🎶✨When you get this, put 5 songs you actually listen to, then publish. Send this ask to 10 of your followers/mutuals (that is, if you fancy; there's no pressure to do so really)✨🎶
hiii aardvark ^^ long time no see
while i love sharing music, i'm gonna limit it to just one artist here.
linked below is Isekaijoucho's first album, creation. i listen to all of them regularly. if you have the time, i recommend her very much.
My curiosity's been piqued. Who do you think killed Tojiko?
Long answer because I kind of thought about it too much.
I'm absolutely convinced it was not Futo. Which, I guess might throw people off because, Symposium of Post-Mysticism and Strange Creators of Outer World more or less confirms this. But what makes it hard for me is to take it at face value,
Strange Creators of Outer World specifically goes out of its way to say that Futo’s entire backstory is that she’s Miko’s test subject:
But if you look at Tojiko’s profile from the same source, it’s stated that Tojiko went to sleep at the same time as Futo, which would make the idea that Futo was the test subject rendered a bit pointless, don’t you think? It also then goes out of its way to mention Futo also sabotaged Tojiko’s jar on top of that:
Even if you take Symposium of Post-Mysticism at face value, Grimoire of Usami, Tojiko herself, establishes she still has a centuries old grudge:
There’s a lot of discrepancies if you try to take Futo as Tojiko’s killer at face value, so I often write it off, even though that is basically canon. Though across the TD profiles, SoPM Profiles, and SCoOW I do think it’s interesting that you only know Futo goes to sleep first and then Miko. There’s no mention when Tojiko transferred her soul to the unfired jar in the timeline.
From history, I kind of have more reason to believe Miko might have killed Tojiko. Most of this is stemming from what I’ve managed to gather but the circumstances for the Shoutoku Taishi and Tojiko no Iratsume’s marriage weren’t....great...
“ it was less that Shoutoku Taishi was elected by the Soga, and more that they allowed him to rule.“
Which seems to align with what I’ve seen others talk about, how Umako and Iruka who tend to kill off relatives of Shoutoku Taishi.
Also if the name Iruka sounds familiar, it’s the person she’s referencing in her Overdrive Card in Ten Desires/Spell Card in Grimoire of Usami:
Though for Touhou fanworks, I don’t think I ever see the Isshi Incident and what the ramifications might be given:
Prince Yamashiro is the eldest son of Shoutoku Taishi and Tojiko no Iratsume
Iruka went on a killing spree at Yamashiro’s decedents and Yamashiro would have been next if he did not kill himself first.
It’s a popular interpretation to say Miko and Tojiko are canonically married while never exploring the above two statements. Hell, you can argue it looks worse because Tojiko seems to lament over her (theoretical) nephew’s death over her own son.
Side note: I always thought in context of Gimoire of Usami that card being featured, and then Miko specifically following suit with what is essentially the same spell card just two different variations of it to be interesting. The death of Soga no Iruka basically marked the fall of the Soga clan and Miko feeling the need to show off her greatest political accomplishment and stating it twice makes this sequence rather amusing to me. Something to the effect of:
Tojiko: I’m still mad about my clan’s downfall, and I blame your son for this.
Miko: Yeah, but your clan propped me up to be leader and here’s my biggest accomplishment, the thirteen articles, oh did I mentioned my greatest accomplishment is the thirteen articles? You should really look into them, they’re the best.
Though I do talk a lot about the Isshi Incident in context to Soga no Iruka, technically the spell card only references to what happened after he was killed, but I do think knowing the context helps explain why he was killed (but how much that’s actually canon to the Touhou universe remains to be seen).
An idea that I’ve entertained is that the circumstances around Tojiko’s death is somewhat similar to Soga no Iruka, in that she was killed for something she technically didn’t do. I’ve always liked to play with the idea that Futo is “guilty” but in the survivor’s guilt sort of a sense, that she wasn’t physically present to stop Tojiko’s death from happening, rather than her actively killing her.
I’ve only ever seen one other doujinshi (that’s translated into English) that entertains the idea of Miko killing Tojiko, and it’s basically foresight.
tl;dr I always low-key thought Miko did it based on historical context, but there’s no real evidence to confirm or deny this.
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✨ When the sky is clear at night and I can see ALL the stars
✨ When I'm on the bus looking out the window while listening to epic orchestral music
