#vbs toya's mother

[pjsk-story-summaries]

the first concerto Event Story Summary

TL;DR: Toya's task from Ken to surpass RAD WEEKEND is to write the songs for the event, the feelings of his team embodied within the lyrics and sound. Toya studies some of his father's books on composition to help, but despite all his attempts, he cant get a sound with the same sort of heat as RAD WEEKEND. In a desperate attempt, Toya asks his father for advice. Harumichi feels as if there is no pride within Toya's works.

Toya continues to write for months, but fails every time to create the right sound. He cuts back on sleep to spend more time composing. Toya ends up nearly collapsing in SEKAI from dizziness because of it. While taking care of him, MEIKO realizes Toya has analyzed everyone's feelings except his own. She encourages him to take a look into his own past, despite the pain.

Whenever Toya tries to recall his past, all he can think about is the guilt he feels over running away. He believes someone like him, who ran away before, doesn't have the resolve to carry the dreams of those aiming to surpass RAD WEEKEND. Toya screams in frustration, leading his father to enter his room.

Harumichi questions why Toya chooses to only look at the pain from his days of classical music. Though he did run away in the end, Toya had always faced music head-on. That dedication puts him leagues above anyone he'll ever face on the streets, so he should look upon his past with pride. Toya realizes the truth to his father's words, and having finally truly embraced his past, writes a song with the heat to surpass RAD WEEKEND.

After showing it to his team, Toya brings the song to Souma. Toya invites him to come watch the next event.

Fan translation (lozy bug) / Song (blender) 2DMV / 3DMV

Chapter 1: Toya's task from Ken was to make the songs that will surpass those at RAD WEEKEND. The songs he'd written with Taiga and Nagi had all of their passion within them; to match, Toya will have to write with the feelings of all of his group. Ken wants Toya specifically to write them for his ability to put feelings into sounds and lyrics from a history of classical music. Though it's an insurmountable task, Toya accepts.

Chapter 2: To better understand the feelings of his team, Toya interviews them all in SEKAI and writes their thoughts in a journal. KAITO stops by to see what's up, impressed by the level of depth Toya's gone in his notes. Toya wants to be as detailed as possible so he can truly understand the feelings of others. KAITO offers his support.

Later that night, Toya begins thinking about the first song. He wants to include all of the exhilaration, doubt, and courage his team feels regarding the event. To learn more about composing, Toya decides to borrow some of his father's reference books.

Chapter 3: Toya completes a demo for the first song. Though it's not bad, it lacks the heat he's searching for. He decides to scrap the song and start over.

A week passes, but he's still unable to compose a satisfactory sound. Though he begins to doubt his ability, Toya knows the others are relying on him and carries on. After hearing his father arrive home, Toya hesitantly decides to ask him for advice out of desperation.

Toya asks for Harumichi to listen to the song, but he refuses. Still, Toya insists and explains the importance of surpassingRAD WEEKEND. Harumichi reveals he's already heard Toya playing his songs on his speaker, and that there is no pride to be heard within them. Toya decides to start over again.

Chapter 4: Toya discusses his struggles with the rest of his team. Though they agree his songs are good, they're still not to the level of RAD WEEKEND. They all try suggesting ways to make them better, but they still end up feeling lacking. On a walk home, Akito encourages him to keep moving forward.

Though Toya's studied all sorts of music and received all sorts of input, he still cannot find that heat. He feels lost, fearing he'll let his team down. Toya briefly remembers the words he'd spoken when he ran away from classical music. He resolves to never run away again. A

A month later, Toya's mother tells Harumichi of her concern about Toya's health. He's begun cutting back on sleep and eating to focus on writing songs.

Chapter 5: Toya has a nightmare about playing piano as a child. He doesn't want to let everyone down, but wonders how long he'll have to keep playing before he'll meet their expectations. He wakes up with a jolt and suppresses those feelings. He has to finish at least one song. Toya's mother knocks on his door and asks if he's alright. She suggests taking a break, so Toya goes on a walk.

However, the moment he leaves the house, he goes to SEKAI to work instead. Toya suddenly gets extremely dizzy. MEIKO finds him crouched down in a corner. Though he tries to resist, she forces him to accept her help.

Once Toya starts feeling a bit better, MEIKO asks him to go back and get some proper rest. Toya tells her more about his struggles to incorporate everyone's feelings into a song. She asks to see Toya's notebook and realizes he's never written down his own feelings. MEIKO suggests trying to explore his personal journey with music, too. Toya doesn't want to think back on his feelings from before, but MEIKO urges him to since she believes that's the source of his struggles.

Chapter 6: Later, Toya begins his self reflection. He remembers the first day he'd ever played piano; his sound was flat, but his father's so beautiful. That disparity intrigued him and sparked his love of music. However, it also began his father's strict practice regimen. Even being near a piano made him feel tense.

After a performance in middle school, his father had approached him. He said that though Toya's performance wasn't bad, he still had a long way to go before he truly understood music, but he might get there someday. Toya was incredibly proud of himself; it was the first time he'd ever received praise from his dad.

The pressure only grew from there. It reached a point where he broke and decided to give up. He'd doubted he'd ever reach the place his father wanted him to, lashed out, and ran away. Toya refused to be tied down by classical music anymore.

Though Toya knows he shouldn't feel that self-doubt anymore, the pain of his past still haunts him. Toya realizes his guilt over betraying his family's expectations are the source of his fears of letting down the others with his new songs. He can't write a song with pride because he doesn't feel proud of the him that ran away. Toya screams in frustration.

Chapter 7: Harumichi enters Toya's room after he shouted. Toya's confused as to why, since this hasn't happened since he quit. Toya decides to ask his father to listen to his songs one more time. He knows why he's struggling, and that's exactly why he needs his father's help. Toya denies that he's abandoning himself. He feels so guilty about before that he can't carry his teammates feelings now, but refuses to run away. He tells Harumichi about Nagi and RADder and begs one more time for his father's opinion.

His father suggests that perception is the root of Toya's problem. Toya ran away. He cannot change that. Yet, Harumichi belives Toya will be able to defeat RAD WEEKEND. Even though he ran away in the end, Toya still embraced classical music, day and night, for twelve years. He's never lacked dedication.

Toya remembers a scene from his childhood, one he's recalled before. His father forced him to keep rehearsing until he got it right, even though Toya's fingers ached. He tried again, and again, and finally reached the end. His father said he could be done for the day, but Toya wasn't satisfied with himself. He asked if he could play one more time.

Harumichi asks why Toya will only focus on the fact he ran away, why the only things he chooses to remember are the guilt and betrayal. He believes Toya should be proud of his days as a classical musician. No matter who Toya goes up against, he will always have more determination in the face of music.

Chapter 8: Vivid Street has begun buzzing after Akito's performance in Burn My Soul. Meanwhile, Toya shows the others his finished song. The others are incredibly impressed: it carries the heat of RAD WEEKEND and beyond. Toya tells them about how the him from the past, the one who faced classical music with his all, was the one who kept him from running away again. Toya's incredibly happy to have made his teammates proud.

Later, Toya goes to visit Souma. Arata still hasn't spoken to him since the events of Light Up the Fire. Toya tells Souma that their next event will be the one to surpass RAD WEEKEND and asks if he'd listen to his song. It brought Souma to tears. Toya invites him to their event.

After, the rest of the team asks how the meeting went. Toya's confident their feelings got through to him.

[thatoneweird014]

TOYA'S FAMILY HCs (mainly toyabros):

Toyamom:

I don't think Toyamom is actually that bad (at least not as shitty as Harumichi). Does she stop him from being a bitch? No, but she doesn't encourage him either. She just kinda... stays out of it, which is still bad but when she's with the kids on her own she is very kind and sweet with them (not for any ulterior motives or gaslighting kind of way). When her kids would confide in her that "mom... I don't want to play piano", she would tuck them in, kiss their foreheads, rub their side and say "it's alright. Look, you got that part right today didn't you? You're improving very well :)" It's because of this that the kids slowly began to latch onto her if they ever felt like they needed praise (I'll talk more about this later).

While she isn't a perfect person, she is still probably the only member who hasn't fully given up on the family yet. The Aoyagi kids slowly grow out of telling her all their problems because she doesn't/can't really do anything about it, but they do like her. She always tries to smile when she greets them, even as her face gets worn with age and as her hair starts to grey. Also, her hair starts to grey early because of stress. She knows everyone has given up on this sorry excuse for a family and is probably the only one still trying to pretend they're fine. The Aoyagi kids go along with it because they don't want to see their mother suffering and because deep down they all partially hope that there is still something salvageable in this.

Toyabros:

I came up with names for them but idrk if im gonna keep them as their permanent hc names so if you have any better ones lmk!!

Toushiro - Eldest:

appearance: 6"4, slightly stronger than Toya but still relatively skinny; short, light blue hair; black glasses and tired, beautiful, deep navy eyes; is always wearing something semi-formal, doesn't wear button-ups or anything but his clothes are always perfectly sized for him, never too big or small (kinda like an npc).

Toushiro follows your typical eldest child formula: your destiny is written from the moment you are born, you will be the prodigal child and there's nothing you can do about it. He's probably the only one of the sons whose more reserved than Toya and he constantly has bags under his eyes (the second son - Tokujiro - does as well but they're less heavy). Both sons wanted to do something other than music once they got to their teens but unlike Tokujiro who tried and failed, Toushiro didn't try at all because, in typical eldest sibling fashion, it's too much of a risk to give up the only thing you're practically good for. He's also the son who latched onto their mother the most because praise is to an eldest sibling what cherry-flavoured vapes are to thirteen year olds - give us one whiff of it and we'll chase it for the the rest of their lives (I do not vape for the record). It's because of this he's the only son who calls home from abroad every now and then to check in with their mother and very rarely their father on the two occasions he's ever showed up on videocall. He also eventually grew to just accept his life as a pianist. He's not fully happy in it, but he's come to accept that this is his life and tries to find joy in it.

