered more favorably than others by authority figures, due to being "of actual importance," "guaranteed to get you a job," and other mantras along those lines. if Dan is studying physics engineering, then he's also a STEM major in his parents' footsteps.

for some reason, when he said "love triangle," i assumed it was going to be between Jake, Tom, and Aiden or something. too many love triangles to keep track of in this show. anyways, confirmation that Nick isn't into gamer girls.

Believer is a pretty vocally demanding song (dude is basically just screaming), but i think Nick did a pretty good job with it! i'm sure Deric was struggling trying to pull it off while keeping up his British accent, lol.

ah, thanks for the reminder to go back and watch NickReacts! i watched the first (and maybe second?) episodes when they came out, but i forgot to go back and check for more. i'll probably put that on next time i need something to listen to while drawing :)

... that being said, i, uh. don't think you're going to make more than an investment broker through your youtube channel, buddy. maybe if you placed better in DC1 😅

[haus-mom]

8, 9, 16 :)

UNAAAAAAAAAAAA THANK YOU SM <33333

8. Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Gonna get my ass kicked for this, but Mizuki is not confirmed nonbinary and their arc is actually very far from being about that. "But they use they/them pronouns!" In the English translation, sure, but I feel like the translators have gotten themselves in some sort of loop they can't come out of. I understand that their gender is officially "?" but others referring to Mizuki with they/them doesn't make sense, since they're fem presenting.

It's so incosistent too! Kanade uses she/her for Mizuki to herself ONCE and then resumes using they/them

I think I've mentioned this a few times, but I would've done it very differently. N25 is not aware of Mizuki's genderfuckery, and they're fem presenting, so it's likely they'd use she/her. Same with people who are vaguely acquaintanced with them, like Tsukasa, Shizuku or Emu. Akito is aware of the rumours, but him not telling Ena means he couldn't care less, so it's likely he'd use she/her too.

What about An and Rui, who are aware of Mizuki's identity? That's the complicated part, since they'd give away Mizuki's gender. I guess I'd do my best to avoid using gendered pronouns? It'd be kinda hard, but at least it'd MAKE SENSE. If they're talking about Mizuki to other characters, they'd probs use she/her too regardless.

I haven't really read the new JP event, but they probably don't clear anything up when it comes to Mizuki's gender. I was hoping Mizuki's sister would say something like "oh mizuki's my sister/whatever" but in the summary I've read, as sweet as it seems, we're still kept in the dark. Oh well.

"But that'd be misgendering!" YES! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T TELL PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR GENDER! PEOPLE TEND TO ASSUME! Plus, if Mizuki's not a trans girl not saying pronouns = gender, that's not what i'm going for here or nonbinary, and they're just an otokonoko (unlikely, but they can still pussy out, even though they had Mizuki singing villain, but whateeeeeeever), wouldn't they/them be misgendering them too?

It's frustrating, like, if you hc Mizuki as nb that's fine, but can people please stop going for the throats of those who use she/her for them? Not that hard, I promise!

9. Worst part of canon

Canon seems to be hellbent on having some duos as default, with little to no deviations. Leo/Need does this the least, but sometimes they do fall into Ichika+Saki/Honami+Shiho territory.

WxS also doesn't do this often, as it's very well balanced, but when it comes to mix events it's... Not that great. Rui+Emu is surprisingly lacking in content as well, I feel like they're in the background, which is a shame because I like them a lot.

MMJ is truly neutral. We have fun interactions all around, but Airi+Haruka is even worse than Rui+Emu. Please they are THE STRONGEST!!!! give them an event together. I'm sure they'd crush it.

N25 sucks so bad, like so, so, so bad. Most of the time it's Kanade+Mafuyu/Mizuki+Ena. I think they're trying to fix it, but since Mafuyu and Kanade are now roommates, it's... Not really working. Last Kanade event barely had Mafuyu on it, and that's something I really don't like about canon? N25 is overreliant on Mafuyu and sometimes it feels like the other member's problems take a backseat because Mafuyu's are more important. And that sucks. Kanade has it the worst of all because even in events where she miraculously gets away (? from her, she's still thinking of saving her. I get Kanade is very goal-driven and is determined to save her, but... Just Mafuyu? Like in Spojoy when Minori tells Kanade she should take time to herself because she's also important and that she'll be there for her, Kanade instantly thinks "Of course... I want to see Mafuyu smile!" and canon portraying this as a good thing and Kanade improving as a person SUCKS. SUCKS SO BAD. Thanks Kaito for telling her to snap out of it. Samsa is one of the greatest comm songs imo but it's about Mafuyu. The whole event was about Mafuyu's story.

I get it, but they've left Kanade's dad's plotline untouched for TWO WHOLE YEARS, it's what i said about the other member's problems taking a backseat. Mizuki I get, running away is their thing and they seem to be doing good by relating to Mafuyu, but... Augh.

VBS is the poster child for duos. They're the only group where the members don't all use their first names. Just look at their card cameos. And their mix events too... Free them please...

Once I saw someone say "VBS isn't just duos, they have dynamics!" and they sure have them! Wish they got moments to develop them besides card stories and area convos!

16. You can't understand why so many people like this thing

Unironically? Akito x Toya. They're the most milquetoast, boring ship imaginable and nothing interesting ever happens with them. Sometimes you need fluffy ships and I get it, but you can get the same dynamic better within the game itself. To me they're that kind of friends who are super close and thought of dating but they're just so close dating just feels out of the question lol

The way they met doesn't make sense. Like, Akito saw Toya singing and went "oh i want this one", even though he was doing street music just to piss his dad off. Then he sees Kohane and goes "i want that hamster OBLITERATED", because she "wasn't taking it seriously", it just doesn't make sense! If it was called out sure, but Akito being a hypocrite is never brought up ever again. Their conflict in the main story was pretty dumb too. And from then on they just. Go with the flow. I love Toya and Akito separately so please let them be apart.

Whoever has talked to me about proseka for more than 5 minutes knows 2 things: I love Tsukasa Tenma and I really, really dislike Kanade x Mafuyu. The fact that they're the most popular ship for one another evades me. Kanade and Mafuyu aren't good for each other AT ALL.

"But Kanade is doing her best to save Mafuyu!" That's exactly the thing! At the beginning of the game, Kanade was constantly trying her best to save Mafuyu, and Mafuyu in exchange worried about Kanade... Because she's trying to save her. Kanade saw Mafuyu as a big wall, something to prove she's capable of saving others with her music.

"They got better! Kanade sees Mafuyu as a friend now!" ... And Mafuyu is still the same. Ena told her that the least she could do is thank her in Carnation Recollection, but did she? No, she but she was nicer... To Emu. Mafuyu, at least up until Ena's second focus, still wants Kanade to keep composing for her sake. I know she's been bending over backwards to please others since forever and N25 is her safe place to rest, but Ena is right. The least she could do is thank her.

"Since they're living together, Mafuyu is taking care of Kanade!" ... Is she really? She just cleans around a bit, but as for eating and having a better sleeping schedule, Mafuyu is just as bad. Does Mafuyu have to take care of Kanade? Not really, it's not her obligation. But Mafuyu never does anything to stop Kanade from indulging into her unhealthy habits, including overworking herself. Some people keep talking about toxic yuri and... There it is! I have no problem if it's being portrayed like that, but most portrayals have it be wholesome and good, and it isn't, not at all.

Like with Akit-ya I can see why people ship them! They're cute! Kan-mafu though... That's another story.

[thrilling-oneway]

OKAY N25 event is starting tomorrow and it's lasting 12 days but who cares I need to word vomit about event spec instead of doing my homework.

WxS event is Tsukasa no question unless the devs have given up on 2D:3D MV ratio given the updates. I mean daichan basically confirmed it on the stream lol. Anyway Tsukasa has never had a vsinger on one of his unit gachas so that's gonna change probably. I noticed they've been putting out cards for vsingers other than the starters/miku probably to show off the new costumes that didn't get L2D, which leaves us with MEIKO. However, she's been on 2 WxS events this year (one of which was Tsukasa's) so I'm ruling her out and am willing to just settle for KAITO (doubtful about Miku considering the likelihood of her sanrio 4* being soon).

