also, if you think the members of class 1-1 don't know or care about suo just because they get less screen time than the main cast, I'm going to guess you don't pay much attention to them.
literally had someone say to my face characters that I consider part of the main cast barely exist and I'm just. on my knees begging some people to understand two things.
1. this is not your average shounen where the Main Trio are center stage for the whole thing. The secondary characters are so important and have multiple repeat appearances.
2. maybe YOU just aren't interested enough in the characters to see how often they're present. that's not satoru nii's fault.
can you name ten members of class 1-1? how many CAN you name?
“Saaakuraaaa!” Grinning wide like a hyena, the broker bounces over to his stray cat-coded crush, who is anything but happy to see him. “Like you asked, here is Eyepatch.” Lobbing the body onto the ground, where it stayed. “I can’t promise on his condition, though. Call me if you need anything else!” There’s emotion rolling off in waves from the boy, and the broker would be a stupid person to stick around, especially for someone who can whoop his arse on an equal standing. Around a corner, and he’s long gone.
Tags:
Suo Hayato, Sakura Haruka (Wind Breaker), Nirei Akihiko, Kiryu Mitsuki, Bofurin | Furin High School Students (Wind Breaker), my take on suo's backstory, Dragons, Multiverse, Canon-Typical Violence, Do not feed to AI, Supernatural Elements, Canon Typical Blood and Injury
in my previous meta post, the strength of nirei akihiko, I mentioned that the current arc would be a good opportunity for sugishita to take a more active role in the story, since he and nirei now have an established rapport. well, it seems like that is indeed happening, so here I am, rushing to finish this post before the new chapter drops, because I have unmedicated ADHD and can't do anything in good time unless someone sets something on fire.
so, thank you for that, nii-sensei.
if I had to pick one word to describe sugishita, that word would probably be "misunderstood". because of the way he's introduced, the way he's written, and the perspective that the bulk of the story is told from, I think it's very easy to get the wrong idea about sugishita—and this is something that happens to him not just within the narrative, but also outside of it.
"fanatic". "mad dog". "aggressive". "cold". "hard-hearted". these are all words I've seen used to describe sugishita; by other people in the fandom, yes, but also in canon content. so, I wanted to try to clear up some of these misunderstandings. I want to talk about what makes sugishita tick, how he's developed (and is continuing to develop), and why he's one of my favourite characters in a series with an overall stellar cast.
this post contains spoilers up to chapter 218 of the manga.
prelude: the heart of the matter
it is impossible for me to write a post analysing sugishita's core and not talk about the fact that, intentionally or otherwise, he is very heavily autistic-coded.
there are a fair number of characters across the cast who could be interpreted as autistic based on various traits they display (and I do, in fact, headcanon several other characters as autistic), but I do also think the majority of these cases can be attributed to characters' trauma as opposed to inherent neurodiversity. I do not think this is the case with sugishita.
even having grown up with the love and support of his grandparents, sugishita struggles to understand his own emotions, express himself, and interact with others. add to that textural issues with clothing, chronic resting bitch face, and an extreme resistance to change, and it's very clear to me that sugishita is an autistic teenager who is still trying to navigate the world in a way that works for him, so I will, at least partially, be analysing him through an autistic lens.
a placid heart
I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have about sugishita—both inside canon and outside of it—is that he's aggressive by nature. wind breaker is a story that's told, for the most part, from sakura's perspective, and at the beginning of the story, sakura perceives sugishita as aggressive. this is an understandable first impression that helps form the basis for their entire relationship over the course of the story.
this also couldn't be further from the truth. sugishita doesn't like fighting. he never has. much like sakura, he never really wanted to fight in the first place, and this is both a parallel and a contrast between the two; though they were both forced into fighting at a young age, sakura found a form of refuge in it, while sugishita found it exhausting.