When Tokujiro was born, Toushiro was originally kind of excited that he wouldn't be alone anymore, that there someone he could teach piano to himself. He got shouted at for it. One time when he was trying to teach Tokujiro piano, Harumichi came down, completely enraged, and yelled at them for making such terrible noise and using the piano so carelessly. "But, mother lets us..." "I don't care, touch that again and I'll make you practice through the entire night." Toushiro was left so afraid from that encounter that he never took Tokujiro to the piano room again. When Toya came, he just kept his distance, he was busy with recitals anyway (he was seven at the time of Toya's birth). As he got older, he tried to form a connection with Toya on the few times he came home. He felt bad for not being there for him when he was younger. One of the first things he asks when he comes back home now is "where's Toya?" He barely gets to see him because Toya's either at school or asleep when he gets back and he usually has to leave very early again the next day. However, on the few times they do meet, it's very awkward because you can see he's trying but they don't really have anything to talk about, especially since he can't talk about the piano anymore. It's even sadder because while he's abroad he compiles a list of everything he wants to tell him when but he gets home they can barely get past the "hi... how are you?" stage to ever get there.

Tokujiro - Middle child:

appearance: 6"0, shorter than Toushiro but much more "healthier" (all the Aoyagi sons have terrible eating habits, this is just appearance-wise) ; dark blue hair which is longer than Toya's, but it never goes past his shoulders and he usually ties it up a lot as well; softer blue eyes, much closer to silver, yet he still manages to always look stern; rougher hands from all his 'escape' attempts; wears plaid button-ups a lot (like ichika) and it's always untucked

Tokujiro is much more salty and angry at everything. He was five when Toya was born but was much more distant, largely due to him being really angry now that he realised just what kind of a life he was stuck in. When he found out Toya started street music, he became insanely stand-offish towards him because he had tried throughout his entire childhood to get out of his horrible life (he hates piano much more than Toushiro does) and he had gotten beaten and yelled at for it and Toya just?? gets to do it?? He used to constantly makes passive-aggressive comments about Toya's choice to perform (he does this less now) whilst saying how well he's doing at piano but he doesn't even know why he's doing it anymore, probably just to make himself feel better if anything because he really hates his life. He'll purposefully not give his all in performances but since he's an Aoyagi you'd need an insanely skilled ear to pick up on it.

When he was younger, he'd look up to Toushiro a lot, even after he distanced himself. Even now, despite his snarky and 'go fuck off' attitude, some desperate part of him misses his brother who would take him to the piano room and teach him, and he longs for him back. Also, at about age thirteen or so, he had discovered CDs of some music that was very much not classical music in his brother's room and played it when no one was watching. That was his first introduction to rock music- and he LOVED it. He'd constantly sneak into Toushiro's room to listen to them. One day Toushiro caught him and it was kind of amusing cause that was the first time he saw his brother so nervous.

"Toku? Toku! What are you doing?"

"I'm not the one with" - checks cover - "RAD WEEKEND CDs." (I hc that back when they were just emerging on the scene, RW did a lot of rock music, so much so that they released exclusive albums for their rocks songs)

"How did you even find those-"

"They're cool. Why didn't you show me?"

"Because- we're not supposed to... wait... do you like them?"

"Yeah, they actually sound good."

"..."

"..."

Then they'd frequently listen to rock together. Until their dad found them. And then broke them and yelled at them for tainting their ears with that garbage - "no wonder you've become worse lately." Tokujiro saw this as more of an excuse to rebel, in fact, he tried to start a rock band with the few friends he had (this got discovered and broken as well) - Toushiro was devastated to hear this and it only made him grow even further away from his brother. He only partially blames Toushiro for the growing distance between them, whereas he fully blames their father.

Both brothers together:

Sometimes their concert venues/study schedules overlap. It doesn't happen as often as they like, but it still does. To the outside eye, they interact like complete business professionals, as though their only relation to each other is through their work and not blood. However, they are there for each other. Toushiro will use these moments to try and subtly uplift his brother. Tokujiro always brushes it off and acts like he doesn't care but he does listen and sometimes take it to heart.

They both had private education together. Toushiro, even though he wasn't content with it, would sit quietly and listen. Tokujiro would do silent acts of rebellion, stuff he couldn't technically get in trouble for, kind of like Rui (i think him and rui would actually be besties ngl. In another life maybe :")) ) He'd do stuff like hand in assignments at the very last second and ask a bunch of stupid questions. The only reason he didn't get a stern talking to about this (at least not as much as he should have) is because all his work was actually done to a high standard and was correct. He had, during this period, also tried to start a rock band, but due to being so secluded from actual society he had maybe only two friends, the receptionist's kid from the shop his mother would sometimes take him with her to, and one kid he frequently met whilst trying to sneak out. He always seemed stoned af but maybe that was just his persona, he liked it either way. Toushiro knows if his brother gets caught he's going to be absolutely fucked. A part of him wants to stop him but the other part of him wants him to succeed, to prove there's an escape, so he just stays quiet and if he's ever questioned about what his brother is up to, he just says he doesn't know (to protect him). Lo and behold, his brother gets caught, receives the worst talking to of his life as he sits in his room, hands trembling above the piano feeling guilty as fuck for not having stopped him sooner.

They both have a minor jealousy for Toya. Toushiro eventually overcomes this in order to try and fix their bond whereas Tokujiro just pushes it down. Because what do you mean he's doing street music and not getting fucked over for it? What do you mean he's going to a PUBLIC school and has so many friends? What do you mean he's doing something else with his life, something he's happy with and getting away with it? They had both tried to do the same and gotten beaten the fuck up for it and he just?? gets to do it?? No lecture or anything? And what do you mean he TALKS BACK TO THEIR FATHER.

"Hmph, that's barely an achievement Toya."

"But I'm proud of it, I think I've come very far."

HELLO??? IF THAT WERE US TALKING WE'D BE FUCKING DEAD. They both stare in disbelief the first time they see Toya do this (on separate occasions, they talk about it to eo next time their schedules overlap). They think Toya gets a shitload of leniency from Harumichi. They're pissed off about it but don't hate him for it. At least one Aoyagi gets to be happy.

Bonus:

Toushiro doesn't like family dinners because Harumichi would spend the entire time berating his brother for his 'unruly' (he's an Aoyagi, remember) behaviour instead of praising him for he does right. This still holds true. When he goes home Harumichi barely bats an eye at him whereas he starts complaining when it's Tokujiro. Tokujiro just lets it flow in ear and out the other, he doesn't bother trying to 'prove' anything anymore and Toushiro just doesn't try, there's no point.

[shikishake]

How to emotionally abuse your child: comparing and contrasting Mafuyu Asahina and Toya Aoyagi.

There are two actively abusive parents in Project Sekai, and both of them are emotionally abusive in similar ways and for similar reasons. But the treatment and development of Toya’s father and Mafuyu’s mother has been very distinctly different over the course of the story so far. Why has Toya’s relationship with his father stabilised and even marginally improved over the course of his events, while Mafuyu’s relationship with her mother hasn’t just deteriorated but actively crashed and burned?

I believe the difference lies in intent and perspective. (Before we begin in earnest, I want to note that, at the end, I’ll briefly touch upon some other parents, specifically the ones who might also be worthy of criticism. Most notably, I’ll discuss Ena and Akito’s father and the (many) flaws in how he has treated both of his children. Refer to that if you’re interested.)

Toya and Mafuyu have a lot of similarities. They’re both emotionally repressed, they’re both exceptionally skilled (Toya more specifically being a musical prodigy, while Mafuyu has a more general kind of exceptional competence), and they both have very difficult relationships with their parents (their father and mother, respectively). They’ve both slowly but surely come out of their shells and recovered thanks to the help of their groups (VBS and Niigo, with an emphasis on Akito and Kanade, respectively). Because of the connections they’ve made, both of them have received the support needed to directly confront their parents and choose a new path for themselves, regardless of what their parents think.

Toya’s father and Mafuyu’s mother also have a lot of similarities. They’re both overbearing, controlling parents who pile pressure and expectations on the shoulders of their children, both have isolated their children in an attempt to focus their attention on the things they deemed important, and they’ve both rejected the paths their children have decided to walk in the end. 

Both of them have claimed that their behaviour was motivated by good intentions, that they truly want the best for their children and want them to be happy, and that everything they’ve done has been in service of making life easier for their children.

Both of them have failed, but only Mafuyu’s mother is lying (including to herself).

Toya’s father.

Toya’s father has been a successful classically trained musician his entire life, and has raised two other boys to be successful classically trained musicians. Neither of Toya’s brothers live in Shibuya, but small mentions of them reveal that, though they might have shared Toya’s current attitude in the past, both of them have told Toya they now agree with their father, despite going through the same kind of upbringing by the same man, with all the horrible things that implies.

Why?

Because Toya’s father, more than anything, loves classical music. It makes him happier than virtually anything else in the world. Toya’s father loves classical music, and has loved classical music for his entire life, as much as the most passionate characters in this story love music. Toya’s father loves classical music as much as (or maybe more than) Toya loves street music. Toya’s father loves classical music as much as Akito loves street music.

