#big cleanup arc

[russenoire]

on first watch as an anime-only, i remember feeling like ritsu kageyama's descent into evil in episode seven needed a little more air, more space to breathe. i... no longer do. if that slide down the slippery slope feels a bit sudden, there is a reason; and if you know what to look for, it's not actually all that sudden. bear with me here.

from the first episode, the anime sets ritsu up as shigeo's kind, solicitous younger brother. we don't see much of him for the first three episodes, but when we do, he's making bids for shigeo’s attention: helpfully straightening his spoon when it bends and deposits a bite of his dinner on the dining table; noting that he seems out of it and offering himself up as a confidant at least twice; checking in on him in the morning so they can both leave on time. (i actually love the anime for doing this. ritsu doesn't even show up as a character until maybe the middle of the manga's second volume?) except for the spoon, shigeo gently turns him down every time.

and yet. the interview ichi mezato snags with ritsu in episode four confirms a distance between the kageyama boys. you are not seeing things here. he initially refuses her desire for detailed information about shigeo’s powers, only indulging her to find out what shigeo’s been up to. ritsu holds those powers in such awe that he uses a rather hyperbolic phrase to describe shigeo for her: '世界の基本', or sekai no kihon, literally the standard for [his] world.

after he coldly walks out on her, she reviews what little she’s gleaned from their chilly meeting: he's hawt, at the top of his class, athletic, very popular... all things his older brother decidedly is not. the story establishes a duality here between ritsu’s image—indirectly revealed through mezato’s notes—and the reality of ritsu, sat hunched across from her, sullen, barely tolerating her until she coughed up the information she promised him. later on that evening, we see just how deep ritsu's awe goes... or rather, how snared up it is in resentment and envy as he attempts in vain to bend a spoon, just like shigeo did when they were younger. all the trophies of others’ esteem already gathering dust on his shelves don’t mean shit if he can’t have this.

ritsu intercepts shigeo as he leaves for class the next morning: no student council meeting, so an opportunity to actually talk to him. this is rare, his brother notes. and of course dimple is haunting shigeo. when the specter comments on their apparent closeness, the boy side-eyes him hard. this can easily be read two ways: ‘why the hell are you talking to me when no one else can see you?’ and ‘man, fuck you for sticking the knife in deeper.’ ritsu doesn’t ask about the cult meeting here or ever in the entire series. was he really all that interested in mezato’s news? no, he only wants to know why his brother doesn’t use his powers anymore. and this is the first time they’ve talked about this.

it’s such a neat little mystery, these breadcrumbs the story leaves for us until ritsu’s formal introduction in episode six. even though they share the same home and appear to be on friendly terms, the kageyama brothers may as well live on opposite sides of the planet. we don’t even get a sense of why this state of affairs exists until episode five, where teru chokes the breath out of shigeo and his pissed-off soul levels teru’s school before catapulting him into the stratosphere to reflect on his sins: several years prior, shigeo nearly killed ritsu (and possibly ended three much older boys) in an accident neither boy understands; fragments of memory flash before his eyes as his consciousness shorts out.

‘brother, you’re home late, sopping wet. here’s a towel. are you hungry? you seem down; is everything OK? if you need to talk, i’m here for you.’

instead of turning down this bid for connection like all the rest and turning inward again, shigeo actually opens up. he apologizes for the accident—for the first time—then asks for some clarity, since his memories of it are broken. and ritsu clenches the knob to his brother’s bedroom door tighter. he lies to his face, tells him to ‘get over it already.’ this after asking shigeo to confide in him again, no less: too terrified to be honest with him, too used to being shot down. this boy is soaking in fear he has no context for, and he heads downstairs to soak in it alone. shigeo at least has reigen to process his own fears with, though he never trusts the man enough to take full advantage.

ritsu has no one.

he’s already keeping up appearances at home and has been for years; over the course of the spring cleaning big cleanup arc, we learn the extent to which he’s been doing so at school.

(all those expectations of him weighing him down for so long… he can’t hold out forever.)

student council vice president tokugawa calls him out on trying to melt into the scenery like his brother; his considerable gifts make that impossible. said gifts, however, are so ego-dystonic for him that they’re yet another part of Ritsu Kageyama’s Big Lie. the academically-gifted, popular sprinter so many of his fellow students swoon over isn’t real: why does everyone praise him for things anyone could do? he doesn’t actually have friends, just associates. who cares about charisma? why does everyone think he’s perfect when the only thing he truly wants will never be his? and why does his locker leak chocolate every valentine’s day?

gentle reader. are you still wondering why he snaps when he finally gets his wish? and why it looks the way it does?

