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spunkypigeon · 2 years

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Diabolik Lovers Reiji Sakamaki Vol V Do-S Drama CD Analysis

Before I start, I’d like to mention that this is Reiji’s first singular Drama CD within Haunted Dark Bridal; and though I stated that it would not be analysed in my route analysis, that was not to say that it would not be analysed at all - it very much is. However, I did not want to include it in the route analysis for the sake of regurgitation. So, shall we begin ?

Note: This transcript was created by the lovely @dialovers-translations

Trigger Warning: Mentions of Abuse, Manipulation, Narcissism, Dehumanisation and Explicit Content

Word Count: 23,222 words

*Cling cling*

Reiji walks around the room, preparing himself a cup of tea.

“Haah…Simply wonderful. The depth of this sound. Its sharpness. I cannot get enough of this daunting feeling which is like taking a peek into the abyss.”

*Cling*

“It fills me with a sheer desperation, similar to that of a sacrifice being eaten alive.”

You enter the room.

“…Hm?”

*Cling*

Firstly, I wanted to bring attention to how Reiji describes brewing the tea - we established early on in his route analysis that tea cups can sometimes be a reference to or symbolise Yui. The depth of the cup alongside the tea itself to the sharpness of the sound could be Reiji subtly bringing attention to how he drinks Yui’s blood - a sharp noise and then the depth of the blood flows into the cup of his mouth. The reason I’m choosing to hyper-analyse this first line is due to what he says next: his reference to a sacrifice being eaten alive. The first interpretation of this is that it can be considered a simple reference to Yui’s sacrificial position, but that’s simply the line at face value. If we choose to look at this section in a different light, it could imply something entirely different.

Although tea has a meditative implication, it is argued by numerous scholars that it holds significance when examining the notion of purity. It was first asserted by the priest Murata Shuko in the 14th century that four values were central to the concept of the tea ritual: reverence, respect, purity, and tranquillity. It is claimed that the tea used in the tea ritual has great consequence in regards to purification, as it has an association with physical and spiritual purity appropriate for those who approach sacred places. It is further argued by Kakuzo Okakura that the concept of tea represents purity and harmony, and the manner in which the person is able to worship the social order and hierarchy. The tea bowl used in the duration of the Japanese tea ritual is an important and celebrated utensil; when examining the magnitude of the tea ceremony, it is said that the bowl used in the Japanese tea ritual represents an important piece in the reunification of the cosmos.

By including the symbolism of tea, especially in Japanese culture, due to the brothers’ geographical locations, it can help us understand why Reiji tends to be precise and meticulous when making a cup of tea. Different types of tea offer different colours; most notably, black tea offers a very dark brown, almost black pigment - as though looking at the tea is akin to “taking a peek into the abyss”. Following this interpretation, it can be further implied that the “abyss” Reiji is staring into is his wants and desires - purity, harmony and peace of mind, all things that tea can represent. We know from his route analysis that Reiji craves love and attention, he wants to put his doubting mind to rest and live without fear of rejection; and so, when paired with the “desperation” that he feels, it can be implied that Reiji’s desperate to achieve what the tea represents, to stare into the liquid abyss and feel at ease, like a sacrifice would when it accepts its fate.

Secondly, I’d like to mention that it can be implied that Reiji’s not talking to himself here, instead he is talking to Yui - the stage directions offer the implication that Yui is lingering outside of Reiji’s room, and he is making his presence known to her; with this interpretation, we can note that Reiji’s behaviour is ostentatious. “Ostentatious” comes from a Latin word meaning "display," and the idea of display is still very apparent in the English word as it is currently used. People and things described as ostentatious seem to have put themselves on display; they are practically begging to be looked at, and this is what Reiji is doing here - he knows that Yui is nearby and instead of simply brewing his tea, he decides to make a grandiose statement that, at first glance, makes no sense in order to goad her attention and lure her into his room. Reiji’s subtly manipulating Yui through his narcissism and incessant need for her attention. The reason I’m making this interpretation - that Reiji knows Yui is close by - is due to what he says next. However, when he says “a sacrifice being eaten alive” he is directly talking to Yui here, he gains her interest by cryptically talking about her, knowing that she is on the other side of the door and Reiji uses her innate curiosity to lure her in.

“…How about rather than hiding, you show yourself? Or rather, is that your interpretation of ‘hiding oneself’? A rather poor attempt, if I may say.”

“Haah…Good grief. If I were like any of my other brothers, you would have been captured and devoured by now. Pacing around in the corner of my eye like a little pest…Get on your knees over here. Yes, exactly. On the floor right in front of me. Come on, hurry up!”

You walk over and kneel down in front of him.

*Thud*

“Very well. I shall not allow you to move your legs until I give you permission to do so.”

You protest.

“Hah…I’m not bullying you. This is a trial to becoming a perfect, proper lady. Well then, I shall continue enjoying my tea time.”

Carrying on from this, the tone in which Reiji calls out Yui’s stance emphasises my previous point, he knows she’s there, he’s lured her in and now he’s choosing to patronise her; by him opting to condescend to Yui’s curiosity, it shows us yet again the lengths he will go to in order to manipulate and degrade Yui - consequently lowering her sense of self and wellbeing, making her even more susceptible to Reiji’s ploys and abuse.

Something that I wanted to bring attention to within this CD is Reiji making Yui kneel. The act of kneeling has a rich body of connotations from pure subordination to reverence to supplication. A person typically kneels in deference to something, whether literally or metaphorically; whatever that something is, the implication of the kneeling is usually that the kneeler is acknowledging, resigning to, or yielding to the power or glory of that ‘something’. With this in mind, it furthers Reiji’s need to implement and involve power and control in his every move - he’s reinforcing Yui’s physical and mental inferiority. Additionally, kneeling can also connote to animals, which brings us back to the animalistic imagery presented to Yui within Haunted Dark Bridal - which only implements her ‘retraining’ more.

Yui’s protest of Reiji’s behaviour very much shows her ability to stand up for herself, it shows that she’s not choosing to remain meek and silent or remain in the safety of her own head, she’s fighting back against Reiji’s unnecessary cruelty and he instead belittles her. Reiji instead deems his behaviour as a “trial” moreover “bullying”, yet even then, Yui and Reiji are both euphemising his cruelty - it’s not “bullying”, it’s abuse - yet Yui’s implied Stockholm syndrome would allow her brain to lessen the severity of Reiji’s actions and instead call her abuse “bullying”; this has been implied within my HDB route analysis. Furthermore, the notion that Reiji views his behaviour towards Yui as a “trial” could imply that this is a means to test Yui’s obedience; to test her ‘good behaviour’, again bringing us back to the overall ‘pet’ dynamic established in HDB and Reiji’s overall vile treatment of Yui.

*Cling cling*

You puff out your cheeks in frustration.

“…Haah…What’s the matter? Seems like you have something on your mind. …Wait! I have yet to give you the right to speak. …Who gave you permission to just talk to me like that? Good grief…”

*Cling*

“However…Well, when you look at me with such a displeased expression, the tea I brewed to perfection will go to waste.”

He puts down his cup.

“Very well. I shall give you the right to speak. Please try and keep it short.”

You ask him a question.

“How long you have to keep sitting like that, you ask? Until I am tired of it, I suppose. Now, I wonder how long that will take?”

Most notably, the detail that stuck out to me the most here is Yui’s right to speak. Yui has already been forced to kneel on the floor, and now, Reiji has just stated that she cannot even speak unless he gives her the “right” to - he’s controlling the situation - and by proxy, Yui - by removing what would be considered a natural human right in order to dehumanise and abuse her. Silence can be a way to pave the path to emotional abuse; by keeping, or by wanting, Yui to be silent, Reiji is essentially disregarding Yui’s emotions in favour of his own. It is to my interpretation that Reiji is trying to withhold Yui’s right of speech in order to make her feel devalued and vulnerable. Once a victim of abuse learns when to speak and when not to, it’s game over and the abuser has won - silence is easy to implement and a hard cycle to break, and it will usually occur alongside a power dynamic in order to utilise complete control of both the situation and the victim; this is what I believe Reiji is trying to implement.

I also wanted to draw attention to Reiji wanting Yui to remain on the floor; not only does he want her to kneel on the floor and remain silent, but he also wants her to stay like that until he grows bored. This implies that Reiji values subservience from Yui, he wants her to remain obedient and loyal to his every word and whim - this brings us back to operant control as well as positive and negative face, the innate factor in Reiji’s character that can be boiled down to “do as I say, not as I do”. Reiji desires to do as he pleases and expects Yui to know her place below him both mentally and physically - and that has progressed to wanting Yui to be physically and literally below him, on the floor -.

You retaliate.

“Hahaha…Oh dear. Have your legs already gone numb? It looks very painful. …However, my mood has greatly improved. I doubt I will get sick of this any time soon. Fufu…”

*Cling*

You tear up.

“What’s the matter? Are you crying already? …This is exactly why I cannot stand women. If you think I will let you off the hook by shedding some tears, you are gravely mistaken”

You make a fuss.

“Haah…How annoying…I suppose you leave me with no other choice. Let me pour you one cup of tea at least.”

You seem somewhat surprised.

“Your gratitude should know no bounds. I will carefully prepare it for you after all.”

Reiji gets up and starts pouring the tea.

The first thing to note here is that Yui feels discomfort, and Reiji’s mood lifts, reinforcing his sadistic nature - he’s taking pleasure and enjoyment out of Yui’s misfortune. Additionally, the notion that Reiji laughs at Yui’s protest of discomfort can imply that he’s opting to be playful with his tortuous impulses.

In his next piece of dialogue, Reiji’s hypocrisy is put on full display - he states that he cannot stand women due to them using tears and emotions to lessen any consequences that they face. The reason I’m saying this is hypocritical is due to Kanato - Reiji’s accusing Yui of using her emotions in order to guilt trip him, which is something that we know as the audience Yui has never done, as opposed to characters such as Kanato who constantly and consistently uses his volatile emotions to evade blame and responsibility from his wrongdoings both towards Yui and to others. The point that I’m most focused on is that this sort of behaviour can be learned, more importantly, Kanato most likely learned this behaviour from Cordelia in order to garner her attention, as well as follow in her mentally unstable footsteps. Kanato’s emotional manipulation can be a form of both his mental illness as well as his CEN yet he is never held accountable for his actions through fear of a violent outburst, yet Reiji is accusing Yui of doing the same thing because she protested against his demands, but why ?

First of all, Kanato’s heavy usage of ‘crocodile tears’ can be implied to be learned and encouraged by Cordelia - a woman who was also embedded with violence and manipulation to get her own way. I’m raising this detail in order to join the dots to my next point: women can use crying as emotional manipulation.

Women learn pretty early on that people can get uncomfortable when faced with a crying woman, and they'll often do just about anything to stem the flow of tears. From their perspective, a woman’s motivation for tears may fall into one of these three categories: hormone, manipulation, or sincere emotion. Crying is a foreign concept to those who revere their own feelings or those who are typically reserved or stoic, and it can be hard to navigate a situation charged with emotion and tears. One of the biggest mistakes made in conflict is perceiving a woman's tears as an indication of sadness; in abusive or manipulative women, this is a tactic of avoidance in order to gain sympathy and take back the high ground, once they have then the other person begins to console the woman, and the woman has won.

People treat others differently depending on what emotions they show, and crying will mostly resort in sympathy or guilt depending on the situation - people learn early on that if they’re a child and they cry, they’ll get their own way, whether that’s being bought a toy they want or evading something they don’t want to do; due to women being taught to express their emotions more, this tactic can sometimes linger from the child and carry on into the adult. With this in mind, some women use crying to their advantage and can easily manipulate others by garnering sympathy. When this happens, it’s commonly appointed that the woman is simply oversensitive - and this is mostly the case, some people are just kind and sensitive souls - however, with this being the common referral, it allows some people to manipulate that and they’ll use the term “oversensitive” to cover up what they really are, manipulative; this happens rather frequently in abusive and manipulative women.

I’m drawing attention to this due to Reiji accusing Yui of using crocodile tears. As the audience, we know that Yui is nothing but a sweet and genuine person, and when faced with copious amounts of abuse, that mental strain is going to exhaust her to the point where any emotional outpour is going to result in tears...especially frustration - something that Yui no doubt feels constantly when faced with Reiji. However, when grouped together alongside both Kanato and Cordelia, it would be a natural assumption to make that Yui is simply crying to avoid displeasure. Reiji is wrong to accuse, but he is not wrong to assume. Kanato, Cordelia and most likely countless others - especially girls during school hours - all use their emotions to manipulate and exploit situations and people; and with this in mind, it can be implied that Reiji’s being cautious, he’s trying to prevent any chance he thinks that Yui may have to use his emotions against him.

Furthermore, Reiji becomes reluctant and offers Yui a cup of tea - this is something that he does within his route within the rest of HDB - however, if we include the symbolism of tea, it could infer that Reiji is instead offering to try and calm Yui down; essentially offering her a subtle fragment of sympathy...the very thing we’ve implied him to despise - thus providing us with his contradictory nature -.

*Cling cling*

*Pssssshhh*

*Cling*

“Mm~ Look, can you tell? The delicate fragrance of this tea is honestly wasted on someone like you.”

“It smells of flowers, do you not reckon? Take a sip…Slowly. It is still hot so please be careful.”

You grab the cup.

“Well then, now dry your tears. Good grief, you are such a handful.”

First of all, I’d like to mention that Reiji’s talk of tea can be implied to be a distraction - by changing topic, he’s in essence distracting Yui from her tears, and her reason to cry. It’s a nice way to weave in his compassion and his growing development within the story; one might say that Reiji’s simply trying to avoid Yui’s emotional state due to distress - and on one hand, that is true - however, it can be inferred that he’s trying to soothe Yui’s tears. Distractions can be good as they have the ability to shift our attention away from negative experiences, and by Reiji offering Yui tea, he’s offering her peace of mind.