Both of Toya’s brothers have claimed to share this love. The reason Toya’s brothers can now look back and say that their father was right is because classical music has made both of Toya’s brothers happier than virtually anything else in the world, too (or, at least, that’s what they told Toya).

The reason Toya’s father raised Toya the way that he did is because, from his point of view, there is nothing that will make an Aoyagi happier than classical music. He has made the mistake a lot of parents make. He has assumed his sons are the same as him. He has assumed what would make him happy, would make his sons happy. And nothing has given him any indication that this is false. Not Toya’s brothers, and not even Toya.

Toya has also loved classical music his entire life. The reason Toya rebelled and quit classical music isn’t because he doesn’t like it, or doesn’t like playing it. Toya rebelled because his father was suffocating him, isolating him and controlling him, and the association with that suffocation made Toya’s relationship with classical music strained, but it has been stated again and again that the reason Toya has avoided classical music for a while now is because it brings up unpleasant memories, not because he doesn’t actually like the music.

The crucial difference between Toya and his father is that classical music does not make Toya happier than anything in the world. He might enjoy it, and he might even love it, but Toya will, and would, never be able to look back on the trauma and isolation he endured and believe it was worth it. Toya would never have willingly sacrificed his childhood, his social life, his freedom for classical music. Not when he was a child, not now, and according to everything we know about him, not in the future either.

But Toya’s father would have. Toya’s father believes the suffering he endured was worth the happiness he now feels. Toya’s brothers have both told him that they believe the suffering they endured was worth the happiness they now feel. And Toya’s father thinks the suffering Toya has endured and would have needed to continue to endure would be worth the happiness he’s convinced he would feel in the future.

He does not understand Toya’s switch to street music. Or, well, he does; Toya switched to street music specifically because he knew his father would hate it more than any other type of music, and Toya’s father is aware of this. Toya didn’t have it in him to quit music entirely, but the reason he chose this type of music specifically is for no reason other than “my dad would hate it”.

The thing that Toya’s father doesn’t understand is that Toya may have started street music to spite his father, but that’s not why he does it now. Toya fell in love with street music, to the same extent that his father fell in love with classical music, and it shows when he performs. That’s why, when Toya’s father went to see Toya perform for the first time at the end of his first event, their relationship changed for the better. Because Toya’s father wants his son to be happy, and the reason he’s been such a bad father is because he’s stubbornly convinced that classical music would make Toya happy, despite all evidence to the contrary. And when he saw his son on that stage, Toya was happier than classical music had ever made him.

His father may despise the music Toya makes, and there may be a pretty big part of him that thinks Toya would, someday, be able to fall in love with classical music in the same way he has, and maybe he even believes that Toya would be happier in the long run if he stuck to classical music. But first and foremost, Toya’s father wants Toya to be happy, and that performance showed him that street music made Toya happy. Their relationship softened because Toya’s father was able to understand, in some tiny way, that Toya wasn’t ruining his own life out of spite. Even if he thinks Toya would be happier in the long run, that performance showed Toya’s father that, if nothing else, Toya wasn’t going to be unhappy.

He still wants Toya to quit street music and return to classical. But the dynamic has changed because the stakes have changed. Previously, from Toya’s father’s perspective, it was either “continue performing this drivel and be miserable for the rest of your life” or “return to classical, push through the hardship and be happy”. Now, it’s “continue performing this drivel and be happy” or “return to classical, push through the hardship and be happier”. Those are entirely different stakes.

Mafuyu’s mother.

Now let’s talk about Mafuyu’s mother. What makes her different? Why does nothing get through to her? Why is Mafuyu’s mother portrayed so much harsher and so much more negatively?

It’s difficult to really pinpoint Mafuyu’s mother’s perspective and intentions, because Mafuyu’s mother is a manipulator first and foremost. Almost nothing she says can be taken at face value. But there’s a couple of possible interpretations, some more charitable than others.

Right off the bat, I don’t believe the most charitable explanation: that she genuinely wants what is best for her daughter and is simply misguided. If this was true, she wouldn’t have constantly invaded her privacy to snoop on whether or not she was still making music or talking to her friends. If this was true, she wouldn’t have thrown her synthesiser away behind her back. If this was true, seeing Mafuyu break down into tears and beg her mother to allow her even the tiniest amount of agency would have made her do more than blink. If this was true, she would have been rightly horrified that Mafuyu said she’s been unbelievably miserable for years instead of being mildly nonplussed, then immediately trying to guilt trip her by crying and repeating her spiel that this is all for the best. More than that, she wouldn’t have stopped crying immediately when she noticed her guilt tripping wasn’t working.

On the other hand, there’s the least charitable interpretation of Mafuyu’s mother: that she’s a narcissist who wants to live vicariously through her daughter’s success. She wants Mafuyu to be a successful doctor, not because she wants her to be happy, but because being able to say that she raised a successful doctor would make her feel successful by proxy. This isn’t impossible, or even improbable. There’s a not insignificant amount of parents who do, genuinely, feel this way, and the consequences of that are often severely traumatic for the children. 

However, I don’t think this is accurate either. She’s too often portrayed as insisting everything is for Mafuyu’s sake for it to be entirely a lie, or at least a lie that she’s aware of. Instead, I think what’s happening is a little more insidious.

I believe Mafuyu’s mother has, at some point, decided who Mafuyu is, and that is the Mafuyu that she loves. And she does love that Mafuyu. But she loves only that Mafuyu, and a version of Mafuyu that deviates from the Mafuyu that she has decided to love isn’t the true Mafuyu.

Mafuyu’s mother has created a cardboard cutout of her daughter in her own mind, and when Mafuyu doesn’t fit it, it’s not the cutout that’s wrong, it’s Mafuyu that has somehow been altered.

This is why, when Mafuyu’s mother says her actions are for the sake of Mafuyu’s happiness, it’s simultaneously completely honest and entirely wrong. Because Mafuyu’s mother does genuinely believe that studying hard, getting into a good school, and becoming a successful doctor and a respectable adult who makes a lot of money would make her Mafuyu happy. She’s completely honest when she says it, which is also part of why she’s so good at manipulating Mafuyu.

The problem is that her Mafuyu doesn’t exist. And she has never existed. Her Mafuyu was, from the very beginning, an act that Mafuyu performed to make herself fit the shape of the cardboard cutout in her mother’s mind. The cardboard cutout was never real. It was a fake, a fake that Mafuyu tried desperately to pretend was real because she loves her mother and wanted to make her smile.

Why does her mother constantly deny Mafuyu’s real feelings? Why does she fail to understand anything, even when Mafuyu herself breaks down crying and shouts it out loud? Because the person Mafuyu’s mother loves is the cardboard cutout in her mind. Because the person telling her that she’s miserable isn’t her Mafuyu. That's a deviation that needs to be corrected, a corruption that needs to be removed, an infection that needs to be excised. The real Mafuyu would never say these things. The real Mafuyu is a good, kind girl who works hard, studies diligently, is always polite and does whatever her mom tells her to do.

The version of Mafuyu in her mind isn’t miserable, so Mafuyu can’t be miserable. If Mafuyu is miserable, then something must have changed her. Because her Mafuyu can’t be miserable.

This is why she so consistently blames Kanade and the rest of Niigo. It’s why she’s so insistent on Mafuyu quitting Niigo. It’s why she says things like “if Mafuyu wants to make music, she can, but she should prioritise studying first, and come back to it once she’s secure and stable”. It’s why she’s all for her being a member of the archery club, but constantly tells Mafuyu to stop making music.

It’s not about the activity. It’s about the people, putting ideas in her head, corrupting her, making her deviate from her real self. It’s about the discrepancy between the Mafuyu she sees and her Mafuyu.

If Mafuyu isn’t behaving like what she expects, it’s not her expectations that are wrong, it’s Mafuyu that’s wrong.

If the cardboard cutout doesn’t match reality, then reality is wrong.

Mafuyu’s mother loves a fantasy. More than that, she chooses to love a fantasy. The reason Mafuyu’s mother is portrayed so negatively, and never receives any of the positive development that any of the other parents do, is because she’s denying reality.

Project Sekai is about embracing your true feelings. Toya’s father didn’t understand Toya’s true feelings for a long time. When he eventually did understand them, though, he acknowledged them. He didn’t agree with them, but he acknowledged them. He understood, at the very least, that street music made Toya happy.

Mafuyu’s mother doesn’t just not understand Mafuyu’s true feelings, she denies them outright. She wants to kill them, in Kaito’s words. There is no reality where these are Mafuyu’s true feelings. There is no version of Mafuyu that isn’t her Mafuyu. She has one daughter, and she loves that daughter, and only that daughter.

Nevermind that that daughter isn’t real. Nevermind that her real daughter is absolutely miserable, begging for love and affection that isn’t predicated on her putting on a mask and playing a character that she can barely recognize herself in.

That is the difference between Toya’s father and Mafuyu’s mother. Toya’s father, for all his flaws and abuse and self-centred outlook, actually loves Toya. Mafuyu’s mother only loves the version of Mafuyu she created in her own head.

Other parents.

Alright, to cap this off, let’s look at a couple of other characters who are, in some way, questionably effective at being parents.

Ena and Akito’s father.

There’s probably a not-insignificant amount of people that were surprised when I said that only Toya’s father and Mafuyu’s mother were actively abusive. Ena and Akito’s father is also an almost exclusively negative influence in his childrens’ lives, so what makes him different?

What makes Ena and Akito’s father different is that I don’t think he’s actively abusive. I think he’s incredibly neglectful.