Anyway as for the others definitely not Nene. She's been on all of Tsukasa's gachas so far give her a break please. Staff actually caught all of wxs up on exchange cards now but I'll say 3* for now just because it's been longer since her last one than her last 2*. Now the 3rd 4*. Emu or Rui? On the one hand, Emu has less cards than Rui and less 4*s this year, but on the other hand, she's been one 2 Tsukasa banners already when Rui's only been on 1. But then again, Rui needs a 2*. And I'm tempted to say this could be a wxs boys centric event given the teaser, but then again you have events like BFBY, BFST and woao which have significant characters as a 2* or just not at all. And then again, Emu has a 4* lim coming up, so her getting a gacha card followed closely by a lim is somewhat unlikely (although has been done in the past). And then there's the fact that if Rui gets another 4* he catches Miku. Fuck. OH actually WL lims are gonna make Kanade and Mizuki equal with Miku lol so yeah here we go

Either Tsukasa/Emu/KAITO + Nene 3* Rui 2*

or Tsukasa/Rui/KAITO + Nene 3* Emu 2* (emnn can be swapped in this instance tbh)

mm maybe meiko still works looking back after i finished this post

AND then for mixed event I'm still standing by my initial school festival spec. Probably Nene banner and Kami 2-A lims. Nene's last lim was the vday one 11 months ago, Akito's last lim was his fes about 5 months ago, and An's was the 2.5th lim 8 months ago, so it works. An's been an exchange card recently so 4* for her is fairly likely anyway, plus Nene pretty much guaranteed to be an exchange card on the Tsukasa event. This could be an Akito banner ig but I've tentatively got him down for White Day rn, however he doesn't actually have a mixed event stamp yet, but he could get one even if it was a Nene event anyway. Slap a WxS vsinger (Rin?) reward card and idk maybe a Toya 2* (or Rui if he isn't 2* on the Tsukasa event) and bam.

nene/an/akito + rin 3* toya or rui 2*

N25 has to be the first event next month lol since WL doesn't count as part of the main rotation and saying those a lim cards is fucking stupid they're barely lims. On one hand, it's been a year since the last ena event, but Kanade has less events than everyone else and also Ena sanrio lim. I would've said Ena 4* for Kanade event but we're gonna scrap that and for now i'm tempted to say mafuyu again i know she's been on 2/3 kanade events so far but hey if nene can go 3 for 3 on tsukasa gachas then sure. i would have said mizuki but once again. lots of 4*s already. this gives kanade the most 4*s in the game but who even cares atp not clpl that's for sure.

kanade/mafuyu/kaito + ena 3* mizuki 2* (mzen are swappable)

kanade/mizuki/kaito + mafuyu 3* ena 2*

then maybe a leoni honami event with ichisaki 4*s, shiho 3*, vsinger 2*. also this or n25 is the xmas event. and fuck knows who new year could be. mizuki? n25 hasn't had a NY banner yet. fuck do i know.

[lunarcry]

anyway i was reading nene & ruis cards from this event ('only now?' yes.<3) but emus voice line at 34:48 always makes me ssooo emotional.......like the way its performed....the 'dakara'.....i tear up every time<//3 (tbh her entire part starting from 34:18...) also how they dont use the Actual happy face expressions for her, so its so clear that shes faking it. ough. something something about the times emu shoulders stuff herself (but also this is about the park and her brothers...also another line she has about not being sure if it was okay for her to try to keep her promise with her grandpa....

ANYWAY THATSB NOT THE POIINT HERE THE POINT WAS their card stories<3

first of all ichika lending nene an ear cuz she notices nene seems down...nene knowing she goes to the same school as emu & doesnt want to worry her, proceeds to go "uhhh someone i know has a friend.." to which ichika ALSO ends up going "my- no, someone i know..." T_TLOL i like nene & ichika a lot and seeing 1) nene talk about emu and how she does it 2) opening up to ichika about it......well "opening up" LOL

Nene: (She always says or does weird stuff, and gets everyone mixed into her antics... But I've enjoyed every minute of it so far... I want Emu to keep doing outrageous things with Tsukasa. I want her to keep concocting crazy ideas with Rui. And... I... I want her to laugh and smile like always...)

the expression the choose for this was unreal btw. so tender. her lil smile...

also rui knowing emu only knows 2 places in their school. nenes classroom and tsukasas classroom (rui's next to it). skull emoji

AS FOR RUIS...the way he immediately goes to the mascot(emus bodyguard) AKDJADBKJ HE RLY GOES STRAIGHT FOR THE PROBLEMSOLVING. they dont tell him anything but

Rui: In truth, I am incredibly thankful for Emu. Her determination to save the Wonder Stage and her will to not give up allowed me to meet the wonderful people I am with now. And we're able to put on shows that deliver smiles to countless people.

Rui: I... No, we, as WonderlandsxShowtime, want to keep putting on the best shows possible, together. Which is why if anything that would rob us of that opportunity were to arise, I will refuse to simply let it happen. And I will not let my friends be openly insulted either. Even if it's Emu's family we're dealing with.

unreal things to say knowing the current arc btw.

emu then proceeds to chase tsukasa with a caterpillar cuz "lets find out what kind of butterfly it turns into". tsukasa runs to nene. nene gets roped into it (does not want the bug near her either). rui just laughs. peak

Tsukasa: It looks like she's back to her usual self, but doesn't something still seem a little off...? I feel like she hasn't been adding Yahohoy! or Zoom! or any other nonsensical words to her sentences lately...

Rui: Ah, I see... Some time did pass before we heard her trademark Wonderhoy! again as well. Tsukasa: Exactly. The last time she said that was... When we all put our hands together and shouted that on stage, right? Nene: Now that you mention it, she always said stuff like that every day... Rui: Yes... Well, this is just me speculating but... She has a tendency to emote using her unique vocabulary when she feels absolutely compelled to do so... Tsukasa: Hm? Wait, that means she... Rui: Hasn't been able to feel that way lately. She may be choosing her words more carefully than normal.

-> they then put on a special show for her that essentially just bullies tsukasa and she starts saying nonsense again but ughhhT_T this group... when she says wonderhoy again nene & rui comments on it too... but in general things i will think about for the next ten years

[project-sekai-facts]

Was just thinking WxS focus event with some friends and thinking what’s the possibility of this lineup

Emu6: Mysterious

-Emu

-Nene/ Rui

-KAITO (MEIKO would probably be saved for the final WxS uscorer,also please save us from WxS Len)

-Rui 3*/Nene

-Tsukasa 2*

(He has 5 compared to the rest of WxS who has 6)

Alternately they can kill one of the guys and give it to a VS

Hesitant to consider Rui as 4* because there’s still WxS WL2 in May + June is very likely hakolim Rui5 and Rui is currently at cap, also if emu and nene are 4* it would mean WxS would have even number of cards before going into WxS Wl2, and Rui5 cld be Rui/Tsukasa/Nene or MEIKO , that would mean that Tsukasa is going a year without a lim but I don’t see where else they could squeeze Tsukasa unless they decide it’s funny to give him 4.5 bfes

oh yeah totally agree with this. like i know the last wxs event was also an emu/nene/vs lineup but rui breaks cap by two if you throw him on there bc of the wle right after, so i think it has to be nene. kaito ideally would be on a pure attrib event (he only has 2 pure cards lol) but emu/nene already have 5 pure cards so nah. but maybe cool attrib instead of mysterious bc nene and dasho vs are still at 3 cool cards. only if rin was the vs instead of kaito though (one of the last 3 rota5 events has to have rin bc she hasn't had an event song since killer). rui 3* tsukasa 2*.

also yeah unless clpl pulls some bullshit and shoves tsukasa on 4.5 june fes slot is locked as rui5 rui/tsukasa/3rd person hakolim. imo either emu, but meiko works (im just hesistant bc of her lim spam last year i think she's more likely for a post-5th mixed lim). if it's meiko it's also locked as cool attrib which works actually bc rui's last cool card was study hard and it doesn't break attribute cap for either boy.

[shiraishi-kanade]

Hi! I'm anon!

I'm halfway through and I enjoy and agree with your points so much (I literally had to stop and pace in a room a couple times because I was so overjoyed someone finally put all the weird dudksorrusu??? thoughts I had about Touya's writing in words) but I unfortunately had to stop halfway because I haven't seen it first concerto yet, but I'm going to go ahead and do that right now! Maybe I'll have something to add later.

Addressing some points you've made already I am also so annoyed at his entire... Meeting new people arc, or lack thereof. Like for someone who has an important plot arc about catching up with missed experiences, you'd guess making a lot of friends should be one of them, but it really isn't.

I actually thought Kanade would make an appearance in this event, the same way she did in Echo My Melody, or even Saki, but they just. Didn't? And there's nothing, meta or narratively, from stopping either of them from doing so, because Echo My Melody was still a unit event and not mixed despite multiple other members cameos? And that worries me a lot, because not only it's an indicator of Touya's inter-unit isolation but also VBS' isolation from other units as a whole, which I could make another post about (remember how Rui promised he'll help out with organising vbs' RW event? Is that still on or do you think Sega forgot?)

An his lack of connection with An is another pet peeve of mine because there is. No. Reason. For them. To be so distant! I can give at least 10 common topics/contrasts between their characters and ways to build off a solid event off that, but it just seems to me that even when An and Touya get a double 4* event together (which is like 3 out of 4 Touya's events, as well as Light Up The Fire) they barely even talk in the event itself! I feel like you have to purposely avoid writing them as a duo to achieve that track record because how on earth do you mess up that badly! And yeah, this is definitely to do with VS stepping up much more and more lately in stead of the unit members - I didn't really think about that before you've said that but it really makes a lot of sense.

Head in hands. Just, head in hands. What's going on with this character.

(Speaking of, his Kizuna situation is very similar to An's - who has 5VS, full mmj, full vbs, Mizuki and, at the moment, Nene kizuna announced, 13 total, which is even less that Touya unless counting the yet non-existent Nene - so she has literally 1 from each WxS and N25 and no Leo/need, which is like... Why. Why do you do that to them. What did they do Sega. Please save them)

With that said, I'm going to go watch The First Concerto! Hopefully I'll find more points to add.

Please talk more about how Touya's writing has been neglected. I Need to hear your thoughts this is Urgent

anon you sent me this last night and it's been like 12 hours and I've done nothing except write this for like. 5 hours. there's so much I haven't done and I'm running tech for Good Friday tonight. I went and finally watched Toya4 just to hone my points (actually it broke quite a few but wHATEVER) and reread SO MUCH and finally. after writing an ENTIRE ESSAY. i think i can answer your ask.

so, dear anon, may i present to you: Aoyagi Toya and his relationships in the form of Kizuna Ranks (roughly): his lack of them, the neglection of ones he does have, and why The first concerto redeemed Nocturne Interlude and Toya's Colofes story.

