for no reason at all i think you should do a post or something about middle school rui and nene
Alright Rui chapter is out time to talk about the latest discourse
So, Rui's chapter in the latest event has him explaining a bit about his past (middle school era) to the other characters. Here he reveals the final straw that led him to cutting off everyone and deciding he's better of isolating himself. In short the president of drama club at his middle school wanted him to join the club, the other members didn't fw him, and then he left. He then goes on to say he always wanted friends he could do shows with and namedrops Tsukasa specifically as the one who broke down his walls.
Wow guess what this started ritk vs rinn discourse #102739273 like omfg who caresssss. Anyway. It caused a lot of discussion over the lack of Nene mention which I will say, pretty odd in an event where a core plot point is two longtime best friends not communicating and facing the possibility of separation, but then again this event makes a lot of weird choices. Still don't get why they went with conflict as a core theme. Like Rui's chapter isn't even about that it's about thee friendship of the NPCs. But it's clear they were doing main story parallels (again) and pointing out why it was that even when someone approached him in middle school things didn't work out and what caused his isolation vs what the blond fuck did that was successful. The drama club guy didn't really stand up for Rui, he liked his ideas but was willing to compromise for the sake of the other club members and didn't go after Rui when he left. And you already know what happened in main story.
For some reason one of the main talking points I saw was "well why didn't he just partner up with Nene". Which. I mean they explained it in wonder halloween I thought. Nene was in a drama group at the time (we learn more abt them in Protagonista) and Rui didn't want to be a bother to her/the club bc at this point he's getting pretty deep in the idea that he's best off isolating himself from people and no one will ever get along with him. Meanwhile Nene just isn't really sure how to approach him while he's in this state. She does actually ask him to be part of her group but he shot her down completely and ignored her. Let's all read Wonder Halloween it does a lot to explain what both Tsukasa and Nene have done for Rui and their relationships and the difference between them. It basically solves the discourse but people don't read </3
But yeah, fact of the matter is that Rui was not in a good place and didn't want to bother Nene or really deal with people at all, and Nene didn't know what to do and couldn't bring herself to give him an extra push and then later had a whole lot of her own shit and depression to deal with. Neither were doing well and similar to Rui and Mizuki the fact neither was in a good place meant they couldn't help each other. Rui tries to turn things around for Nene in mainstory because of the fact he loves her and doesn't want to see her so upset anymore, but still refuses to change himself. You can see in his dialogue that he's often testing the waters to see if rejection will come, and accepts it as an inevitability after their first show goes wrong.
Personally if they ever did actually focus on middle school rinn I'd rather they did it when Nene could be present anyway. I feel like it's something the two of them really need to talk out considering things. Like Rui really did push her away and shoot her down when she tried, he tries to make up for it with Nenerobo and even joining wxs in the first place (as he only joined if nene could) but this is never really communicated. He owes her an apology in other words and I don't think it would hold the same weight or impact if she wasn't present.
But yeah as for "why did they mention Tsukasa over Mizuki or Nene or Emu" it's because Tsukasa is the one that actually pushed for Rui to change. He's the only one who chased after him and didn't accept rejection. Mizuki and Rui couldn't help each other because they both resigned themselves to believing they were incompatible with others and incapable of change. They outright draw a parallel between Tsukasa and Ena in Wounded Hands. Nene is sorta similar, she herself became a recluse after her stage fright incident, but also her personality. She was never super outspoken and able to give that extra push and have the stubbornness that Tsukasa, Ena or also Emu have. They've been turning to the camera and saying Tsukasa gave Rui the opportunity to change since Kamikoi Festival like. Yeah they're gonna mention him.
It definitely has been a weak point in prsk writing recently that character relationships in WxS have been pretty. Nonexistent. Outside protagonista and occasional oneliners and passing mentions to old content. Such is the case here. Rui and Nene's relationship is definitely something that needs more depth and time given to it. I'm no way expecting them to be like leoni when there's very different context (ln being childhood friends is literally the basis of their entire unit story) but they could really do with a mixed event or a filler unit event or something going into their backstory or even just present relationship a bit more. Like the fact they know each other longer than the rest of wxs isn't felt as much nowadays. Like clpl I know people wanna kill you whenever Rui and Nene talk but please they need that middle school event bro. There's so many things they never are quite able to say to each other outloud even if it was communicated in other ways. I think middle school is the area that needs closure the most.
Idk why we have to fight over who Rui's closer with or who's more important to him or who had more impact or who "saved" him. Like first no one's getting saved this isn't niigo second the text answers some of those questions just read third why is this even worth arguing over it's just an excuse for people to go "my ship is the right one" like who gives a fuck he's a jpeg ship him with whoever you want. His relationships are not worth fighting over. Tsukasa Nene Mizuki and Emu are all important to him in unique ways and all impacted him in unique ways. Why don't we read the actual stories in the visual novel game rather than taking whatever we see on tiktok at face value and complaining that the story doesn't match our headcanons. If people who liked shipping Rui with other characters actually read the content for that ship I think there'd be a lot less of this discourse.
WL3 in general is so weird like some chapters are just regurgitating information we already know some are new lorebombs and some are a bit of both. Also they really like main story. I love world link it loves reminding us of main story. Remember when WL1 was a summary event for new players and then they just kept doing that except they don't have new content to talk about so its just main story again instead of anything new. Even the mixed WL3 doesn't really do much they just introduce faceless ppl who are edited L2Ds of existing characters and then talk about mainstory again. Awesome.
Anyway I'm too far from the point. Yeah Rui and Nene couldn't help each other because Rui adamantly refused to be helped and isolated himself and Nene then fell into her own depression and isolated herself that Rui couldn't pull her out of on his own. They needed WxS to break down their walls because tsukaemu had contrasting personalities to them and were able to show them a new outlook on life. Rui chapter does not contradict any previous information and mentioning Tsukasa makes sense in context and does not rewrite Rui and Nene's relationship. 👍