There is a massive difference in how often Ena and Akito’s father shows up and how often Toya’s father or Mafuyu’s mother show up. He appears very rarely in Ena’s events and barely has any lines even though the few lines he does have are incredibly important for Ena’s character. He doesn’t show up in Akito’s events at all. The only thing he consistently does is be a constant shadow hanging over Ena’s head, and he doesn’t need to be present to do that.

Ena and Akito’s father is barely a part of their family. He doesn’t try to control his children, or isolate them, or even criticise them outside of the rare instances he bothers talking to them. He’s a presence that sets Ena on edge constantly when she has to leave her room, but the amount of times Ena actually talks to her father can be counted on one hand. He’s profoundly and exclusively unsupportive, entirely emotionally (and often physically) distant and basically fully absent from Ena’s life outside of the two or three times he tells her to give up on her dreams because she has no talent and will never be successful.

And yet, in a weird way, Ena somehow has the better relationship with their father out of the two of them, because Ena has any relationship with their father at all. It’s very much negative, but they do very rarely interact. Akito’s only, only, conversation with the man is in Ena’s first event, where he tries to make their father understand that he’s, well, being a fucking terrible father to Ena. I scoured through every event story, every card story available in English. Nothing. There’s not even a mention of him talking to his father offscreen. Please correct me if I’m wrong, maybe the JP events/stories have something.

The only time he talks about his father is in the first side story of his card for Toya’s second event. He talks about a camping trip his family went on, and -- surprise surprise -- he paid barely any attention to his family, mostly just sitting there and painting the landscape. The closest he came was when he painted his family, until Ena pushed him in the river for not paying attention to her.

So yeah. No less of a bad dad than the other parents. Pretty terrible person. Just not in the same category as Toya’s father and Mafuyu’s mother, even if the influence he had on his daughter in particular ended up being just as negative and scarring. Also, thank god Akito met Ken because by all accounts that boy has spent most of his pre-RAD WEEKEND life without a father.

Tsukasa and Saki’s parents.

Saki was in the hospital for most of her early teens. In hindsight, their parents could have spent more time with Tsukasa, but it’s entirely understandable that they prioritised their sick, hospitalised daughter, even if it was the wrong choice. There are no bad guys here. 

Tsukasa spent a fair chunk of his childhood lonelier than other kids, and in an ideal world, with perfect parents, that wouldn’t have happened. We don’t live in an ideal world. There are no perfect parents. I genuinely believe they did the best you could reasonably expect. That’s it.

Kanade’s father.

The man had what was probably a stroke from overwork and stress. Normally, telling your incredibly musically gifted daughter that she should keep creating her own music and that a lot of people will enjoy her music is nothing but good parenting.

What happened was tragic in practically every way, but it would have been tragic regardless of what he said. Whether or not he emphasised that Kanade should continue composing her own music, Kanade was severely traumatised and would have spiralled into something unhealthy anyway. That it became this particular brand of unhealthy isn’t something I can blame him for.

(I can, however, blame child protective services and mental health care in Japan, who dropped the ball so fucking hard by letting a girl barely into her teens not only live by herself with no actual support because her grandmother continued to pay for the house but have consistently neglected to, y’know, actually check up on her. Ever. Even when she’s literally in the hospital. The closest they ever came is some of the random nurses being mildly concerned about the grieving 14-15 year old crying next to her comatose father’s hospital bed.)

Kanade’s saviour complex is a result of what her father said to her, yes. I don’t think that’s on him.

Mizuki.

Mizuki’s parents and sister are fantastic, I just wanna shout them out for being the only healthy family in Niigo.

I suck at ending things.

Anyway that’s it. Stand by for other stuff at some point in the future. There’s the beginnings of an idea about contrasting Mafuyu and Haruka, but take that with a grain of salt. It’s just a thing I noticed after finally getting around to reading some of Haruka’s event stories.

I think about characters other than Mafuyu, I promise. This is just a coincidence. Really.

So yeah. Bye.

[slightlytoastedbagel]

Yuka Shiraishi. btw.

[project-sekai-facts]

What's ur fav piece of trivia for every* character?

(*or at least as much as you can recall off the top of ur head)

my favorite trivia for characters is usually just whatever i think is funniest so just keep that in mind. that's not always the case but you might see it become a pattern. oh the other thing is whatever is most soul-crushing so yeah.

Ichika - either the fact her name comes from how her parents met (because i think it's really sweet) or that she accidentally discovered miku when she was watching videos on her dad's tablet and opened a recording of a miku concert

Saki - she used to listen to the song Time Machine when she was in hospital (at Ichika's recommendation) to remind her of family and friends. It's the in-universe reason why she is featured on the cover. This is actually one of my favorite facts in the game overall.

Honami - she is surprisingly good at flirting

Shiho - not one I've posted before, but in Run! Sports Festival! she couldn't bring herself to throw any of the balls in the ball toss because they had cute animal designs on them

Minori - she once passed out because Haruka wished her happy birthday.

Haruka - she likes penguins because she thinks the way they waddle is cute and she likes how round a lot of penguin merch is

Airi - she followed all of Shizuku's campaigns and bought all the magazines she was featured in when she was still a member of Cheerful*Days. She insists it was just research.

Shizuku - either that she usually has a thermos of miso soup on her to eat after practice or archery club or that she isn't good at texting. i haven't posted either of these before

Kohane - again one I haven't posted yet, but her favorite photo she's taken of Count Pearl is one of Pearl eating mice. the rest of VBS are surprised that she isn't squeamish about that sort of thing (i dunno what they're talking about that sounds like a very cool photo).

An - the possible symbolism of the black stripe on her new school cardigan. hello to the person who submitted that i am still not over it.

Akito - in Cinema he's the only person to sing solo during the first two choruses, the others don't get solo parts in the chorus until the end of the song. i think about this one a lot actually

Toya - he can't swim

Tsukasa - he's the comedic relief and there's a lot of really random shit i know about him because of that, so my favorite fact about him is whatever will have the most impact in the moment if i were to mention it out of nowhere. for a less vague answer, this one although i consider it to be one of my worst posts

Emu - she's very good at replicating cartoon faces. i like this one because it raises a few questions about whether the L2Ds are still exaggerated or if she just looks like that and no one questions that she actually has a cartoon face. what if project sekai ends with them all becoming self-aware.

Nene - either the fact that she thinks the forest has good graphics or that she called rui's mom "auntie" when she was younger because i think it's cute.

Rui - i like a good reference and i appreciate that he sometimes references famous people and media.

Kanade - she's left handed. i also like that her family name was made up specifically to contrast with the rest of N25.

Mafuyu - either that it's shown one time that she can see ghosts and then it's never brought up or referenced again, or that the "mom's cooking" listed as her favorite food might refer to the bunny-shaped apple slices her mother would make for her when she was a kid. i also like the detail that her eyes being two-tone is because she inherited the eye colors of both her parents.

Ena - twitter user. also despite loving cheesecake, she doesn't like cheese. girl what the hell.

Mizuki - they started out editing by making AMVs for a magical girl anime they liked. Amia comes from the name of a character from that anime. also did you know they put ice cubes in noodles because of their sensitive tongue. ice cubes.

Bonus - some side character stuff I like

Kotaro's favorite food is strawberries but he doesn't like strawberry flavored things for whatever reason

Asahi and Sakurako's family names are Chinese mythology references

Tatsuya's hobbies are motorbiking and fishing. these are not things you expect to go together

Nagi hated tomatoes but she would eat them in front of An

Iori hates spicy food, whilst Mio's favorite food is super spicy ramen. Meanwhile Mio doesn't like cream, but Iori likes crepes (which usually have cream on them).

Souma started listening to foreign music after Arata left for America

gbr i forgot about the vocaloids for a second but before i call it a day i think it's incredibly funny that Len cannot reach the stools in crase cafe.

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

all the normal people create lore for side characters that turn up for one event and didn't even get a live2D model. anyways, Hibiki Miyake headcanons!!

firstly: this is the main silly headcanon, that he and Kohane are related, cousins probably- same demeanour, same vibes, same creatureness, similar face. bad eyesight runs in the family too

he lives with Kohane's family because he's orphaned. his mother and her father were siblings

he looks up to Kohane's dad a lot and does a bit of photography too, not as much as the rest of his family though

he's not much taller than Kohane so people always mistake him to be her little brother even though he's a year older

silly coincidence, he has the exact same birthday as Kohane, 2nd of March, just a year before

extremely ironically, he has a phobia of snakes so he avoids being in the same room as Count Pearl at all costs. once, she ended up in his room and he immediately collapsed, then upon waking up, he found that the snake had slithered on him and fainted again. Kohane was apologising for weeks

he lets Kohane drag him along to her visits at PXL, however, he often ends up running into Rui who very sneakily gets him caught up in a conversation and steals him away to watch W x S rehearse. he accidentally ditches her zskcqascngoepsexmpwqeq (shhh it's okay, Kohane can just call An who'll run across the city to accompany her in two minutes)

he's scared of the other VBS members xsidtfncerjitweorspjwpw

speaking of VBS, he wants to support his cousin, but he's too sensitive to noise and crowds to watch their events in person himself, but he still buys tickets and gives them to his friends

he's always telling Kohane about everything that goes down in Kamikou. this disappoints An because Kohane already knows all the drama before she gets a chance to tell her xjkudiguvoirentjepw

An: "Kohaneeeeee, you'll never guess what i caught Kamishiro-senpai doing today!!"

Kohane: "oh, i've heard!! he was disassembling a mean teacher's desk, wasn't he? :)"

An: "HOW DID YOU KNOW??"