Let's start off with a simple Kizuna Rank counting: Toya has 14 kizunas: 6 VS, 3 VBS & WxS, 1 L/n & 25ji, and 0 MMJ (as of time of writing this). While that’s technically on the high end (he’s beating half of l/n, 3/4ths of wxs and 3/4ths of 25ji) the problem is where most of his kizunas lie: he has full VS (the first of his group, actually), full VBS, and almost-full WxS (it SHOULD be full); that accounts for 12 out of the 14 he has. He has so little diversity outside of those three groups, which compared to Mizuki (who has the same amount of kizunas as him) who has 4 VS, 2 MMJ, 3 VBS, 2 WxS, and the obvious 3 25ji, isn’t a lot!

Toya’s only two “unique” kizunas are Saki and Mizuki; Saki, who he’s known since childhood and has a lot of respect for her and even more so her brother, and Mizuki, who they got the kizuna with I think through a combination of KAMIYAMA HIGH FES and Summer Festival. The problem isn’t that Toya has so few kizunas (he doesn’t, really, I counted) it’s that his kizunas are almost indicative of his friendships.

Fun fact: Toya has not had a new kizuna in over a year. His last kizuna on JP was October 2022. Over a year.

(Just as a side note, I’m not going to be talking about his lack of appearances OVERALL. Around this time last year, his VA started voicing Dan Heng in HSR, and considering that that man is in like… 6 Trailblazer Missions, I would assume with scheduling that he wasn’t really able to voice anything else for a while. We’re talking about that when he was on outside of group focuses, he never really talked with anyone outside of those he already knew. But Dan Heng has also been put to the wayside after 1.3, which was in August, so after that I’m not cutting Toya slack.)

I went through his cards after Never Give Up Cooking! to present day because cards are usually indicative of a presence in an event, and outside of group focuses, he has…. 2 (excluding Sanrio which I'm 99% sure he didn’t talk with anyone outside of his group). Yup, just two! The first one is… the Kamiyama Fine Arts Festival. Where he knows everyone in Kamiyama (day classes) and has a kizuna with them. Just great. The other event is Valentines3, where he meets with a bunch of new people, but I’ll get back to them. Let’s talk about L/n, 25ji, and their relationships with Toya.

Toya has one from both of them, as mentioned previously: Saki and Mizuki. But Toya (as far as I know) has basically never met the other members of their groups. Sure, his teammates have (Kohane attends Miya with L/n and was classmates with Shiho, and Akito is siblings with Ena and has met Mafuyu more than once, even in his own home) but Toya has not. And do you want to know something truly terrible? He could!

He’s childhood best friends with Saki! He’s classmates with Mizuki now! There are so many possibilities for Toya to meet them! Personally, I want an Ichisakitoyakana event where Toya learns to songwrite a little more from Ichika and Kanade (especially considering his newest focus where he accidentally[?] works himself to the bone to compose a single song). That wouldn’t be hard considering that he has an in with both L/n (through Saki) and 25ji (through both Mizuki and partially Ena, whom he can get to through Akito)!

But for reasons beyond my understanding, they just. Haven’t. Have they been waiting for Toya4? Maybe, and that’s valid. But that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have spoken with them earlier anyways, especially considering that he’s been grueling over composing for what seems to be months. Also, it’s Saki, why wouldn’t she introduce her cool younger brother to Ichika, who is also a songwriter? Heck if I know!

But I digress. Let’s talk Valentines3, where Toya talks with Ena and Haruka quite a bit. Ena and Toya have known each other since… like, forever. Roughly 3 years, if we assume that Ena found out about Toya around the time Akito partnered up with him. While they don’t talk a lot, they’ve definitely had multiple chances to: Summer Festival, 2nd Anniversary, maybe 2nd New Years but admittedly I didn’t read that story so who knows. But their first shared card set is… Valentines3.

Both Toya and Ena have a solid connection with Akito, Toya consistently hands off plushies to Ena, and yet the two just… never talk. You’d think they would! But they just… haven’t? And I don’t know if that’s bad writing or just something? But Valentines3 is their first big interaction, which is three years since the game started.

Now, let’s talk Haruka. Compared to his teammates, Toya has a very isolated kizuna community (as a side note, Saki and Nene are the only kizunas that he doesn’t share with someone else in his group excluding VS), and it’s obvious if you look at his lack of MMJ kizunas. But everyone in his group has a direct connection to someone in MMJ: Kohane was first-year classmates with Minori, An is childhood friends with Haruka, and Akito and Airi at the very least know each other well. At ANY point, MMJ could’ve been introduced to Toya--and let’s face it, they probably were. Toya I’m sure has heard about them.

…But why has he never talked with them? Again, wouldn’t have been hard (although he’d have less of a reason to than he would’ve with someone like Ichika, Kanade, and Ena) but he just hasn’t? And I remember correctly he does know who Haruka is in Val3. I’m not sure if that’s the writers just straight up ignoring him for a while (which they totally did) or that’s Toya’s personality, but I really don’t think it’s the latter with how well Toya just. Takes new people.

One other person I’ll talk specifically about is Mafuyu. There’s not a super clear connection for Toya and Mafuyu to interact, but they’ve definitely met in passing. I love Toya and Mafuyu’s parallels (especially with their fourth rotations being huge for them) and wish they’d properly interact, but Colopale won’t let them because that would screw over Mafuyu’s progress entirely. In a good way. Mafuyu would realize so much. But you wanna read more about them and their parents, there’s this amazing post about it that I think does it well.

Now, let’s talk about the relationships Toya does have. I’m just going to briefly gloss over most of them, then talk about the ones with a little more influence in Toya’s life (which is basically just VBS and Tsukasa).

Let’s start with VS: Miku and Luka are the two who really click with Toya the best. Miku is the one who went with Toya to his Fragment SEKAI (which we’ll be touching upon later) and inherited his terrible cooking. VBS Miku, although not a large force at play in recent stories, is still a valuable voice of reason. Luka literally showed up during Toya’s event, got him to do stuff he’d never do, and is just generally his hype man. She’s great.

Now, let’s talk the twins. Rin I feel like, when with the boys (who is all I really read, sorry girls), doesn’t have much of a character aside from being Len’s fellow corgi sticking her head into boxes ‘n such (cookie if you get this). Len, however, can be mostly found with the boys, trailing after them like a younger brother… well, he trails after Akito. He doesn’t really trail after Toya, and Len more so sticks around with Akito a lot (learning soccer, was in Summer Fes with them, etc.). So ironically, I would say Len and Toya don’t have a strong connection, at least compared to Len and Akito.

Finally, let’s talk the adults(?). MEIKO, for the most part, has kept her nose out of music, but she’s been there since the start. She and Miku both play the VS in Toya1, and she, Miku, and KAITO are typically the ones to get Toya’s head back on straight. Most recently, MEIKO helped Toya pretty significantly in The first concerto (which we’ll also be discussing later).

Now, the rest: I thought about this for a while, but although Toya and Saki are close, I don’t think there’s any actual record of Toya going to visit Saki in the hospital, either with the Tenmas or his own family? So although they’re close, they’re definitely not as close as Toya and Tsukasa or Toya and Akito. But correct me if I’m wrong.

Toya and Mizuki are more recently classmates, and although they seem to have had something during Kamiyama Fine Arts Fes, I’m not sure what that is. But the two of them have had something for a little while, but it’s been pretty loose.

Toya and Nene are both gaming buddies, and actually get along pretty well. Toya and Rui also get along pretty well, Rui even going out of his way to taste test for Toya (although he definitely didn’t realize how. Terrible Toya’s cooking skills are) and help him repay the Tenmas.

Finally, let’s talk a little more about Toya’s deepest (and shallowest) relationships: VBS, Tsukasa, and his father---in backwards order because I’m like this.

Toya and his father have had a pretty shaky relationship, one that is always perpetually a few steps away from being entirely burned. But it’s a relationship that both are interested in keeping alive, but feel that they can’t, primarily because of their different beliefs in music. Again, I highly recommend you go read the relationship between Harumichi and Mafumom I linked above to get a better understanding of both people, but most recently, Toya’s father does go somewhat out of his way to give Toya some advice in The first concerto. Although some people believe it doesn’t make up for the child abuse, I feel like I strongly need to say something:

Toya explicitly continued classical for TWELVE YEARS.

That kid picked the piano up at 3! 12 years he played! He was 15 when he ran away! Teenagers get moody about this stuff! And I would know, because I had the exact same relationship with my parents about religion at his age. I’m not going to get into depth about my own personal life, but I’m not gonna call handling someone harshly after they themselves treat themselves the same way as child abuse. Is there child abuse? Oh probably definitely, Toya should’ve gotten more hugs as a kid. But Toya (explicitly in The first concerto flashbacks) pushes himself to be better at classical. There’s a whole bunch of other stuff here which I can talk about in another post (including Toya fixating only on the bad parts of his past, which is something I also do) but let’s leave it here for now.