This small section portrays Reiji’s softer side to both us and Yui - he’s still stern and reluctant but he’s offering to try and comfort Yui. By asking Yui if the tea smells of flowers, he’s trying to allow Yui to think of something nice and relaxing; he’s not belittling her anymore, and it shows a change in his character. To add to this, when Reiji states “now dry your tears“, he’s not being rude or condescending with it or telling her to simply “stop crying”, instead, he’s opting to use this euphemistic idiom in order to sound gentle and tender towards Yui; it’s quite rare for Reiji to become sentimental towards Yui, and it’s to my belief that he’s honestly trying to be somewhat kind and comforting here, strained though it may be.

*Cling*

“And? Will you give an answer soon?”

You tilt your head to the side.

“To what, you ask? …Hah. I am obviously asking for your reasoning behind coming here at this hour.”

You hesitate.

“Come on, hurry up. I would like to ask you to keep it short, within three seconds preferably. Three, two, one…”

You quickly blurt out your answer.

“Hm? What was that? …You had a scary dream? I see. Well, well…Fufufu…”

“Ah, please do not get upset. I am not ridiculing you. I simply thought it is so very much like you, very cute. Making such a fuss over a nightmare or two…”

Here we see Reiji taunting Yui with operant control, he’s giving her the choice to tell him what’s wrong, yet he’s also giving her a time limit - following Reiji’s HDB route, it’s clear to say that he’s not a man who wishes to waste time; with this in mind, it can be implied that he wants Yui to be open and honest with him, he doesn’t want her to euphemise the problem or beat around the bush hence why I think he instils the time limit like how a parent would. The fact that Reiji begins to chuckle once Yui’s problem has been outed shows how much he enjoys taunting her, however, the notion that he quickly stops once Yui becomes upset again presents us with the implication that this may not have been intentional - he outright states that ridicule wasn’t on his mind and to distract her further, Reiji opts to compliment Yui by deeming her “cute”.

By complimenting her, Reiji’s yet again causing a distraction - he’s causing her to think in a more positive manner. Compliments and positive affirmations can help soothe a distressed mind and given the fact that Yui’s both mentally and emotionally exhausted and vulnerable, rewarding her with positive comments would not only diffuse the situation, but it would also allow Yui to latch onto him more; this ‘kindness’ is designed to win over the trust and confidence of an unsuspecting victim, making them vulnerable to subsequent abuse, just like Yui. Someone who is helpful, comforting and firm may be just that, but the problem occurs when those behaviours have underlying motives attached to them and this requires discernment.

You get upset.

“Oh dear…That was rude of me. …They say that nightmares may occur as an after-effect of psychological strain. Well, from an objective point of view, you are - frankly speaking - a completely invaluable woman, average in every sense of the word. Yet this lifestyle was suddenly forced upon you, you poor little thing.”

You frown.

“It would be much more strange if you did not experience any nightmares. Being driven into a corner by Ayato and the others, having your blood sucked, being threatened…You barely have any moments of peace left, do you?”

You nod.

“Haha…Come on, the tea will go cold. Have some more. I am sure it will help soothe your nerves as well.”

The first thing to note is that Reiji fails to apologise for his actions, opting to say that he was “rude” rather than “wrong”; this is due to it being extremely rare for an emotionally abusive partner to take responsibility for their actions. Reiji chooses to euphemise his behaviour and how it has upset Yui, and this can be implied to mean that he can’t handle his behaviour being ‘wrong’ in some way. Something to pay attention to, is that Reiji openly states that he’s causing Yui a great deal of suffering, and yet again, he euphemises it - he says “psychological strain” moreover “psychological abuse”, which is what it is - and instead of lessening the strain he’s putting on Yui, he decides to add to it by being insulting and condescending to her.

Someone who’s condescending tends to have some form of control issues, insecurities and emotional baggage; the condescending person likely witnessed or was treated to quite aggressive, authoritarian parenting at a young age. This doesn’t just demonstrate a condescending person, but it also demonstrates a close-minded and arrogant one. Close-mindedness can occur when people attach their value systems to their self worth; when a person has ‘fixed’ values, they will rationalise away any contradictory data at all costs, in other words, they can never be wrong, and “everyone else is just a clueless idiot”. Incidentally this is a common thought process among individuals with NPD - narcissistic personality disorder. The danger with condescending personalities is that they’re usually oblivious to how patronising and otherwise damaging they are, and they can have difficulty accepting that their ‘infantilising’ behaviour towards others is, in fact, emotionally crippling and unappreciated. This is more common when the condescension mimics that of the ‘benevolent parental figure’, as opposed to the authoritarian parental figure.

The other danger has already been alluded to, that within their value system is the idea that “people who have power or control over others are better”. Those with an immature mind cannot comprehend the shades of grey in this and decide to take it literally; they can’t understand that it’s alright to not know everything, that everyone is good at different things, that everyone is bad at something but is still lovable and worthwhile. This translates into “I am more valuable or lovable if I have power or control over others”. With this in mind, it’s no doubt that those who tie their self worth to their authority cannot handle being wrong, they’re terrified of losing any form of control that they have as they don’t know who they are without it. Reiji doesn’t know who he is without power and control.

You seem hesitant.

“You would not possibly refuse to drink the tea I set myself, would you?”

You explain.

“You want to drink it after it has cooled down a little? No, I would very much like you to try it right now. It would be a shame if you let the optimal timing to drink it pass by.”

*Cling*

*Gulp*

“Fufu…Exactly…Slowly savour it. Well then, I suppose I shall have a taste as well.”

I wanted to note that Reiji’s insistence on Yui drinking the tea displays his need for control; it acts as another way to see Yui follow his every command - sit where he wants, speak when he wants and drink when he wants -. Reiji disregards Yui’s request in favour of his own wants, he wants her to drink and he wants her to do it “now”; the inclusion of this adverb demonstrates both Reiji’s insistence as well as his authorities and domineering nature. Additionally, once Yui has followed through with Reiji’s demand, it is only then that his mood lightens, implying that once Reiji is in full control, only then is he content.

*Pssshhh*

“Aah…It truly smells wonderful. If only you were not here, it would be the ideal night.”

Reiji gets up from his seat.

“Haah…What is the matter? You have been staring at me this whole time.”

You explain.

“Eh? You want to see me drink my tea? …You really have no shame do you? What lead you to wanting to watch something like that?”

You tell him his tea will go cold.

“Ahem…I like slightly cooled down tea. Please leave me alone. It is none of your business. …Above all, when I think about your filthy fingers touching the tableware I spent so much time polishing, I grow anxious.”

Reiji yet again opts to spend his time insulting Yui, belittling her for ‘ruining’ his night. Passages such as this provide us with the emotional abuse Reiji bestows on Yui. Furthermore, it can be implied that Yui is being sceptical here, wanting to see Reiji drink the tea - the first time Reiji allowed Yui to drink some of his tea, she was poisoned; naturally, that fear and caution is going to remain, allowing her to be sceptical of him when faced with this situation. Additionally, the fact that Reiji stalls and claims to prefer “slightly cooled down tea” puts his hypocrisy on full display as he is doing the very thing he belittled Yui for. In addition to this, Reiji switches topics and returns to insulting Yui once more, claiming that she has “filthy fingers”, which can not only be implied in the literal sense, but also in the sense that Yui is in some way dishonest or unfair - the phrase “filthy/dirty hands” can mean that a person involved in dishonesty or unfairness -.

*Cling cling*

“I have to keep a close eye on you to ensure you will not break my precious children.

“Silverware is wonderful, you know? For example…Take a look at this dinner fork.”

*Cling*

“It is polished to perfection, shining in the moonlight. As for these plates, my heartbeat accelerates just from imagining which dishes will be arranged on top of them.”

“However, the piece I like the best at the moment, is this tea cup. Its shape, the minute details, do you not think it is simply beautiful? If I just imagine pouring blood inside of here, before slowly drinking it…Fufu…”

*Gulp*

“Come on, take a closer look. This is a well-known brand’s exclusive product of which only two exist in this whole world. …Ah! You must not touch iーー!”

*SHATTER*

“…Ah! …The teacup…”

“This is exactly why I told you not to touch it! Why would you space out like thaーー You cut your fingertip…”

Reiji’s behaviour here is quite different from what both Yui and we as the audience usually see. Firstly, Reiji notes his love for silverware and chinaware - objects delicately and intricately created yet are exponentially fragile; something that we have implied Yui to be -. What’s different, is that Reiji slowly becomes ecstatic while presenting them to Yui, and calling them his “children”. When an inanimate object is deemed a child, it usually infers that there is a great deal of care between the caller and the recipient, thus showing us how deeply Reiji values his collection as he’s personifying their value to that of a living being. The fact that he becomes almost blissful while describing them to Yui can imply that he never really has time to talk about his own interests or anyone to talk to in general; he becomes persistent on showing Yui his most prized collections, urging her to “take a closer look” in order to pontificate his own interests to someone who will listen to him, rather than trap his more elated thoughts inside the contents of his own head. Implications such as this unveil the lack of communication and care between the brothers as a whole and justifies Reiji’s twisted attachment to Yui.

On top of that, once the cup is broken, Reiji becomes quick to blame Yui for “touching it” even though he was practically forcing it in front of her; incidents such as this show Reiji’s inability to accept blame for his actions - he forced the cup in front of Yui and it broke, he then decided to blame Yui rather than accept that the cup broke because of his recklessness. This displays Reiji’s inability to accept blame in the face of wrongness due to him believing that he needs to be perfect, and perfect means that Reiji can never be at fault. One form of verbal and emotional abuse that’s mostly under-discussed is blame-shifting, which serves a number of functions. Its most prominent use is to deflect attention and any relevant discussion from one person to the other, this maintains the control that the blame-shifter desires - the ‘shifter’ being Reiji in this case -.

Notice how Reiji pauses before stating “You cut your fingertip…”, it’s almost as though the realisation that Yui is injured has pulled him out of his scolding tangent. The dashes symbolise Reiji’s pause, that he’s been snapped out of his thoughts at Yui’s injury, and the ellipsis at the end demonstrate that Reiji’s voice has grown quiet - all things considered, this can imply that Reiji’s having a moment of realisation and consideration for Yui’s wellbeing, which is something that he tends to avoid; interactions such as this display Reiji’s slow character development, and that at times, he does honestly care for Yui.

*Rustle*

“…and it’s bleeding.”

You try and hide it.

“…Haah…Human maidens are so fragile, this is exactly why they are troublesome.”

You remain quiet.

“I shall tend to your cut right away. …Come on, show me the wound. …I shall lick it for you. Like this…”

*Smooch*

“Did you not hear me earlier? I shall repeat myself one more time. Behave. In short, I am warning you not to fight back.”

“This is treatment after all. If you struggle like that, you will only be in more pain.”

A common trait in Reiji’s character that I have decoded is that he can be implied to be viewed as the parental figure of the family, and his behaviour switches to that of a caretaker once Yui’s injured, opting to stop the flow of blood by ‘kissing it better’ much like how a parent would with a child - I don’t think Reiji is consciously or honestly trying to infantilise Yui by doing this, I think he’s genuinely trying to compensate and make it up to her for his previous behaviour. His strict rules and threats are still very much intact but I think he’s trying to quiet and calm Yui so that he can give her this small bout of affection.

You stop resisting.

“Exactly. You are a clever woman, it seems. I do not dislike that.”

Reiji licks the wound.

“…There. All done. It did not hurt, did it? I have been told to be very skilled at this. The cut was not particularly deep, so a wound of this calibre should heal in no time.”

“That being said…Your blood truly is more delicious than any other I have tasted up till now.”

You flinch.

“I suppose I can somewhat understand why the others are attracted to you.”

“Your blood most definitely…has the power to drive us Vampires mad.”

Although this section may at first glance seem patronising, it is to my interpretation that this may be genuine praise. Reiji’s given Yui a command and she’s followed through with it, and in the context of operant control, her behaviour is then rewarded - this being words of praise. The thing to note here is that when Reiji deems Yui a “clever woman” he’s not praising her intellect in any way, instead, he’s praising her loyalty and obedience to him and his every word. Again, I don’t think he’s trying to be patronising in this section and it’s to my inference that Reiji’s trying to display a small scale of affection; and with interrogatives such as “it did not hurt, did it?”, it demonstrates that he’s learning to patronise less and care more - the phrase itself can also be implied to be a rhetoric since pricking your finger doesn’t cause that much pain, but I’d still like to consider the possibility that Reiji is trying to show affection on his own terms and when he is the one in absolute control.

Something else I wanted to quickly bring attention to was the last line of dialogue here as it can be interpreted as both a compliment and a threat, and this comes from the words “power” and “mad”. When you hear the word “power”, what’s the first thing your mind conjures up ? Is it a negative connotation ? The thirst for dominance and control ? Or is it war and diplomats ? The concept of power is as ancient as any that social theory can boast. With this in mind, it can be suspected that there is indeed such a thing as power that exists which can be systematically studied. Sociologist Robert A. Dahl said “We are not likely to produce - certainly not for some considerable time to come - anything like a single, consistent, coherent “Theory of Power.” We are much more likely to produce a variety of theories of limited scope, each of which employs some definition of power that is useful in the context of the particular piece of research or theory but different in important respects from the definitions of other studies.” A necessary condition for the concept of power relation is that there exists a time lag, however small, from the actions of the one who is said to exert power to the responses of the recipient. Person A can hardly be said to have power over Person B unless A’s power attempts precede B’s responses.