Kohane: "i have connections, An-chan :)"

VBS didn't know that Kohane had a cousin at Kamikou for agessssssss

she wanted to introduce them, especially because they all go to the same school. but that was exactly why Miyake wanted to avoid that because of the anxiety and awkwardness of seeing people you know from school outside of school

VBS found out one day when they saw Rui in town and Kohane was going to go say hi (interaction idea from @slightlytoastedbagel )

Akito: "yo, Kohane, you want to stay away from that guy, he's proper odd"

Kohane: "... eh? Kamishiro-san is one of my cousin's best friends though??"

An and Akito: "WHAT."

Toya, who just knows everything: "oh yes, you're related to Miyake-senpai, right Azusawa? :)"

An and Akito: "WHAT."

he initially went to the same "elite" high school that Rui did in his first year, but left way before him, only a couple of months in, because he was getting bullied

it was said in the last chapter of Pandemonium that he wanted to be friends with Rui but took ages to reach out to him because Rui was always invested in his drones and seemed disinterested in everything else

for this reason, i feel like he regrets not finding the courage to befriend him sooner now that they're no longer in the same class

he goes shopping with Rui, Taniyama and Hayashi on weekends, they're all interested in computers and such

he and Taniyama are both a bit jel that Hayashi got to be in the same class as Rui and Tsukasa for third year

Rui just goes around visiting all his friends who are in different classes (ahem, Nene) and Miyake's always very happy upon seeing his purple friend being silly outside his classroom's window (and then his teacher shoos him away for being distracting)

he's asexual and panromantic

has severe social anxiety and is on the spectrum but undiagnosed (he went under the radar his whole life because he's "quiet") his special interest in technology was why he felt drawn to Rui. autism to autism communication

[proseka-headcanons]

Some npc headcanons

Kotaro and Iori actually are friends! They met at a VBS event and hit it off, Iori is actually really helpful for Kotaro when LUTF happens. They also ship the main characters relentlessly

Shinei Shinonome despises Mafuyu's mother and Toya's father. He may not always be great with communicating to his children, but he sure as hell will support them and their friends, and that manifests in their poor parental figures being shinei's enemies

Mizusis (yuuki) and Emusis (Hinata) are dating! It's long distance, but are constantly on the phone with one another, Mizuki and Emu both know and find it adorable (mizuki will tease her sister)

Seiryuin and Saku both will talk to each other about how proud they are of L/N and WXS, but will never admit it to another person.

Futaba is friends with Airi and Honami through Ena, and often helps Hona with art

And finally: Standout, Anemone, Shindou, RadDer, Kotaro, Souma and arata, Seiryuin, Rakunosuke, Asahi and Kanade's father all have sekais. The state of them range from pristine (Anenome, Asahi, Standout) to slightly falling apart (Arata) to almost completely destroyed/abandoned (RadDer, Rakunosuke, Shindou and Kanade's father to a lesser extent)

these are all so interesting man the ideas are nonstop with y’all /lh /pos

[theguardianace]

hm. tierlist on how good of a hugger i think the pjsk cast is. vocaloids are thrown in at random. personal headcannons GALORE

tenma tsukasa. canonically an amazing big brother. this comes with the territory. he's also a human radiator so it feels very soft and warm. also has good strength so you feel very safe. 10/10 would hug again.

wxs luka. she is chubby and soft and sleepy. this is the ideal person TO hug. only thing keeping her from that number one spot is the fact she will fall asleep in your arms which is cute for about ten seconds.

mochizuki honami. she is canonically BUFF AS HELL and also SOFT. a hug from honami will instantly make you forget every single one of your worries. also she smells like apple pie.

otori emu. she may not have luka, hona, or kasa's height, but she has more than enough wonderhoy to make up for it. getting hugged by emu is like getting hugged by the worlds nicest weighted blanket.

hanasato minori. if i could go to a mmj fan meetup the first thing i would do is ask minori for a hug. she will hug you like she means it. and she does very much mean it. i just think it would be nice.

tenma saki. she will give you hugs CONSTANTLY in that super friendly "we're gonna jump in a circle while i hug you because im so happy to see you" way. will it be a long hug? no. will it make you feel instantly happy and welcome? yes. and that my friend is valid.

vbs meiko. it's a hug from your mother (or what you imagine a hug from a good mother like figure to be). safe and secure. familiar.

hinomori shizuku. if you are nice to her she will find a way to give you a hug. she smells like dewdrops in the morning. it's a very refreshing hug.

shiraishi an. everyone needs a big bear hug from a strong lesbian every now and again. also she will pick you up halfway through the hug so be ready.

shinonome akito. i dont think there is a single card where he is next to toya and not either actively giving him a hug or very much thinking about it. also hes warm and that's nice. he will not try and hug you first unless your name is aoyagi toya.

momoi airi. actually a very good hug. she will hold you tight for a few seconds. big fan of the shoulder side hug.

l/n luka. its like a hug from that cool upperclassman you had a tiny crush on in high school. objectively a very neutral hug but she's cool and it makes you feel safe.

kiritani haruka. she has perfected her idol hug throughout the years. it is a blend of hopeful, reassuring, and slightly impersonal. she tries though and you have to love her for it. if you're a haruka stan it's an instant 1 though.

azusawa kohane. honestly fantastic hugger it's a very friendly and kind sort of feeling. she's just not confident enough to give you a good one unless you're close.

yoisaki kanade. she kind of smells like bo and ramen but it's ok because a hug from kanade makes you feel instantly safer. kanade hugs are full of reassurance and safety. a reminder that you are not alone and you will be saved.

hoshino ichika. she has a very basic hug but there is love and hatsune miku inside of it so that's pretty cool

n25 miku. she learned what a hug is last week and has been practicing non-stop since. len likes this. meiko and kaito do not.

akiyama mizuki. in theory? incredible hugger. will hold you nice and tight. in practice? too scared of emotional intimacy to ever put it to practice.

shinonome ena. also someone who in theory would give great hugs but in practice unless you're having an emotional crisis she will try and scratch you to get out when she's done with it.

kusanagi nene. she's too anxious to try giving you a hug unless your name is otori emu, and even then it's really only reciprocation. she smells a bit like grapefruit and ocean waves somehow.

hinomori shiho. unless your name is tenma saki she will not hug you back. refuses to jump with her though.

vbs len. have you ever met a middle school boy who can give a decent hug.

kamishiro rui. im sorry he's bony as hell and will think he's not worthy of such kindness for a solid ten minutes. it's not the worst hug in the world but it's certainly the worst of wxs.

aoyagi toya. this poor child has not initiated a hug once in his life. he does not know what to do. hes trying though.

asahina mafuyu. hugging maf is like trying to hug an ice cube (physically and emotionally). not recommended unless you are desperate.

-1000000: n25 kaito. if you try and hug this man you will end up on a missing persons list.

[tom-is-online]

"Why do all of Kanade's events focus around saving Mafuyu?"

"Why are all of Mafuyu's events about her mother?"

"Why are all of Ena's events about being an artist?"

"Why are all of Mizuki's events about their gender?"

Do you know why they make music? Do you know why they're there? That's their issues, like. The whole point of their story is to deal with their issues? Saviour complex? Abuse? Inferiority complex? MIZUKI BEING MIZUKI? Like???

Of course those things are gonna play a big role in their events? That's who they are?

It's like asking why most vbs events are about Rad Weekend or why kohane/ toya events often use an/ akito a lot, It's the point of em doing what they're doing. They're surpassing rad weekend with their partners.

Niigo is Niigo because of their issues and I get wanting other stuff but come on man it's not hard to understand why their main issues are being addressed as their main plot point in their events like.. dude.

[pjsk-writin]

A request that's gonna be quite angsty but there's really no way that I'm going back now that I'm typing this, can you do poly vbs with a reader who's in a similar situation like mafuyu? Like how Mrs Asahina (ain't no way I'm calling her mafumom) restricted mafuyu from activities that are connected to niigo or music, so readers mom is basically just pulling a Mrs. Asahina move, and like how would vbs help reader during this momment?

ooooh yeah, i got you! mrs. asahina sucks and i hope she explodes. but as for this req, i hope you like it! <3

◇ TRAPPED - (Poly!) Kohane Azusawa, An Shiraishi, Akito Shinonome and Toya Aoyagi x Reader

Honestly, all of them felt like something was off for a while now. You couldn't stay out with them too long, and when they asked to go over to your house, you'd politely tell them they couldn't

All of them want to respect your boundaries, of course. They love you, and nothing would ever change that...Except finding out just how controlling your mom is, of course

All of them are very tempted to give her a piece of their minds. You're the best partner they all could ask for, and the woman who calls herself your mother dares to treat you like this?

But, Kohane has to reason with everyone that lashing out would only make things worse. So, they come up with a plan of action to help you as best they can

They agree that they can't act too hastily, but the moment that your mother's control becomes too much, they're prepared to help you out

In terms of who to stay with, An will be your best option. Her parents definitely won't mind the company, and you could probably help out around Weekend Garage

Kohane is your biggest emotional support through everything. She's there to listen to how your mother's treatment has been making you feel, and validates it all

Akito is there if you want to be angry. He's all for rage towards parents, and is more than willing to help you vent your anger as best you can

Toya is there to help soothe you. He's a quiet supporter, offering you the space to talk all while listening with attentiveness. He may not have the words, but he's a comforting presence

Overall, the four of them work together to help support you through everything. You can expect a cuddle pile with them in An's bedroom as they all reassure you that you made the right decision in leaving <3

taglist ! ; @fayeelikefairie , @akitofixated , @starry-sky-melody , @akiyamasmizuki , @lovecord25 , @memoriesmelody , @mccnstruck

[an-inspired-eternity]

Shuffle AU Summary

These are the groups of my PRSK Unit Shuffle AU! They each loosely correspond to the genre of the groups in official PRSK, but naturally with more of their own styles and spins.