Now, let’s talk about Tsukasa. If none of you are aware, Tsukasa is the one who gives Toya the push to quit classical music (from the PJSK fandom wiki in Toya’s relationships page: “it was Tsukasa who told him it was okay to do the things he wanted, even if others disapproved. This gave Toya the courage to quit classical music, and he says if it weren't for Tsukasa, he wouldn't be the person he is today”). Toya holds Tsukasa in high regard, even just as high as Akito (he defends Tsukasa from Akito on multiple occasions) even if he won’t let go of the “-senpai” honorific. Toya has gone out of his way multiple times to support Tsukasa in some way (taking his spot during Wedding1 when Tsukasa gets sick, taking a 2hr train ride just to see his performance as Thorpe at the end of Tsukasa2, learning how to cook just to repay the Tenmas in Never Give Up Cooking!) while also never asking for anything in return, and will probably continue to do so because he just holds Tsukasa in such high regard. It’s about the same regard that Toya holds Akito in, but Toya repays that by standing by Akito’s side and singing with him because that’s all Akito asks for.

Then, the Vivids. Despite being teammates, Toya doesn’t have much of a relationship with them (especially compared to Akito, who’s got a distinct one with both of them). Toya and An both respect each other, but the only mixed events they have cards together for are Wedding1 (where An really only shows up at the end) and Kami Fine Arts Fes, which I haven’t read so I can’t speak on that. Toya and Kohane have a 1-on-1 moment in An1 and… not again until Valentines3. Three years after An1. THREE YEARS!!! Toya’s relationship with the girls I feel has been especially neglected, but also partially for a good reason: in An1, both Akito and Toya let the girls talk themselves through. Sure, Akito gives An a harsh talking-to, and Toya gives Kohane some advice, but the two of them keep their noses out of the girls’ business. And the two of them do take a while to get on their own two feet (which I won’t go into depth about here, but maybe in another post).

But also, you’re teammates. I’m willing to overlook shallow relationship writing with people like Saki, Nene, Rui, and Mizuki because they’re not super close, but An and Kohane? That’s just straight up ignoring their relationships. There are so many opportunities for this sort of thing--which the writers definitely capitalized on in the beginning--but nowadays most of the cast goes to the VS for help. Which isn’t bad, it just means you’re developing relationships with other people. But having an arguably stronger connection with the VS than your own teammates? Really? You could put in a little more effort, writers.

Finally, let’s talk about Akito and Toya. Let me preface this by saying I’m biased and weak for partnerships, but I’ll try to do my best. Akito and Toya’s relationship is one of the few relationships we see prior to canon that isn’t a sibling relationship or having broken down; the only ones who are standing are the entirety of 25ji and maybe Rui and Nene (L/n broke off prior to canon, and Airi and Shizuku, although knowing one another, seem to have had most of their relationship deteriorate by the start of canon). But unlike the other two, Akito and Toya’s pre-canon relationship isn’t really discussed. All we really know is that they joined up not long after meeting (I think it’s implied it was in the same meeting) and are so close to one another by the start of canon that they trust each other to an insane degree. That’s not to say they haven’t had their fights (they have) but the big thing is that Akito and Toya’s RELATIONSHIP isn’t toxic. Both of them have their own personal issues (self-worth for Akito, guilt/burden for Toya) that they do often hide from each other, but as soon as the other notices, it doesn’t take them much to open up. I think the only time Toya didn’t tell Akito what was on his mind was that one time in his Toya1 card story where he refused to tell Akito that he was the best partner---and let’s be real, that’s Toya being cheeky and cheesy because he can; Toya’s not that open with many people (the only others excluding VS I’d say would be An, Kohane, Tsukasa, and Saki).

I will add, the writers do like to place quite a lot of emphasis on their relationship and bond, but it’s not bad yet or anything, especially with the current direction VBS is taking making it that there’s not much of a position for that to happen outside of mixed events. But again, I’m a sucker for that sort of thing, so.

To close out, let’s talk about a couple of things I said I’d talk about, and why The first concerto fixed so much. So let’s simultaneously talk about Toya1, Toya’s Colofes story, and the redemption that is The first concerto.

For me, Toya1 felt a little weird (rereading it for this post, you’re welcome) because knowing what little I did of The first concerto (which was nothing) at the time, I was confused because in Toya1 he moved past his classical burden, didn’t he? And also, you wanna talk Colofes? They dropped a huge character detail and L E F T. FOR TWO YEARS! But finally, when I actually watched The first concerto (like, earlier today) I had so many thoughts, but eventually decided on the following things:

Toya1 was Toya getting over his classical burden for singing, while The first concerto was dealing with his burden for composing. And as for his Colofes story… Toya is cut off in his words when the Fragment SEKAI disappears. Considering that, and what Toya says in chapters 6 and 7 (referencing his Colofes), I think that despite what Miku said about forgiving himself, Toya didn’t. As we also learn in The first concerto, Toya has a very hard time not fixating on the bad events of his life and instead focusing on the good, especially after quitting classical. Sure, he can think of the good like being with the Tenmas, but that was always tainted with the rest of his history.

The first concerto just. Redeems so much that was left to the side in Toya’s progression, and in a good way. Toya already removed the shackles from his wrists and ankles back in Toya1, but left them to the wayside. Now, here, he’s picked them back up and is slowly, surely, turning them into keys to unlock the door to the future. The event gives Toya the courage and ability to finally forgive himself for his past (something he didn’t do back during his Colofes, which is roughly just after Kohane2) and use it to move forward.

(Also, if you’re wondering why I, a Toya kinnie, was reading it so late, shameless plug to my 4k Toya-centric fic roots in the snow, where it's explained there.)

Anyways, those are my thoughts. I’m sure I have more which I might add on to later, but I’ve literally just been writing this for like 3 hours straight and I need to vacuum before I leave soon because if I don’t my mom will have my head.

(i hope you were expecting an essay anon LOL)

[volleychumps]

Heyy idk if this'll make sense but,, I'm ugly (or at least not as pretty as others) and a lot of times guys would be dared to say "oh my friend likes you" while laughing at me. It made me very insecure growing up and makes me suspicious of compliments now... idk if anyone can relate but can you write a fluffy comfort scenario with Bokuto, Kageyama, or Tsukki? Maybe with reader laughing at a confession because she thinks it's a joke or something? Thank you, I love your work and stay healthy ❤️

Aw bby~ I’m sure you’re absolutely goregous <3 hope you enjoy your request!

Insecure S/O Reacting To a Confession (Bokuto, Kageyama, Tsukishima)

This is set in a time in which you’ve developed trust issues because a confession before had been a joke- so a little angsty ngl 

---------------------------------------------

Bokuto 

“She’s not coming, is she?” 

“Calm down. You told her to meet you after school- the bell let out less than five minutes ago.” Akaashi’s voice sounded through the spiker’s phone as Bokuto releases a bigger sigh than he expected. Nervousness tingled through his muscles while the burly boy seemed to tremble in both excitement and fear for what was to come, leaning against one of the many exits to the school as golden eyes scoped the area for your figure. 

“Today’s the day, Akaashi, I just know it!” 

“Yeah. You said that yesterday. And the day before that one. Not to mention every day for the past month-” 

“I think she’s coming!!” A hand slipped out of his pants pocket as he pushes off the wall giddily. 

“Well, be careful- I don’t know if you heard about it, but-” 

“See you at practice, my #1 Wingman!” 

Bokuto ends the call, the last thing he hears being a sigh of Akaashi’s at his abrupt cut off. That could wait. A growing grin began at Bokuto’s lips as you, confused, approached him with a crumpled paper in your hand- looking as beautiful as ever in the eyes of the ace. 

“Bokuto-san...?” 

“You made it!” 

He couldn’t see the hesitation in your steps, or the nervousness in your movements for the national-known volleyball spiker had his gold eyes downcasted at his feet, a hand nervously coming up to rest on the back of his neck as he internally prepares himself. 

“Was there something you needed from me?” You wrung your hands out, biting your lip as you seemed to fidget in place, the scenario being all to familiar with what you once had to go through. However, you knew better- it just simply wasn’t possible. 

Bokuto was always friendly towards you, but previous events had placed a limit in your head on just how far that friendliness just happened to extend. Until- 

“Y/N...do you maybe want to go out with me?” 

Your jaw slackened a little as you still in shock, watching as the boy you thought was eons out of your league blushed a little, squeezing his eyes tight as the question came out rushed, the words fumbling over each other. 

But you still heard it. 

Your chest sunk and heat flamed in your cheeks as you push out your first instinct- a laugh. A laugh bubbled up in your throat at the question, and Bokuto opened his eyes, confusion and anxiety rising in his stomach at the sound that still made his heart race. Nervously, he began laughing too. 

“Alright.” You make out between giggles. “Who put you up to this?” 

All laughter stopped on his end as you continue to giggle, but your eyes were a tad bit poignant as your fists clenched at your sides. Bokuto straightens, furrowing his brows at the ridiculous question. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean, this is a prank right?” Your voice wobbled. “Was it Rui? His friend Droy?” 

“Y/N, what-?” 

“You shouldn’t play with girls’ feelings like that, you know?” You continue, smiling yet your eyes screamed of another story. “But in my case, it’s funny- right?” 

Bokuto blinked, mouth agape at the accusation in your words as you take a shaky breath, trying not to show weakness as Bokuto takes a careful step in front of you. Was this what Akaashi was trying to tell him? 