[gumy-shark]

thinks about the big cleanup arc again

[spoonbenders]

nice kid

[spacepajamas956]

GUYS CROSSING THE LINE FROM TANGLED THE SERIES IS SO BIG CLEANUP ARC RITSU AND MOB.

[atomikats]

my darling boy.. he is deranged

-

(click for quality)

[weirdinhumans]

sandy - alex g is a shigeo song. like. i cant explain it Just listen to it

[dykeyaoi]

so there's that part in the second stageplay where Dimple's actor is playing Okakura-sensei and he goes off-script for a solid four minutes refusing to leave stage and poor Kamuro does such a good job staying in-character while Ritsu and the girls are all giggling and Ritsu has to turn away from the audience cos he's not supPOSED to be giggling and then we get this phenomenal shot that I love

then Okakura-sensei twists Ritsu's arm around to give him the recorder prop instead of just slipping it to Kamuro like I think he's supposed to. and then you can tell that Kamuro's actor is still pissed for the next couple scenes in the show because even if this is closing night that was a *little* much

[scribefindegil]

the broccoli really just has parallels with everything huh

[da-janela-lateral]

Meyer parrots' green and yellow patches of feathers usually look very vibrant and pretty, but bird! Shinji's plumage appears kind of dull in the more recent drawings. Discolored and/or dull feathers are a sign of a lack of sunlight and a poor diet, respectively. Considering his canon living situation, it's impressive that he doesn't have stress bars as well in this AU. Poor boy...

[brown-little-robin]

What Do You Mean Ritsu Catches TheZombie Disease ?Whgat Do You Meanwhat do youmean whatg do u mean wh

:)

Well, here's the thing. Ritsu thinks Shigeo is no longer contagious. Even though he still has some zombie symptoms, like the misty eyes and the insomnia, he's officially cured. Everyone thinks Mob's symptoms are just leftovers, his body having been changed in ways you can't come back from.

The doctors are wrong. Mob still hosts a living (even thriving) disease colony. It's just that he lived with zombie disease so long that his body stopped fighting to eradicate the disease, and then the cure strengthened his immune system and allowed his body to push back against the disease, prioritizing clearing his brain while allowing the disease to remain part of him. And his disease colony, having the collective intelligence of a colony of bees, adapted to the situation.

Zoom out. Mob is living in a house with Ritsu. They don't really talk but they're in physical proximity. They eat together when they can. You'd think it would just be a matter of time until Ritsu got infected, but actually it didn't have to happen. Ritsu spent months taking care of Shige, Very Aware that he was going to be infected and doom them both if he came in contact with Shige's saliva. Ritsu still has the habits; he's still careful with everything he imbibes. He never drinks out of anything but his water bottle, he never takes food out of anything Shigeo has touched (Ritsu splits their food into separate meals BEFORE eating so that they never share a bowl), and he washes the sink before he uses it, every single time.

Mob doesn't use his old water bottle anymore. He drinks out of regular glasses, and he usually washes them himself. Sometimes he forgets, and then Ritsu steels himself and washes Shigeo's dishes and then washes his hands three times and takes a long bath.

So—it could have continued forever and no one would have known Mob was still contagious, because Ritsu treated him like he was still contagious anyway.

And then. The Big Cleanup arc happens. Ritsu and Kamuro are cleaning up Salt Township one useless delinquent at a time. Ritsu is pretty sure that someone recently tried to use his brother's zombie strength in inter-town warfare, and he is furious. He wishes everyone would forget about Nii-san. Unfortunately, though, in this au, there were witnesses to Teru and Mob's fight—some of the Black Vinegar delinquents were not unconscious for that. The rumors flew, and by the time Big Cleanup gets into full swing, people all around the former Seasoning City area know that there's a zombie kid from Salt who challenged Black Vinegar's secret weapon and won. Is Salt going to become a bandit town like Black Vinegar? They've been a good neighbor to the other fragments of Seasoning City so far, but if they have a zombie who can wreak that much destruction on command...

And the fact that Mob still has zombie symptoms—well. it's an open secret. So when Ritsu hears the rumor from Mezato, he knows perfectly well what's going to happen. People are going to come after his brother preemptively. Worst case scenario, Nii-san is going to get killed. Ritsu starts to consider taking Shigeo and making a run for it—leaving the Seasoning City area altogether, maybe. Striking out on their own again. He doesn't want to do it, but it might be their only chance. He feels rushed. someone could try something at any time.