In context, this implies that although Yui holds little to no power when Reiji is in control, if Reiji falters or exposes his blind spot, she then wields the power - if Reiji happened to be caught off guard, Yui can use her blood to change the high ground and be the one in control as she has taken advantage of Reiji’s responses to stay rational and level-headed and therefore, she has won power over him; this is something we physically see within HDB’s Manservant Ending, so it’s possibility of arising may not be as far-fetched as one might think. Bringing us back to my first point, it can be implied that Reiji’s complimenting the power of Yui’s blood, and he is also pointing out his weak spot, however, this can also be interpreted to be a threat of power too. The word “mad” can have many connotations from being bombastic to certifiably insane and with those connotations, Reiji’s praise of Yui’s blood can seem a lot more threatening towards her. There is a connection between anger and madness. Anger and madness are brothers; in other words, they are related, and acting in an unreasonable way is what madness is all about. Some will be quick to deem that untrue, but those who consider it carefully would realise the operative word "brothers"; brothers simply means they are related, when people often ask, "are you mad at me?", they actually mean "are you angry with me?" and that's not just a coincidence. There is a connection between anger and madness, and it occurs when a person is angry. The heart rate accelerates, the blood pressure rises, the rate of breathing increases and more blood pumps into the brain. These activities narrow the person's attention and locks it on the target of the anger. With this, it narrows the person's ability to rationalise and think logically, tempting them to act in an unreasonable way, and acting in an unreasonable way is what madness is all about. Madness is defined as a condition of the mind which eliminates all rational thought leaving an individual with no proper reasoning, and it’s to my interpretation that this is what this line of dialogue is referring to - it’s almost as if Reiji’s saying “if you use your blood against me, neither of us will know what could happen” and it acts as both a threat and a warning towards Yui -.

You back away in fear.

“What is the matter? You look so frightened.”

You open your mouth to answer.

“Aah…I can tell what is going on inside your head. You are alert, fearing that one drop of your blood might have made me lose your mind, am I right?”

“You truly are an open book. While innocence can be good at times, in your case, I assume you are simply a fool, ignorant to how you leave yourself full of openings.”

This next section of dialogue emphasises my previous inference - that Reiji’s ‘praise’ is in fact a threat, and we see that through Yui’s body language -. Backing away and losing the ability to speak are all common symptoms of being scared or afraid; your first reaction is to move or back away from the cause of fear, and if it has not already occurred, the throat will also dry up. Stress and anxiety produce excess acid in your stomach, and if the acid backs up into your throat, it then irritates the delicate tissues there - making your throat feel dry. When you’re anxious or afraid, your body releases adrenaline into your system, and one of adrenaline’s effects is to shut off your salivary glands, which quickly leads to a dry throat as it exposes your mouth to more air than normal. Body language such as this can present us with the clear image that Yui is scared, and that she has realised and acknowledged Reiji’s innate threat.

Instead of lightening up on his behaviour, Reiji decides to revel in it and taunt Yui. Scenes such as this reinforce Reiji’s cruel and sadistic nature and it can be implied that he does this because he always needs to be in absolute control, he can’t bring himself down to Yui’s level or domesticate himself because he’s then lessening the power dynamic between them. Vulnerability is something that we can imply Reiji to fear, or at least feel uncomfortable with, and so by reinforcing his cruel hand, he’s keeping Yui at arm’s-length; he’s keeping that vulnerability at bay by refusing to give Yui any form of power over him. The fact that he chooses to taunt her presents his verbal abuse towards Yui.

Taunting is a textbook tactic for bullies, yet it can be disguised under playful behaviour or someone’s sense of humour. It is damaging to a person’s psychological wellbeing and cannot be folded under ‘light teasing’ - it is a cruel tactic and its only purpose is to harm someone else. Taunting is a choice to subject someone to emotional and mental violence out of contempt and disrespect, and it is a demeaning and one-sided action. There is no guarantee that someone will be able to defend themselves against people who are taunting them, as it is a display of power to grant oneself a superior position in whatever space they are in. It is also a tactic to control someone’s behaviour by wearing them down, and direct, provocative commentary to hurt people can be disguised as light-hearted joking, except, there’s nothing funny about it. When it comes to any sort of competitive arena, taunting has been normalised; taunting will not motivate, they will alienate, and this is exactly what Reiji wants.

Throughout Haunted Dark Bridal, we see Reiji use verbal abuse towards Yui; what we see here is similar, the difference is that within his route, the degrading language is used on a more serious note - as it whittles down Yui’s self-esteem - and here, his belittlement comes off as playful instead. Reiji subtly threatens Yui and she acknowledges that, and instead of congratulating her for that, he instead taunts Yui and leads her to doubt herself. To taunt is to tease, insult or antagonise someone by deliberately saying or doing something mean and Reiji does this by stating, “You truly are an open book...I assume you are simply a fool”. Yui’s right, yet he calls her wrong and this is done to instil doubt - by using tactics such as this, Reiji’s limiting Yui’s ability to think successfully and confidently; thus giving him the ability to keep her close to him.

You stomp your foot.

“…Woah there, My apologies. …You should be very wary around men, especially around Vampires such as ourselves. You may not be aware of this yet, but Vampires may put up a gentleman-like façade, but in the end, we are unable to fight back against our own hunger. Especially when high-quality blood is presented right in front of us…”

You flinch.

“If you give me an opening, I would love to suck your blood. If we want to, someone like you…would stand no chance against us Vampires. After all, this is our true nature. Please keep that in mind.”

You ask him why he is telling you all of this.

“This is a warning. Exactly. I am being as kind as to warn you, so you should feel flattered.”

“Fufufu…I might be having this conversation with you now, but in reality…I can feel the thirst welling up inside of me.”

“It seems like ‘tending to your wounds’ was simply an excuse on my end.”

I find the first line of this section to be highly significant. Reiji declares that Yui should “be very wary around men” moreover “[Yui] should be very wary around us/Vampires”; phrases such as this can carry quite a sexual tone, and it can be implied that Reiji’s threatening Yui with sexual violence - hence why I think he specifically said “men” moreover “us”, Reiji’s making the divide between him and Yui clear and this time he’s doing in the form of their respective genders. When implementing abuse, there’s four main forms: mental, physical, emotional and sexual - and when instilling them, it tends to be a process of elimination in order to find the one that works the best for the abuser; we know that Reiji has instilled three of these already and now, it can be implied that he’s threatening the fourth - fear acts as a way to control people. Fear is our most powerful emotion and the one that motivates us the most. It is a survival mechanism, an instinctual reaction that helps us stay alive; if we survive a bad experience, we never forget how to avoid it in the future - some of our oldest and most vivid memories are born in fear, it’s adrenaline that etches them into our brains. Nothing makes us more uncomfortable than fear, and those who are manipulative use that to their advantage; it can be implied that this is what Reiji’s attempting to do, he’s instilling fear into Yui in order to control and manipulate her - and this fear is the threat of sexual assault.

Another thing to note here is the rest of Reiji’s first passage, specifically when he mentions “gentleman-like façade“ as Reiji’s making a direct reference to himself - he’s quite literally telling Yui what his entire façade is. It can be implied that this is done to show Reiji’s level of self-awareness, he’s comfortable to tell Yui what his façade is, but he’s not comfortable enough to put his name to it and own up to his defence mechanism. I’ve come to this interpretation through Reiji’s declarative of “Vampires may put up a gentleman-like façade, but in the end, we are unable to fight back against our own hunger" we clearly know that Reiji’s talking about himself, however, he’s doing this through the usage of nosism - nosism is the practice of using “we” or using a collective when giving one's own opinions; it acts to lessen the severity and confidence of someone’s opinions, in essence, it can imply that Reiji is not confident with talking for himself, and instead uses a collective to fade into the background of - I believe this may have something to do with “we are unable to fight back against our own hunger". It’s to my interpretation that Reiji’s using nosism to cover up his falsities and downfalls - this being Yui’s blood and how he falls tempted before it -. Reiji’s a character who strives for perfection in every aspect of his existence and finds satisfaction in placing himself above Yui, and what he deems as her ‘animalistic instincts’; and so, to ‘lose’ to the power of Yui’s blood is to fail in his perfection - he’s also succumbing to his innate desires - which is why I believe nosism is used, Reiji can’t face his own instincts as to him, they are ‘imperfect’, and so he uses “we” instead of “I” as a way of normalising this imperfection. With this implication in mind, this only acts as another way for Reiji to hide behind his status and façade.

He suddenly steps closer.

“In reality…! I just cannot help but want to suck your blood…!”

You run to the door and try to open it.

“Fufu…Ahahaha! Where are you going? That door has already been locked. …Seems like you are wondering when I did that. The fact you did not realise is exactly why I said you leave yourself wide open.”

“Well then…It would be in your best interest here to behave. Please rest assured. I will not make it painful for you.”

Reiji steps closer.

“You should have simply endured the nightmare in peace…You truly are foolish.”

Furthermore, instead of being able to admit his faults, Reiji opts to overturn the situation and twist his faults into a means of intimidation. Intimidation is an effective means of instilling control, and we know that Reiji adores controlling others. A common reason for intimidating others is because the intimidator wants to see themselves as powerful, it doesn’t matter if they are or not, as long as they can make someone else think that they are; causing fear in another is one way to cause that effect and induce control. More commonly, those who intimidate others were, in actuality, once intimidated themselves, and possessed an element of envy towards those who held power over them; and in an attempt to ‘grow’ from that, they instead try to protect their broken souls by putting up a controlling and aggressive front - I believe this follows Reiji’s psychological narrative.

Reiji’s body language - the fact that he’s moving closer - can infer that he’s playing the dynamic of his choice, Reiji is opting to play the predator whilst Yui is the prey; he’s enforcing his whims onto her yet again, implying that he remains incapable of relinquishing control. Accepting your faults is one half of the solution, and being able to let someone help you is the other, and it is to my interpretation that Reiji struggles with both - he’s unable to be vulnerable because then, in his mind, he is then the prey; Reiji is supposed to be the hunter, not the hunted, which is why I believe he struggles so much to release his tight-gripped control on Yui. Vulnerability is everyone’s natural enemy, and Reiji’s perfectionistic mind would naturally exaggerate that to an unbridled amount; therefore making him incapable of accepting and yielding to it.

You protest.

“This is a blunder on your part. …Or did you perhaps come to my room, very well aware of all of this? …Say…Tell me.”

You refuse to answer.

“Oh dear? Cat got your tongue, it seems? Do you not even want to talk to me anymore?”

“Very well…I am curious to find out how long you will keep that up.”

He corners you.

“Well then, where do you prefer to have your blood sucked from? Your neck? Your lips? Wrist? …Or perhaps from the teacup?”

The first line of dialogue in this section showcases Reiji once again shifting blame onto Yui, yet again displaying his inability to accept fault, but why ? Throughout the CD, Yui has constantly been protesting against Reiji, showing us that she’s not afraid to fight back, and if Reiji were to let his guard down in the face of vulnerability, it’s likely that she would use that to her advantage - and that’s possibly why Reiji is blame shifting, he’s stopping any chance Yui has to defend herself and call out his defensive behaviour.

However, the next section showcases his hypocrisy. Reiji’s a character who likes to talk, he enjoys using his words to degrade and berate Yui as it gives him a form of abusive empowerment; yet once Yui refrains from answering, his ‘playful’ threats return through, “I am curious to find out how long you will keep that up”. The most appropriate way to deal with a situation such as this is to simply stay quiet and let the situation defuse itself yet Reiji fails to let that happen, instead, he chooses to ramble on in order to try and back Yui into a corner - he wants Yui to fight back so that he can have the satisfaction of tearing her down and inflicting more abuse on her. However, Reiji’s continued talking could also imply that he fails to cope in silence, he’s left in his own thoughts and feelings, the very things Reiji despises; and so, the best way to combat this would be to talk - this is often known as compulsive talking, and the most common and basic cause of any compulsive behaviour is anxiety.

A person who engages in compulsive behaviour often has something on their mind that they do not wish to address, they feel anxious towards silence and the possibility of being stuck in their unwanted thoughts. Until the compulsive talker comes to grips with whatever they don’t want to think about, the talking will continue. The root of this anxiety varies from individual to individual. But it often stems from deep-seated emotions of insecurity and inadequacy. For the compulsive talker, silence and reflection are simply unacceptable, and a pause in conversation is an emotional abyss into which they simply cannot help but throw themselves. This is why I believe Reiji hardly ever stops talking, he’s become so attuned to resenting his past, his thoughts and his feelings, that any chance of him being faced with them are squashed; and instead of working through his problems and trauma, he instead talks his frustration out on Yui.

Another thing to note is Reiji’s quip of “Or perhaps from the teacup?”, he’s trying to goad Yui into fighting back and so, he moves from intimidation to mockery, he pokes fun at her misfortune from earlier - he moves past his own feelings from the previous mishap in an attempt to abuse her more.

You flinch.

“Fufu…Ahaha…Ahahaha! It is a joke, all of it. Your frightened expression is truly adorable. It is worth teasing you, one could say. …Did you perhaps believe that I had truly lost myself?”

“In that case, I believe you are thinking a little bit too highly of yourself because my other brothers have been seeking after you so much. Please do not make me laugh.”

“While it is true that you are…Well, somewhat charming, albeit pitiful, and your blood is delectable. …You are in no shape or form suited for me.”

“If you wish to drive me crazy, you will have to put in effort to become a lady adequate to my level.”

You frown, not quite grasping his words.

“It seems like something a normal human would understand without further explanation, you seem completely puzzled by. Haah…It is truly tragic…”

Within this section there is a clear tonal shift, which can imply that Reiji enjoys inducing cruel mind games on Yui. There are a number of reasons why people play mind games, yet the goal is usually to gain a sense of control or power over another person. The player wants to gain a specific response, but instead of telling you what they need or asking for what they want, they try to get their needs met by using manipulative tactics. It’s all about feeling powerful and in control, but those feelings never last for long; it’s almost impossible to create an authentic connection with someone when honest communication is missing. When people play psychological games, it puts the victim in a tough spot because the abuser has a clear agenda, a clear view of the ‘playing field’, whereas the victim might not; we become used to responding to the content of human communication - you might have an idea that something is off, but you leave it be, and before you know it, others are in control of the situation and you’re their unwitting pawn. The only way to beat them at their own game is by not playing, which is exactly what Yui tries to do, and what does Reiji do ? He persists.