“Y/N, I’m serious!” The ace exclaimed, causing you to finally meet his eyes with your slightly watery ones. “You’re absolutely goregous, there’s no way this is a prank!” 

“Y-You’re taking this too far...” 

“I’m not, because there isn’t anything to take!” Bokuto grabs your hand in his, intertwining your pinkies as you can’t help but smile a little at the childish gesture. “I promise you, Y/N, I like you! Way too much, I’ve been trying to tell you for the past month now, but...you scare me. In a I’ve-never-had-these-feelings before kind of way.” 

You find yourself leaning into his palm as Bokuto smiles, golden eyes gleaming genuinely as he cups your face. “Who made you think of yourself this way?” 

“N-No one in particular...” You lie, looking off to the side as you feel yourself being tugged gently into the sweet boy’s chest, causing you to yelp a little as Bokuto crosses a boundary, digging his face into the juncture between your neck and shoulder. 

“Please.” You stop trying to push him away at the sincerity in his voice. “Can I change that? I can. I promise you I can, if you give me a chance!” 

Shakily, you look up to the sky, feeling Bokuto’s warm breath on your neck as he spoke, wondering if this was worth learning to trust again, your arms wrapping around his mid-section as you did so. 

Your voice quiets, cracking slightly as you hold him back just a little tighter. 

“One chance. Don’t let me regret this.”

Kageyama

“This is ridiculous, you moron!” 

“Trust me, she’s gonna love it Kageyama-Kun!” Hinata flashes his setter a big thumbs up as Kageyama groans, glaring into the bouquet of flowers with pink dusted across his cheeks. After Hinata had snuck a horribly written note into your shoe locker- Kageyama couldn’t put his confession off anymore, much to the setter’s dismay. Admiring you from afar had been enough, and confessing you face to face had once been a daydream- 

“Can’t I just, you know, text her?” The raven haired boy attempts to escape one more time as Hinata points a finger to the spot where he was standing stubbornly. 

“Nope! As if you could get her number anyway-”  Hinata dodges the hit coming his way with ease, sidestepping as he continues his tangent. “So you’re going to stand right there and wait for Y/N-chan to come! I’m going home now, and tomorrow- you better have a newly minted girlfriend!” 

“I should’ve never asked you for advice.” 

“See you tomorrow, and you’re welcome.” 

Kageyama scoffs, snarky reply falling on silent lips as Hinata mounts his bike and takes off before he can get it out, leaving the blue-eyed setter standing at military position near the courtyard, red roses tightened in his grasp around the less thorny areas. He hoped Hinata was smart enough to not mix up the two locations.

“Kageyama-Kun!” 

Said boy almost drops his flowers when you round the corner, now changed out of your school shoes as Kageyama swallows- a futile attempt to aid his now dry mouth. You took small steps towards him as you find a lump growing in your throat at the scene before you, memories flashing in your mind at what once had been. 

Regardless, you managed a tight smile as Kageyama blinks once. Then twice as if to make sure this was really happening. 

“You...wanted to see me about something?” You question formally, ignoring the red hue of the roses as Kageyama stutters out a response, bright blue eyes darting all over the courtyard. 

“I...um....you are....UGH-” 

In any other circumstance, you might’ve found this cute- but the only thing you could think of was how good he was at acting. 

“Take your time.” Your eyes dim down a little as the familiar unease rises in your stomach. 

“D-Date!” Kageyama manages, the pink on his cheeks now turning into a bright red. “I want to g-go on a date with you...!” 

You press your lips together as a heat pricks the corner of your eyes, the one image you didn’t want to remember blurring perfectly over the one in front of you. 

.... Again?

Kageyama curses, offering you the roses with one hand shakily as the back of his hand covers his mouth, blue eyes seeming to glare off to the side in utter regret. “I heard you like flowers, s-so....”

“You don’t need to do this, Kageyama-Kun.” You find yourself saying, surprised at how stable your voice was as Kageyama’s arm slackens a little, the bouqet lowering in height as he takes in your words- in his case, your response. 

“It’s cruel, you know? I get it- you’re popular, attractive, and people want to be your friend- but this? I know I can’t be with someone like you the way I am now, so you have to show me firsthand?”

“Huh?” 

You chuckle humorlessly at the genuine confusion in his voice before laughing a little. “It’s hilarious, isn’t it? Poor, naive, ugly girl believes for just a second that the boy she likes wants her back.” 

Kageyama’s eyes widen a little, still trying to process what you’re saying as the roses fall slack at his side. But the only thing he’s able to get out, is- 

“Wait, you like me?” 

You spin on your heel, flustered you admitted it, before beginning to walk off. 

“Goodbye, Kageyama-Kun.” 

“W-Wait!” Before he can stop himself, he finds himself grabbing you from behind to stop your leaving, your eyes widening as the bouqet of flowers remains tightened in his grasp as he does so, your back against his chest. The aromatic scent fills your nose as he successfully stops you from going anywhere. 

“I-I don’t know why you think you’re ugly or any of those things, but you aren’t.” Kageyama mumbles quickly, and you’re shocked to see that he’s trembling at the touch. “But I wasn’t lying, or trying to play you. I want to go on a date with you...and if you like me too, there shouldn’t be an issue, right?” 

“Shit!” Kageyama releases you right away, and you step away subconciously as you find yourself believing him, a hand over the clothed part of your chest as you do, cheeks blooming with a pink of their own. 

“...I think I’d like that.” 

“Like what?” Kageyama questions obliviously as you groan, blushing in a way that made the setter want to admire you even closer than from afar. 

“The date, don’t make me say it!” 

The blue-eyed setter releases a sigh of relief, his heart being sent on an emotional rollercoaster coming to an end as he chuckles the slightest bit at your embarrassed stature, offering the roses again in a now relaxed-manner. 

“Right. So can you maybe take the damn flowers and be my girlfriend?” 

Tsukishima

“I regret this. I’m going home.” 

“Tsukki! No!” Yamaguchi whines, pulling on his friend’s sleeve for the second time in six minutes. 

“She isn’t coming. Waiting outside her classroom is creepy anyway. She might’ve even already gone home.” Tsukishima says straight on, glancing at his childhood friend before the freckled boy could interject. “What are you even doing here?” 

“Moral support!” 

“Yeah, could you maybe...do that somewhere else?” 

Yamaguchi sniffs once, frowning. “I get that you’re nervous, Tsukki, but don’t take it out on me. Text me later and send Y/N my regards, okay?” 

“I’m not nervous.” The tall blonde claims, swiping through his playlist when in reality- the butterflies in his stomach said otherwise.

“That’s all you got out of that?” Yamaguchi sweat drops, shouldering his bag a little more before waving as he begins to walk off. “Be nice to Y/N!” 

“Wasn’t gonna kill her.” Tsukishima mumbles to no one as he’s left by his lonesome in the empty school corridor after school had ended, mostly everyone leaving or going to attend their club activities. He knew from Yachi who shared your class- that you stayed a little after school to study for a bit before leaving. 

Tsukishima had discovered about his emotional surge towards you when you had visited practice one day to drop off Yachi’s notebook- only to notice you more and more each time you had passed him by to the point where you would smile and wave while greeting him by name. Soon, all other girls seemed to become see-through, leaving you bright in a sea of unfamiliar heads. 

“Crap!” You stumble back, a relieved laugh filling the corridor as the blonde blinks, wondering how he had gotten so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t even seen you emerge or make himself known. 

“You scared me, Tsukki!” You whine, shifting your bag upon your shoulder before blinking in confusion. “Wait, what are you doing here? Is the volleyball club off today-?” 

“Go out with me.” 

Your breath hitches at the sudden attack. 

Tsukishima remains indifferent, thankful he was able to even say it, as he shoved his hands in his pockets, eyeing you seriously through his spectacles before you find yourself back there again. Back where your trust was stripped and your pride was stomped on before you smile- a smile that was anything but cheerful. 

“That’s not a very funny joke, Tsukki.” You laugh a little, hand tightening around your bag strap as you refuse to meet his eyes, your gaze falling on his shoes as you become overwhelmed with past events. 

“I’m not joking. Go out with me.” He repeats, not asking, but in a way where it sounded like he was basically telling you. 

“...How far are you willing to go?” You feel wetness brim your eyes, but your smile still remains- shaky yet present- as your voice cracks differently from the way you used to call his name. 

“What the hell are you-?” 

A smirk and multiple laughs ring in your head from your memories before you finally snap. 

 “Stop screwing around, alright?”

Tsukishima’s brow quirks up once, and in the next few moments, you gasp as your back is suddenly touching a nearby locker- Tsukishima’s hand resting by your side to create the illusion of entrapment as he leans in to you, and you don’t have to look up to know that his gaze was searing into you with a mixture of frustration and something else you couldn’t pinpoint. 

“Who’s screwing around?” His voice was quiet and irritable, and you swallow the lump in your throat as a few stray tears slip. 

“I’m just a joke, right?” You mumble, barely audible as you breathe in his scent from decreased proximity. “You boys always toy with girls like they’re your little playthings-” 

“Are you talking about that shitty prank that bastard pulled on you a few months back?” 

Your eyes snap up before you can stop them. “You...know about that?” 

“Why the hell are we here wasting our breaths on them?” Tsukishima questions, irritation evident in his tone. “I don’t do these kinds of things, ever, and you seriously think I’d be here telling you I like you as some kind of shit joke? Give me a break.” 

