What what what WHAT CAN YOU PLS SUMMARISE WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THE KNIGHTS/CRAZYB EVENT WHATS GOING ON???
SURE ANON!! SIT DOWN, THIS IS A LITTLE LONG. BUCKLE UP!!
This post is just a summary of the development of suoukawa family situation, really. I no longer care about anyone else.
Also, a disclaimer that I rely on livetweets and translations because I can only read hiragana and some basic kanji. I can't confirm if anything actually happened because i can't read. Also I haven't found livetweets of the last few chapters, so.
The prologue is a flashback to babey tsukasa and kohaku, at the funeral of tsukasa's grandfather (then the head of the suou clan). You can read a translation here. A highlight is kohaku saying something like "i came here to laugh at the old man's death. he died getting bit by his dog, didn't he, that's so funny". just gnarly kid things to say, y'know.
There's also these chapters that take place about a month after the granddad died. Kohaku does Not talk like a 6 year old... he says shit like 'nice to see you still have child-like innocence' and 'in that case you should discard the oukawa', jeez kid. Tsukasa also Hereby Declares that Kohaku will be his first friend. Livetweets here if you want more details like Tsukasa killing ants, as kids do.
Back in the present, Kohaku is off in Osaka helping Madara (read Secret Service). since idols aren't allowed to leave their areas, he got the middle of his older sisters to disguise as him. her specialty is in disguises. She's a very cool person. i love her. Please check out the livetweet for this section where she hangs out with the rest of Crazy:B here, i can't do it justice.
Anyway Knights (specifically tsukasa) approaches crazy:b to team up. tsukasa came up with a bunch of reasons but everyone knows that it's really because he's worried about kohaku and by extension his unit.
Stuff happens. i’m skipping to the very end. turns out rinne had been plotting the whole time to get the upper hand on knights. tsukasa's secret order is that knights can't duel. but if you turn down a request for a duel, you get fined. so rinne just kept requesting duels from knights and they kept getting fined. and the amount of money you have is linked to your score or something, so. :')
(Rinne's secret order was that crazy:b needed to have more money than knights or the oukawa clan would get wiped out. i have no idea what gatekeeper was on when he came up with this but basically please don't get mad at rinne. yes i am a rinne defender. i haven't read the main story don't spoil me if he's an asshole there.)
Tsukasa is very hurt and betrayed by this, although kohaku had been kept in the dark about rinne's plans.
Tsukasa is so down in the dumps for leading Knights into this that he can't dance and go on stage. He goes back to the ryokan while rest of Knights have gone to perform. Kohaku enters the room. Tsukasa talks about some childhood memories so they start talking about it together. When Kohaku starts saying "Oukawa Kohaku" in third person it becomes apparent to the reader that it's really his sister.
AND THIS IS WHERE THE REAL DOOZY STARTS. IN THE EPILOGUE. Livetweets here if you wanna check it out yourself. I recommend you do.
Kohaku's sister starts talking about the Oukawa's circumstances and basically:
- Tsukasa's grandpa was superstitious or something. He treated the Oukawas as dirty contaminants and abandoned them.
- All the Oukawa children had always been girls. Kohaku's birth would be taken as a bad omen since he's a boy, so they hid him away. This is why Kohaku was under zashikirou. [Does Kohaku knows this is why he'd been locked away for so long? Who knows! :) ]
- The Oukawas really, really love Kohaku. Kohaku's sister uses "suekko" (youngest child) here and that's the same term that Knights uses for Suou Tsukasa, the apple of their eye, their guiding light, so like brb going to cry a little at the parallel here!!
- An Oukawa snapped one day and killed Grandpa Suou. This explains why she came to laugh at grandpa suou dying by being "bitten by one of his dogs" at the prologue. He really got bit.
- Remember the prologue? Kohaku and Tsukasa's first meeting? The "Kohaku" that Tsukasa met on the day of his grandpa's funeral was her. She wanted to believe that Tsukasa would be different from his grandpa.
- She explains that she learned the art of disguise in her childhood specifically so that she could protect her lil' bro. (read: take his place if he had to die)
- When the adults were all busy, she swapped places with Kohaku in zashikirou so that he could meet Tsukasa.
- She says that the greatest gift that she had given Kohaku, as his sister, was a friend.
- Remembering her meeting with Tsukasa always makes her laugh and feel happy. (and she!! gave it away!!!!)
Anyway she came to say that she hoped Tsukasa would continue to cherish Kohaku even after the events that happened. imo this is kind of. emotional blackmailing and guilt-tripping because she's basically just talking about how his grandpa wronged them and especially Kohaku. You could even take this entire talk as a roundabout way to threaten Tsukasa because hey look at how far the Oukawas are willing to go for Kohaku or for some basic respect :) your grandpa died y'know :)
But then there's this devastating line after Tsukasa leaves the room.
If you can read romaji, it's "[???], 「Tsukasa-kun」. 「Atashi」 ni tottemo, umarete hajimete no, daisuki na tomodachi". 'Tsukasa-kun' is what she called Tsukasa in the prologue. 'Atashi' is a feminine personal pronoun. Yes she uses 'daisuki'. No this term is not necessarily romantic.
I think a rough TL would be "[Some encouragement line], Tsukasa-kun. My very first, and beloved friend" and like! i just!
She talks about her love and devotion for Kohaku, but Tsukasa clearly means a lot to her as well! She remembers Tsukasa a cute and innocent kid! She cherishes her memories of the few times they hung out when she was disguised as Kohaku! And she just! Happily gives that spot over to Kohaku???? Never tried to befriend Tsukasa as herself?????? Always willing to sacrifice herself for her beloved baby bro????????????
slams fists on table, crying,
this talk is so laced with BOTH threats and affection for Kohaku AND Tsukasa. I can't do this.
I'm not even sure if the Kohaku in the 2nd flashback (the Monologue chapters, 1 month after grandpa's funeral) is Kohaku or his sister. 'Kohaku' says shit like "must be tough to be a boy", "nice to see you still have childlike innocence", "even demons have feelings". They all sound like things Kohaku's sister would say, and she did repeat the last 2 in the epilogue.
but when Tsukasa referenced their previous meeting, 'Kohaku' got confused. It's also been a month since grandpa's death so maybe it would be safe for Kohaku to come out. And Kohaku's sister said that she only disguised as Kohaku in their first few meetings. Was this meeting one of them? Who knows! Were all the baby Kohaku's really his sister??? Did we get a Kohaku Sister CG instead???? Who knows! ! ! !!!!
tldr; you thought it was a tsukasa-kohaku event, but no it was a tsukasa-kohaku's sister event.
i am devastated. i should have known better than to think that she would just a funny convenient plot device to explain Kohaku's absence. of course she would be embroiled in suoukawa drama and have her own dash of angst. I am disappointed that there's less baby Kohaku than I expected. I am anguished by his sister's story and the depth of her feelings and sacrifice. I am in joy because of the suoukawa lore. I am heartened that Kohaku is so loved by his family. I am in emotional turmoil because of his sister.
i want to see her in other stories so we can get more development (and maybe her name--) but knowing enstars it'll mean that either A. she'll suffer more or B. turns out she was manipulating the story the entire time or C. all of the above.
anyway. i am in pain. how 'bout you
