Ok I didn't really know how to title this but it's just going to be me rambling about how & why the members of QN bounce off each other so well, by talking about all 6 pairings one by one (with some personal interpretations sprinkled in!!)
Reiji & Ranmaru:
First of all, for a group that was forced together pretty suddenly, it does seem like they developed the fastest friendship within the group. Early on in AS, they feel naturally close without it being said outright. There’s proof that they hang out really often actually, I remember playing AS and during some QN meetings one of them would randomly drop that they were together the previous night for drinks or something, lmao
Obviously there’s the fact that Ranmaru loves food, especially meat, and Reiji’s family owns a bento store that makes delicious karaage (not sponsored), which Ranmaru enjoys a lot. So Reiji uses Ranmaru as a taste tester for new recipes that HE suggested to his family himself, that’s actually so cute??
On top of that, Reiji is aware of Ranmaru’s financial problems so it’s implied that he also does this to help him out in general, to make sure he’s not hungry while not making him feel indebted or anything (at least that’s how I saw it, especially in one of the debut drama tracks)
I think what makes mairasu and derella the “OG pairings” is pretty clear, Reiji and Ranmaru are just very normal compared to the other two haha… It’s easy to see why they’d appreciate each other’s companionship, especially around the beginnings of QN as a group (the uncertainty + the other two members being 1. a guy who is an asshole towards Ranmaru and 2. basically a ghost of Reiji’s past that fills him with guilt)
Now I just want to share this really sweet scene from music 2 where Reiji is hanging out at Ranmaru’s apartment, it’s short but I’d say it shows their dynamic really well?
(disclaimer, both translations in this post were done on a whim in the middle of the night, it’s mostly approximate and I’m not certain about every sentence)
So yeah, even if he’ll deny it, Ranmaru IS a caring person. He just lets his actions speak more than words, and Reiji doesn’t need words anyway since he’s really good at reading people and appreciating Ranmaru for who he is beneath the bluntness and tsundere stuff. Plus, Reiji has problems of his own that he always hides, but this scene among others proves that Ranmaru would worry about him if things got too bad.
Ai & Camus
These two are underrated af as a duo I swear. Let me explain
What's crazy to me is how similar their character arcs are in Debut!! even though they barely ever interact in that game
They both start out very lonely without knowing it, because they haven't known warmth or ✨the power of friendship✨, and with their overly rational little heads they see bonds with other people as inconveniences (see my camus rambling post)
But their character development in Debut is about them accidentally growing attached to their kouhai, and then having an existential crisis about their own free will (Camus as the queen's servant and Ai as a slave to his programming)
They also are both data obsessed and take notes on the people around them. In Ranmaru’s AS route, Camus gives you a big file on Ranmaru’s past out of nowhere, and in Ranmaru’s ASAS route, Ai gives you his data on Ranmaru lmao
They got along since the beginning of QN because of their similar "rational" mentality, and then developed a friendship unknowingly (it’s the funniest thing in the world)
For an interaction that is literally just “Hey, wanna hang out on Sunday?”, they have to go on and on for over 2 minutes about how it would be statistically beneficial for both of them if they spent more time together, in the context of their work, of course (it’s just for work!!). Behold, the most awkward conversation ever:
At this stage they won't even admit that they simply like each other’s company, but I think they can after years of being in the same group (in fact they have some very sweet lines about each other in LE)
Some other crumbs that I find cool:
Ai seems to really care about Camus’s sugar problem, he frequently pesters Camus about his health
Camus is the only one besides Syo, Natsuki and Haruka who knows that ai is a robot (for Reiji it’s ambiguous because the Fiction drama track shenanigans are weird, more on that next time)
Ai has superhuman strength and a rocket punch function (for some reason), Camus is trained in weapons and has probably carried out assassinations, THEY CAN KILL YOU AND LOOK LIKE THIS WHILE DOING IT:
