reviewing the silver pegasus episode of metal fusion and it only further cemented my hc that hyoma knew about ryo's survival all along
- theres no fucking way the guardian of koma village isn't gonna know about ryo surviving and being healed for MONTHS right under his nose
- hyoma lies and manipulates people at will to protect koma village and the people he cares about. if ryo genuinely convinced hyoma that the dark nebula would hunt him down if they knew he survived, hyoma would keep the secret
- there is no way ryo makes it up the mountain to leave gingka the letter on the shrine so soon after a fucking volcano collapses on him. hokuto or hyoma must have had to do it for him
- while on the subject of ryo's extensive injuries (re: VOLCANO COLLAPSE) I firmly believe that hyoma must've helped hokuto with ryo's healing process. a DOG did not drag ryo's sorry ass back from the brink of death all by himself. a dog did not wrap those casts or heal those scrapes and burns. sorry. if not hyoma then ANYONE but hyoma is a pretty safe option because he's able to understand what was at stake should ryo be discovered
- in the silver pegasus episode, when gingka's friends come to koma village and try to follow gingka to the shrine, hyoma doesn't participate in opening the door, nor does he follow them when they are finally able to do it. instead he hangs back with hokuto. he has faith that gingka will pass the trial yes, but I also believe that he knew the contents of ryo's letter in advance, and knew it wasn't some crazy upgrade to pegasus waiting at the summit
(bro says this and then fully just does not help LMAO)
- by now he's gotten a good feel for gingka's new friends and the lengths they're willing to go for him. it could be for his own curiosity and concern about his childhood best friend, yes, or it could also be needing to report back to ryo as to how gingka is recovering after his "death"
- not in this episode but in the end when ryo's identity is revealed, hyoma is pretty quick to accept that ryo is alive and only did what he had to do for gingka to grow. iirc he only has like one or two lines and he says "it's because [ryo] is a good father" that he did the whole thing with destroying gingka's pointer and stuff (in response to benkei questioning this particular parenting move)
- I'm just saying if you watched your best friend grieve the death of his father and be traumatized bc he feels that his dad's death is his fault, and then become *re-traumatized* after facing his dad's killers and losing... you wouldn't be THAT quick to accept that orphaning your kid is a remotely acceptable parenting move. even if it's only temporary. ryo must have had a long time to convince hyoma
- gingka's other friends push back a bit more when ryo explains his choices (except Kenta but he's like 9 it makes sense he wouldnt). even if they didn't, hyoma was gingka's closest friend and knew ryo personally prior to his "death". it doesn't otherwise make sense that HE of all people just accepts ryo's reasoning
- i can see an argument for hyoma not knowing that ryo changed his identity to be phoenix, but again given that hyoma shows complete willingness to lie (he even lets gingka's friends believe he was part of the dark nebula), it could go either way for me
I'm sure I have more to say but it's late lmao tldr hyoma definitely knew ryo was alive wayyyyy before the reveal and probably helped with his recovery too
wowie if u like my silly hc u should read my ongoing fic, so who was I to you, my love?
the premise of this fic was the idea that hyoma knew ryo was alive and intentionally kept it from gingka (and thus an exploration of the impact it'd have on their relationship). it's quite a bit more extensive than that now and even has some lore for hyoma that I made up (including how he becomes the guardian of koma village) so if any of that sounds interesting at all please read it I never stfu about it and it consumes at least half my waking thoughts
more sillies for u if you read this far ily