hi phoenix I am suing you for social damages because it's your fault I binged all of karaoke iko and famiresu iko this past week and am now a puddle of goo!! Oh my god!!! I had NO IDEA it was going to be so sad, they destroy me. I just finished the last chapter and am sitting here shell shocked with my mouth hanging open, it's like all my insides have been scooped out with a melon baller. I guess I knew how it was going to end because i read shin splints but god it still didn't prepare me for this emptiness. I somehow convinced myself it would be hopeful and now im boo boo the fool!! I am SO CURIOUS for your interpretations of it and if you think there's ANY CHANCE kyouji and satomi could be together and if so, if there's any chance it could actually be fulfilling for my sweet summer child satomi or if he's doomed to misery forever???
OH NOOO I am so sorry friend! I was there a few months ago and it's a sickening place to be, I get it. I couldn't eat or sleep it was like a gut deep grief.
HOWEVER. I will say. I initially read the last chapter by using google translate and I really missed the subtlety of it and when I read the more "official" (still fan) translation I actually realized it WAS much more hopeful and less sad than I thought so I HAVE come around to thinking about it an en entirely different way.
To answer your question--yes! I DO think they could have a future together. I think Wayama is even suggesting it textually. I don't know if that's "happier" or if that would fulfill Satomi, though, because though a relationship wit Kyouji is absolutely what he wants, it is not better for him or what he needs. The healthiest option for Satomi would be to never see Kyouji again and eventually get over him and heal from this weird experience and maybe fall in love with someone else. (Funnily enough, Kyouji KNOWS THIS deep down but is too selfish and guilty and messed up to actually walk out of his life, and he's prolonging Satomi's feelings by remaining in such close proximity. Not because he's evil but because he's stunted and genuinely doesn't understand).
They are both so stubborn and so unwilling to let eachother go, I think the most realistic and likely outcome in the future is that they will end up together in an extremely messy relationship where theyre pasisonately in love but so DIFFERENT and from such different generations and walks of life they miscommunicate all the time and it's never enough to override the foundation of their relationship (Kyouji being an inappropriate adult who flirted so hard with a fourteen year old he scrambled his brains forever).
But honestly...that IS hopeful. People fall in love all the time and make it work even if they are bad together in some ways. No one is perfect together. Relationships take work and compromise.
Right now, Satomi is just too young to fathom Kyouji's life outside him, so it can't work until he grows up a little.
You know me, I am a freak. I happily write 1439 fic. But my headcanon is that Kyouji never actually touched Satomi then and never crossed that line (while crossing every other line without even totally realizing it), and NOW understands the implications of what he did and is genuinely trying to be a good adult now. He believes there is no future for them because he believes Satomi will grow out of him and come to his senses and stop wanting him like that when he gets older. He knows he's bad for Satomi and doesn't want to put him in danger or sully his life. But he also knows leaving entirely would hurt Satomi and he doesn't want to hurt him (or let him go because he thinks their days of spending time together are numbered and he wants to keep having these sweet little dates and breaks from his life where this sweet, kind, naive eighteen year old thinks he can be saved)!
There's no pretense, really. He knows Satomi loves him and wants him, Satomi fucking TOLD him! I also believe he loves and wants Satomi back but is aware of the power dynamic and again, thinks it would be irresponsible to actually act on it when Satomi (in his mind) has the potential to develop normally.
But. Just because he didn't touch him doesn't mean he didn't fuck him up. He kept the blood from his face, but he still allowed him to witness violence. He brought him into a den of yakuza and exposed him to their rage even if he also protected him. He didn't smoke in front of him but he compared him to women he fucked. Like, he took Satomi's voice: this is a very clear metaphor for him stealing his innocence. The fact he didn't ACTUALLY lay hands on him sexually didn't save Satomi from being forever changed and altered and made different.
Famiresu is a story about how the decisions they made three years ago in Osaka are indellible and unalterable, yes, but that does not determine their futures forever. Like--They are on their course. The tattoo of Satomi's name is permanent, he cannot erase it. That stain on the cherub paintings at the restaurant cannot be smudged out. Kyouji cannot leave the yakuza anymore than he can undo the act of catalyzing Satomi's painful coming of age three years ago. What's done is done. BUT!! When Satomi finally breaks down and LAUGHS after the coin bag splits and he loses all his carefully earned money, he's ACCEPTING that. It's a huge weight lifted, a realization that yeah, he can't undo that summer he can't fall out of love he can't wait for Kyouji he can't save him but he still loves him! He can still go out to eat with him! His arc is one of acceptance.
Now the ball is in Kyouji's court--he is also having to accept that he did this. He made this kid fall for him. This is his mess. He's also witnessed the boss's son and the boss reconcile on some degree, he's starting to realize that maybe HE, TOO, can have a life outside the yakuza, and maybe Satomi can be that life since Satomi NOW recognizes that's not something that can be changed.
In short: they're both growing up and learning to reconcile the consequences of their actions cannot be changed, BUT, that those consequences are not terminal. I actually think in a few years they could fall pretty naturally into a (messy, imperfect,) relationship.