Different group set-ups means different dynamics, and while some canon dynamics remain (or are even strengthened), not every one will take the same form, if they remain at all.

Under the cut, I will send their logos and give some additional info as needed! Note that I have.. more developed for some of these guys than others.

First, Juvenile/Glory! J/G is a kind of a rock band (I am not in this kind of music scene, bear with me a little bit sghfdfh), initially formed by Airi and Ichika, Airi ends up dragging Ena and later Akito into playing/performing with them.

Airi meets Ichika at Miyajou, and ends up befriending the somewhat shy girl. She learns of how Ichika once had a dream of being in a band with her childhood friends, but explains they all drifted apart so she never got the chance. 

Upon hearing this, Airi proposes the two form a band together, it might not be with her childhood friends, but this is better than nothing right? To get more numbers, Airi ends up inviting her long-time friend Ena, who bitches and moans but ultimately agrees to at least try (even if she laments having to change her classes and sleep schedule.) 

It’s during their first practice sessions that something changes- the group suddenly find themselves the ability to access a new world- their SEKAI, a underground metro type areas with shop stalls- and gorgeous wall art that stuns Ena, it inspires her to keep up with the occasional art piece. 

The three are doing well, but they find something’s.. missing, in their band, particularly vocally- not that any of them were bad singers, it just felt like there was a kind of sound missing from them that none of them could fulfill. That’s when Airi had the suggestion for Ena to invite her brother to sing with them.

Ena, once again, bitches and moans at the idea of having to work with her brother, but Airi is stubborn and insistent, so she eventually gives in and asks Akito. Akito also bitches and moans, but once again, Airi is relentless, so he offers to try. That’s when things begin to click together for the group. Akito had experience with music but had ultimately not gotten as far as he did here than he did with canon due to being less invested in Rad Weekend and also having never met Toya. The two siblings bicker a lot at first, but end up finding they enjoy having something to do together that their dad can’t ruin.

(Akito was technically to their SEKAI first but ala those dream visits in the main story prologues, and only properly got introduced to it later from Ena and/or Airi bringing him.)

J/G’s main vocaloids, Miku not withstanding, are Rin and Meiko! Intentionally pulling from VBS here, I don’t have much in mind for the J/G vocaloids at this time, although I do think Akito’s relationship with the Kagamines here is similar to that of canon Akito with the VBS Kagamines, something Ena is very entertained by.

Second up we have SWEET SYNDROME! SS is a idol group, half composed of newcomers and half composed of veterans- starting as a pair with Emu and Honami, they ended up taking Mafuyu and Shizuku in, forming a proper group.

Emu and Mafuyu met as young children, when Mafuyu got lost on a trip with her mom to PXL. Emu found the lost Mafuyu on her own, and with the help of her older family members, she helped Mafuyu to reunite with her mother.

Mafuyu’s mom was angry at first, for Mafuyu wandering off- but realized the one who had found her was the daughter of the rich and highly influential family that ran the park. Thinking that this would be good both for her own image, as well as the family being a possible good influence for her daughter, she allowed the two to remain friends.

Mafuyu ended up being entered into many child pageants at a young age, a early exposure to stardom. Once she got older, her mother began working to get Mafuyu into a idol agency, where Mafuyu could gain fame as a beautiful and elegant young lady, just how her mother raised her. Mafuyu lost sight of what who her true self and tastes were, molded by her mom to be the perfect girl her agency would want.

Emu and Mafuyu had grown a little apart during all of this, but Emu still treasured her friendship with Mafuyu, and as Mafuyu became an idol- she admired her. Less familiar with the darkness happening backstage, Emu had begun training and auditioning to become an idol in hopes of maybe getting to make people smile just like her dear friend- maybe even getting to do so together, too!

It wasn’t easy, she found she wasn’t what a lot of people were searching for. But she kept trying! And trying! And eventually while she was practicing during a break period at school, she was approached by her classmate Honami, who asked about what she was doing, and upon being told, if she could join too. Thus the two girls had become a pair.

Honami’s help had been deeply needed, as with the two now working together, they decided to start their own group- albeit a small one not capable of much. But word got to Mafuyu, and Emu explained what she had wanted- to sing and dance for people to make them smile just like her! And something stirred in Mafuyu, feelings the girl thought herself incapable of still having.

That was the key to their SEKAI- a museum that framed idols in a bit of a dark view, like they were only something to stare at and admire with no free choice of their own. Emu didn’t like it, she didn’t agree with that idea of what being an idol meant. Idols are supposed to make people happy, and that includes other idols! 

It’s this thought process that helps them additionally reach Mafuyu’s school friend and felllow idol Shizuku. Shizuku had been close to giving up on being a idol herself due to the pressure and how unliked she felt for being “too perfect”, but the positivity of Emu and Honami had encouraged her to not give up, and thus Shizuku becomes the third member of SWEET SYNDROME.

Mafuyu’s mother was their biggest opponent, holding a growing distaste for the way the youngest Otori child had never seemed to grow out of her childish demeanor, but where she “failed”, her older siblings grew into mature responsible adults, people who could be good influence to her daughter and maybe send their youngest sister onto their respectable path instead.

But the group made their attempt, an effort to please Mafuyu’s mom in order to allow Mafuyu to work with them. She was very hesitant to allow Mafuyu to join, given her less than great feelings towards Emu- but her view of Shizuku and Honami, two more “mature and responsible” figures in the group, softened her resolve, and ultimately lead to her agreeing to the group’s formation.

SS’ main and only starting virtual singer is Miku. A quiet and somewhat odd version of the Virtual Singer, who clung to Mafuyu’s side a lot, but otherwise mostly kept to herself at first- occasionally leaving the main area of the museum to sit alone on the stage and sing to herself.

Third on the roster we have Spring CIRCUIT! A live show/street music group.. and also admittedly the one I’ve developed the least. The group was formed, a bit shakily, by Nene and Kohane, having witnessed one of Shiho and Haruka’s performances. It’s also something of a second chance, for Nene and Haruka. 

Haruka, after quitting ASRUN, found she had missed singing, and ended up looking into alternative activities she could enjoy- and found the similar-but-different-enough world of live shows. Through this as well, she met a classmate from Miyajou, Shiho, who had been doing solo shows on her own. They realized they had similar interests (plushies lmao) and something of a friendship and partnership formed.

Kohane, like in canon, was a bit of a drifter, not quite having any activity she could commit herself to, and Nene had been fearful to return to being on stage in any capacity since the incident from when she was in younger- going as far to deny her childhood best friend’s offer to join the more private group he’d formed.

But fate ended up bringing these two together, having been out on errands when they came across a venue mid live-show, with Shiho and Haruka performing on stage. It sparked something in them both- Kohane a urge to try singing and live shows, and Nene a urge to sing again- even if not in a play. 

Shiho was quick to bounce and go on her way- not one for small talk, but Nene and Kohane had the chance to talk with Haruka, in which the pair both came to her about their newfound inspiration- and also subsequently realized they both had been inspired. 

Haruka had given them a light warning about Shiho’s distant cold and demeanor, explaining she’s nicer than she appears, but that she has to warm up to you first. Past that however, Haruka was willing to work with and train them- and it was at this moment their SEKAI appeared- a large expansive arcade within it was a chill Miku and a strong aura’d but otherwise very polite Luka- who had a taste for photography that she and Kohane were quick to bond over.

It takes a bit, for Shiho to warm up to these new members Haruka picked up. Nene finds herself struggling to gain the courage to sing with all her heart again- but seeing how hard Kohane, a complete newcomer to all this, is trying, it inspires her. She’s done this before, she can do it again. That’s how the two manage to impress Shiho, and the group finaly becomes a full quartet.

Fourth on the list and second to last is Echo-Show! A theater troupe situated at the Wonder Stage of PXL! Run by Tsukasa, this group was formed along the way by Tsukasa’s basically sibling figures he collected along the way.

It starts with a hospital- specifically, a hospital housing Saki Tenma and a Mr. Yoisaki. Tsukasa, ever the dutiful older brother, visited his sister whenever he could afford to- but during one such trip, he met a odd girl. Her silver hair seemed to reach to her knees, the girl clearly hadn’t been doing well- physically or mentally.

Tsukasa quickly got to what he did best- making people happy. He doesn’t quite get a laugh, but the girl smiles, and he considers that a win. Tsukasa introduced himself, and the girl introduced herself back in turn- saying that her name was Kanade and that her only living parent was in a coma- something Tsukasa offered his condolences for. 

The two became friends, and Tsukasa found himself visiting and checking on Kanade every so often. (In addition to Honami being Kanade’s housekeeper). Later on, Tsukasa had finally gotten his chance to form a troupe, having auditioned and been hired to perform at a small stage in PXL called the Wonder Stage, courtesy of the youngest Otori daughter. 

Tsukasa found himself a bit.. shit out of luck in regards to actors. His sister had been scooped up already- but he turned to his brother figure, Toya- Toya had recently defied his father, quitting classical music and looking for his own thing he wanted to do. Tsukasa reached out to Toya, asking if he wanted to join his troupe. 

