tl;dr cr meme

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RELATIONSHIPS❤MEME
① List all the characters you play.
② People reply with CR they truly, madly, deeply want to know about.
③ tl;dr on character relationships. first impressions count too!
④ ???
⑤ harvest all that tl;dr!

Comments

[impheired]

For the record, I will always be a little bit sad that Peko didn't end up killing (or at least attempting to) Kuzuryuu in order to protect Kuzuryuu. BUT MOVING ON...I'm probably going to end up saying a lot of stuff here that you already knew but deal w/ it because this is tl;cr and I want to word vomit it all in one place. Okay so these two were a mess from start to finish but who's surprised by that? Absolutely nobody. Obviously, Kuzuryuu couldn't remember Peko but since she is SUCH A BIG PART OF HIS LIFE they couldn't really erase her completely so she was still kind of there as "holes" in his memory, as Kuzuryuu put it. Like he knew there was supposed to be SOMEONE there but he couldn't remember anything about the person...just that they were there and maybe a vague sense of what they were doing. So the conclusion he came to was either 1) the Producers were double reach-around fucking with him and making him think that he had an important person in his life when really he didn't. Or 2) he had a childhood friend. But something about that still didn't quite sit right with him because, while he had all these memories of this person, they were very centered on himself. Like...he couldn't think of a single time that he'd ever been to this person's house and most of the time they were out somewhere together, it was because it was where he wanted to go. So that just struck him as a little weird but he figured that maybe they'd just managed to take out those memories completely. THIS WHOLE THING FRUSTRATED HIM TO NO END SO HE JUST...tried not to think about it. It's honestly a good thing Peko's execution ended up going the way it did or else this would have just driven him off the deep end eventually. But suffice it to say, the thought of Peko being his hitman never really crossed his mind at all. Because he didn't think he had a personal hitman and he also knew that the person he forgot was supposed to go to Hope's Peak with them. And...Peko was not a SHSL student. OR SO THEY THOUGHT.

I think what's really the saddest thing in all this though is the fact that Kuzuryuu was a DK. Because had he NOT been one, things would have gone very, very differently between the two of them. Because while his first instinct with Peko was always going to be IMMEDIATE DISTRUST/WARINESS and MUST PROVE THAT I AM A BIG TOUGH YAKUZA WORTHY OF MY TITLE, had he not been a DK, he probably would have gotten over that eventually. Also, their alliance would have lasted a heck of a lot longer (possibly until the end of the game, depending on how their relationship went) had he not been a DK. Honestly, might have ended up turning into a dangerous yakuza team up and it would have been beautiful and now I'm suddenly sad that THAT didn't happen either. Buuuutttt...unfortunately he was already in cahoots with the DKs when Peko asked him to be in cahoots with her so like...he went into their alliance with every intention of using her to the DKs' advantage in some way. Had she been a suspect when one of the DKs went, he absolutely would have thrown her under the bus and let her get scapegoated. THIS DID ACTUALLY BOTHER HIM. Like he couldn't help but hate himself for approaching the situation like that, but at that point in the game he was trying very hard to act the part of a proper DK because he had completely deluded himself into believing they stood a chance of winning. And that they were a big, scary DK force just like the Producers OBVIOUSLY WANTED THEM TO BE. So...Peko really made a huge mistake in coming to him at all, especially since he DID end up covering her ass so early on. Because he ended up using that to justify himself. She owed him so it's okay if he takes advantage of her a little bit for the DK's favor! She's yakuza anyway, she'd understand, those are just the breaks sometimes! So...he spent like a week aggressively pushing her buttons to try and get her to murder a dude for her young master. WHICH, AGAIN, HE...REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WAS BOTHERED BY. Because even if he didn't have a person like Peko in his life, that whole setup still really bothered him for reasons he couldn't wholly explain. More than it should for someone who has no direct experience with that sort of thing. So even before the truth came out, he sort of hated himself a little bit for using that particular button but...again. He was incredibly delusional at that point. The DK thing ended up feeding into his position-related insecurities in the worst way possible is basically what happened there. HAD HE NOT BEEN A DK? He honestly would have spent that week trying to talk Peko out of murder, oddly enough. Because she would have been his only ally and like hell was he losing his ONE ally that early on. AND SHE STILL OWED HIM AND LIKE HELL WOULD HE LET HER OUT OF THAT BY DYING. So he proooobably would have tried to push the "okay, I know you want to do this for your young master but there's always the option of double murdering later" angle. That or the "your young master probably wouldn't want that sort of protection if he has any self-respect." BECAUSE HE REALLY THOUGHT THAT MOTIVE WAS STUPID JUST...no. It's a good thing Peko failed to get away with it he would have been SO MAD if she had and the incentives did actually end up being legit. SO BASICALLY...Kazoo being a DK was the worst thing for their CR and it kept him from trusting/interacting with her the way he should have.

