The designs belong to @sebbyisland ! I haven’t had this much fun drawing something in a while (and also I couldn’t draw cuz of busy), so ty for the inspiration
Apparently drawing muppets is like super fun?? So of course I had to make Hikaru and Karashi
literally the only reason they don’t let Akane spend alone time with Hikaru is because there is no way for them to interact that isn't sexually charged. Hikaru’s much more bold and direct about her feelings than all of the other rivals and specifically towards a girl who gives as good as she gets.
anyways something like textual analysis as to how and why she still doesn’t get to meet up with Akane not even once below lmao
she has not been in a room alone with akane ever since the Changing Time arc. not only that but as much as i love hikaru she is not actually all that directly involved in akane's journey in comparison to the rest of her rivals, at least so far. why do you think that is. no but really lets talk about it. (this is mostly just me frothing at the mouth)
how akane interacts with her other rivals:
akane interacts 1on1 with karashi over multiple arcs. they would even have idle chat on the way home after zenza training. they are rakugo siblings who annoy each other.
even when she's not interacting with Karashi directly, Karashi has this whole character arc about being the successor of the Sanmeitei school. The fact Sanmeitei is to Shiguma what Karashi is to Akane is crazy stuff. This basically ties them together forever.
she goes on a shopping date with kaisei she goes touring Fukuoka with rokuro. they both interact with her a lot 1on1 while she is a zenza. we don't need to rehash why these guys are important to the plot.
she watches kaichi as he's filming and gets lunch with him. kaichi is not even all that important to the plot but the fact she gets more alone time with KAICHI and not one of her PRIMARY RIVALS is crazy work.
meanwhile. hikaru always wants to see akane but JUST misses her unless it's a competition. she's jealous of karashi spending time with her and frustrated with ikken not telling her why/where akane left for 3 years and also akane going radio silence. and then to top it all off, AKANE HERSELF GOES TO FUKOUKA. WHERE HIKARU IS FROM HER LITERAL HOME TOWN????? BUT OFC IT'S BAD TIMING THEY CAN'T GO TOGETHER. HELLO. Like why is it missed opportunity after missed opportunity with this girl???
I need to remind yall the second Hikaru had alone time with Akane she caressed her face and leaned into her personal space unprompted. Even this was due to Hikaru squeezing in time to talk with Akane right before her performance by asking her to walk up to the wings with her. Hikaru asks her to pay attention from the wings, which Akane STILL DOES THREE YEARS LATER WHEN THEY ARE COMPETING AS FUTATSUME. It's not like all of this has meant nothing to Akane--she clearly cares too!
And on that note. WHy is it every time Hikaru performs, she references Akane in someway? As a rookie it was Shibahama, what got Shinta expelled + is necessary for Akane to master Shiguma's Art. THen as a Zenza it was the Hanabi Revenge where they go out of their way to make a direct comparison to Akane, that the "sakura is in bloom" and highlighting exactly how Akane's name is spelled in the middle of Hikaru's chapter just in case the audience doesn't realize the narrative relevance. Then there's even when Akane is training under Urara, and she sees Hikaru succeed skill-wise with "feminine charm" where she is directly struggling, which Urara comments on it. THEN flash-forward Okiku's plates they make DIRECT EYE CONTACT at the line "Okiku is a woman with no equal" like this wasnt the most lesbian thing she could have done.
it's basically canon that everything hikaru does in relation to rakugo is about akane. when Ikken says “wow you love being competitive” what he means is “wow you love Akane” because let’s be fr Akane is the main competitor. she literally says this out loud to her face “I became a rakugoka to beat you, akane” and even akane, local rakugo crazy girl, is like "woah I had no idea you felt that way." like she can't even imagine someone doing rakugo for such a personal reason as if she did not literally get into rakugo to avenge her dad lmao.
where was i. it has to be on purpose. why is it a running gag hikaru can't spend time with akane????? what kind of joke is this??? like truly taking off my shipping goggles for a minute. what is the point of all this build up. if even KARASHI gets to be tangentially involved in this Shiguma's Art nonsense then what is Hikaru, a fellow student in the Arakawa school, supposed to be on about? She literally doesn't even care about rakugo as an art that much she's more about the thrill of the game! She’s in a very unique position and I think it’s all set up for a big role in the narrative
Is it crazy to assume Hikaru is going to reenter Akane's life and it's going to get super personal. Is Akane going to crash out and Hikaru drag her out of it??? If and when Akane does crash out, isn’t it actually Hikaru who is the best suited to address it since she STARTED rakugo due to losing faith in herself??????? Kaisei is too close to the problem and Rokuro is too distant from the problem surely surely out of all the main rivals it has to be Hikaru???? Like cmon Karashi already did his job by calling out Akane’s performance which gave her the inspiration to improve. That’s what he does he insults her in a way that she interprets as life advice so when Akane is like “yeah Karashi’s a good friend” everyone else is like what are you talking about. But Hikaru??? HIKARU????? SHE NEEDS HER MOMENT. PLEASE. They drive me crazy, you see.
The rival obsessed with the protagonist is my favorite trope… like girl this is gay… you’re literally in love with her.
Akane and Hikaru have completely taken over my brain!! I’ve got the yuri brain worms. They really are so perfect though; Age-gap lesbians, where one is completely obsessed with the other, and they are shounen manga rivals. There literally could be nothing better.
Theres no heterosexual explanation for any of this 😭💕