Toya was a bit nervous, not having ever really been part of the shows Tsukasa put on for him and Saki as kids, but he wanted to give it a try. Plus he thought it would be something his dad would hate, which was a spiteful little bonus for him. This was one more addition to Tsukasa’s crew, but he didn’t think just the two of them was enough to work with, so he reached out to Kanade- who had become something of a sister to him.

Kanade vehemently did not want to perform on stage at first, but Tsukasa was understanding enough to say they’d start small in anything physical so that Kanade could work her body strength up. She could also help with any technological stuff behind the scenes as well- which is something she’d enjoy doing a lot more.

Their first test show wasn’t a huge hit (but not QUITE to the disastrous level of WXS’ first show LMAO), however it did attract the attention of one Minori Hanasato, who ends up being really into the show and their ideas behind it. Tsukasa, ever the resourceful one, basically scoops Minori up into the troupe.

There were.. incidents, involving the start of their fully formed troupe- Toya taking extra blame on himself and thinking he was bringing the group down, backing away for a while. (IE: the whole thing in the VBS main story where Toya questions his own resolve and Akito has to chase him down and prove otherwise.)

Last, but certainly not least (I would know, they’re the favorite child of this AU.) is House of Outcasts! A group youtube channel dedicated to doing skits and plays online. (Inspirationally I was thinking of both Starkid, as well as the Man On The Internet channel- or rather a less specifically gaming centered version of them). 

The group starts with Rui and Mizuki, two lonely souls who connected in middle school over their shared isolation and disconnect from their peers. Deemed too "weird" to fit in amongst them. This friendship carries into Mizuki’s first year and Rui’s second year of high school- Rui having recently transferred to Kamikou to get away from a suffocating prestigious school he’d been at for his first year.

Rui had his solo live shows he’d try every so often, but the story begins when Rui comes to visit Mizuki and show them the most recent idea he had- Mizuki finds themselves very impressed, and explains that with their abilities in editing software, they could probably post Rui’s show online and get decent publicity with it.

So Rui and Mizuki end up forming their group- and after a bit of time Rui offers to Mizuki that they could perform with him, if they were comfortable doing so. Mizuki is hesitant at first, afraid that people online would be judgemental, but gives it a try and finds that not only is it more fun than they thought- but most people watching didn’t seem to care.

That’s when their SEKAI appeared. A rooftop building underneath a fantastical sky of stars and the moon- a light energy not unlike a child’s imagination to offset the aching familiarity a rooftop brought the pair. It was there they found a sisterly Miku, and a excitable Len- who reminded Rui, painfully so, of his younger child self. It was a safe place- somewhere the two would be accepted and not judged. 

Things went on mostly as normal, in spite of the strange world they’d uncovered, and Mizuki ultimately invited their friend and classmate An into the group- An was more of a street musician than a street actor, but with a low activity in her search for the perfect partner, she ends up slotting into the group. Rui and An aren’t on the best of terms at first- not to say they didn’t like each other, it was just hard for the two to work on each other’s wavelengths. But they had managed.

It was later on then that they found Saki. The group had been out on a shopping trip when Saki spotted and recognized them, excitedly explaining that she was a huge fan and that their shows reminded her a lot of the ones her brother used to do for her- but a lot more in a style she really enjoyed. Hearing this, Rui ended up offering her to come aboard and perform with them, and Saki happily took it.

[thecoppersoulbox]

Could this PJSK character do a backflip?

A list compiled by someone who cannot do a backflip.

Miku: MMJ and WxS Miku can, VBS Miku probably could if she wanted to, L/n and 25ji Miku can’t.

Luka: I don’t think any version of her can. VBS and 25ji Luka probably claim that they can but make no move to prove it in order to mess with the others.

Rin: She’s a little less confident and fumbles the landing a bit, but she probably can. The only version that can’t is 25ji Rin, and L/n Rin has only tried once.

Len: Every single version of Len can do a backflip, including 25ji Len (this version is not aware he can do a backflip but if he tried he would land it).

MEIKO: Maybe she could, but she’s not going to try regardless of which SEKAI she’s in.

KAITO: Probably not. VBS KAITO is like Luka in that he claims he can, but he actually tries and fumbles massively. WxS KAITO is the most likely to be able to do it but he doesn’t try.

Ichika: Probably not, but if she really wanted to she could learn how to.

Saki: No, and for the sake of her health it’s best if she doesn’t try (she is lowkey disappointed by this fact).

Honami: No, and it’s never crossed her mind to try.

Shiho: No, she’s too focused on her bass and the band. She could maybe learn, but Ichika would get it quicker.

Minori: Not right now, but she’s learning! I believe in her (she has failed quite a few times now but she is getting better).

Haruka: If she wanted to learn she’d get it relatively quickly, but learning how to backflip is not a priority.

Airi: I can see this being a skill she picked up during her TV days. She’s confident about it, too.

Shizuku: I’m sorry I just can’t imagine Shizuku doing a backflip.

Kohane: No, but I can see Akito teaching her how for the sole purpose of surprising the rest of VBS.

An: Maybe? I can see her being able to but also it would be funny if she thought she could but misjudged how hard it is.

Akito: Yes, he is canonically good at anything involving physical activity, he probably learned how as a kid and was able to keep the skill as he grew up.

Toya: No, he wasn’t allowed to try things like that as a kid and I think he’d struggle with figuring out how to do it.

Tsukasa: He says he can, no one has seen him do one.

Emu: Yes, and she doesn’t realise it’s an impressive skill. The first time she did one in front of WxS while excited they just stood there shocked.

Nene: No, and she has no intention of ever trying.

Rui: He can’t, but the moment someone asked if he could he got the idea to implement the function into Robo-Nene.

Kanade: No.

Mafuyu: No, her mother would think it’s a waste of time learning how to.

Ena: No, and she doesn’t want to learn how, but she is lowkey jealous her brother can.

Mizuki: Probably not, but I can see them deciding to learn how because they’re bored.

[ravenmoon903]

Headcanon Masterlist

This is where I'm going to put new headcanons.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO AGREE WITH ANY OF THESE

It took me an entire day to make this lol

This is long, be warned.

I edited it more right after I made it

Some headcanons changed from the original posts but whatev

Under the cut:

Project Sekai: Colorful Stage!

Virtual Singers

Hatsune Miku

Niigo

left handed

Kagamine Len

VBS

left handed

Niigo

left handed

KAITO

WXS

ambidextrous

Niigo

ambidextrous

Leo/Need

Ichika Hoshino

plays several instruments

joined the animators club in middle school and some kind of guitar group

when she was a bebe she had a miku themed nursery

Saki Tenma

Addison's disease (google it)

likes astrology and gemstones

Tsukasa sings her lullabies

Honami Mochizuki

baking club in middle school

hated apple pie til middle school

watches birds and has expensive equipment

Shiho Hinomori

secretly loves Wandasho and Momojan. Saki found out and told Shizuku

friends with Rui over Nightcord because they both like forensics

when she was a baby annoyed the hell out of Shizuku by touching her stuff

hates sudoku

More More Jump!

have a body positivity channel run by Airi

cooking with Airi and Minori at Minori's house (Samo got quite the attention, he has his own fanbase)

Minori Hanasato/Tenma

died from her bad luck and reincarnated into the Minori we all know and love /j

a Tenma sibling!

has a green hair feather

Haruka Kiritani

like to glassblow on a small scale

someone draw her as Elma from Yorushika please (begging)

when she was a bebe she had penguin themed toys

romance reader

Airi Momoi

actually Chinese (about the name, I can't explain it. Maybe her grandparents were Japanese and moved to China?)

likes to draw with Ena

when she was a baby she ate makeup

Shizuku Hinomori

likes sudoku

IQ of like 5 but EQ of 200

likes to garden

left handed

learned how to make hard candy

Vivid Bad Squad

Kohane Asuzawa/Tenma

her parents show her bebe pics to everyone they meet

played all the Mario games (Rae speaking here, Mario Odyssey is so good I could rant about it for hours)

likes to write fantasy stories at MEIKO's cafe

nothing scares her except public speaking

likes Taylor Swift but never told An

rollerblades

An Shiraishi

likes Taylor Swift but never told Kohane

loves kebabs but can't make them herself

skateboards

Hand In My Pocket by Alanis Morissette represents her so well

gonna be called Taiga's lil girl even when she's thirty tbh

Akito Shinonome/Shiraishi

adopted by Ken because he was done with Shinonome papa's abuse towards Ena

left handed

gets a motorcycle for his 21st birthday (all the Tenmas and some of their friends chipped in to give it him. he loves it)

when he was a bebe pancake nursery

takes pride in not drinking water

Akikoha headcanon: he plays guitar for her

Toya Aoyagi/Tenma

left handed

fluent in Russian, English, German and French for classical music reasons

sees MEIKO as a mother figure

mystery reader

Wonderlands x Showtime!