You drop your head in defeat.

“Well then, what to do with you?”

You cross your arms.

“What’s with that face? Even though you are terrified, you also seem somewhat disappointed? …Fufu…Not too shabby. It is very cute.”

“…’Said compliment does not make me happy’, you say? Fufu…Those are some rather provocative words. A failure as a proper lady. …Very well, I shall personally discipline you to ensure you will never be so conceited again.”

“Let’s see…First up…Ah, right!”

We see Reiji cling to this persistence by both complimenting and demeaning Yui, which finally grants him the satisfaction of winning and breaking Yui’s silence. Something to note here is when Reiji deems Yui “conceited”, he’s framing her as vain and self-important, which is the complete opposite of what Yui is; this can often be known as projecting - Yui herself is not conceited in any way, but Reiji is -. Projection refers to unconsciously taking unwanted emotions or traits you don’t like about yourself and attributing them to someone else, and like a lot of aspects of human behaviour, projection comes down to being a self-defence mechanism. Koenig notes that projecting something you don’t like about yourself onto someone else protects you from having to acknowledge that part about yourself. Projection does what all defence mechanisms are meant to do: keep discomfort about ourselves at bay and outside our awareness. Those who maintain low self-esteem can also fall into the habit of projecting their own feelings of not being good enough onto others; this is something we often see Reiji doing - we know he suffers from long-lasting CEN, perfectionism and mild NPD and one thing that keeps them all interconnected is low self-esteem. Reiji buries his feelings under a mask and plays a gentleman-like façade, he acts as though he is superior in every way, because deep down, he feels as though he is not, and instead of recognising that, he projects it onto Yui. Those who can accept their failures and weaknesses, and who are comfortable reflecting on the good, bad, and ugly within, tend not to project - they have no need to, as they can tolerate recognizing or experiencing their negative traits.

Additionally, I wanted to make a note of when Reiji stated that Yui was a “failure as a proper lady”. Throughout history, there have been many periods in which women were enforced to abide by certain societal rules and etiquette in order to be viewed as a “proper lady”. A woman’s reputation is as brittle as it is beautiful, and even for wealthy and social standing women, there was no guarantee that a lady would enjoy a fine reputation; instead, a lady’s reputation was largely based upon how she behaved herself, both in public as well as in the privacy of her own home.

Following Reiji’s HDB route, we implied that Reiji’s possibly using Yui as a vessel or conduit for Beatrix as well as his younger self - a way for Reiji to channel his wants, desires and tribulations through Yui and drag her down into turmoil with him. In the many etiquette manuals of the time, whole sections were often devoted to how a lady should move, and even how they should stay still; there was nothing you could do that wouldn’t be judged by the rest of society and, while some rules were very complex, and at times contradictory, when it came to sitting and walking, it was quite straightforward: keep it elegant and refined. This is the basis of how Reiji wishes Yui to behave - elegant and refined, just like how Beatrix was - and he enjoys ‘retraining’ her to conform to this attitude, displaying that historical behaviours are of some importance to him, and they have affected his views on others.

*Cling cling*

*SPLASH*

“Oh no! The tea has spilled! What if it stains the floor? Come on, hurry up! Why are you standing there with your mouth hanging wide open? …It seems like you do not know what to do?”

“It should be obvious, is it now? I am asking you to get down on your knees and wipe the floor.”

You protest.

“…’I am not the one who spilt it’, you claim? So that is your response? I’m utterly disappointed. …Hurry up and clean it! Learning to look out for others is a very important part of your training! However, that does not give you a reason to do it hastily, your movements must remain graceful and beautiful.”

Alongside historical etiquette often comes ingrained sexism, and here we slowly see that side of Reiji seep out. Reiji spilt his tea, Yui defended herself and Reiji in turn lashes out and suddenly expects Yui to clean up his mess; a piece of Reiji’s dialogue shows how hypocritical this is, he states “when you break things in this house, you must tidy them up immediately” - which would imply that if Yui has broken something, then she must be the one to clean up the mess left behind, not clean up Reiji’s mess - phrases such as this not only show Reiji’s hypocrisy but also his standards for Yui, she is to be quiet, poised, obedient and revolve entirely around him - which to my interpretation, reminds me a lot of housewifery -. Traditional gender roles throughout history cast men as rational, strong, protective, and decisive; they cast women as emotional, weak, irrational, and submissive; these gender roles have been used very successfully to justify inequities. Being treated as subordinate figures in the family, most housewives have yielded to the role of being a devoted obedient wife regarding the housework fearing they may commit a sin if they shirk their responsibilities in the house, which resulted in them becoming passive obsessives - the reason I’m bringing attention to this is Reiji’s own views that Yui is inferior to himself, he already sees her as below him and now expects her to take responsibility for his actions without question. Reiji’s abusive selfishness can display a rather sexist picture at times - we’ve already implied that history has taken an effect on him, and history, etiquette and sexism go hand-in-hand; even the fact that he demands that “[Yui’s] movements must remain graceful and beautiful” presents how ingrained etiquette is inside Reiji, further emphasising just how ‘perfect’ he demands Yui to be, and how he expects her to follow in Beatrix’s poised footsteps. No matter what time period this is set in, Reiji’s degradation and treatment towards Yui will always be unacceptable and a showcase to his internalised abuse and narcissism.

You go and fetch a cloth to clean up the tea spills.

“Aah…So you’ve noticed the cloth laying around there.”

You wipe the floor.

*Rustle rustle*

“Fufufu…Exactly. If you had simply obediently bowed your head to me and heeded my orders from the very beginning, I would not have had to resort to saying all those awful things.”

*Rustle rustle*

“However, you are so dreadfully bad at reading the mood, you left me with no other choice.”

Here we again see Reiji shift blame from himself to Yui, he creates the excuse that “none of this would’ve happened if you’d just listened to me”, which is untrue - by putting all blame on Yui, Reiji is lessening anything that could fault his ‘perfect’ persona and that implication displays his arrogance and pride. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a little pride, it can help you move forward through tough situations and demonstrates a level of self-assuredness that we all strive for in our personal and professional lives, but there’s a narrow line dividing having a healthy amount of confidence and having a stubborn ego; and one of the primary indicators you’ve landed on the wrong side of that line, is not being able to admit when you’re wrong. The question is, why can’t Reiji accept that he is wrong, even when it is obvious he is? Why does he never admit when he’s wrong ? The answer is related to his ego, Reiji’s very sense of self. Some people have such a fragile ego, such brittle self-esteem, that admitting they made a mistake or that they were wrong is fundamentally too threatening for their egos to tolerate. Accepting they were wrong, absorbing that reality, would be so psychologically shattering; their defence mechanisms do something remarkable to avoid doing so - they quite literally distort their perception of reality to make it less threatening, their defence mechanisms protect their fragile ego by changing the very facts in their mind, so they are no longer wrong or culpable. We’ve seen this multiple times from Reiji, the fact that he never accepts true fault or blame and instead we see him lessening his own consequences or shifting the blame entirely on Yui - which is what we’re seeing here.

*Rustle rustle*

“Just like that, meticulously…Please clean every nook and cranny.”

*Rustle rustle*

“Looking at you knelt down on the floor like that could by no means be described as elegant, but it is rather nice. It brings out the worst in me.”

You glare at him.

“What was that? …I have bad tastes? Fufu…You might be correct.”

“However, is there a problem with that? …That being said, I am already fed up with this. …Ah, right! Could you stand up for a second?”

You seem confused by the question.

“Come on, hurry up!”

It can be implied that Yui kneeling on the floor shows her being physically inferior to Reiji as well as submissive, and Yui plays into this by taking the submissive option and simply glaring at Reiji - she’s not actively rising to his taunts and taking to dominant role away from Reiji - Yui instead remains quiet, submissive and keep her actions relatively covert; and how does Reiji respond to this ? He states “It brings out the worst in me”, which could imply that Yui may be subconsciously goading Reiji’s more dominant behaviour. The dominance behavioural system (DBS) can be conceptualised as a biologically-based system which guides dominance motivation, dominant and subordinate behaviour, and responses to perceptions of power and submissiveness. Research suggests that problems with the DBS are evident across a broad range of psychopathologies; extensive research suggests that externalising disorders, mania-proneness, and narcissistic traits are related to heightened dominance motivation and behaviours. Mania and NPD also appear to relate to inflated perceptions of power, whereas anxiety and depression are related to subordination and submissiveness.

We’ve implied that Reiji possesses traits of mild narcissism through his overall route in HDB, and we can also imply that Yui suffers from anxiety. Anxiety is both a mental and physical state of negative expectation - mentally, it is characterized by increased arousal and apprehension tortured into distressing worry, and physically, by unpleasant activation of multiple body systems; all to facilitate response to an unknown danger, whether real or imagined. Anxiety is often accompanied by depression, and the two share many symptoms and involve many of the same brain pathways; biology can contribute to vulnerability to anxiety, as can childhood experiences such as early trauma and parenting practises such as overprotection or neglect. Anxiety has two basic components, there is a cognitive load of worry, or the apprehensive expectation of some bad outcome, and there are physical symptoms, notably restlessness and edginess, muscle tension, sleep disturbance, and difficulty concentrating. Like depression, anxiety can make its presence felt in many systems of the body - disrupting digestion, speeding heart rate, setting off ringing in the ears. Anxiety shows itself both in the mind and the body. As a threat is perceived - whether it is a reality-based one or an imagined one - the brain’s amygdala signals the hypothalamus, a central command centre, which broadcasts the signal through the autonomic nervous system and sets off a cascade of hormones, including adrenaline. It in turn stimulates the multiple physical symptoms of anxiety, the heart beats faster and as the pulse rate increases, so does the blood pressure, breathing accelerates; you may feel short of breath. Other symptoms include: dizziness, muscle tension, trembling or shaking, dry mouth, sweating, stomach aches, headaches, restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability and sleep disturbance. Most notably, we see Yui experience a plethora of these symptoms, such as trembling, fatigue and a fast or pounding heartbeat just to name a few, and Yui’s overall situation would definitely elicit anxiety. My point is that if Yui contributes to one end of this dynamic, then Reiji must consequently adhere to the other - that being the DBS -.

Dominance motivation describes an individual's drive and energy to pursue power, a concept that shares much in common with Winter's definition of the power motive. Winter described individuals who wanted to feel as though they were most powerful; he noted that individuals with a high power motive tend to construe the world in terms of power and to use power in categorising human intention, people motivated by dominance are more likely to be sensitive to cues signalling opportunities for, or threats to, power. Dominance motivation appears to be bipolar in that some people strive for power whereas others try to avoid it, inflexibly submissive individuals, for example, do not feel comfortable with having power - this would correlate to Yui -. In any of their interactions, there is to be a power dynamic between Reiji and Yui, and it’s likely that Yui is subconsciously bringing more of that out due to her non-confrontational mindset and behavioural patterns; this gives Reiji more of an excuse and cue to abuse her as she is unconsciously adhering to Reiji’s DBS and submissive behaviour. Reiji strives for power and perfection over others and over Yui whereas Yui acts as the counterpart to that, she does not strive for power; one cannot exist without the other.

There are both prosocial and aggressive forms of dominance behaviour, and it can be captured by the interpersonal circumplex model in which social behaviour is represented by two orthogonal axes: dominance/submissiveness and warmth/hostility. The interpersonal circumplex has been used both to describe behaviours in a specific situation and to consider trait-like behavioural tendencies across situations, and within this model, different manifestations of dominance behaviour are differentiated along the warmth/hostility dimension. Dominance coupled with hostility can involve antisocial strategies for taking resources and threatening subordinates, such as manipulative behaviour, intimidation, and social or physical aggression. Whereas dominance coupled with warmth can take on prosocial forms, such as alliance formation, cooperation, reciprocal resource exchange, engagement in high status, leadership, and persuasion. Within this CD and Reiji’s route in HDB we see the first interaction take place - dominance alongside hostility - whereas we see the second dynamic take place during More Blood as well as the later games, which brings attention to the fact that Reiji is changing and developing, it’s just at a slower pace as he’s learning to come to terms with his emotions.

The emotional concomitants of the DBS have been studied well, and when power is threatened, anger is a likely emotional outcome and even likelier when the dominance motivation is high. Other work has focused on the self-conscious emotions of pride and shame, which are seen as representing opposite ends of a dimension of internalised schemas of dominance/subordination status, and through Reiji’s self-contradictory nature, it can be implied that he is motivated by both pride and shame in order to gain power over Yui; pride has been conceptualised as an emotional triggered by the perception that one is doing well in meeting the social standards that would garner the respect and attention, or social attention holding potential over others. Whereas the former is based on a specific action or accomplishment, the latter stems from global attributions of one's value that may not be founded in specific actions or accomplishments. Shame is triggered when an individual perceives themselves as unattractive to others, or when social attention holding potential is low. Shame can be triggered by hostile interactions with dominant others and is associated with submissive behaviour, which exactly how we see Reiji act with the rest of the brothers - compared to them, Reiji holds the submissive part, whereas with Yui, that dominance can be let out and displayed on an entirely larger scale - and I think this is why Reiji states that Yui brings out the worst in him, the shame from being upstaged by his brothers and their dominance would naturally make Reiji want to surpass that with his own dominance, and he does it any way he knows that will affect Yui as she is the type of person to avoid being dominant; thereby granting Reiji the will to do as he pleases.

You stand up.

“Haah…Just as I thought. Care to explain your horrible posture to me? …Your hips are slanted, how sloppy!”

*Rustle*

“Raise your chin and stand up straight!”

You try and fix your posture, but to no avail.

“Oh? Are you incapable of performing such a simple task? That is truly a shame.”

“That being said, not everything is doom and gloom. After all, it seems like you have been blessed with a special strength. Ah…I am not complimenting you. I simply pointed out that you do have a certain quality. However, the thing about personal qualities is that if you do not put in the effort to develop them, they are absolutely meaningless.”

