#flower fish

[nora-yoko]

[musicalmoritz]

Here we have Aoi teasing Nene after discovering she has a crush on her

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I love fics that let Aoinene be messy

I know the general attitude towards this ship is “wow cute lesbians, good for them” but it makes me so happy when people actually address the conflict of their dynamic. Aoi wants to open up to Nene but Nene is too consumed by her own problems to notice. She makes Aoi feel invisible, and as a result Aoi keeps her at a distance. They both lie to each other to the point that neither of them really know who the other is. Nene forgives Aoi way too easily for her actions during the Grim Reaper arc because in her eyes, her best friend can do no wrong. Aoi can be very passive-aggressive to Nene sometimes, leading me to believe she harbors a lot of bitterness towards her. These are elements that make the ship more interesting, their conflict gives them more substance than just being the fluffy side ship to Terukane. Speaking of which, it strikes me as odd that the ships involving men are praised for their toxicity whereas the wlw ships either have their problems entirely erased or are hated for not being perfect

This is why most of my Aoinene fics (especially the longer ones) involve miscommunication and arguments. I like seeing them struggle before they get to be happy, putting in a mutual effort to work out their problems. I like fluff twice as much as the next person, but angst with wlw ships just hits different for me. It’s sweet that a lot of fics have Aoi viewing Nene as the solution to all her problems but hear me out…what if she’s not? What if Aoi starts out being more in love with the idea of Nene as her savior, and then has to come to terms with the fact that Nene makes her feel just as lonely as everyone else does? But she still loves her, so she’s stuck on whether to confront Nene about these problems or keep it all inside. And poor Nene knows something is off but she can’t for the life of her figure out what it is and she’s too scared of change to bring it up. It’s not overwhelming amounts of toxicity but they’d have to actually talk shit out before riding off into the sunset together

I personally believe Aoi to be BPD coded in canon and that is how I write her in all my fics, so the concept of Aoinene (and AoiAoi) as an FP dynamic is also interesting to me. Nene is the one person Aoi can stand and those feelings become so strong that they’re almost unbearable. She starts splitting with her when she realizes Nene has been lying, she grows to hate her at times but she still bases so much of her self-worth on what Nene thinks and she’s terrified of losing her. This is another area they need to communicate in but because Aoi is allergic to admitting her true feelings, it’s more-so something Nene has to pick up on herself. She can be a little dense but when she truly loves someone she lets them know it so I like to have her give Aoi the reassurance she needs

This post is a bit self-indulgent and everyone is free to write them however they want but idk, I’d love to see more fics that let them have problems. Especially ones where Aoi finally opens up to Nene and they properly talk out the Grim Reaper arc. And also more fics where they’re both allowed to be flawed!! Let Nene be selfish and let Aoi be bitter!! This kinda goes for every TBHK character because I LOVE fics that explore their flaws without getting ooc. I want to see them be the worst while still being sympathetic

My main point here is that Aoinene is just as deserving of conflict and angsty plots as every tbhk ship and that’s something I’d like to see more of with them. Toxic yuri enjoyers…you know what to do

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Nene’s Music Taste

I was trying to learn more about Nene’s canon taste in music, which she describes as “enka songs about cursing your ex-lover.” Most fans seem to think she’d either enjoy pop or goth music and, while she could certainly enjoy more than one genre, I wanted to figure out what songs she would realistically be listening to. Here is what I learned (Nene enjoyers, get your pens out)

Enka is a Japanese music genre that dates back to the 1950s. It somewhat existed before that in violin music and later with guitar, but the 50s was when the style really came into its own. It maintains elements from traditional Japanese music and is often used in karaoke. The themes are similar to American blues music, lots of talk about heartache and the struggles of life. Alcohol, love, death, and the weather are frequent subjects of enka songs. It declined a bit around the 90s due to younger audiences not being able to relate to the lyrics but it had a revival in the early 2000s (which is the period I suspect Nene would enjoy, as that is the music she would’ve likely heard growing up). Music artists tend to get creative with this genre, there are many enka songs that involve rap as well as elements of tango and jazz