mostly, sugishita just wants to be left alone. he's a very passive presence, content to while away the hours napping in isolation if not for external interference. he's also someone much too small for his own body, and who would naturally fade into the background if not for the all ways in which he sticks out. he only really ever fights to protect what he values, which brings me to my next point:
a passionate heart
sugishita is not an uncaring person. he struggles to express himself and often comes across as rude or standoffish as a result, but to quote umemiya, he's really just an awkward little guy. this is my own interpretation of his character, but I think the main reason sugishita gets so angry about people disrespecting umemiya, or threatening the peace of the town, or ruining the bento his grandmother made for him, is that he cares.
he says himself that he has strong emotions. but I don't think he realises these emotions are sourced from a place of love: his love for the ones who take care of him, his affection for the town he was raised in, his admiration for the person who carved out a place in the world where he could exist peacefully, where he could just be.
I think that, to sugishita, an infringement on any of those things is as good as an infringement on his own being, and I think that knowing this also helps put into perspective the extreme response he had to sakura on the day they first met.
sugishita is not the type to take a measured approach, to step back and assess a situation before acting. instead, he acts primarily on impulse, driven by powerful emotions he doesn't understand and often can't even put a name to.
a heavy heart
I got bullied a lot as a kid.
I wouldn't get diagnosed until much later, but I'm pretty sure they could smell the autism on me—kids are perceptive like that, in ways adults often fail (and failed me, spectacularly). it would often be the case that someone would bother me, taunt me, harass me, anything to try to get a rise out of me, and as soon as I retaliated, they'd be the one to go crying to an adult about it. I'd be punished. the adults were rarely interested in hearing my side of the story.
as I mentioned earlier, sugishita struggles to understand his own emotions, and he struggles even more to express himself to others. there's a great post by @choberr that goes into detail about sugishita's likelihood of experiencing alexithymia, which you can read in full here (I feel it's worth noting that alexithymia has a much higher rate of occurrence in those with autism than in the general population—50% vs only 5%).
earlier in his childhood, this struggle to express himself led to misunderstandings, and those misunderstandings led to fights, which led to more misunderstandings, and so on. it seems to me as though, aside from the support he got from his grandparents, he was basically never afforded any grace or patience during this period of his life. no-one to take his side. no-one to hear him out.
so of course he would latch onto umemiya, who is seemingly the first person to have ever asked for his side of the story. of course he would find a sense of safety in that, even if that sense of safety would lead to his stagnation.
a stubborn heart
autism is a condition that craves stability; as such, sugishita is a character who is extremely resistant to change. this is something that even shows through his family name: sugi, a conifer, evergreen, unchanging even as the seasons pass. he is happy with the status quo, and wants things to always remain exactly as they are, to the point that he doesn't even consider that his upperclassmen are eventually, inevitably, going to graduate.
sugishita wants things to stay the same. it's for this reason that sakura makes a poor first impression on him, and that this impression sticks. admitting you were wrong about someone is difficult for anyone, but it has to be particularly hard for sugishita, who already has trouble parsing his own emotions. logically, I think he realised pretty early on that he was wrong about sakura, but knowing something and accepting it are two very different things.
but this is also beneficial in its own way; right now, there are plenty of people around sakura who are willing to uplift him, but few who are willing to be brutally honest with him. sugishita doesn't mince words. he doesn't sugarcoat. he doesn't talk down to sakura. and I think sakura needs that too: someone who'll hold him accountable as an equal and not a supporter. a rival.
throughout most of the manga, sugishita has continued acting aggressively towards sakura, and I think that's at least partially because he still doesn't know what else he's supposed to do. anger is seemingly the default he reverts to when he's experiencing strong emotions (it's safe, it's consistent, it's a reliable fallback), and he's still building the toolset he needs to handle the conflicting emotions he feels towards sakura in particular.
I think he does care about sakura, in his own way (and nirei would seem to agree with me), but this caring chafes against the loathing he's still stubbornly clinging to.
in other words, he's still growing.
a change of heart
"forever" is an impossible dream.