You blink, believing his harsh words as Tsukishima sighs, relaxing his neck so his head falls on your shoulder. 

“On the bright side you finally looked at me. Understood, I hear you loud and clear.” 

You bite your lip when he moves to step away from you, your hands clasping at the sides of his shirt before you can stop yourself. 

“I...I’ll go out with you, Tsukki.” 

The blonde’s eyes widen a fraction as you bury your head in his chest. 

“Just...please please don’t be like the others.” 

“I thought I told you.” Tsukki’s pointer finger prods at your chin, causing you to look up at him as he leans down so your noses brush. 

“You’re wasting your breath on the wrong thing, Y/N.” 

---------------------

General Works: @takemetovalhalla @savemesteeb @kasandrafaye @dreebbles

[signedeclipse]

Frequently Asked Questions

Hello!! Ive had a lot of questions recently via dms and inbox that I felt I could address publically for anyone who has the same concerns! This will be added to my pinned so that you can easily find it!

I recommending looking this over before submitting a request, as it might help clear some things <3

SIgned, Eclipse

What characters do you write for?

Almost all of them! I can make a list if you really want, but im familiar with both manga and anime, as well as fanbooks and extra media characters!

I even do 'lesser seen' characters including every lower moon,

What characters don't you write for?

Any characters that are just parents, characters that weren't named, and thats it!

Characters I only write platonically include; Naho, Sumi, Kiyo, Rui, Senjuro, both Ubuyashiki twins, all Kamado siblings, and Kotetsu.

Characters I only write romantically or less include; Nezuko and Aoi

Characters I age up (18+) for NSFW include; Kamaboko squad (including Genya and Kanao), Gyutaro, Daki, Murata, Muichiro and Sabito.

I may be missing a few, but overall my decision is based off the characters overall maturity in the manga. Every aged up character will display adult characteristics and nothing less.

Do you take NSFW requests?

I do! In fact, NSFW is one of my largest talents when it comes to writing, so please don't be shy to request it! You must be 18 or older to do so.

Dont be afraid it include kinks, too! The only kinks I won't write for is vore, toilet stuff, violence/extreme pain, non-con (cnc is okay), zoophilia and pedophilia/age play.

Ive written for lots of extremes, including hyper-parts and tentacles, so trust me when I say I can handle it.

Do you have any limits?

When it comes to writing, I really don't enjoy writing the reader being in a toxic or abusive relationship with the character. I wont write anything where the character harms the reader purposefully unless its for an event.

That being said, the reader can be harmed by others in the story (including strangers, parents, ex-lovers or other characters) and even killed, but I will never let it be the love interest unless accidentally.

What can I say, im a comfort writer, I just want readers to have something nice and fluffy to read! But ill still write angst and breakups, dw ;]

Can you do a part 2, 3 etc...?

Yes! I usually do my best to leave a oneshot open to being continued. If a oneshot is popular enough, ill even turn it into a series. Just request you'd like another part and i'll get to it!

Rarely I may feel something cannot be continued, if this is the case I will tell you, and ask you what you'd like to see happen next instead <3

How many characters can be made per request?

It depends! For oneshots, Ill do as many as you want with a reasonable limit, like all the hashira x reader or upper moons x reader.

For headcanons, I do a max of 3. However, you can have up to 5 if it is the kamaboko squad (zenitsu, inosuke, tanjiro, kanao, and genya), Upper moons, lower moons (or a mix of those two), and hashira! For groups that have more than 5, you can pick which or let me choose.

I also do headcanons with 1 character, and it ends up being a little more specific and fleshed out.

Trios, as in character x reader x character count as 1 character.

What blog tags to you use

There are only a few! But the unique trait is they all contain 'eclipse' and end in 'z' instead of 's'

#eclipse talkz - For any posts where I am answering an ask that isnt a request, or where I am just talking outside of writing.

#eclipse thoughtz - For my headcanon option where I give my opinion and there is no x reader portion.

#eclipse recommendz - For writing that is not mine that I really enjoy and think my readers would like.

#eclipse retweetz - For anything else that isnt mine but I just really want to share, its just a reblog! I call it retweetz because it was a mistake when I made it!

#eclipse gamez - For ask games and other things readers can interact with differently.

#eclipse goalz - For events and milestones!

[nuikasa]

I'll make a small list of aus I'm doing at the moment to organize a bit how is it going. All of them are off going and for now, only one has an end already decided, none of them end on tragedy, I'm not fond of killing my comfort characters so they will have angst but the angst will be resolved during the plot.

Dragonkasa au. The au is divided in 3 different timelines for now. past / present / future. This au has already an ending decided.

Sorcevalier au. for now has only two, present and future in which it's mixed with dragonkasa au. Still haven't decided when Tsukasa and Rui will get together officially, not ending decided yet.

Kuroshiro au. in development, has only one timeline, present.

Kasaverse au. has only one timeline but it would probably development in more on the future, has ending decided and it's the only au with a very straight plot since it's tied to wxs events and game plot.

I have other au ideas that are stories tied to any of these aus like fes ruikasa story that it's tied to kasaverse au but also connected with other au if you think about it so it doesn't count as a new one.

[demodraws0606]

I don't really think Rui thinking he's a bad person would be backpadelling at all really ??

I also don't think the Tsukasa2 conflict has died down because it did show up in the side card story for Nene4, it just has not been really addressed fully yet.

I also don't think it would be a "return to square one" for Rui because really this whole "i'm a bad person" thing has never really been addressed in his own focus event ??

Sure Our Happy End happened, but it really only scratched the surface of Rui's feelings of selfishness and we see in WL and even in bloomfes that he's still on the fence on weither or not he actually did the correct thing.

It would only be character regression if Rui was worried WxS would leave him or he would be afraid of being ostracised again which is well behind him now

I don't mean Rui feeling he's a bad person would be the same as it was in Rui1 or even during the disbandement arc. I mean that this would be something new that hasn't been really addressed with Rui.

In fact it'd be more so a clever reversal to have Rui1 have Rui feel scared of being ostracised by WxS but in his recent arc, he feels personally unworthy of their acceptance.

Like this is the same situation as Mizuki5 in a way, Mizurui are no longer afraid to be ostracized but have still sore spots in their relationship that plot can/have exploited.

I also don't like the thought of Bloomfes indicating Rui's path is strictly stuck in a high direction because I personally don't like official developpement happening in exclusive cards that can only be accessed through technically illegal means. But also mainly because we've seen a lot of times, for exemple with Mizuki with her mixed being looking very positive but well... we know what happened. I consider Bloomfes solely more so an indicator of the subject Rui's future events will deal with.

(I'm sorry for all the Mizurui comparison these are just the easiest ones).

Hello, here I am coming from the shadows for one last thought since the Nene teaser will prob leave me unconcious for the rest of the month.

I think there is something really interesting and fucked up colorpalet could do with what they're setting up with Rui.

There have been two Main things (that aren't Asahi) that are still unadressed sore spots for Rui :

-Him feeling like he's selfish/greedy

-His insecurity at not helping Tsukasa or Nene in Tsukasa2/Nene4 (for nene4 it was shown in a side card story) (also slightlyyyy hinted at Tsukasa3 ???)

Considering how colorpalet really emphasizes how kind Rui is, what I think could make for Rui legitematly being brought down to his lowest is make him believe that he is the "villain" or simply that he's somehow in the wrong for what he's doing/done.

Sounds like it could be coming out of nowhere but during WxS's training arc there was been a lot of indirect themes of betrayal going on that I think just repeat themselves a bit too much to be ignored especially in Rui4 with the whole "the villain was your friend all along !". People associate this with Sakaki and I kinda do too but it is just like...

You know how there is kind of a trope sometimes of RPG's having one of the team members ending up as the final boss (not common enough to be really a trope but it's something i've seen a lot of times). This is the vibes this is giving me.

It would also fit extremely well with Rui's whole thing of being "the villain" everytime WxS do plays.

It would also fit extremely well with his bloomfes which seems to kind of hint at Rui feeling guilty for being in such a well off/positive situation. I mean Kanade's bloomfes seemed to foreshadow her own path towards what she wants to do so we can assume Rui's bloomfes is there to foreshadow whatever Rui would go through.

Maybe Rui will be influenced by Sakaki to believe his decision during the disbandement arc was wrong/immoral which, I don't think would cause very Great Things. Especially when Asahi is in the background T-Posing.

Anyways going back into the mist cya !

Ohh... Yeah...

Actually I think the conflict from Tsukasa2 has either died down or has just. Joined the overall pile of regrets Rui contains. The conflict that in my opinion could possibly affect him as of now would be the regret about what happened in Mizu5. He was there for a reason and he's one of Mizuki's best friends so that's bound to come up again.

The Sakaki theory seems based to me. I also see the reasons why Rui would start feeling like a bad person again (because it HAS been hinted in the past... Many stories, like you said) but I'm hesitant about what colopalette might do with it because... I really don't want it to look like Rui's just returning to square one? He's grown so much and it's been a really good journey, in his bloomfes he affirms that he remembers the pain of his past and it's not as jarring anymore. He's healing— so unless Colopale takes a very specific route in order to make him feel inadequate again I'm kind of worried if that character development will be erased

I don't mean this in a "he's healed now he'll never struggle with feeling like a bad person again!!!" Way, I mean it in the way that Rui HAS, objectively, learnt new things about relationships while being with wxs. I don't want him to forget all of them. I trust sega will make it good, seeing they did just that with Mizu5 (the fear of rejection is there, but so is the learned truth about Ena's kindness) but still.

