So, maybe I just forgot a plot point or something, but I'm trying to remember why on Earth Seishiro would agree to look after Syaoran? I mean, I would imagine it doesn't leave much time to do important things like stalking teenagers and spending quality time on vacations with your brother?
IT’S BEEN THREE MONTHS SINCE YOU SENT IT IN AND.... well, it’s not the Longest ive ever gone btwn receiving & answering an ask. but now....
in outo when we learn abt syaoran being taught to fight by seishiro, syaoran gets beat up because he’s got a book some thugs want but he’s taking to his dad. it’s got info on vampires in it, which is why seishiro is interested in the fight/syaoran/the book. he (like kurogane) can tell syaoran’s blind in one eye, like him, and while chatting he & syaoran agree to a trade: syaoran can’t fight but he can read the book; seishiro can’t read that language but he can fight one-eyed.
i get the impression his training was not a very... lengthy amount of time? syaoran wasn’t like super missing from fujitaka at that point, and he only translated the relevant section for seishiro, so i think it was like ‘here’s some simple pointers, try this thing out, okay good.’ equivalent exchange had a lot to do with it - im sure seishiro got a kick out of striking a deal with a fair price. but seishiro in trc actually admits to like, having emotions (dogged pursuit of subaru) and caring about people’s perception of him (twc, the priest thing) which sets him p far apart from his original incarnation in practice, though i dont think he’s inconsistent with his tbx self at all. seishiro has never in any universe been intentionally cruel in a traditional sense - what is most terrifying i think is that he is equally capable of being kind as cruel but the real deciding factor in any given situation is convenience and consequence. the absence of moral judgement allows him to be kind AND cruel, not solely villainous. and that makes his villainry that the more awful, in contrast to the empty kindness he shows himself to be capable of.
i guess the point i’m getting at is trc seishiro is way more of a chaotic neutral type, super not above destroying an entire theme park and the people in it in pursuit of his goal but also not above helping out another one-eyed kid if it means he gets vampire lore out of it. everything’s a means to an end with him, and ritual & obligation have always held significance to him functionally if not emotionally.