Going back to a previous point, Reiji’s disapproval of Yui’s posture reinforces my earlier implication, that historical etiquette has imprinted on him as well as desiring Yui to embody Beatrix. Above all historical periods, the Regency era was obsessed with correct posture - much like Reiji -, this meant keeping your back straight at all times, and while sitting up straight and walking tall was expected of gentlemen too, this was especially important for women. As the depictions of the time noted, a well-bred young lady should move with grace and ease, appearing the epitome of elegance.

The reason I’m opting to focus on the Regency era is due to Shuu’s clothing during his childhood as it follows the same aristocratic style and pattern of that in the 18th century, meaning that the Regency era occurred later on (19th century), giving its customs the chance to imprint on Reiji - Reiji’s views towards being a “proper lady” also follow the same etiquette that the Regency era also instilled; thus making my inferences viable. The most common rules for women to abide by during this era were related to politeness, this included: limited speech, remaining poised and elegant, refraining from physical touch (unless it’s with a marital partner) and to always uphold their manners. Throughout Reiji’s HDB route, we see him criticise Yui’s manners and posture and here is no different. This can be interpreted to imply that Reiji’s views of manners are very much based on the historical periods he’s most likely lived through - that being Regency into Georgian and Victorian and so on so forth - and the etiquette for men and women in high status remained relatively the same; which can imply that Reiji most likely grew accustomed to their rules, which can further imply that his gentleman façade and love for historical etiquette are most likely intertwined, hence why he’s quick to scold Yui on her stance. Even the fact that Reiji’s shouting at her, calling her sloppy and demanding that she “Raise [her] chin and stand up straight!” implies that etiquette - etiquette that Beatrix would have most definitely followed - is exponentially important to him, further implying that Reiji wishes to mould Yui into some form of replica of his mother.

I also wanted to make a note of Yui’s “personal qualities” - though what that means isn’t specified - it can be interpreted to relate to her obedience and submissiveness overall towards Reiji; when he states “if you do not put in the effort to develop them, they are absolutely meaningless” it could instead imply that if Yui does not develop and herself to Reiji’s desires, then she is meaningless, which is entirely untrue. The number one fallacy taken as fact in the minds of victims of sadistic abuse is that they’re disposable to their abusers, that they don’t hold any special significance, that they’re more or less worthless afterthoughts. This shouldn’t be surprising since the content of sadistic abuse is usually rife with phrases such as “you’re worthless”, “you’re nothing”, “you’re disposable” and with actions that communicate the same basic message.

Inferiority is the role a victim in an abusive relationship is defined by, to become the conscious bearer of all those unwanted, unfavourable characterizations which all amount to lowliness or mediocrity. The victim is ‘inferior’ and the sadistic abuser ‘superior’ in the minds of both; together they form a ‘whole’. When the victim tries to leave the ‘whole’, it is fragmented and suddenly all the repressed, painful feelings come rushing into the sadist’s conscious awareness. Anxiety skyrockets as the repressed inferiority complex comes back out into the open and the sadist panics. So, rather than being ‘worthless’ or ‘disposable’ a victim of sadistic abuse is absolutely vital to the continued functioning of the sadistic abuser’s psyche - naturally, the abuser’s psyche is not functioning smoothly to begin with, but the point is that losing the object of abuse threatens to make the abuser’s mentality, with its glut of defence mechanisms and rationalisations, deteriorate to the point of collapse; thereby making the victim absolutely essential to the abuser - they hold no power otherwise - and this perfectly encapsulates Reiji’s mentality towards Yui. Reiji deems Yui “meaningless” yet she is essential in keeping his mentality afloat and intact.

“However, I assume you are at least capable of dancing ?”

You shake your head.

“You have never…danced?”

“Haah…How troublesome. What on earth has your Father been teaching you? I am disappointed…Well then, tonight I shall take my time to teach you the basics of dancing.””

“You have to at least be capable of doing that, or you are not even worthy of living. …Only just having to look at a lady so utterly incompetent makes me gag, you see?”

“Well…having another stupid person added to the bunch would be highly troublesome. …Furthermore, I feel there is something special about you.”

Again we see historical etiquette make its presence known, and the fact that Reiji questions “What on earth has your Father been teaching you?” presents how embedded these archaic social rules are in him - through periods such as the Le Grand Siècle, Renaissance and Victorian era, dancing, specifically ballroom dancing, was expected to be taught to those of high social class and was embedded into any high ranking and formal social event in order to display wealth and class. Dancing was an important social activity of those with nobility.

The technique of etiquette, as taught by the dancing masters of the age, was ideally simple. The modern day belief that there were many flourishes of hats or handkerchiefs is quite erroneous; in truth, only affected fops or conceited individuals would use such exaggeration. The truly "well-bred" person of fashion remained poised at all times, yet had to appear completely natural. This basic concept is also a fundamental precept of modern ballet. Much of the 17th century dance technique was the origin of modern steps in classical ballet. At all times, ladies and gentlemen were to be conscious of their physical stance and bearing. Rameau instructed that "a lady, however graceful her deportment, will be judged... For example, if she holds her head erect and her body upright, without affectation or boldness, it will be said: 'There goes a fine lady'". Acceptable postures for standing, in the case of gentlemen, were named the third and fourth positions, analogous to those used in modern technique. The plié, particularly as used in the first position, emanated from a ladies' bow. Standing with feet well turned out, a lady was meant to keep her body and head upright as she bends the knees while lowering her gaze. If she was bowing to an individual of high social status, her bow must be made lower, requiring excellent balance. Ballroom dancing was incredibly important throughout many periods in history; this would no doubt imprint on Reiji’s life both in and out of the Demon world, therefore, Reiji’s views of social hierarchy and social behaviours would naturally be quite archaic. The fact that he states “just having to look at a lady so utterly incompetent makes me gag“ not only acts as a way to degrade Yui even further, but it acts as a way to separate the two from their respective time periods - modern and archaic -. Reiji’s views of social normalities are vastly different from Yui’s due to their age; not everyone in modern day times know how to ballroom dance yet it would have been custom and tradition for Reiji growing up and therefore displays another interaction between the two, and here Reiji is trying to imprint on Yui and change her to his liking; thus presenting his controlling nature.

Additionally, when Reiji says “Well…having another stupid person added to the bunch would be highly troublesome”, it can be implied that “the bunch” in this scenario are the rest of the brothers, which shows us how detached Reiji is from his own family - he doesn’t say “my brothers” or even name them -. The added factor that he not only deems Yui, but his brothers “stupid” too shows his lack of self awareness to anyone but himself, as he puts his perfectionism, narcissism and overall sense of self-glorification on full display - Reiji’s actively degrading everyone around him in order to glorify himself to a higher standard and seem ‘perfect’ in comparison - which displays how narcissistic and utterly demeaning he can be.

You flinch.

“Fufufu…What seems to be the matter? You are awfully alert?”

“No need to be so modest. I have finally been enlightened myself. Well then, let us go.”

*TIMESKIP*

*Clap clap*

“Let us get started right away ーー Is what I love to say, but before that…Here you go.”

*Rustle*

“Please change into this dress. I have chosen a pure white one on purpose. At times, looks do matter after all.”

The implication that looks are of importance to Reiji when dancing leads us back to social etiquette as women always had to look prim and proper in order to stop any judgement. However, it is the white dress that holds symbolism - through my analysis of “A Certain Prophet’s Fate” we came the the conclusion that the colour white symbolises purity, virginity, innocence and light, and those connotations symbolise Yui; with that implication in mind, it can be inferred that Reiji’s choice of a white dress furthers that conclusion. Furthermore, to wear a dress in white can also be implied to be considered to be the colour of perfection - which would be a clear parallel for Reiji’s perfectionism; thus providing us with yet another instance where Reiji’s trying to enforce his morals and views onto Yui in order to make her ‘perfect’ too.

You seem a little hesitant.

“Is it not to your liking, perhaps? Pure, yet easily tainted, I would like to argue that at present, you are the perfect candidate for this dress.”

“Well then, here you go.”

Reiji hands you the dress.

“I very much appreciate your cooperativeness. Well then, go ahead and change.”

You head towards the door.

“Oh dear? Where are you going? You can change right here. …Please rest assured. Seeing the body of someone who can not even pull off a simple dress will not make me feel a single thing.”

Something to pay attention to here is the fact that Reiji disregards privacy and decency in order to berate and pressure Yui to conform to his standards - and given Yui’s young age, she would naturally be susceptible to the abuse pressure can inflict. Peer pressure can be physical, sexual, emotional coercion and abuse exercised by people over others of the same age or social group; it can take many forms including bullying, abusive relationships, violence and harmful sexual behaviour. Peer pressure can happen to people of all ages but particular concerns exist over young people. The desire to conform to peer influences often increases during adolescence, and peer pressure can involve encouraging people to participate in exploitative activities or behaviours - the power of the peer group can make people reluctant to tell others that they are being abused or exploited, especially if doing so could make them targets of humiliation, violence or rejection; a significant number of sexual exploitation cases have occurred between peers aged under eighteen, and that age range directly correlates to Yui and her current dilemma. By Reiji pressuring Yui into changing in front of him, it acts as another form of abuse - this time, it’s sexual - he’s actively disregarding Yui’s sense of privacy in order to humiliate her and lower her self-esteem even further.

This humiliation comes from Reiji’s statement of, “Seeing the body of someone who can not even pull off a simple dress will not make me feel a single thing“, which can imply that Reiji does not value Yui’s physicality at all, and he simply sees her as just a body - a slab of meat, if you will -. Implications such as this reinforce how degrading and dehumanising Reiji’s behaviour is.

You feel offended.

“Aah…Or were you perhaps hoping it would stir up something inside of me?”

You shake your head.

“Fufufu…If that is not the case, then go ahead, strip. …Please hand me the corset. I shall tighten it for you.”

He grabs the corset.

“Here it comes…”

He tightens the corset.

“Is it painful? However, please endure it for the sake of beauty.”

Reiji’s remark about beauty is one to pay attention to as it falls back into historical etiquette and the teaching that “beauty is pain” - or “Il faut souffrir pour être belle” which originated in France, which roughly translates to “one must suffer to be beautiful”. In other words, beauty comes at a price, and it can be a painful one. For decades, girls have been conditioned to believe that they must suffer, physically, mentally, or emotionally in order to achieve beauty; women and girls alike are often told that beauty is on the inside, but society convinces them otherwise, and that it is a difficult process and something to be achieved. The conditional oxymoron “beauty is pain” makes it seem like there are rules to conform to or tasks to be completed in order to achieve ultimate beauty - that Yui must suffer at Reiji’s cruel hand in order to become beautiful and ‘perfect’ -. Customs such as this are often accompanied by the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, the “beholder” in this case is Reiji - and culminated with his necessity for etiquette - it would be clear to imply that his version of beauty is one accompanied by pain, such as the traditional Victorian wear of corsets, breaking ribs in order to accentuate curvature and live up to the idealised standard of beauty in that time; I’m opting to focus on the Victorian perception of beauty due to Cordelia’s influence during Reiji’s HDB route.

In Victorian novels, physical appearance acts as a primary means of characterization. A hero or heroine's beauty - or lack thereof - was the most important aspect of their character. As Lefkovitz points out, beauty is always culturally defined. For women, that definition is a strange mixture of ideals, the Victorians admired both the strong, hearty, statuesque lady and the weak, fainting beauty, who Lefkovitz uses the French word “mourante” to define: dying, languishing, expiring, fainting, fading; the former type was predominantly popular in the first half of the century. A woman's body in the first decade of the century was under considerable scrutiny, and the ideal against which she was measured was tall and statuesque, stately, elegant, refined - these are traits possessed by both Beatrix and Cordelia, and their clothing represented those characteristics, Cordelia’s outfit presents her wealth and lavish lifestyle whereas Beatrix’s displays her elegant and refined nature; something that deeply imprinted on Reiji -. With this in mind, Reiji is not only trying to metaphorically show Yui’s purity through the white dress but also follow in his mother’s footsteps “for the sake of beauty”.

*Rustle rustle*

“Here you go. This should do.”

You put on the dress on top.

*Rustle*

“Aah…The dress looks very nice on you. Fine feathers really do make fine birds. Seems like my styling is on point.”

You smile.

“This is not a compliment for you personally, I am simply implying that I selected the right dress. Please do not get the wrong idea. Either way…Your hand, please.”

The phrase that stands out the most to me here is, “Fine feathers really do make fine birds” - it at first seems like an odd statement to make but if we delve back into the route analysis, then it actually makes quite a lot of sense. During Reiji’s HDB route, he says the declarative “I assume the little bird has become quite meek after being locked up in her cage“, which we implied to mean that Yui is something to be looked at and admired by Reiji, to be looked at for her beauty and inferiority as she holds no threat towards Reiji - and I think that same inference applies here too, that Yui is nothing more than a dainty animal to be trained and ‘cared’ for by Reiji. However, it was the noun “feathers” that I wanted to bring attention to. Feathers are the magic material that cover the bodies of all birds, essentially, a bird is only deemed beautiful due to the nature of its feathers: their texture, colour, length, and not the creature underneath - it’s the same as marvelling at a mammal for its long, luscious fur -. By adorning Yui with a finely-made dress, Reiji is essentially accentuating any beauty Yui already has in order to appreciate her as a woman, which is exactly what Victorian fashion and standards equated to.

You take a step back.

“Oh? Why are you hesitating now? What happened? Have you grown scared of touching me? …However, whatever you may say, you can no longer back out now.”

“Hurry up and come here…

Reiji grabs hold of your hand and pulls you against him as the music begins to play.

*Rustle*

“By the way, you know the steps, do you not?”

You shake your head.

