Whenever I think of this meme, I think of them. My headcanon is Kaito being literally new to this and Seiya being not a big expert but knowing the deal lmao
Surprise Stolitz commission for @/moonmystery5 with the prompt "big size difference"! had way too many scenarios in mind for this 😏 but here's a big eepy birb and his smol bf 🤏🏽
Don’t use without permission, don’t repost, please. Ok to reblog! Thank you! 💛
may you please elaborate more on the kaisei part you just mentioned im so eager to read the LN now hh
By God, I sure as hell can. I’m just gonna dump the whole scene here under the cut, because I’m sure not everyone would believe me if I just wrote a summary of it. Even I couldn't believe my own eyes when I read this shit for the first time.
Just to give some context, the scene takes place at a theme park where people could interact with dogs and cats. The whole club was there, including Masaki, but they scatter to enjoy the attractions in small groups. Masaki tags along with the first-years to keep an eye on them. Minato, Ryouhei and Nanao go straight to the first circle and dive into a sea of puppies. The girls head to a corner with trained dogs, where Yuuna takes a video of Rika petting one of them. And then there’s Seiya and Kaito, who decide to go see a dog runway for large dogs. One of the dogs gets cozy with Seiya and that’s where this bullshit begins.
Ayano Kotoko really knows how not to give a single flying fuck.
“That one sure is clingy. Ain’t it heavy?”
“I’m used to it, so it’s fine. But I’ll have to take a shower before going home. Kuma will find out that I was getting friendly with other dogs if the smell stays on me.”
“Where are you gonna take that shower?”
“Minato’s place. I’ll go in from the back door so that Kuma won’t notice.”
“You’ll be mistaken for some buglar.”
“This always happens, so there’s no problem.”
Someone blew a whistle. The dogs sled to their feet and went into their hut. The song was “Greensleeves”.
English lyrics:
Alas, my love, you do me wrong
Greensleeves was all my joy
Greensleeves was my delight
Japanese translation:
Ah, my love, you're such a cruel one
Greensleeves, you were my joy
Greensleeves, such merry days
I was happy just being by your side
Invited by nostalgia, scenes that one both would and would not want to remember came to mind. The two went into the shade to avoid the sun. Heat-haze rose from within the grass.
“I just recently learned something; the Bernese Mountain Dog has a short lifespan even in comparison to other dogs, and apparently, there’s a Swiss proverb that goes, ‘Three years a young dog, three years a good dog and three years an old dog... all else is a gift from God’. The Ainu people call bears ‘kamuy’ – ‘gods’. I accidentally named a short-lived dog ‘Bear’ and kept it by my side. This had me thinking that ignorance is such a scary thing.”
“There ain’t any problem with that, y’know? Some grade school brat gave his pet a name that sounded strong. The Ainu people saw strong bears as gods. Isn't that all there is to it? Unlike in the past, medicine is advanced now. You’re just overthinking too much stuff.”
“Fuh, you’re right. Hey, Kaito.”
“Hm?”
“Ah... it’s almost time for lunch. Let’s go back to the meeting spot.”
Under the sunlight filtered through foliage, red shoes chased after blue ones.
I don’t know if it’s okay to catch up to you, since you’re so full of secrets. Is it selfish of me to want to know what’s burdening you, or to hope that you’ll share the load with me, even if just a little bit of it?
A cool breeze blew past the two, who at some point started walking side by side.
Okay, this scene needs a break-down.
On one side, you have some very obvious stuff, like Kaito’s thoughts about Seiya. His actions have been screaming “rely on me, goddamn it” since volume 1. No news here. Did I ever imagine we’d get it thrown in our faces word by word, coming from Kaito himself? Absolutely the fuck not.
Now, the rest leaves a lot of questions. Why did Seiya bring up the topic of Kuma’s name all of a sudden, and why at a moment when he’s all alone with Kaito instead of when everyone’s together? Why did the song in the background have to be Greensleeves? Why
the fuck
did it have to be such a suggestive part of the song?
Ayano. Fucking answer me, Ayano.