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find many sources that gave lyrics translations for the songs recommendations I found, due to the genre not being popular in America (I hate us😒) but I did find an article that had a goldmine of song recs!! “Japan’s Top 50 Bestselling Enka Songs” by Daniel Morales, if anyone wants to check it out

I was trying to find some songs to add to my Aoinene playlist but sadly I didn’t have a lot of luck. If there happen to be any enka music fans reading this who also like Aoinene I would love your recommendations. Here’s what I did find though (all of these are from the list cited above):

“Tearful Love” by Yashiro Aki. Yes, I did mostly pick this one because of the name but it is an angsty love song, very much Nene levels of dramatics

“Crimson Karma” by Segawa Eiko. A star-crossed lovers song, Aoinene certified levels of angst

“But It Would Be Nice If You Came Near” by Toshi Itō and Happy and Blue. The singer in the song blames themself for their bad luck in love, more Nene vibes

“Solo Journey to Michinoku” by Yamamoto Jōji. A song about a person wishing they could’ve died with their deceased lover. Could be Aoinene in the Ghost Hotel au or during the Severance arc. Orrrrr by the end of the manga if Nene doesn’t survive

I would also recommend Saburo Kitajima, I can’t remember if he made it onto the article or not (I found his name through Wikipedia, along with the history and qualities of enka music I described before), but I listened to one of his songs on Spotify and ya’ll…my ears have been blessed. Will definitely be checking out more of this genre

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They’re okay ig

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Random Aoinene Headcanons Before I Go To Sleep <3

• During Nene’s initial bi panic abt having a crush on a girl for the first time, she tried to suppress her feelings by projecting them onto any guy who reminded her of Aoi (such as the guy who shares Aoi’s name)

• Aoi, contrary to popular belief, didn’t mind having feelings for Nene. As intimidating as the realization was, she liked having something for herself

• Both their moms think they’re secretly dating and they place bets on when they’ll reveal it

• Before they get together, Aoi starts trying to open up to Nene by revealing super small things abt herself like her favorite color, favorite movie genre, etc. Nene likes learning more abt Aoi but she’s so confused by all the sudden confessions

• When they have to go long distance for college, Aoi buys a pet fish to remind her of Nene

• At least once a month Aoi tries to break up with Nene over something small that she’s blown up in her mind, but Nene’s kind of a wimp abt it so the first few times it happens, Kou has to give her the “get her back” pep talk (he’s used to this behavior from Mitsuba so he’s a pro)

• They learned the HOT TO GO! dance together at a sleepover

• Pre-development Aoi tries to match Nene’s sense of style by wearing casual girly clothing, but once she learns to be more open with her true self, she develops her own sense of style

• They make a lot of plans for the future- places they’ll travel, pets they want to own, what jobs they want to have, what they want their wedding to look like, etc. Only they change these plans every time they bring it up

• They collect scented candles

• They’re that one couple that acts all cute and attached at the hip one day, then have blown out arguments the next (I need to see these two yell at each other plsssss just let them communicate)

• They hold hands/link arms everywhere they go

That’s All, Folks! (I love them sm I want to squeeze them and put them in a blender)

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hi hi mutual :D

I’m not a huge aoinene shopper (although I do ship it) but! I wanted to ask for your Aoinene hc’s since I have labeled you as the Aoinene expert in my head and I saw you reblog that post we reblogged about the ship hc’s and such!!

convince me into the aoinene lore…. /hj -Bunny

Hiiiiiii mutual!! First of all I’ve said this before but I love being known as the Aoinene Expert™️, so happy that’s my reputation lol

Headcanons are my specialty so I’m glad you asked this!! I will gladly convince you into the Aoinene lore/hj. They’ve been rotting away my brain all day so I’m gonna take this opportunity to ramble abt them and explain how I see the ship

