Idk about ya’ll but I think about this pic like a lot.
It’s not the usual confident or fierce or passionate look Claudine always puts on whenever she’s battling a revue or performing. Idk what made this revue in particular special, but I just can’t rub off that awful feeling of dread when I look at how un-Claudine it is.
It’s not this:
Or this:
Or this either:
It’s none of those brave and strong fronts she usually puts on to show that she’s not, even for a moment, gonna back away from any challenge.It’s not even the usual look of annoyance whenever she’s facing Maya. But rather, she just press her lips to a thin line, and for half a second, I saw a flash of blankness in her eyes where her the fire in them dimmed a little.
It’s like, the moment she realized she’s battling against Maya for what’s probably her first audition, there’s just this flicker of acceptance in her face that didn’t quite sit well with me. It’s like she knew, as she watched Maya a couple meters away from her, a proud smile on her face and her sword drawn, she just knew she’s already going to lose this battle. And it made me wonder…
We already know how Claudine acknowledges Maya is the Top Star right? But despite that, she’s not going to stop until she beats her, right?
But this moment, that look of her readying herself before meeting her fate head-on, it made me wonder just how many times has Claudine told herself that one day, she’ll finally be able to best Maya? How many times has Claudine reassure herself once she realized Maya is once again the star of the show, that she’d finally be able to get a taste of being at the top?
It’s not like she doesn’t deserve it, Claudine works herself to the bone if it meant getting a little bit closer to Maya’s level of excellence, but what if there are times where she feels like giving up? Maya wins, every single time, and how much more would it take before Claudine just accepts that maybe she’d forever be second place and nothing else? Before EP 10, KuroMaya barely had any genuine moments aside from trying to one-up each other, so what if Claudine had those times of doubt that maybe she just shouldn’t care? Maybe there isn’t a place for her at all? Maybe Maya wouldn’t even care if she stopped?
Because that one look on her face, that face that seems like it’s already dreading what’s to come, that brief look of vulnerability before slipping on a confident bravado again, made me wonder if Claudine would actually keep on chasing after Maya if Maya never looked back?
It’s just what Aiba-san said, that acting as Kuro who had these feelings for Maya, to know that Maya is actually looking back at her, it must have been a shock.
I’m not saying that Claudine’s gonna give up easily, no she definitely wouldn’t, but Kuro’s not stupid to not know Maya is just that fucking good.
So imagine a scenario, where Maya never acknowledged Claudine’s efforts, where Maya never looked back at her, where Maya never said what she said in EP 10.
How long do you think is it gonna take, before that face of acceptance becomes a permanent and Claudine finally gives up?