I feel like the next Rui events will be very stressful ones. Asahi + Sasaki + all the other wonderful things going on in Rui's life right now basically. Also Rui still hasn't told Tsukasa and Emu about his past and technically no one in wxs knows what happened to him in middle school so... Maybe there'll be a story for that? Not necessarily since Revival my dream was already very backstory focused, but a man can dream

[actuallymuffet]

“I do.”

It was going to be the perfect day. A day that Muffet used to only know in her dreams, her wildest fantasies that would never come true. One part of her wishes she could go back and excitedly tell her past self what wonderful memories and events her future held, but the other part of her would hate to have spoiled the surprise.

Their wedding was going to be small, somewhat informal, attended by only a small group of their closest friends. It’s what Muffet felt most comfortable with—it was their special day, after all, and why would she want to share it with a huge crowd of people she barely knew? No, it was going to be much better this way she thought, they both thought. A small wedding held in their own mansion officiated by a friend. Not the most traditional, but not any less important for it.

And yet there were still so many details for Muffet to fuss over! She wanted everything to go smoothly, she still wanted to include as many traditional wedding things as they could, she wanted their guests to enjoy themselves, and most of all she wanted Nami to be happy with how it all went. Of course Muffet knew that Nami would be happy no matter what, but she didn’t see that as a reason to be careless.

The ceremony was set up to take place in the Great Room, with the reception in the ballroom just next door. An altar had been set up and adorned with spider silk curtains and flowers, lilies mainly as they were Nami’s favourite. Just enough chairs were set up for their guest list, which left perhaps an awkward amount of empty space in the room, but that empty space was then taken up by many spiderwebs filled with many, many spiders and one very bear-sized cupcake spider.

In attendance was Gaster, one of Muffet’s oldest and therefore best friends still remaining in the city and his significant other, Loghain. She’d also invited Rui because as far as Muffet was concerned, he was a part of her spider family, along with Kay! Kay was invited by both Muffet and Nami, though. They adored her way too much to not have her around for this.

Nami invited two of her best friends, Gin and Clint. Nami’s known them longer than Muffet’s known her, so their invitation didn’t surprise Muffet in the least and she was happy to have them in attendance. Tuyin’Asai was here as well, one of Nami’s ‘seabudz’ as Nami put it. Only for ninety minutes, though… shapeshifting limitations, or something like that.

They invited their mutual friend Crow as well, and of course Crow’s girlfriend Memo was here. Actually, Memo was their officiant! Memo was, in her own words, ‘somewhat close to a religious official, I guess, maybe?’ and so not a bad choice for an officiant, all things considered. Her offering to fill that role in the ceremony meant a lot to Muffet and was something that she would be sure to repay later whether the Jirachi wanted her to or not.

The sun had long since set by the time guests arrived…most of them. Memo and Crow arrived earlier than that, both to help set up and to be the ones to greet the rest. The latter fell more on Crow’s shoulders, something that Muffet and Nami had been assured by Memo that she’d practiced for. Kay had arrived early as well, though not by too much because Muffet didn’t want her traveling more than necessary during the day.

Muffet could hear the other guests arriving from the other room, left mostly alone for the time being with her anxieties. She wasn’t supposed to see Nami and likewise Nami was not supposed to see her, not until they were meant to walk down the aisle together. Though the tarantula she was with now (one of her oldest and most treasured spiders, a longtime family member) assured her that things were going fine, and the lovely Kay that was with her too told Muffet that she looked very pretty, Muffet still couldn’t help but fret, at least a little bit, and would probably continue to fret until she reached the altar.

There were some traditional wedding things that they couldn’t properly recreate in this city. There would be no parents walking them down the aisle. There were so few guests in attendance, there was little delineation between ordinary guests and bridesmaids/groomsmen. They didn’t have anyone to be a proper ringbearer, either. But they had a flower girl, and she was adorable.

—

Love is something that Kay will be the first to admit that she doesn’t completely understand. A lot of people have told her she’ll understand once she’s older, and she knows she loves Muffet and Nami, but it’s never been something she can wrap her head around. But more than anything, she knows weddings are important.

She fiddles with her hair clip—a mix of the lilies and spider lilies in her basket, trying it on both the right and the left. Which one would look better, she wonders? She’d seen part of the Great Room during the rehearsal, but what if everyone’s sitting in different places now? The best time to make this decision probably isn’t two seconds before heading down the aisle, but she wants everything to be perfect for Muffet and Nami’s big day! 

Kay’s taking her job as flower girl very seriously; after all, this is their wedding; the last thing she’d want to do is mess it up. She hasn’t stolen anything all day, either! (Though Muffet mentioned the silverware at the reception might be fair game, and Kay can’t help herself if that’s the case.)

Her ears perk up as she hears the music start, and she hastily decides to pin the clip on the left, grabbing for her basket. That’s her cue! She turns before the doors open, giving Muffet a thumbs-up as she moves into her spot.

The doors open in front of her, and Kay takes a deep breath, giving the brides one final smile as she walks down the aisle in front of them. It’s not a huge crowd—composed of Muffet and Nami’s closest friends, but she’s determined to do her best for all of them. She smiles at the few faces she recognizes, waving to Rui and Muffen in between tossing flower petals.

Each step is very deliberate, scattering the petals to form a pretty path for the brides to walk down. Toe, heel, toe heel… just the way Muffet showed her during practice. Occasionally she’ll pause to shoo a spider or two out from the aisle so they don’t get stepped on, but she keeps her eye on her goal—where Memo’s standing at the front. When she arrives, she thinks fast, dumping her remaining petals on the ground in the prettiest array she can manage. 

She exchanges a sheepish grin with Memo, giggling as she takes her place at the side of the hall. Muffet wouldn’t have asked her to do this job if she wasn’t allowed to have a little fun with it, right? However, once the music starts, and the doors to the Great Room creak open, Kay straightens up, gaze following everyone else’s as the brides start their walk down the aisle. They’re both so beautiful, Kay thinks, and they look so happy! 

Love isn’t always something Kay understands, but maybe sometimes it’s a helping hand (or six?), when you need a friend. Maybe it’s in the way someone helps you attach spider silk to your dress, or fusses over the lilies in your hair.

And maybe, it’s in the way Miss Muffet and Miss Nami look at each other as they stand side-by-side in their prettiest outfits. She may not completely understand it, but… when she looks at those two?

Kay thinks love might be pretty great after all.

(Big thanks to @spiderstaff for writing this section of the drabble! 💜)

—

Once the door closed behind Kay, Muffet became much more aware of how soon she would be doing the same. But before that was one more important thing, a moment shared only between her and the love of her life. Since they would be walking down the aisle together, the first time Muffet and Nami would see each other would be behind this door, out of view of the other guests, just before making their entrance.

Her SOUL had been practically beating out of her chest before she saw Nami, but when Muffet finally saw her she’d swear that it stopped.

Nami was gorgeous. Muffet had always known that, but it was more apparent now, dressed in an outfit as regal as she was. She was wearing a white waistcoat that followed the form of her lapel fins down her torso, with white detached sleeves hanging translucent pink veils. The headpiece she was wearing looked better than any crown Muffet could imagine on her, with the pink leafy stylings on the side accenting the rest of her outfit perfectly.

Muffet almost couldn’t keep herself from crying at the sight so beautiful and breathtaking, and how she did manage to keep her composure will be a mystery forever. Though they each had their own door to enter from, neither of them needed to speak to tell the other to meet in the middle first. Muffet opened with a quick kiss on Nami’s cheek, nothing too long or pressed. She wouldn’t want to leave a lipstick mark, evidence of how much she’d just bucked the tradition of saving the kiss for the altar. Rules be damned, no force in the world could’ve kept that kiss from her. Her SOUL glowed bright through her dress, evidence that her happiness was through the roof right now.

“You look more beautiful than I ever could have imagined, ma chérie,” Muffet said, lightly cupping one of Nami’s cheeks with two of her hands. “How did I ever get so lucky…?”

“Oh, hush,” Nami replied, in a voice Muffet could recognize as ‘trying not to happy-cry’ only because she was sure her voice sounded the same. “I’m the lucky one, here.”

The musical cue was their signal to go to their respective doors, and even though they both knew they would be hand in hand in just a few moments, it was still difficult for Muffet to pull herself away from her. Nami took her place in front of the door on the left and Muffet the right, with her head still turned to smile wide and bright at Nami right up until the moment they pushed open the doors.

Because there were two doors into the Great Room and neither in the center, the aisle was split, and so Muffet and Nami had to walk alone for a few slow paces before meeting in the center of the room where the aisle became one again. Every pair of eyes was on them, but Muffet, for once, didn’t mind that. As soon as she’d stepped into the room all of her worries, her anxieties, her fretting disappeared. There was no going back now, not that she’d ever want to, and that feeling of ‘this is it’ is what she’d needed to finally calm down.

Muffet linked each of her left hands with Nami’s right as soon as they got close enough, gently pulling the two of them close enough to press their shoulders together. Muffet could only hope that it wasn’t obvious to everyone else how misty-eyed she was beginning to feel as they approached the aisle. The light of her SOUL somehow managed to increase even though it was already rather bright; normally Muffet might feel self-conscious about that, but not right now.