• So as far as canon goes I wouldn’t change either of the canon pairings for them, shipping for me sort of exists in a multiversal vacuum where I can imagine alternatives for who the characters end up with and how they end up with those ppl via fan content

• I do, however, love the idea of them having mutual crushes on each other in canon. I think Nene plays hers off as just admiring Aoi but deep down she feels the same way abt her that she does Teru and Fuji (or maybe a little bit more serious since they’re best friends). And while I think Akane is Aoi’s ultimate soulmate in canon I can see her having feelings for Nene as well, though I think they’d start to fade once Nene began to pull away from her

• As for fanon tho…

• In my head there’s an alternate universe where these two end up together after everything. This usually involves lesbian Aoi bcuz I do adore that headcanon in anything that’s not the actual manga. I like to think they both developed mutual crushes on each other in middle school and Aoi was very internally angsty and aware of her’s whereas Nene was very repressed abt her feelings for girls in general

• They totally have sleepovers every week, on Fridays specifically. They do typical things like watching movies and painting each other’s nails but they’re teenage girls so they’d also probably try to summon demons. And since this is tbhk they’d probably succeed a few times (now I need an au where Nene summons Bloody Mary instead of Hanako)

• Since it’s Aoinene ofc there’s gotta be a moment when Aoi finally opens up to Nene about everything, but I don’t think that would come without difficulty. Lots of avoiding each other and being super distant bcuz neither of them want to be the first to bring it up, then maybe a dramatic fight or two before they come back together on calmer terms and have a long conversation at one of their sleepovers about everything. Whether platonic or romantic that's usually how I envision their resolution

• I think it would also have to come after Aoi's taken some time to work through her mental health problems, she's made progress but she still has a long way to go and that stuff isn't easy to talk about, especially when she knows Nene's view of her will change

• I don't think Nene ever intends to hurt Aoi though, she's more-so negligent and a bit self-centered. And she seems to know something is off with Aoi never talking abt herself but she can't take that further step into understanding WHY she acts the way that she does

• To be honest I see Nene as stressing a lot when she realizes something's going on because she doesn't want to lose their friendship, and I do think she would embrace the real Aoi with open arms if she ever were to meet her

• Then I think they'd have some struggles of adjusting to their new dynamic and figuring out how they work with Aoi being herself + Aoi would instinctively try to pull away a bit, but I think they'd find a way to make it work

• They would constantly be going on dates, wanting to try new places together. They've probably tried every cafe in their town, I could also see them being the type of couple to have each other's orders memorized

• A lot of fics tend to pull them away from their canon love interests in one way or another but not me, Hanako and Akane automatically become wingmen. Those girls are a mess and they need all the advice they can get, even if their makeshift relationship counsellors are far from qualified

• They match their outfits whenever they go out, and they're also 100% the type to do matching Halloween costumes

• Nene has a houseplant in her room that's a gift from Aoi

• Nene calls Aoi every time she has to run errands but doesn't want to do it alone. They end up at the pet store a lot

• Their moms are both convinced they're secretly dating and place bets on when they'll announce it

• They both get easily flustered around each other when they first start dating but in different ways; Nene is a very loud and dramatic type of flustered, very shoujo protagonist core. And Aoi is more the quiet, tsundere genre of flustered

• In the future I picture Nene as a successful writer and Aoi as a flower shop owner and they have a house by the beach. And a hamster, of course

• I also choose to believe they were girlfriends in the Ghost Hotel au before Aoi passed, then they got reunited when Nene arrived at the hotel

• Nene cries very easily and Aoi is a good fake-crier

• Aoi is a little spoon, pass it on

That's all I can think of rn, tysm for your ask! I am going to continue brainrotting over Aoinene for the foreseeable future lmao

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AOINENE WEEK

Guys one of my favorite mutuals is organizing an Aoinene week!! Follow them on Twitter @/aoineneweek2024 or on Instagram @/aoineneweek_2024_