So. when he hears from Mitsuura (who is essentially the same in this au, just,, a little more ethically questionable due to wanting zombie powers instead of psychic powers,,) that people who have been around zombies for a long time sometimes develop zombie characteristics, he thinks this might be his chance to stall. He thinks if he gets zombie strength, he could pretend to be White T Poison, to distract people from his brother long enough to—do something. figure out some way to protect his brother for real.

(The Awakening Lab kids have had long-term exposure to zombies and basically been immunized to the disease. they have had very, very mild cases and recovered with little damage. Rei Kurosaki can sense the presence of miasma and disease colony drones, for instance. Hoshino has above-average strength; Asahi has a permanent fever that makes him hot to the touch. Asahi in particular recently got bitten and never showed any symptoms. Ritsu watches and absorbs this information with Great interest.)

On Ritsu's way to Mitsuura's lab, which is just a little way outside Salt's territory, Student Council Vice President Tokugawa catches him and asks if he's alright. Tokugawa is perceptive, and although he disapproves of Ritsu and Kamuro's community "cleanup", he's noticed that Ritsu is doing. really bad. lately. He thinks maybe having someone Acknowledge that Ritsu is visibly doing bad and freaking out about his brother will help Ritsu gain some... solidity. Instead of telling Ritsu "stop acting like your brother", Tokugawa tells Ritsu, "Stop trying to take control of everything. You're not in charge of your brother anymore."

And that—that reference to Ritsu's months of caretaking just destroys what's left of Ritsu's desire to be normal. Not in charge of his brother anymore? Not in charge of his brother anymore? How dare he bring that up and suggest Ritsu just get over it? Ritsu's ability to be in control of everything is his best quality, thank you very much.

Ritsu goes to Mitsuura's lab, and then he comes home to find Shigeo asleep on the couch with a nearly empty glass of water by his hand.

Shigeo's not a zombie anymore—Tokugawa was right about that much. Ritsu doesn't have to be afraid of him this time. Ritsu is older, stronger, more in control this time than last time. He can do this.

He drinks the rest of Shigeo's water. On purpose.

(Shigeo's saliva is still contagious. his water has his disease drones in it, ready to clone themselves into a full colony. they find Ritsu's body very hospitable. very familiar. they start replicating the way they worked in their last host's body right away.)

[shigayokagayama]

every once in a while i get possessed and start ritsu posting

[gumy-shark]

You ever think about how Ritsus powers weren't just awakened from envying Mob. They didn't awaken from joining the awakening lab. They didn't awaken from trying to bend spoons. It wasn't about envy, it was about how much he hated himself and how much he felt unsafe and like deep down he was lying to everyone and making them THINK he was a good person when in reality he was horrible and didn't care about anyone else. Do you ever think about that. I think about that. I'm having a normal day.

do you ever think about how at multiple points he subconsciously assumes mob hates him as much as he hates himself. how in the alley he provokes mob on purpose because he WANTS mob to fight him and hurt him. because he wants this fight to happen and because. well. doesn’t he deserve it, when mob is so effortlessly good and the first choices ritsu has made on his own were to hurt people?

or like. in the claw base. when he sees mob again and IMMEDIATELY slips back into the Caring Younger Brother persona

^ the face of a scared kid doing damage control. because of course mob must be PISSED at him, right? because ritsu wasn’t strong enough- not strong enough to avoid getting captured, to break out on his own, or to be the bigger person and control himself. the last words he’d said to mob at this point were his provocations in the alley- and he is trying to prevent a BLOWUP.

(and then mob hugs him and ritsu realizes that no actually he is loved unconditionally. that mob has seen him at his WORST and doesn’t care.)

[bytedykes]

no actually im so serious. if u dont love ritsu at his joker arc u don't deserve him at his everything else

[sewizawa]

dimple meets mob and asks aren't you tired of being nice don't you wanna go apeshit and mob just kinda ignores him and starts doing push ups but when he meets ritsu (13 and a cancer) and asks him that he's like my god yes I am and like good for him

[hanazawat]

in another timeline ritsu would have been my fave

[mobtism]

reading vol 4 mp100 & revisiting the big cleanup arc is so... ofc ritsu is vigilant of being used by others, and is distrustful toward those around him. he's seen his brother being taken advantage of for years & is attentive to the signs bc of it. this is very blatant but still posting abt it bc i'll have more thoughts on it later