The first thing that got me about this moment is that there’s a Japanese version paired to the original English. Although I wouldn’t call it an accurate translation, I think the Japanese one hits closer to home when it comes to the author’s intention in picking this song (or else, it wouldn’t even be here). These specific verses wouldn’t be used without purpose in the first place, and literally all of it matches with the story.
“You’re such a cruel one”? Yeah, Seiya is indeed a cruel person. Not in the sense that he’s ill-intentioned or mean-spirited (far from it, actually), but in the sense that he doesn’t have any mercy when it comes to protecting what’s important to him. He doesn’t play fair and ends up hurting people in the process (even the very people he’s trying to protect), but he’s fully aware of that. It’s a price he’s willing to pay.
“I was happy just being by your side” reminds me a lot of volume 1, when Kaito was a hair’s breadth away from uncovering the whole truth about what happened in middle school and Seiya’s real intentions, but decided to leave it alone because it wouldn’t be of help for anyone if he knew. Back then, it really felt like just being by Seiya’s side and watching things unfold was enough for him.
But then again, even the English version of the lyrics hits bull’s-eye, ‘cause let’s be honest, Seiya did do Kaito a lot of wrong at the beginning. From blatantly ignoring Kaito to lying through his teeth with a straight face and throwing shade at every opportunity. We really saw it all, lol.
So yeah. Without a doubt, “my love” refers to Seiya. From Kaito’s point of view.
And like.
Why. In the fuck.
Why in all the nine fucks would you use that term for two guys who are supposed to be friends?
ALSO, WHAT THE FUCK WAS SEIYA GOING TO SAY. WHY DID YOU CUT HIM OFF THERE. WHY DOES EVERY SCENE IN THIS GODFORSAKEN SERIES CUT OFF WHEN IT REACHES PEAK GAY.
I just wanna talk, Ayano. I just wanna fucking talk.
This book feels like the author channeled everything the readers have been thinking into one volume and then added some more juicy stuff to it because why the fuck not.
I just... love the way that there’s literally nowhere else to run? Like, no matter how you try to look at it, Seiya is the one “my love” is referring to, and the rest is about his and Kaito’s relationship. It’s not even debatable at all.
Am I saying that Kaito is in love with Seiya? No. But can I say for sure that he isn’t? Also no. This is the magic of Tsurune. The gay is heavy as fuck and the author doesn’t let you find excuses for it.
What I mean by this wall of text is that we now can associate a sentence as straightforward as “alas, my love” with Kaito and Seiya. In canon.
Thank you, Ayano. Fuck you, Ayano.
But mind you, this isn’t the worst of all. There’s a lot going on in volume 3. A whole fucking lot.
“That’s every volume of Tsurune” NO YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND
I've been listening to the character songs lately, and even if they have nothing to do with this, listening to Kaito's seiyuu singing made me think of a karaoke night in which Kaito couldn't help but feel so embarrassed when singing some corny song while Seiya is right there, staring at him so beautifully, very aware of how he makes Kaito feel by doing so...
Even though I already drew these two chibis digi, I had way too much free time, so I redrew them on paper :p
Turns out drawing on paper is way faster, just a few minutes of sketching and done (though it doesn't look as good) Drawing digitally took me like 7-8 hours straight (T v T) lol
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Btw, pls let me vent a bit about the Tsurune anime compared to the novel. Feel free to skip this if it's not your thing
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I really don't like how Kyoani handled the Tsurune anime. It deviates so much from the original source, and almost all the super cute interactions between Kaito and Seiya were cut. WHY??? I swear, Kaito acts so rude toward Seiya in the anime, whereas in the novel he never does that (or rarely ever)
In s2, he almost punched Seiya, WTH😦??? Kaito in the novel would never hurt Seiya, but the anime made him look so aggressive meanwhile, Seiya's mind is just full of "Minato, Minato" all the time
Even before reading the novel, I already felt something was off with the anime, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. Long story short, I don't like the Tsurune anime at all (T^T) It's just terrible
