“It ain’t rock n’ roll, but…it’s good music.”
Back at it again with more Limbo stuff, Masterlist here!
Special thanks to @masterhandss for this commission! Everyone go check her out, her artwork is amazing!
Here is how Suzu Kuromori meets Valkyrie for the first time.
In Crosstalk, Chizuru had seen Trickstar face off against Knights in the DDD. She encounters Valkyrie first, before reuniting with Anzu.
In Limbo though, despite the Troublemakers having broken up, Chizuru had taken a chance. She reached out to Suzu and asked if she wanted to accompany them to the performance. She tells her “I watch other plays for reference, so maaaybe you can use this as reference for you? It’s not a band, but it’ll do in a pinch, I guess!”
Suzu initially thought about rejecting her. But in this AU, she didn’t. She agreed to come along, even though all she could think of was how much more fun she’d be having if Anzu was able to witness this with them. But... she needed a distraction. Just for one night.
But when when they both saw Anzu onstage, singing and dancing with Trickstar…Suzu got half her wish. Anzu was witnessing this...just not with them.
Anzu was laughing, crying, showcasing her “true face”, enjoying a new life, a new story…without her.
Chizuru, although sad at the sight, was glad that Anzu was enjoying her youth at full speed. But right next to her, Suzu wanted to be happy for Anzu...but couldn’t.
Still unable to accept reality, with a hurried “I was never here, okay?!” to Chizuru, she leaves. Deaf to the calls behind her back, Suzu turned and fled, and wandered outside the auditorium, thoughts and heart racing, tears welled up in her eyes but trying desperately not to cry while still in Yumenosaki, hating herself for not having the same reaction as Chizuru.
“The hell’s wrong with me?! Why can’t I just be happy for her?!”
You transferred without saying anything to anyone. If I hadn't come, I wouldn't have known you were here
Why didn't you tell me you were so close
Did I mean so little to you for you to move on so quickly, and like this-
…
She left the live early, so she meets Mika earlier than Chizuru did in Crosstalk.
At one point, looking up, she saw a boy behind one of the stalls, swaying dangerously, about to fall. Tears momentarily forgotten, she rushes forward and catches him before he faints over the stall. Balancing his arm over her shoulders, she shuffles him to a quieter spot around the corner and sets him down gently. While she’s looking around to see who can help, Shu shows up.
Here are some differences between Crosstalk and Limbo in this scene:
In Crosstalk, Shu glares at Chizuru while Chizuru smiles back. Here, Shu glares at Suzu, but Suzu simply stares at him, and the haunted look in her eye causes Shu to give the slightest of starts. Needless to say, Suzu is much more serious and kind of cold when compared to Chizuru's conversation with Shu in Crosstalk.
In Crosstalk, Mademoiselle explained Mika’s anemia and his weak constitution from having overworked himself with a lack of nutrition. Here, she says the same thing, but she sounds more worried than in canon, and then adds:
“...and yet, it seems Mika-chan isn’t the only one who looks worse for wear. Is everything alright, dear?”
It’s true that she also had a lack of nutrition. Truth be told she doesn’t have much of an appetite these days
When Shu calls Trickstar vulgar, Suzu actually silently agrees here. It's here that she realizes that she can't help but sort of hate Trickstar for taking Anzu away from her. But she asks if Shu believes that his own unit makes better music. Unlike Chizuru, Suzu actually gets the name of the unit he and the boy are a part of: Valkyrie. She also gets Shu's and Mika's names.
When Mika wakes up, Suzu does end up staring at his eyes, just like Chizuru did. But then, very slowly, she pulls aside her bangs, revealing her own eyes to him, and they stare at each other. Mika gets excited, and Shu's also surprised, but meanwhile, while Suzu is feeling the excitement of meeting someone else like herself for the first time, the grief over everything else is stronger at that moment, so it's an odd tangle of emotions. Still, it's enough for her to forget the tears in her eyes, and for them to converse and bond for longer than Chizuru did in Crosstalk.
(Also helped by the fact that Anzu does not find Suzu here - she only finds Chizuru, who despite her worry does what Suzu asks and does not mention Suzu to her. Anzu does not figure out that Suzu was there too until much later.)
When Suzu finally starts leaving for home, she allows the grief to overcome her and starts sobbing before she reaches it. One she arrives, she recalls the name of that unit those two belonged to, and searches them up and listens to one of their songs.
To her surprise, the song touches her heart, not unlike rock n’ roll did when she listened to it for the first time, and it allows her to calm down a bit. She thinks that Shu was right, and she likes Valkyrie's music much better than Trickstar's. (Something that'll remain true even after she gets to be on good terms with Trickstar)
The tears continue to fall, albiet slowly, and silently, and the feeling of excitement comes back a tiny bit amidst all the grief. But there's one thought she can't help but think...
There's three people singing here. Why did Osh- Itsuki-san say that there were only two of them?
And so, while Anzu becomes the eye of the storm at Yumenosaki and forms a special bond with the idol group known as Trickstar…
At the same time, in the shadows casted by Anzu, her former best friend makes a connection with an idol group of her own.