This walk meant so much to Muffet, far more than she could ever put into words. She’s lived for many, many years now, but never did she think she’d have her day like this. Nor could she have imagined how perfect her spouse would be for her. She’s been with Nami for years now, and they’d been the best years of her life. From their first date to their first anniversary to the proposal, every mundane day or city-wide event in between, they’d been with each other. They’ve found each other in both worlds they’ve been taken to now, their love has lasted despite both of them spending time away from the city before. Nothing, not even the Stars above, could separate them.

If Muffet couldn’t call this fate, there was nothing else deserving of the word.

The two of them reached the altar and again Muffet was reluctant to want to make more space between them, but they had to leave at least some room between the two of them even as they held hand at the center of the altar, facing each other now with Memo at their one side and their friends at the other.

“Friends, family, and spiders,” Memo opened, “We’ve gathered here tonight to share in the moment the union of these dearly beloved, and be witness to an everlasting bond made ceremoniously official. Everyone here tonight has been invited because you hold a special role in Muffet and Nami’s lives, you are present to celebrate their marriage and witness their vows of love to one another. Will all of you gathered here do all in your power to love and support this couple now and in the times ahead? If so please respond, ‘we will.’”

Again Muffet found herself trying very hard to keep tears from flowing as she heard her friends, the people she considered family in their own right, repeat their affirmations after Memo.

“And Nami and Muffet, have you come here today with the intention to be joined in marriage? Do you pledge to choose respect, kindness, and compassion towards one another, to listen deeply to one another, and to speak truthfully to one another, today and always?” 

Memo, for how much she was worried about messing up, was reciting her words pretty well. She practiced. A lot.

“We do.” said in unison with wavering voices.

“Muffet and Nami, your true love is something that you both cherish, and today you dedicate the rest of your lives to giving one another happiness and support. Your marriage is based on your heartfelt and sincere acceptance of one another, as you are, in each moment. Today, in the presence of those you consider your friends and family, you pronounce your love for each other and make a pledge, a lifelong commitment to one another, and the words spoken here will support your marriage and your declarations of love.”

Nami’s vows came first, which had the side effect of being great for Muffet as it allowed her time to make sure her voice wouldn’t break as soon as she tried to speak aloud.

“In my old world I only really had one friend on the surface, we were two people at odds with… Well, at odds with a lot up there. We were the only two who really had each other’s backs and times were often hard, but when they were hardest I could always look at her and say ‘I believe in you’. It felt like I was talking to a dear friend, someone I loved who no matter what happened I knew would have my back as I had hers. Muffet, more than anyone else I’ve ever met I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I believe in you.

You are everything to me. The person who makes my heart beat the fastest, who makes me laugh the hardest and smile the widest. We met in one world and followed each other to another. They say fate moves in strange ways but I think it's acted quite clearly here.

You are my best friend. You are the love of my life. You are my partner across worlds and I’d cross countless more to stay with you. You are my muse and inspiration. You are the part of me I didn’t know I didn’t have. I love you, Muffet.”

Muffet was now more sure that she would be able to speak coherently, but she was no longer sure she could hold tears back. In fact, she was one hundred percent certain that tears were now streaming down her cheeks. She felt she could hardly be blamed for crying here, though. Her smile was still a mile wide, her fangs on full display as she felt the love behind every word Nami spoke.

“Nami, it was fate’s decision to bring you to me, but my decision to love you as I do. I’d spent centuries underground and could only ever dream of having a wedding of my own, but never did I believe I would be lucky enough, in that world or any other, to find someone I would want to plan the rest of my life with. Nami, lucky is too weak a word to properly describe how I feel with you.

I feel completed, like I’ve found a piece of my SOUL that I did not even know it was missing. You’ve helped me grow and learn to love, both you and myself, more than I thought would be possible for a monster like me. You’ve shown me time and time again that your love for me is without condition, and I can only hope that I’ve done a good enough job in returning that sentiment.

I vow to you that I will commit my life to you, whether we live it in this city or the next. I vow to you that my SOUL will never feel dimmed again, that I will always be able to smile and enjoy living so long as I may do it with you. You are the one for me, Nami, and I love you.”

Muffet could see that Memo was having a hard time not getting teary eyed too, but only because Memo was so close. She wondered briefly what the other guests were thinking, but she didn’t necessarily care. All she knew for certain right now was Nami’s love for her, and that’s all she needed. But Memo continued, because they had only just gotten started, really.

“Nami, do you take Muffet to be your cosmically fated wife?”

“I do.”

“Muffet, do you take Nami to be your cosmically fated wife?”

“I do.”

“Then may I have the rings, please?” the Jirachi said. Gin from Nami’s side handed Memo the ring he held, and Gaster from Muffet’s handed his held ring over as well. “These rings are not what hold your love for each other, but may they serve as reminders of your bond and your commitment to each other, to both you and others, to show the love between you two in a form other than words. Nami,” she said, handing Nami one of the wedding rings, “placing the ring on Muffet’s finger, repeat after me: With this ring, I give you my promise, to honour you, to be faithful to you, and to share my love and life with you, in all ways and all worlds, forever.”

Nami took the ring from Memo and took Muffet’s upper left hand with one of her own. Her touch was gentle, Muffet felt, caring, loving, and said so much in such a simple physical gesture.

“With this ring, I give you my promise, to honour you, to be faithful to you, and to share my love and life with you, in all ways and all worlds, forever.” The rest of the world might as well not have existed in that moment to Muffet as Nami repeated those words and slipped the ring onto her finger, which was made to mesh perfectly against the shape of her engagement ring that she wore. Every moment tonight was a memory she would cherish forever, but this specific instance would be held especially dear to her.

“And Muffet,” Memo continued, after giving just enough time to treasure that moment, “placing the ring on Nami’s finger, repeat after me: With this ring, I give you my promise, to honour you, to be faithful to you, and to share my love and life with you, in all ways and all worlds, forever.”

Muffet took a subtle and deep breath as she took the ring from Memo, trusting in herself that her hands would not shake too much as she took Nami’s hand in her own. “With this ring, I give you my promise, to honour you, to be faithful to you, and to share my love and life with you, in all ways and all worlds, forever.”

She brushed her thumb across the back of Nami’s fingers for a moment before sliding the ring onto her love’s finger, similarly formed to fit against the engagement ring Nami wore on the same finger. Her SOUL felt ready to escape from her chest as she looked back up to meet Nami’s eyes, all five of her own completely focused on her. Memo’s voice was there again, but it almost barely registered in Muffet’s mind.

“And now, after the exchanging of vows and the giving and receiving of the rings, by the power invested in me,” Memo said, lighting up her wish tags and streamers for added effect, “I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may now seal your bond, with a kiss.”

It couldn’t be said that either of the two of them moved first. Rather, they moved at one, closing the gap between them as they’ve patiently been waiting so long now to do. Not just waiting throughout this ceremony, but for the past many months, ever since the proposal when they both knew this time would come.

Their lips met as more happy tears fell. Muffet wrapped one pair of arms around Nami’s neck and the other two around Nami’s waist, while Nami’s arms went to Muffet’s shoulders. Muffet could feel Nami squeezed her and squeezed her in return, wishing that they could somehow be physically closer still than they already were. Muffet leaned a little more into the kiss, pushing Nami backwards so that with her grip around the Marai’s waist she could dip her and hold her at a slight downward angle.

The kiss lasted as long as it needed to, but still felt simultaneously not long enough and longer than a lifetime. The kisses that came immediately after, with Muffet seizing the opportunity to pepper Nami’s face in kisses as long as she was still dipping her, were each much shorter but no less full of love.

—

The reception may have only been for a small number of people, but considering this is Muffet we’re talking about, of course she filled the room with what was probably way too much food and drink. There were loads of freshly baked pastries and desserts, and more on demand if anyone wanted to ask her for some, and plenty of drink choices both alcoholic and not.

Muffet had a few glasses of cider herself and far too many cupcakes, but really she spent a lot of the reception talking to her different friends, and thanking them for coming. She spent some time with Rui, since she was worried he might feel awkward or out of place, but him and Muffen were getting along fantastically. She also spoke to Kay, if you count ‘picking her up in a tight spinning hug and telling her she did so good’ as speaking.

Muffet also had her dance with Nami, something you could really say she’s spent years practicing for since it was never her strong suit before meeting the Marai. But she was proud of how well she danced with Nami and how intimate a dance that was so simple and usual before felt simply because it was repeated on this night.

Muffet also made a quick trip back into the Great Room to grab a bouquet she’d attached to the altar. It wasn’t held during the ceremony nor thrown immediately afterwards, since they’d opted not to fuss about that particular tradition, but that didn’t mean Muffet didn’t have a plan for it.

With the bouquet in hand (and another cupcake in another, as she passed by the snack table again) she cornered Gaster, a smile so innocent set on her face.

“Deary, it really does mean so much to me that you and Loghain joined us tonight. I would’ve been distraught without you here, not in the least because it would mean I’d be unable to give you this.”

She held the bouquet of flowers out to Gaster, that innocent smile replaced now with a more fangy smirk.

“I told myself, why throw it when I can just give it to you directly, hm? Don’t keep me waiting too long, Gaster dear~” She finished with a triple wink before leaving him with the bouquet, off to find her wife.