all through the trial and up to Peko's execution, Kuzuryuu actually didn't really feel THAT BAD about what he did. He hated what it was he took advantage of but like...he wasn't torn up over the fact that Peko was about to die. He wasn't attached to her at all so it was just kinda "ah yes, ty for killing that Freud guy so hopefully none of the DKs will have to go twice! Sorry it had to be like this, but maybe you were in my debt anyway." BUT THEN SHE GOT EXECUTED AND BOY HOWDY DID THAT EVER FUCK HIM UP. But it's also what started to snap him out of his delusions so...on some level, it was actually a good thing. But mostly it was terrible. Anyway, he couldn't write that execution off as fake or the Producers trying to mess with him. Because Peko being HIS hitman suddenly made everything make sense. And also it like...almost felt like he would have been insulting Peko in some way if he'd tried to write it off like that. AND HE'D DONE ENOUGH OF THAT ALREADY. So he accepted the truth pretty much immediately and promptly felt like shit because he sure did just push somebody important to him into killing a dude. HE SURE DID JUST INADVERTENTLY USE HIS TOOL AS A TOOL. YOU KNOW. THAT THING HE HATES? So he suddenly went from feeling very little guilt to feeling A WHOLE LOTTA GUILT. And it wasn't even that he blamed himself for pushing her even. Because he knew that, at best, his pushing had only HELPED her decision. There was still a chance she would have decided to do it without his coaxing. What he blamed himself for MORE was the fact that he didn't stop her. Because, like I said earlier: he was fairly sure that he, of everybody, COULD HAVE TALKED HER OUT OF IT IF HE'D JUST TRIED. But he didn't because he cared more about being a "good DK" than he did being a decent person. So that was a HUGE wake up call and he really started to question whether or not he was cut out for being a DK after all. He also swore off trying to manipulate people into murder for the DKs' sake after that. Just...nope. NOPE. HE'S DONE. IF SOMEBODY ELSE WANTS TO DO THAT, MORE POWER TO YOU BUT HE'S DONE.

And uh...then Peko was dead for the rest of the game. And Kuzuryuu was not. And not only that, but he STILL couldn't remember which...actually really kind of upset him. IT WAS ONE OF THOSE HINDSIGHT MOMENTS. HE WAS JUST KINDA LIKE "wow, I'm sorry I bitched about not knowing who that person was, CAN I GO BACK TO BEING IN THE DARK?" But no, he couldn't. So he was stuck in this awkward place of knowing who is important person was but...nothing about them. Or just HOW MUCH he'd forgotten. So he really was pretty torn up over her dying even without all his memories. Which is why he shut himself off from everybody completely for a day. He just needed some time alone to himself to process and to think before he could face anybody else. Getting her sword case was a comfort to him as well for reasons he wouldn't really have been able to explain if anybody had ever bothered to ask. Which is why he took the damn thing with him ALMOST EVERYWHERE...except to the library on week 8. Because he didn't want something to happen to it in the explosion.

SPEAKING OF WEEK EIGHT: THEN KAZOO DIED AND THEY FINALLY GOT TO BE REUNITED. Though he completely and utterly bluescreened because he thought he killed his sister. Ha...haha...HA. Okay but once he got over that...THINGS WERE AWKWARD. Because seeing her again just kicked all his pent up guilt back into existence. Because with everything else that had happened after her death, that kind of took a backseat as the weeks went on. But he also really wanted to remember her so he tore open his bag asap even though he PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE because lord they made him forget so much shit. So much. And that put him in even more of an awkward place because PEKO DID YOU REALLY PULL THIS BULLSHIT TWICE. But luckily what came to the forefront was how much he'd missed her both on the island and in the castle so all he could do was just cry and hold her until she said something. And...that something promptly pissed him off but...there you have it. You tried Peko. He got over it pretty quick though when she said she wanted to stay by his side and NOT BE A TOOL because holy hell HERE'S THAT THING HE'S WANTED FOR AS LONG AS HE CAN REMEMBER. IT FINALLY HAPPENED. SOMEHOW. HALLELUJAH PRAISE YAKUZA-JESUS.

The fact that she couldn't remember her own execution was just one more thing to add to the list of "Shit That Bothered Him A Lot Concerning Peko". Because he...felt bad not telling her the truth about what happened to him. But at the same time, he knew what her reaction would be if she knew that she was the one who'd blinded him. So he decided to blame it on Monobear which...isn't entirely incorrect, considering he was the one controlling Peko's movements at the time. AND KUZURYUU WAS THE ONE WHO RAN IN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE SO...REALLY, PEKO HONESTLY HAS THE LEAST BLAME DESPITE BEING THE MOST DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE ACTION-WISE. If he has his way, she'll never find out that she was the one actually holding the sword. At first, he assumed Peko would be right back in a goddamn coma the minute they found their way back home which...he was not happy about but he also wasn't completely torn up over. Because he was sure that once they get back, they'll be able to wake all the coma kids up. So having Peko be such a downer about that really pissed him off. Because it meant that 1) she was giving up, 2) she didn't think of herself as worth it which called into question her earlier statement of not wanting to be his tool anymore, and 3) she didn't believe in him. The last two obviously being the most important here, especially after he LITERALLY JUST KILLED TWO PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED IN HIM. That was so, so, SO important that he finally had people other than his sister believing in his abilities and then here's Peko telling him that there's no point in him trying to revive her. That was kind of a slap in the face. And then it also made him wonder if she was just saying the whole "I want to stay at your side as myself" thing just because she thought that's what he wanted to to hear. Which, he does want to hear! But only if she actually means it. Because if she doesn't mean it and want it for herself then there's no point.

So...overall things are still a liiiiittle rocky right now as far as their relationship goes but they are honestly in a much better place than they would be canonwise. Even with Kuzuryuu sort-of-lying about what happened to his eye. Mostly because Peko is in a much better place since she had all that time AWAY FROM HIM to start developing as her own person. So I do honestly believe that eventually they'll work their shit out and end up at a place where they both want to be which is more or less equals. (Though he'll probably still never allow himself to date you, sorry Peko. YOU CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER THOUGH) But they'll probably still fight with each other because they're both still very stubborn and willing to throw their lives away for the other's sake WHICH THEY NEED TO STOP DOING. But the fact that she probably won't be going back straight into a coma now will probably help them out because that was the biggest thing they were at odds over by the time endgame rolled around. And even if she does, they have Chihiro and he remembers shit about the program and Nanami's a human SO EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT, HE'S SURE OF IT. Dangans got super high school level best end.