Tsukasa Tenma

left handed

was inspired by the Sing movies (guys they're fr so good anyways)

star themed nursery when he was a bebe

wanted a dog but his parents said no because they wouldn't be able to take care of it

good friends with Kanade because they both have a reason to be in the hospital a lot

Emu Otori/Tenma

when she was a bebe she also had a star themed nursery

Tenma sibling

IQ = 5, EQ = 200

cursed once and now everyone is scarred for life

Nene Kusanagi

extremely grumpy on her period

my wife :D

plays a variety of games on Steam, and has a Nintendo and a PS5

was born with gray streaks in her hair that faded as she got older

Rui Kamishiro

friends with Shiho because they both enjoy forensics

bribes An so he doesn't get caught doing things at school

took his mom's clock apart and put it back together at like 2 years old

ambidextrous

Nightcord at 25:00

Kanade Yoisaki/Tenma

plays a variety of instruments but is mostly skilled in the synthesizer

was born with darker hair and eyes but they faded when she got older

has cuts from trying to cook

Tenma sibling

left handed

Filipino

likes 80's music

Mafuyu Asahina

she can throat sing

plays electronic instruments and does vocals

she grew up eating spicy

Ena Shinonome

when Akito was born, she said 'bye bye baby' to him all the time (I did this to my own sibling so)

can't play instruments for the life of her

ambidextrous

takes pride in not drinking water

Mizuki Akiyama

does ballet

plays a bit of saxophone

when they were younger their sister made them bows and such

is the type to go to a country once and think they instantly know everything about that country

Tenma Siblings

they have a van which they decorated with star stickers and Tsukasa even put a sticker that said 'Star On Board!'

The Tenma family is Saki, Minori, Kohane, Tsukasa, Emu, Toya and Kanade

Stardew Valley

Sebastian

when he was a bebe hew had a frog themed nursery

had a salamander phase

hates mayo

keeps his room clean

left handed

reads comic books and magazines but also sneaks in some romance

Sam

hates tomatoes but likes pizza

Ado fan

had a very stereotypical childhood

left handed

Abigail

her parents fought about what theme to make her nursery. Caroline wanted a purple theme and Pierre wanted it to reflect the grocery store.

Caroline used to leave amethysts in her room but Abby would always eat them before she came back

likes to cosplay

Haley

preppy. not up for debate. mf Stanley and everything

has a blog for fashion, and Emily makes clothes that she really likes to post about

even though that she says quinoa is weird, she secretly likes it

her actual favorite food is curry

had a goth phase lmao (Emily doesn't use it as blackmail though)

wanted to become an influencer, but realized the industry fucking sucks

like wearing buns in her hair. AAHH IMMA DIE THINKING ABOUT HOW CUTE SHE LOOKS IN THAT SHIT AHH

Reddit lurker (meirl)

sharpie addict

Filipino (not up for debate) and can speak Tagalog, English, Indonesian and Spanish (Emily too)

types with ✨ too much

caffeine addiction for fun!!

Elliot

can't swim. Willy teases him for it sometimes

imagine him in a momojan outfit

Emily

left handed

Maru

ambidextrous

Penny

slight Southern accent

Jas and Vincent

likes to design buildings

dream of a proper school

made a terrarium but Jodi made them take it apart

Jas's full name is Jasmine

Vincent wants a dog but Jodi said no

they see Seb as a big brother, and Penny as a big sister

Willy

ambidextrous

Australian accent

Caroline

ambidextrous

Dwarf and Krobus

Krobus is ambidextrous

Dwarf is left handed

Clint

left handed

Marlon

left handed

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Aiura

has connections from her crystal ball

Our Life: Beginning and Always and Our Life: Now and Forever

Cove:

avid gamer

left handed

Qiu

skateboards

@wabatle

@stellas-starry-stories13

please do not copy or repost my work, and only use with persmission!

[toyaslove]

Hi! Can I request Toya with a reader who needs to babysit their baby brother on a VBS practice, due to their parents are at work and their baby brother is too young (maybe at around 3-4 years old) to be left alone in a house? Thanks!

A/N: Of course you can! This'll be fun to write it gsjdhdjdjd

Baby at practice!! (Toya Aoyagi x Reader)

Well, it has some day that Toya invited you to watch he and vbs practice! You almost at the same time agree with him, you promise to him that you'll be there.

When this day comes, something happens. Your mother asked you to take care of your brother, because today he didn't have class and she could not stay at home taking care of him.

You almost immediately texted Toya about it:

Toya... maybe I can't go to your guys' practice...

But why? Did something happen?

Well, I have to take care of my little brother, and I don't want to him distracting you guys... maybe he'll bother you guys or smth like this. Sorry

Oh, that's the problem? I think that'll not be a problem if you babysit him while we practice! I think vbs probably would like to have a little man watching us! The more, the better!!

Seriously? You don't need to talk with them before that?

You guys just keep texting. At least you'll take your brother to vbs' practice. You guys left school after lunching together (you and Toya), and you're going to the practice.

You guys arrived there, and you were carrying your baby brother in your arms, and you seated him in a bench in the park. You let him play in the playground, but of course you're supervisionong him.

"Hey, [name]! Why don't you bring your brother here? Can we play with him? He can watch us practicing and after we play!!" – An says

"I told you, [name]" – Toya looks at you with a smile on his face, happy because he is right!

"Ok then, you guys do whatever you want" – you laugh after that

"Hey, you're a big guy, didn't you? C'mon, let me teach you some dance steps" – Akito says that while taking your brother in his lap, at least he's good with kids (it's a canonical fact)

At least, vbs just practice more or less 2 songs, after that them keep playing with your lil' brother, singing and dancing with him, you's just looking, with a relieved face and with a smile, Toya kisses your cheek and smile at you.

A/N: I hope you liked it! If you need to me do some adjustments, just notify me!! Thanks for reading!

[project-sekai-facts]

Which college majors you think that prsk charaters will have?there will be future events exploring that part of the future? Some character are easy to know which college major they will have like kohane with photography or with ena are sure that there will be a event where she decides if she wants to go to art university or not.but with others are more insecure, like what type of career outside of being a idol midori will what or what careers the rest of vbs will do????😭😭

i'm assuming that since MMJ moved onto the credit course, they'll do whatever the university equivalent of that is (or just not go to university) since they'll probably get even more idol work once they're adults and have less restrictions on their contracts. as for everyone else, it's hard to guess this far in advance since some characters might change their minds or find something that interests them much later on. but i'll write down some thoughts anyway.

shiho i imagine will do something music related, maybe there's a major where she could just do bass? honami previously mentioned that she wanted to be a caregiver, and even though she's going pro with L/n now I could see her doing something connected to that for university. Saki strikes me as the type of person who'd struggle to pick one, she'd probably find a lot of different courses interesting. I'm not too sure about Ichika, maybe something music related as well?

Like you said, I imagine photography is something that Kohane would take in uni. For Toya, maybe something music related, like composition? It goes well with his character arc, especially considering Walk on and on. As for Akito and An, I'm not so sure. Neither of them get outstanding grades, so I imagine neither of them will do something very academic. Maybe something in music or sports?

Nene and Tsukasa are definitely doing theatre, specifically acting. the question is if they study abroad (they've both noted their desire to travel abroad although we do not know if this applies to university). Rui i imagine will either do some sort of engineering course or technical theatre course if that's something that's available. Emu probably some sort of economics or business course since she's going into the family business and she's got the smarts for it. If not, iirc it's implied her sister does some sort of childcare course (she mentions working with kids in the Lion Dance New Year event), so maybe something like that.

Niigo is the biggest question of if they'll go to university. If they do, I think Ena will do art, but that's a more obvious one. Mafuyu, if she's in a fit enough state by this point, I reckon will do nursing. She's been realising that it was her dream before her mother trampled it now, but we'll see how things go. With Kanade, it depends on if she's in a fit state again. If not she'll probably continue with online school (i think this is more likely tbh but we'll see how things play out). Music composition for her obviously. Mizuki doesn't have the best track record with school, but I imagine they'll do fashion like their sister. Maybe even the same school, but that would require them to go abroad (they have Nightcord though).

[lyn-ne]

Vbs music headcanons based on my music taste

(I’m also gonna assign them a Mitski album :3)

Kohane - she seems like the kind of person to like Laufey. Her favorite songs would probably be Falling Behind and Promise. Also Ricky Montgomery. Also The Crane Wives. She makes me feel like she likes soft but slightly sad love songs. Emphasis on the soft. Also Hozier lover. Her favorite album is Wasteland, Baby! As for her Mitski album, I’d say Retired From Sad, New Career in Business. Can’t explain this one, I just went with sound

An - Olivia Rodrigo, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Dove Cameron, and definitely Girl in Red. I feel like she likes 90s rock a lot. And indie artists. Considering she most likely grew up on older rock? Also Queen fan. No arguments. Also Lana Del Ray girlie. Toya got her into her. She likes Brooklyn Baby and Stargirl Interlude. And Penelope Scott? Maybe not but I think so. Mitski album- Be the Cowboy. I think she’d like Nobody a lot.

Akito - I mean it’s confirmed he listens to everything but I know for a fact he likes soft metal/hard rock. Also alt/indie. So; Avenged Sevenfold, Mother Mother, Nirvana, Green Day (he’d like Kill the DJ the most), MCR (/j but not really. I think he’d like Teenagers and Na Na Na), Sleeping with Sirens. Also Odetari is his favorite. Not gonna explain if you’ve listened to him. Jhariah as well. Made a post about this a while back but I feel like him and Ena both like Billie Eillish. Also Cavetown enjoyer. He started crying when he heard Boys Will be Bugs for the first time. Mitski album - Puberty 2 and/or Bury me at Makeout Creek

Toya - Laufey, again. Hozier fan. Odetari, maybe a few Nirvana songs? Like I mentioned with An, Lana Del Ray. I think he’d just like vintage sounding songs/soft chill songs. Cavetown. Home awoke something in him. The Neighbourhood (he likes Stargazing and Daddy Issues the most), can’t explain this one but Arctic Monkeys. Stephen Sanchez as well. I think he also likes Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youths. Mitski album - This Land is Inhospitable and So Are We. He likes My Love Mine All Mine and got Akito to listen to it with him. Akito cried.