“Haah…You do not even know that much? Pathetic…Come on, it’s a simple waltz. …One, two, three…One, two, three…”

Contradictory to his previous behaviour, Reiji is actively guiding Yui on how to dance here - though his common quips are still very much present, he’s taking the time to show Yui what to do rather than lecture and scold her, which shows his slow progression towards accepting Yui for who she is as a person; it’s a slow and winding road for his development but instances such as this show that Reiji is reluctantly willing to take those first steps.

You try and follow along.

“Try and keep your steps light, following my lead. …Next time, we’ll start from the turn. Well then, once more. One, two, three…One, two, three…Oh dear, oh dear…Your movements are rather stiff. Do you happen to be nervous, perhaps?”

Reiji leans in.

“Lean your body to me more…Exactly, more…”

You suddenly step on this foot.

“…!? Ah…Just how awkward are you to step on someone’s foot like that!?”

You apologise.

“Take a look. My shoe got dirty. How will you make up for this?”

You apologise once more.

“Words of remorse are utterly meaningless to me.”

Again, Reiji is earnestly tutoring and mentoring Yui on something in which he takes pride in. Dancing can be a mutual activity and one that consists of intimacy, which can imply that Reiji is prepared to be intimate with Yui; even the phrase “Lean your body to me more…Exactly, more…” infers that Reiji actually desires this form of intimacy, and since Harlow’s experiments in 1965, research has uncovered an astonishing number of poor health outcomes that result when we are deprived of touch - the correlation between anxiety, depression, stress and touch is large and inversely related. It has been found that touch calms our nervous centre and slows down our heartbeat. Human touch also lowers blood pressure as well as cortisol - our stress hormone - and it also triggers the release of oxytocin, a hormone known for promoting emotional bonding to others.

Additionally, I wanted to bring attention to when Reiji states, “Words of remorse are utterly meaningless to me”. One interpretation of this could infer that Reiji is just berating Yui for her clumsiness and would rather have her be silent and obedient. The second interpretation of this can be implied to relate more to the phrase “talk is cheap”. The idiom, “talk is cheap” generally means that it is easier to talk about doing something rather than to actually do said thing - many people say they will do something but never do it. The expression “talk is cheap” may be seen as a challenge to accomplish something, but it is usually a commentary that someone is not following through on a guarantee or promise. In other words, one may promise to accomplish any number of things, but the words mean nothing unless that person follows through and actually accomplishes those things. To put this in context, my inference is that Reiji desires Yui not to apologise but to instead act on her error - that being stepping on Reiji’s foot -.

He steps closer.

“Seems like I have no other choice but to punish you in some way to ensure you shall not make the same mistake twice.”

“Well then…I wonder which kind of punishment is fit?”

You flinch.

“Fufu…You look rather anxious. Please rest assured. Unlike my brothers, I will not inflict pain upon you, nor resort to obscene matters. Being a gentleman is the norm after all.”

Reiji approaches you once more.

“I shall simply plant a chaste kiss against the small palm of your hand.”

He grabs hold of your hand.

*Rustle*

*Smooch*

“See…?”

Reiji’s first line of dialogue here first leads us to the implication of him using operant control on Yui as a punishment, however, our expectations of that are subverted by him opting to kiss Yui’s hand - why ? Simple, it’s called insincere kindness. Narcissists are self-serving, and these people are often wondering what the best way to accomplish their goals is and without caring so much about the other person, so they’ll turn on the charm towards others, but ultimately, it’s only because they hope to achieve some kind of personal gain - excessive and insincere kindness towards anyone, especially someone with low self-esteem can be used as a form of control. By Reiji choosing to be a “gentleman”, he’s subverting Yui’s expectation of receiving a harsh punishment by using insincere kindness, he’s actively confusing Yui in order to lessen the chance of her fighting back against him; it’s the natural element of surprise, Reiji’s causing Yui to be off guard so that she will follow him with more obedience - it’s a chance-chance situation where Reiji’s internally goading Yui with the message, “mess up again and you won’t know what I’ll do” -. He threatens her with operant control only to then give her a bout of ‘kindness’, and that acts as a way to control Yui and keep her alert in regards to her surroundings and Reiji.

You seem shocked.

“Why are you widening your eyes like that? You could not possibly want me to hurt you, do you?”

“Heh…You should just be honest with yourself already. Oh well, come on, we are continuing our dance.”

The music starts playing again.

“Haha…Seems like your nerves have settled down somewhat. Exactly, you can do it if you try. If only you had done this from the very beginning. Well, seems like you do have some talent at least. Fufu…Seems like I have something to look forward to myself.”

I wanted to bring attention to the phrase “if only you had done this from the very beginning” - it’s a hypothetical phrase which equates to “if only you had listened to me...”, and it not only reinforces Reiji’s manipulation tactics, but also his narcissism and perfectionism. When paired with, “you can do it if you try“, the overall dialogue becomes a form of hypothetical encouragement - it encourages Yui to follow Reiji’s instructions as well as praising Reiji for being the ‘mentor’ in this situation; it acts as a case of “listen to me since I’m better at it”. By offering encouragement, it goads Yui into listening to Reiji more, and when she does - and performs better - she is rewarded with praise; it acts as the positive reinforcement side of operant control, Reiji is instead opting to try and use praise in order to garner Yui’s obedience.

The two of you continue dancing.

“However…Since I missed out on enjoying my tea earlier, I have become awfully thirsty…”

“Just by imagining…The taste of your blood spreading inside my mouth…My throat feels parched…If I were to place my fangs against your defenceless neck, I could be freed from this dreaded thirst. No…There is simply no other way.”

“Your bloodーー!”

You suddenly falter.

*Rustle*

“Wha…!?”

“…Seems like you twisted your ankle. To think you would lose your composure over something like this. I have lost interest.”

This prior moment of ‘kindness’ does not last long though, as Reiji’s natural instincts come to light once more, and so does his sense of entitlement. Entitlement is a narcissistic personality trait, and it can develop from the environment you grew up in to the way you were treated by parents or authority figures. People with an entitlement mentality often see themselves as superior to others and it’s no surprise that this way of thinking can affect interpersonal relationships. When you believe you’re entitled to better treatment than others, or that the rules don’t apply to you, you’re more likely to suffer in the long term; given that you simply believe you aren’t getting what you’re owed, an entitlement mentality can result in conflict, disappointment and depression. Reiji believes that he is entitled to Yui’s blood because she, according to him, made him lose out on his tea earlier - she did not, however, the severity of Reiji’s NPD and perfectionism leads him into distorting his own perception so that he can never be the one at fault, so that he can continue to be ‘perfect’ -. Implications such as this present how severe and inflated Reiji’s sense of self is; he allows himself to delve into his carnal desires, to drink Yui’s blood, whilst also berating Yui for giving into her own human instincts - it not only shows his utter hypocrisy but also his delusion -.

The other thing to note in this section is Reiji losing interest once Yui becomes injured - again he also berates her. This could imply that once Yui’s form is no longer perfect, he has no intent on pursuing his thirst - after all, anything less than ‘perfect’ is utterly useless to Reiji. Additionally his remark of “To think you would lose your composure over something like this” infers that Reiji is completely disregarding Yui’s injury - he loses interest because he knows that Yui’s injury will precede his own desires.

He grabs hold of your hand.

“I would have loved to dance with you a little longer, but given the circumstances, you leave me with no other choice. I shall escort you to a room.”

You tell him you will be fine on your own.

“Making you walk with an injured foot would go against my principles. Therefore…”

Reiji lifts you into his arms.

*Rustle*

“Please allow me to carry you in my arms like this. I shall hear no complaints.”

You struggle.

“Please keep still. If you move around, it will only hurt your foot. If you do not want that, you have no other choice but to obey me.”

Once Yui becomes injured, Reiji’s usual demeanour changes, it’s softens ever so slightly - Yui’s injured, therefore she can’t run or fight him, meaning that Reiji’s presented with an opportunity for him to lower his guard without any fear of rebound, and what does he do ? He takes it, and this reinforces the theme that Reiji only seems to relax around Yui when there is no fear of her resisting. Interactions such as this indicate that Reiji is at least trying to change his behaviour, but his reluctance to trust Yui with his feelings precedes him - he only lets his guard down once he’s in control, he can trust that Yui won’t run away because he has her exactly where he wants her; in these situations, Reiji essentially has Yui at checkmate, therefore he has nothing to fear, and this can infer why he’ll use these opportunities to show little inklings of care. Reiji has trust issues.

People with trust issues are extra-suspicious of other people’s actions and behaviours; they have feelings of being taken advantage of or feelings that no one is trust-worthy - and when it comes to Reiji, this is displayed to us. He’s weary and dubious of anything Yui says or does, especially in relation to Shuu and names her a liar even though we know she’s not; it not only presents how abusive Reiji is, but it also presents us with how untrusting he is. The ironic aspect of this is, people with trust issues mostly stay away from people due to their fear of betrayal, but at the same time, they long for deep and meaningful relationships. Throughout HDB, Reiji is seen to push Yui away at every opportunity, he abuses and isolates her and removes himself from any feeling that Yui has and instead punishes her for it, yet, once Cordelia appears and Yui is pushed out of the way, he openly fights to get Yui back - he’s dubious of Yui but he realises that she’s the only one who has an inkling of care for him. Reiji wants Yui’s affection, but he can’t trust her enough to ask for it.

One major setback that people with trust issues go through is that they cannot believe that any good can come to them; thus, they keep their doors shut to every positive thing and opportunity thinking that it might ruin their lives, whereas in reality that’s untrue. This implication is a running theme throughout Reiji’s character, and it’s prominently displayed within my analysis of “A Certain Prophet’s Fate” - “This deep crimson curse is our family’s fate“ to be exact, and that phrase gives us the implication that Reiji feels that he’s undeserving of happiness and the ability to leave his troubles behind and trust in Yui. With all that being said, it presents us with the overall inference that Reiji’s afraid to let his guard down and trust Yui of his own will, in a situation where he is not in control; that’s why he says “obey”, he still holds dominance over Yui and so he can trust himself to be gentle - yet if that situation was reversed, and Yui held the power, Reiji’s vicious side would present itself and so would his lack of trust in others; we have to remember that Reiji is more of less taken advantage of by the rest of his brothers due to his reserved and butler-like stature, therefore, he refuses to trust in anyone because of his fear of ridicule and mockery.

*Rustle rustle*

“Of course, if you wish for it to be painful, please struggle all you want. However, I doubt you truly believe you could actually get away from me by doing so?”

“Fufufufu…”

*TIMESKIP*

A door closes.

“Well then, you should remain seated on the bed.”

*Rustle*

“Why are you giving me that look? Ah…Is it because this is my room? I never said anything about taking you to your own room, did I? You are the one who misunderstood my words.”

Reiji yet again threatens Yui with pain and suffering, however, the significant part of this is his tone. Yui’s injured her ankle and even if she managed to push herself out of Reiji’s grasp, she wouldn’t be able to run far; Reiji knows this, his threat is not serious, it’s teasing - he’s being playful with his abuse because he knows that he’s in control of the situation. This inference can be deduced by two things: his rhetoric and his laugh. These are the common denominators for how the scene is going to play out - when the scene is serious, Reiji tends to litter his dialogue with harsh insults and demeaning, manipulative behaviour, whereas if the scene has Reiji in control, and Yui at his mercy, he often includes rhetorical phrases and chuckles; this is done to display that Yui has no control, and Reiji can ‘play’ with that.

Moreover, I also wanted to concentrate on the fact that Reiji takes Yui to his room specifically. A simple look at this would suggest that Reiji’s room might have just been close and convenient. However, I’m inclined to believe otherwise, Reiji could have just taken Yui to another room, her own room or even an empty guest room...so why specifically his ? No matter which way we look at this, your room acts as your ‘safe haven’ or sanctuary, it’s your room - a place where you can relax and not have to conform to anything or anyone, you are free to be yourself; in essence, you room is a physical manifestation of who you are as a person, and it exposes that. With that symbolism in mind, it can imply that Reiji is trying to lower his guard and let Yui in, and instead of verbally doing this, he’s instead trying to show it.

You glare at him.

“I wish you would not glare at me like that. …Or rather, perhaps you simply fail to grasp my consideration towards an injured person, who might feel anxious by themselves otherwise? I could have very easily left you to your own devices, and came here to enjoy a cup of tea by myself.”

“Yet, I cannot help but feel disappointed.”

You apologise.

“Fufu…Fufufu…However, spending time with you like this is very much to my liking. …Hm? Why do you look so surprised? This is most definitely how I truly feel.”

“Regardless of the energy reflected in your widened eyes, you are unable to move due to your injured foot and are therefore completely at my mercy…”

Reiji leans in.

“Right now you are inferior to even a familiar. I like it very much. Just watching you puts me in an excellent mood.”

We are yet again thrown into Reiji’s tactics of victim blaming and narcissism in order to place himself on a pedestal and appear greater than what he actually is. He uses hypothetical situations in order to manipulate Yui into staying and garner her time and affection - which very much shows how lonely and bitter he is. Reiji’s essentially manipulating Yui’s thoughts into believing that she needs him and that she should be grateful to him as a way of providing himself affection; this inference is honestly quite sad in the fact that Reiji has to break Yui in order to receive affection because he can’t receive it any other way.

Additionally, our prior implications are proven correct with Reiji’s declarative of, “spending time with you like this is very much to my liking... This is most definitely how I truly feel”. Reiji wields complete control of the situation, and so he can relax and simply enjoy Yui’s company in silence. He even directly states that Yui is “completely at [Reiji’s] mercy…”, indicating that instead of waiting for Yui to accept him, he instead enforces it - even the notion that he prefers Yui to be silent and obedient in this situation furthers the implication that he is trying to perpetuate Beatrix through Yui, hoping to garner her compassion through Yui -. It’s here that we see his CEN prevail; Reiji craves the love and attention he never received, and in order to finally achieve that, he tries to force Yui to love him through abuse and manipulation.