I think the crux of sugishita's arc is accepting this—accepting that change is an inevitable part of capital-b Being. umemiya is probably aware of this, which is why he encourages sugishita to expand his horizons, little by little. it's glaringly obvious that amongst his peers, he's by far the slowest to adapt. but given enough time, even mountains move, and it also helps that he has a catalyst; someone to prompt him to action and promote change in him.
it was honestly a stroke of genius on suou's part to pair sugishita up with sakura during the noroshi war. I think he's one of few people able to see past their surface-level bickering and understand their deeper level of compatibility, and the ways in which they could influence each other for the better (and in sugishita's case specifically, come to the agonising realisation that maybe sakura doesn't suck as much as he initially thought).
I think that's also one of the reasons why suou later said he was glad that sugishita had been getting along with nirei; a unit works best when all its parts are well-integrated, and sugishita had always kept himself to the fringes, only ever getting involved with provocation from sakura or encouragement from suou. him forming a connection with nirei is a major milestone in his personal growth, evidence that slowly, quietly, his world is expanding.
this growth bleeds over into the next major arc, where we see sugishita, if rather indirectly, approaching sakura for help. we haven't yet found out why exactly sugishita chose to do this, because he's still struggling to be open with others at this point in his development, and being open with sakura is probably an entirely different level of challenging because he's still dealing with the fact that he thinks sakura is Kind Of Cool, Actually. so when sakura probes him about it, he defaults to lashing out in order to avoid answering.
but personally, I believe the reason sugishita approached sakura is because he was able to acknowledge, if reluctantly, that reaching out to momijikawa is something he wasn't personally capable of. sugishita doesn't have the charisma, struggles with his words, can't communicate like others can. but he knows from seeing it happen before that sakura is capable of bridging that gap.
as for why he shared what he knew about momijikawa with the others, I think the reason was twofold: one, he wanted to give sakura the best shot at connecting with him. two, he wanted to clear up any potential misunderstandings. earlier, it was shown very clearly that he was overhearing his classmates griping about momijikawa's behaviour, and I think at the time, he was worried that it might end up in a situation like he himself experienced when he was younger.
in order to avoid that, he'd have to actually explain what momijikawa's deal was—and I remember around the time of the chapters in question seeing posts about it not really being sugishita's place to divulge that information, and I agree, and things could have gone much worse when considering that.
but I also think his heart was in the right place. he was coming from a place of not wanting momijikawa to be misunderstood like he himself had been in the past. sugishita himself said they were never really close, but I think him going out on a limb like this for momijikawa's benefit shows he cares a lot more than he ever actually admits to.
I think, if momijikawa had come back earlier in the school year, sugishita probably wouldn't have made the same choices. in fact, I doubt he would have done anything at all, and the situation likely would have turned out worse for it. it's only because he's been slowly, steadily changing that he was able to reach out in the way he did; the execution was imperfect and inelegant, but an undeniably sugishita way of going about it.
which brings us to the current arc. I don't think it's any coincidence that sugishita is asking to visit sakura alongside the two other people in his year he's been able to connect with. this is, I think, going to be another major milestone in his character development, and I'm really curious to see what tomorrow's chapter brings.
I've seen some speculate this is going to be another case of "tough love", like when he talked to sakura in chapter 146/7, but the more I think about it, the more I think that probably isn't the case. it's definitely possible, and I do think that it would be really fun and interesting if he completely biffed whatever interaction he has with sakura and just made the situation worse. but I think it's unlikely for one very simple reason: his hair.
sugishita has always preferred keeping his hair long, and it's been stated in his profile that he hates tying it back or getting it cut. for a long time, I thought this was just another autistic trait of his, but I've come to realise it's more than that. his hair is a shield. it's a way of keeping himself closed off from others. and what does his hair look like in chapter 218?
tucked behind his ears. face exposed.
