#i actually haven't played bandori in ages but THEM <3

[rosies-den]

They lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship

[a-bucket-full-of-feels]

Extended commentary on my SayoRin AU fic

Because I wanted to refrain from rambling too much in the ao3 author's notes, I've consolidated some extended thoughts/fun facts about Morning Star in the Night Sky in this Tumblr post.

Inspiration for the fic

After watching It's MyGo!!!!!, I started revisiting the original Bandori franchise and was drawn to SayoRin again. As mentioned in another post, I have a soft spot for this particular ship among other Bandori ships, and I was compelled to write a new fic about them.

So also recently I wrote a KumiRei post-canon fic at the end of Hibike! Euphonium S3, and one of the small details I included in my post-canon worldbuilding was that adult Reina casually dated some asshole guys while in America and vented to Kumiko every time she broke up with them, and one of them was a jazz pianist. When I was finished with the main fic, I wrote a short fic about her relationship with that jazz pianist on a whim, but I decided not to publish it online because it's not really that great and the KumiRei content in that fic isn't much (it was mostly a self-indulgent Reina character study if anything). But I decided to adapt that opening scene in my fic as the scene where Sayo meets Rinko for the first time in my AU, and I basically took the story from there.

For some fics, most of the plotline and even specific conversations form in my head almost as soon as the idea comes to me. For this fic, this was the exact opposite - I started with almost nothing except a simple premise, and developed the plot outline bit by bit as I wrote and thought about the fic. I honestly did enjoy the ideation process, it was a fun way to occupy my time while going on a run or during pockets of free time, though getting to writing and editing can be painful when I'm not in a flow state LOL.

Chapter 3

1. I forgot to mention this in the notes, but the quote "Practise like you're on stage, and when you’re on stage treat it like it's practice" is actually one of Sayo's in-game voicelines during lives when you use her in your team, if I remember correctly (I haven't played the game in ages). I'm not sure what's the official English translation for that line as I only played the JP version of Girls Band Party, but I tried my best to make the translation sound less awkward, I swear it sounds a lot better in the original Japanese.

Chapter 6

1. Before the universities were introduced into the Bandori canon, I used to have this headcanon that Sayo would choose accountancy as her university major after reading one of the earliest event stories where she literally used a ruler to measure the thickness of the dough while baking cookies with Lisa. That obsession and attention to detail is such an accountant-like personality trait, speaking as an accountant/financial analyst myself. So I was kinda disappointed when the writers decided to make her a law major instead 😂 We need more accountant representation in media LOL

2. Also on the last part of the chapter, I have no clue how job/client scheduling in a law firm works haha. I kinda assumed that it's similar to my experience in an accounting services firm where you get assigned to different clients based on the headcount/resource requirements and timeline of the job.

Chapter 7

1. Nagano is indeed about a 3 hour drive away from Tokyo, and also known for its mountains! The setting was loosely inspired by this car camping Youtuber, Tabi-ie, who lives in Nagano and frequently camps overnight in the mountains. His videos have a really relaxing and peaceful vibe, and it's nice to put on in the background if you want to unwind, so I highly recommend checking it out!

2. I also did some research on constellations, and Andromeda and the Andromeda galaxy are usually visible only during Autumn!

Afterthoughts

I've already aired my thoughts about SayoRin in a previous post so I shan't repeat myself here. But I'm grateful for everyone who has read and followed the story since the beginning - it truly makes the sleep deprivation from writing this entire fic worth it for me haha