Everyone has a mind of their own. They decide what they think and how they feel, and if they decide that you’re not a good person or that you don’t make them happy, you can’t change that; they’ll remain firm with their decision. This is exactly why Reiji prefers Yui to be silent - not only does it allow Yui to act in accordance to Beatrix’s personality - but it also means that she can’t disrupt Reiji’s wants and needs, if she speaks out of accordance to Reiji, his fantasy of being loved will be ruined and it’ll fade away; this is why the abuse, manipulation and Stockholm syndrome is so important in regards to Reiji - without those tactics, he can’t enforce and achieve what he wants -.

You turn your head away.

“Ahaha…Oh dear. Seems like you’ve averted your eyes. You really are like an open book.”

“You are free to rudely look around my room like that, but please refrain from touching anything.”

“…Hm? Do the small bottles lined up on the shelf pique your interest?”

You nod.

“Fufufu…You have a good eye. That’s my collection of poisonous drugs.”

You seem startled.

“Poison is a wonderful thing, you see. It quietly, slowly starts to take effect and the process of seeing the person unknowingly get harmed by it is truly beautiful.”

“Those pests who had been crawling around in front of you like an eyesore up until now, are overcome by intense suffering in a matter of minutes, kneeling down on the floor while clenching their chest.”

“Do you not believe that is a wonderful scenery?”

Reiji’s monologue of poison strikes significance in a multitude of ways. Firstly, his description matches the effect he himself has on Yui - his manipulation slowly and quietly takes an effect on Yui until she is practically no longer herself, and we again see the motif that “beauty is pain” be used by Reiji; this can lead us to the implication that Reiji’s dialogue here could metaphorically represent Reiji’s effect on Yui, that he is poisonous.

Secondly, I wanted to mention the significance and connotations of poison. Throughout history, poison has been used as a sly way to commit murder; it was deemed a “woman’s way to kill” due to it being slipped into food and drinks - therefore, it became known as the sly or passive way to kill as the murderer is not actively engaging in any brutality -. The significance here is the connotation of passivity. We’ve previously implied Reiji to be quite a passive character within his route analysis; therefore, it would be quite fitting for Reiji to prefer the passive, sly and clean way to torture and murder someone - his preferred method resonates the type of person Reiji is, he’s actively sly and cunning with his manipulative abuse and expects to be in complete control; poison grants that control over its victim, as the user can passively watch them suffer while remaining clean of any blood themselves, just like Reiji desires and prefers.

You look at him with disgust.

“Fufufu…Those are eyes full of hatred. Oh well, I do not particularly care about how you think of me. However…If you ever choose to bare your teeth at me, I simply cannot call that a very wise decision on your end.”

“After all, you have already been wrapped around my little finger. Ahaha…Have you not realised yet? …Exactly.”

You gasp.

“In the tea you drank earlier, I added a single drop of poison. Fufufu…Ahahaha!”

You start to feel sick.

“…I am joking. I would never waste my precious poison on an invaluable woman such as yourself.”

You frown.

“Yet…Haha…Your face went pale on the spot. How cute. …Seems like you were thinking too highly of yourself once again.”

The hypothetical phrase “If you ever choose to bare your teeth at me, I simply cannot call that a very wise decision on your end” acts as a threat towards Yui in order to gain control over her once more - it’s Reiji’s common tactic of inducing fear in order to gain control, and by using the verb “bare”, it reinforces the theme and dynamic that Yui is merely an animal compared to Reiji -. Reiji’s not just threatening Yui with a punishment, he’s threatening her with the fear of the unknown. The word “end” can have two connotations in this scenario, one simply meaning that it won’t be “a wise decision on your behalf” and the other is that “end” can connote to death, or meeting one’s ‘end’; Reiji utilises the fear of the latter in order to tease and cruelly mock Yui by falsely stating that he “added a single drop of poison”. By upping the stakes like this, Yui is more susceptible to obedience, which is exactly what Reiji wants in this situation.

I also wanted to bring attention to Reiji’s gloating - “you have already been wrapped around my little finger. Ahaha…Have you not realised yet?” -. Gloating is a trait found within narcissism as it allows the narcissist to perpetuate their superiority complex - it allows them to verbally declare that they are ‘better’ than their victim, and this is what Reiji is doing here. Reiji’s gloating about the abuse he’s inflicted upon Yui thus far; in essence, it’s a declaration of victory from Reiji - he has Yui at checkmate -.

Furthermore, Reiji finishes his dialogue by deeming Yui “invaluable”. He actively diminishes any strength Yui has left in order to keep her at bay and under his influence; this behaviour truly displays how fragile Reiji’s ego and self-worth are with the fact that he has to decimate Yui’s entire personality in order to present how much ‘better’ he is than her, yet in reality, it actually presents how envious and self-conscious Reiji is.

You get upset;

“Listen, I carefully select the people I decide to drug.”

You ask for an example.

“…An example, you ask? Good grief…That should go without asking. Anyone who does not obey to my rules, obviously.”

Your face goes pale again.

“Please do not be so frightened. As long as you obey, you are in absolutely no danger.”

“However…That good-for-nothing…Killing him just once would simply not be satisfying. I would love to make him suffer time after time after time, torturing him to death. I loathe those kind ofーー”

“Well, that being said. I suppose this is not something worth telling you. …Please forget what you just heard. While very unbefitting of me, it seems like I ran my mouth a little.”

Here we see Reiji admit to punishing those who do not submit to him and obey his every command. The fact that he uses “rules” to describe his control aligns with a more dictatorial sense of authority, which could relate to his necessity to monopolise every situation - he needs to be the only one in complete control so that everything can be ‘perfect’.

We also see a glimpse of Reiji’s true colours - we see his façade drop, and this is exponentially significant. Firstly, the fact that this tangent is brought about by his reference to Shuu can imply that Shuu is a ‘weak point’ or vulnerability to Reiji; he holds so much anger and resentment towards his brother that any mention of him causes Reiji to bring his sadism to light. In the route analysis, we came to the conclusion that Reiji is jealous of Shuu due to his treatment from Beatrix; I’m mentioning this due to envy being quite significant in Reiji’s tangent. Envy, shame and sadism are all interconnected - jealousy can be a sign of insecurity, it is a fear of losing something you already have, and people who deal with jealousy may often feel threatened by other people or that they are in competition with someone else. This is exactly the case for Reiji, as he felt both threatened and in competition with his brother, vying for Beatrix’s time and care - and this is a competition that Reiji lost, thereby summoning those first inklings of envy. The envy the Reiji culminated from Shuu being awarded the affection of their mother bred shame - shame of not being ‘good’ enough, and letting his insecurities grow and usurp -. Feelings such as this pave the way for frustration to take hold, and malignant wrath follows in its wake; it’s the simple case of “hate breeds more hate” and naturally, the root cause of Reiji’s inner turmoil would aggravate his unbridled rage as all those feelings of being ‘unworthy’ would flood to the front of his mind; therefore, his sadism would prevail in that moment.

Secondly, the notion that Reiji says, “Please forget what you just heard. While very unbefitting of me, it seems like I ran my mouth a little” indicates that Reiji would rather keep his uglier side to himself - in other words, he would rather keep his bitterness confidential as it would be a ‘flaw’ for his perfectionism -. The added factor that he asks Yui to forget about it shows how unwilling he is to admit his flaws; he would rather cover them up and return to ‘normal’, even the fact that he excuses and euphemises his outburst by saying that he “ran [his] mouth a little” displays to us that Shuu causes Reiji to drop his entire ‘gentleman’ façade. Since we are capable of experiencing shame and guilt, we want to lessen any potential blame from others or any self-blame we attach to an offence or fault. An excuse is able to shift a causality from a more threatening source, that can impact one’s self-esteem, to a less central one; the perceived benefit associated with an excuse also includes having a sense of control over one’s life and attempts to view the wrongdoing as an anomaly. By Reiji saying that he simply “ran [his] mouth”, he’s essentially excusing his malice under the guise of an unconnected and unintelligible rant in order to save face and avoid penance.

“Haah…This is the worst. I might have gotten a little talkative because I had your blood earlier. Seems like your blood really is special after all.”

“So sweet and rich…I only had a little sip, yet the flavour spread in my mouth like tea leaves of the finest quality…No, they exceed even those, engraved in my memory forever.”

You frown.

“What is the matter? Why are you looking at me with those pitiful eyes? I hope you do not assume that I have become a captive of your blood?”

You try and deny it.

“I see…Seems like I was spot on.”

“Fufufu…Ahahaha! In that case, you have been underestimating me. I shall repeat myself once more, but that conceited attitude of yours is simply deplorable.”

“It is…very unsettling.”

We yet again see Reiji utilise blame shifting in order to uphold and validate his excuse. Instead of accepting fault, Reiji flips the scenario on Yui, blaming her blood and essentially blaming her for his behaviour. In addition to this, Reiji yet again projects his own detriments onto Yui, using her denial and concern in order to better his own excuse. The additional line of “It is…very unsettling” presents to us how hypocritical and unaware Reiji is of himself, he’s actively projecting his vanity onto Yui and deems her “unsettling” and “deplorable” when in reality, those insults are directed at himself, not Yui.

Reiji looks at you darkly.

“You have gone against my rules. The one that states you must not put me in a bad mood.”

You protest.

“You were not aware of the existence of such a rule? …Just how foolish are you? I should not have to mention something so obvious. It is an unspoken rule, you could say.”

“Were you not aware that someone like you should kneel down in front of me and bow their head?”

“Let me be blunt. I did not think you were this stupid. You do not deserve forgiveness. …Therefore.”

*Cling cling*

“Let me put these shackles around your ankles…”

*Cling cling*

“They suit you very well.”

*Cling cling cling*

“How is it? The feeling of slowly being stripped of your freedom?”

Reiji quickly changes topic in order to punish Yui for her “conceited attitude” and denial yet instead of naming a reasonable meaning for this, he uses the vague phrases of “bad mood” and “unspoken rule” in order to justify himself - in other words, he’s using his control to his convenience due to Yui now knowing about Reiji’s envy towards his brother. Reiji’s punishing Yui so that she won’t inquire about the relationship between Reiji and Shuu.

I also wanted to bring attention to the fact that he shackles her ankles together as this could be a physical manifestation of Yui’s constraint and entrapment by Reiji’s grasp. Yui’s already mentally trapped by Reiji’s cruel mind games, and in order to visualise that to her, he has now shackled her - he’s now taking her physical freedom away from her. Conversely, ankles symbolise stability, mobility and flexibility, and when they are restrained or injured, it can imply that there is no longer any value in the path we have currently taken, and it needs to be reflected upon; in this situation, Yui no longer holds value as a person by being with Reiji, she is simply an object of his fixation - someone he can manifest Beatrix through in order to achieve his lost maternal affection.

You protest.

“Hahaha…Oh dear? Seems like you are already frightened. There are tears streaming down your cheeks. You poor little thing. Fufufu…”

“If you wish to beg for my mercy, you have to act a little more gracefuーー”

*THUD*

*Cling cling*

“Where are you trying to go, pathetically crawling across the floor like that? …You are simply fuelling my sadistic heart even more.”

“If you wish to regain your freedom, then you must first succeed at stealing this key to the shackles from my hand.”

Following this, Reiji takes his time to humiliate and dehumanise Yui, and this first occurs when he deems her a “poor little thing”. The adjectives “poor” and “little” have connotations of being small, helpless and defenceless against any form of threat or unfortunate circumstance, whereas the noun “thing” completely degrades and dehumanises Yui, she’s not being described as a person but as an object; the noun phrase itself is extremely condescending and patronising to use in this circumstance. Additionally, the fact that Reiji is actively mocking Yui’s attempt to get away from him proves how utterly abhorrent he is; furthermore, the notion that Reiji decides to create a ‘game’ out of this displays how his amusement and sadism are intertwined. Reiji’s purposefully humiliating Yui because he enjoys her suffering - it allows him to feel better about himself and fuel his fragile ego.

*Cling*

“You cannot do that, can you? Not in your disadvantaged position.”

You desperately try and steal the key.

“Ahahaha! …Please do not give me that angry look.”

Reiji steps closer.

“For one, are you not already aware of the fact that I would not let you get away so easily?”

“However, things have turned out this way because you cling to false hope.”

You try and use this as an opening to steal the key.

*Cling cling cling*

“Woah there…! You want this key that badly? You sure never know when to give up.”

Reiji’s use of hypophora here indicates that he likes to gloat once he’s in utter control and has essentially ‘won’ against Yui; we again see him shift the blame onto Yui in the name of false hope - false hope that Reiji himself projects in order to lure Yui into his trap -. Reiji’s blaming Yui for falling into the trap that he himself intentionally plots.

I also wanted to raise awareness to the phrase “You sure never know when to give up” as it can often be associated with an optimistic situation depending on the speaker, however, due to Reiji being the speaker, the semantic field changes into one of degradation and humiliation - he’s purposefully antagonising Yui so that he can take his sadistic impulses out on her, Yui’s essentiality a ‘punching bag’ for Reiji.

*Thud*

“Please, listen carefully…There is nowhere for you to run.”

You frown.

“Fufufu…If you have not realised, allow me to be so kind to inform you. …Even if you were to make it out of this room, there is not a single soul in this house who would be willing to save you.

You continue to struggle.

“If anything, they would only want to inflict more damage. Aah…or perhaps…”

You flinch.

“Do you prefer to be assaulted by multiple at once?”

The theme of isolation is reinforced yet again and Reiji takes extreme delight in reminding Yui of that and this can be interpreted through “so kind”. Evidently, this is not genuine kindness at all, instead it’s victorious satisfaction - even the fact that he says “there is not a single soul in this house who would be willing to save you” displays how much enjoyment he’s receiving out of obliterating any sense of hope Yui has.