I think this is a sign that sugishita has grown to a point where he's now more comfortable interacting with others, and has also become more emotionally open. I think he's at a point where he's ready to be open with sakura in particular, and maybe—just maybe—finally clear up the misunderstanding that's been hanging between them from the get-go.
right now, sakura doesn't need someone to hold him accountable; he needs as many people as possible on his side. and I think sugishita has been thinking very hard about that fact. and while nirei has told sakura (on more than one occasion now) that sugishita has changed, it's one thing to hear that secondhand, and quite another to experience it directly.
that said, it'll also be very useful to have both nirei and momijikawa to hand, because they both already have a strong, positive relationship with sakura. even if sugishita wants to clear things up with him, there's a good chance he'll still struggle to express himself, despite his progress. I don't doubt he'll need help smoothing things over.
and those two are probably the best supports he's going to get.
if you've read this far, thank you, and if you're someone who hasn't thought much about sugishita's character or his role in the narrative before, I hope I gave you lots to think about and maybe helped you gain a new appreciation for him! I'm really excited to see where nii-sensei takes him and the rest of the cast in the future, so let's all find out together! ♥
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter 11, Bloodborne, is live.
From long-forgotten seeds sown among the elderly in Makocai, Nirei has discovered a secret. One that may be able to remove Suo from the line of succession of the Red Chanpuru.
Would it be enough to stop the ritual in time?
What actually created the barrier, and who maintains it? Why does it compel people of latent power to stay on the island?
If our fan theory of Suo not being born in Bankoku-Gai is true, where do you suppose he came from? We've got one theory saying he's born in Makocai, which I like and can work with.
Suo is squaring off for his first actual fight against Sakura. Words aren't getting across to him, so he'll have to force his way out. To make them leave by his own hand.
The building stress on his body and mind is reaching its peak. Flickering lights of the bookshop pulse around them, pounding behind his covered eye.
Sakura's style includes a lot of punching and kicking, but he's quick on his feet and jumps up to kick his opponent. Suo guesses he may be able to fend off three strikes at most.
One strike. Sakura's not the kind of fighter to exploit his opponent's weakness, i.e., Suo's vision range. Shifting his feet, Suo parries the punch away.
"Your stance is weak," Sakura growls as he backs off from the failed attempt to hit. Slightly crouched with one curled fist held just higher than his other hand. "Are you even trying?"
"I already told you that I'm no match for you, Sakurakun," Suo repeats. His legs are shaking from the effort it took to push the younger boy's attack off him, panting from the strain on his taxed muscles.
"You'd better take this damn seriously, then." Sakura springs a kick-punch combination on Suo that aims low, trying to take out his stance. It hurts to do so, but Suo grabs those attacking limbs and throws him aside, as someone would do in judo.
Sakura catches him by the shoulder and headbutts him, hard, making Suo's limited vision go static temporarily.
His knees hit the ground.
"Suo..." The tone of his opponent has changed if he can't see him. He sounds... surprised. Unsure. What, isn't he waiting for another hit like this?
'Not now. not NOW.' He tries to stand, but the stance is gone. He's all shaky legs, one hand waving blindly away in the opposite direction, the other holding his agonized head. "I won't falter like this now," he grunts, struggling.
Someone's hand touches him, and Suo slaps it away. "Oi... Suo..."
Tries to swing but goes too wide as he literally cannot see Sakura anymore, stumbles, and goes down again.
"Go....home... this doesn't concern you. You are...wasting your time... and your life coming...here." No shine in that unfocused eye seeks to see but doesn't. "Furin..is better off...without me."
BAM
Did anyone tell him that someone with a migraine shouldn't be headbutted, much less twice?! Suo falls back, and there's no attempt to catch himself, as both boys collapse in a draw.
The static fills his mind...and it all goes gradually dark like a deteriorating television.
Chapter 10 is live.
With great reluctance, good information can come. Suo isn't fully willing to come out on matters around the city, as old habits come back in spades to bite him when he cannot show weakness.
If the Bofurin boys can get a straight answer out of the Spinstress, that might help more.
As I'm scribbling down my own idea on Suo's backstory, I have to wonder why he never eats in public.
A couple of ideas bouncing around here;
1. He actually is dieting. Unlikely, it's just to pull everyone's leg.
2. Fear of poison. It could add to his background as an officer of the Red Chanpuru, and either someone close, higher up, or even Suo himself was a victim of poisoned food/drink. Makes everything himself, if he even eats.
3. Eating disorder. Read a couple of fics in that direction, he might have that related to stressful/anxiety-inducing situations.
4. Moon creature/werewolf. Can only consume raw meat. Imagine ordering a raw steak with his class at Pothos.
5. Some version of undead. He can only consume souls.
We are all eventually hoping that Suo and Sakura will duke it out, whoever the winner is. Will it happen on Bofurin turf or the forbidden city of Bankoku-Gai?
Short of losing trust and his vice captain forever, are there any further stakes?
Help me paint the theater of my mind, because I've got two rounds planned here; one where the two idiots knock each other out, and the 'ancient spirit' mode kicks in, and fighting like a pair of animals in the Endo fight.
Chapter 8 is live: How Not to Conduct a Covert Raid.
By the devil's luck, the leader of the Primaries survives certain death and ends up taken in by KEEL on request to be a bodyguard and a teacher. He reluctantly sings like a canary for Bofurin and is offered protection by now being a member of the town under KEEL's bony wing.
Some discussions on faction later, Tamon's team finds Sakura waiting to board a bus to Bankoku-gai on a single-minded mission to bring Suo back and kick his ass after that.
They won't let him go alone.
If they want to stop a potential public assassination of their friend, they'd better hurry up.
Coming up with my own oc of an outlier branch of the Red Chanpuru which infiltrates various other gangs to collect information and scout for potential while hunting for Suo in my story.
The Primaries
Hong - The Red Leader, who does know Japanese fluently enough to have conversations. More of a teacher then a fighter but will kick butt if needed.
Huang and Lan; his younger brothers who follow big bro's commands and think with their stomachs. They wear yellow and blue, respectively.
They infiltrated KEEL while it was under the lunatic Shinzo's control, but once someone else took control, took that new leaders side and started helping purge out the bone rot.
While hunting for information, someone revealed where Suo was in the town, and Hong's brothers were sent to ambush him. It didn't go well.
With little option short of being discovered by Furin as Red Chanpuru agents, he tells what he knows.
Only time will tell if the Red Chanpuru are tolerant of this.
I read someone's theory that Suo was sent to Makochi in middle school to recuperate from his eje injury and to keep him safe until he could take over his Master's position in Red Chanpuru, and it'd make everything SO much funnier
Older brother!1: Hey Sun Fei, back already? How is the eye?
Suo: good, good. All healed
Older brother!2: how was your convalescence?
Suo: Oh, nothing big. Joined a fight club type school, to keep my skills sharp, but nothing big. Got elected as second in command of my division, though.
OB!2: Interesting... So, let's -
Suo: ah, I did participate in a match with spectators in order to keep our school from being absorbed by a rival gang. I took the chance to impart some... Life wisdom, in my rival.
OB!1: oh, that's cool. wonder if there's a video of you kicking the other dudes a-
Suo: I also participated in two separate gang wars.
OB!2:... What?
Suo: yeah. I lost control and almost killed a man in the first one, and I was in charge of strategizing and being one of the heavy hitters in the second.
OB!1: I honestly can't tell if he's fucking with us.
Suo: I also helped my captain regain his faith in humanity and in human connections as a whole
OB!2: what type of therapist -like side quest...?
Suo: ah, i also might or might not have gotten involved in a polyamorous situationship with my captain and co-vice captain. It's unclear whether it was romantic or platonic.
OB!1:...
Suo: I am pretty sure it ended when I knocked out one of them. I miss them, though.
OB!2:... Yeah, no, forgive my language but he MUST be fucking with us