Conversely, it is Reiji’s interrogative of “Do you prefer to be assaulted by multiple at once?” that raises awareness here, specifically due to “assaulted” having many connotations. The first interpretation of the verb can relate to being physically assaulted, beaten or attacked, I’m drawing this implication due to Yui’s position as prey; naturally, each brother would try to strike her down as their food instead. However, “assaulted” can also carry a more sexual implication too, especially in relation to the triplets as their routes quickly delve into sexual territory. We must remember that Yui is still pure here, she is virginal, and characters such as Laito detest that and want her to “fall” into impurity. The theme of being “assaulted by multiple” is a common theme within Laito’s route; at one point, he even instructs it:

Ayato: Aah? What’s the matter?

Laito: Hey, want to try playing with Bitch-chan a little?

--------------

Ayato: Seems like Laito has been having plenty of fun with you. He did a pretty good job too, from what I can tell.

Laito: Bitch-chan, every single thing he’ll do to you…I’ll watch it very closely, okay?

Naturally, given the triplet’s and Shuu’s prominent lewdness, the dominant interpretation of “assaulted” here would be sexual in nature, and Reiji’s constant complaint of Yui being vain would feed into that, as vanity can often be associated with being desired by others.

His words catch you off guard.

“Ahahaha! Your cheeks turned red in the blink of an eye.”

You try and reach for the key again.

…Woah there!”

“You must really be dying to get your hands on this key. So persistent. …On a side note, because of your tossing and turning around, the room has become somewhat dusty. It is a shame, but it seems like I have reached my limit as well.”

You continue to make a fuss.

“Behave!”

*THUD*

“How disappointing. I have only put in the slightest bit of strength, yet look at you crouch down the floor like that. However, I must say that the way you look up at me from below suits you very well.”

We see Reiji’s façade fall again here once he yells at Yui. It’s a simple, one-word phrase yet it holds so much control and dominance; most prominently, the phrase “Behave!” is often used in training animals such as dogs to follow orders, and by Yui being dehumanised, this fits in rather well with Reiji’s behaviour. We also see Reiji praise Yui for being physically below him, on the floor as though she was an animal; he’s persistently humiliating Yui in order to inflict control over her.

You protest.

“You are at fault. You made me upset after all.”

“I was even considering giving you mercy.”

You make a defeated expression.

“Either way…I am tired of messing around, killing time with you.”

Reiji steps closer.

“I shall decide your punishment. Let’s see…You have no value aside from the blood flowing through your veins.”

“In that case, I suppose I shall indulge in that blood to my heart’s content.”

The most significant part here is Reiji’s first line of dialogue, as it displays his victim-complex to us. One of the most common tactics abusers use is to shift blame onto the victim. The abuser will claim the victim is the abuser because of the reaction the victim has. The abuser may even attempt to convince the victim that there is nothing worth reacting over and that the victim is overreacting to the abuse. What the victim is actually experiencing is called reactive abuse. Reactive abuse occurs when the victim reacts to the abuse they are experiencing; the victim may scream or even lash out at the abuser, the abuser then retaliates by telling the victim that they are, in fact, the abuser. This is exactly what Reiji is doing here by claiming that it’s Yui’s fault for making him upset. When an abuser claims they are the ones being abused, they are manipulating the victim into believing that they are at fault for the abuse. The abusers are conditioning and manipulating their victim into accepting the blame, and the longer this blame shifting goes on, the longer the victim will believe they are to blame for the reactive outbursts and abuse that the abuser is dishing out - they will begin to believe that they are the violent and unstable ones. Tactics such as this genuinely display just how utterly manipulative Reiji is, he’s essentially re-writing Yui’s entire mentality in order to make her believe that she is at fault for Reiji’s abuse.

You flinch.

“Fufufu…”

“Well then, hurry up and stand! Come on!”

You stand.

“Hmph. You truly look pathetic like right. So very pitiful, weak, you poor, miserable little thing. However, humans like it when others feel pity towards them, do they not?”

*Cling*

*SMACK*

“…! Interesting. I did not expect you to slap my cheek…Fufufu…This is what makes punishing you worth it.”

Reiji yet again takes his time in humiliating Yui, and she falls into the trap of reactive abuse by slapping him, unintentionally giving Reiji an incentive to punish her more - which is why he states “This is what makes punishing you worth it”. Yui’s unknowingly fallen into the trap Reiji’s laid out for her.

Something to note here is how Reiji misinterprets sympathy and pity. He states that “humans like it when others feel pity towards them”, which isn't entirely true, as pity often involves aspects of condescension whereas sympathy does not. Pity is a feeling of discomfort and often has patronising or condescending overtones, sympathy on the other hand tends to involve care and concern for someone, and lacks those condescending tones. Pity is often more associated with emotional manipulation whereas sympathy is often viewed as kindness; this can infer that Reiji is grouping the two together in order to insinuate that Yui wishes to manipulate him - Reiji’s trying to make Yui appear just as manipulative as he is, in order to justify his own actions.

He leans in close.

“Well then, shall we get started?”

*Rustle*

“Admit that you belong to ‘Reiji’…and offer me your blood.”

You try and fight back again.

*Cling*

Reiji pins you down.

*THUD*

“Oh dear? Seems like being pushed down on the bed like this is not to your liking? …I could not possibly have sucked your blood on the floor, right? I am not exactly fond of getting my clothes dirty.”

Firstly, I wanted to make a note of “Admit that you belong to ‘Reiji’“ as he’s purposefully goading Yui into accepting that she’s a possession of ownership, she is a “thing” to be used and abused by Reiji however he pleases; essentially, he is asking Yui to dehumanise herself. Abusers are typically possessive, and they believe that anything they want should be theirs - they can do as they please with anything that is theirs. This attitude applies to people as well as possessions, and this is what we’re seeing here.

Secondly, I wanted to bring attention to the shift in semantic field in the last piece of dialogue. We’ve implied in the route analysis that sucking blood can be perceived as an intimate act, and when paired with Yui being “pushed down on the bed“ that intimacy can take on a more sexual tone rather than sadistic. However, the verb “pushed” presents this scene as being forced on Yui.

*Rustle*

“Fufufu…Such defiant eyes. You are still clinging to the hope that there might be some way out.”

“That kind of look is not bad either, you see.”

“Whether it’s your hope, shame or pride, I shall erase it all. …And then, I shall have you accept me.”

You glare at him.

“How long do you intend to give me that look? Fufufu…I am looking forward to seeing how long you will be able to defy me. The more stubborn you are, the more…You know the rest, don’t you?”

It’s here that Reiji directly states that his aim is to completely erase who Yui is as a person so that he can have her accept him - this is both extremely disturbing and extremely sad with the realisation that Yui’s entire personality and her essence as a person has to be diminished in order for her to love and accept Reiji. Even the fact that Reiji says “You know the rest, don’t you?” shows his self-awareness towards how repetitive his abuse is to him, it’s a constant cycle and he knows that, and so does Yui.

*Rustle rustle*

“I have started feeling a little peckish as well. I suppose we should get started soon.”

*Rustle*

“I am a Vampire. When your blood is right in front of me, my reason begins to crumble…I’m so thirsty…My throat is so incredibly parched, longing for your blood. I suppose I no longer need to hold myself back. This is your punishment after all.”

Reiji bites you.

*Gulp*

*Rustle rustle*

“Haah…haah…Aah…Your blood’s…flowing through my body…Quenching this horrible thirst…! It’s wonderful! Ahahahaha! Hahahaha…!!”

“What do you feel when you have your blood sucked? …Your blood is being transferred to my body, becoming my blood and flesh. How do you experience that exact moment?”

When Reiji states “I no longer need to hold myself back. This is your punishment after all” it implies that he’s justifying his instincts by naming them a punishment - allowing himself to delve into the more brutal aspects of baring his fangs. I also wanted to note that Reiji deems his thirst “horrible”, as though he’s disgusted by his own instincts; this is something that we see within his character, Reiji tends to distance himself from his instincts and his brothers as a result of that, which could imply that he wants to not only feel better than them, but to also be better than his brothers - to not act on the primal instincts they share, as his need to thirst acts as a flaw to his ‘perfect’ self.

Additionally, the dialogue “Your blood is being transferred to my body, becoming my blood and flesh” can be implied to be a metaphysical reference to the two essentially becoming one, they are so close that they function like one person, balancing both strength and weakness - Reiji projects his own strengths and Yui projects Reiji’s weaknesses -. When Reiji questions, “How do you experience that exact moment?”, it could imply that he’s asking Yui how it feels to become more like him, as though she’s being absorbed by him; becoming less of herself and more of a canvas for Reiji to implement himself onto - following that interpretation, the interrogative becomes a rhetoric as there is no answer, Yui has already become lost to Reiji’s influence.

You remain quiet.

“Fufu…Fufufu…You refuse to speak, it seems? You have become rather meek just from being bitten once. Is that all the self-respect you have?”

You protest.

“…’That is not true’, you say?”

“So you still refuse to be honest? That is truly a shame. …However, I believe that you will fulfil me.”

Reiji takes a deep breath.

“I have…once again become thirsty…Right now…I don’t have the time to talk to you.”

The clock strikes midnight.

*DINGー DONGー*

He bites you once more.

*Gulp*

“Haah…haah….Fufufu…Fufufu…The night has only just begun. Well then, now quench my thirst with the blood, of a proper lady such as yourself…”

“Fufufufu…”

ーー THE ENDーー

Firstly, Reiji associates muteness with meekness, possibly implying that he perceives that Yui’s only source of power is through her voice - which he manipulates through taunts and doubt in order to silence Yui; thereby stripping her of any power she might have had. So when Reiji says “Is that all the self-respect you have?” he’s not just lecturing her, he’s also taunting her - Yui’s quietened herself down, dissolving the power her voice holds and subsequently any self-respect she has in that moment as - in that instant - she’s submitted to him. The fact that Yui protests after this shows that while she may be “meek”, she still has the willpower to fight back; this most likely occurred due to her ego, and her sense of self-worth being mocked, it’s a natural instinct to deny what we perceive is untrue - especially about ourselves - and this is what I think Yui is doing here.

Furthermore, when the phrase “So you still refuse to be honest? That is truly a shame” is used, Reiji’s not calling Yui dishonest in relation to the truthfulness and honesty of the situation, but the honesty of Reiji’s narrative. Yui doesn’t agree that she lacks self-respect, even though Reiji does; Reiji is the one in control and so, to him, only his perspective and beliefs should matter - which is why it’s “truly a shame”. Yui refused to indulge in Reiji’s skewed perception.

I also wanted to make a note of when Reiji says “I believe that you will fulfil me”, as it can have several interpretations. One interpretation of “fulfil” could connote to Reiji wanting Yui to satisfy his trauma by presenting the maternal affection he was deprived of - to fulfil and fix his emotional wounds, which yet again follows the ongoing theme of Reiji projecting himself onto Yui. The second interpretation of this could connote to Yui’s blood - more specifically, the imagery of Yui being devoured by Reiji, and the two becoming more alike through Reiji drinking Yui’s blood - effectively devouring and absorbing who she is in order to sate himself and the virtuous traits he lacks; and consequently drag Yui down into despair with him. The third interpretation of this could connote to Reiji wanting Yui to fulfil him sexually. We’ve already established and implied that blood sucking is an intimate act, and when paired with themes of assault, beds and fulfilment, those sexual implications can be perceived.

Additionally, I also wanted to touch upon the theme of midnight. The night is often associated with ghouls and monsters due to the lack of light - night time essentially is just the absence of sunlight, and people usually sleep during the night so there is less supervision - we are vulnerable when we sleep -, and predatory animals usually come out at night to hunt their prey - much like how the brothers are active during the night to hunt down Yui, as she is their prey. Light is associated with positivity and abundance, therefore, it's absence is seen as the opposite; even in religion, darkness is portrayed as bad and something that should be eradicated. Furthermore, darkness takes away the ability to see, it obstructs our vision and makes one “blind”, this makes things seem scary and unpredictable as people have an innate fear of the unknown - something that we cannot see poses as a threat that we cannot combat. Thus, the association between night and evil is greatly psychological, as humans tend to perceive themselves as vulnerable and more susceptible to danger during the night. Yui is spiritually vulnerable during this time.

Midnight, specifically the time, is associated with being the prime hour of night, it’s the most powerful hour; this is due to the planetary Yin and Yang imagery between the sun and moon at their highest hours - midday and midnight -. The Yin Yang shows how forces such as good and evil, which are apparently opposites, are actually deeply intertwined and interconnected with and complementary to each other while also being independent entities in the natural world. However, we’re speaking on a planetary level, not metaphorical or metaphysical, which is why midnight is so significant here - Reiji is at his most dominating, and Yui is at her most vulnerable; with the chime of the clock, Reiji then strikes - he strikes when light and dark are macroscopically in balance, implying that although Yui may be strong and virtuous, she will inevitably fall to Reiji.

Lastly, I wanted to raise awareness to when Reiji claims that Yui is a “proper lady”. Throughout this entire CD and his HDB route, this is the first time Reiji says this. Why ? I believe that Reiji uses this phrase due to Yui’s behaviour, she’s stopped actively resisting Reiji at his most desperate - desperate to quench his thirst - and most domineering moment and has silently given in. Yui’s become silent and obedient, the very thing that Reiji’s been trying to instil in her; the very traits that correspond to Beatrix’s behaviour, someone who he deemed a “proper lady” - the praise is directed at Yui for embodying Beatrix in this moment, as in this instant, Reiji has won in the battle of will.

To conclude, this CD showcases the less noticeable aspects of Reiji’s manipulative behaviour as well as the nuances of those traits. We’re able to see exactly how Reiji manipulates Yui just through his words alone; and yet this CD displays how Reiji has to cultivate an elaborate, manipulative plan in order to gain Yui’s attention, and quench his attention deficit - which is honestly quite depressing. Reiji’s behaviour can in no way be excused, but it can be explained.

#reiji analysis #diabolik lovers #why is he like this ? sir what's wrong with you ?#diabolik lovers analysis #reiji sakamaki #Rejet why does Reiji always have a stick up his ass ? I'm asking for my therapist

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