YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its so cute to think about their living arrangements after the ES dorming. i love the idea of one of them approaching the other like, hey. stop sneaking into my dorm. lets just share an apartment. and the other is like Wait thats genius. literally nothing getting in their way, not even the money, literally just their motivation to move their belongings.

very cute... very cute... lets say they get a lovely apartment in town or a little townhouse in an upscale neighbourhood! i like thinking there's a lot of natural light and breeze... hiyorin likes plants and fresh flowers so she decorates their whole space with them :) they do their best to find the ones that dont make rei sneeze. and rei likes candles, i think... he buys both scented candles in those glass jars and like the fancy metal candleabras for some gothic swag

i think the decor situation is very cute.. once they actually Do move in together and its like, its a Real thing that theyre living together, hiyorin is probably so excitable all the time. she's forever looking at new cushion covers and bedspreads and furniture. rei kun look!!!!!!! :D (shoving her phone into reis face) :) angel we dont have enough throw pillows for five more cushion covers. but rei doesnt stop her from buying them anyway and they spend lots of time changing out their decor like once every three weeks.

chores.... ok i have thoughts. rei cant cook. but hiyori is even WORSE at cooking when shes on her own (she can only bake). so rei, relatively, can cook. LOL. its hilarious literally who let these two bourgeoisie aristocrats live alone together. i think they can overcome their many cohabitation challenges by the sheer virtue of doing everything together though. for stuff like the cleaning and laundry they do the same task together concurrently and its not in a cute cute way, its because theyre so hopeless that the Only way they have the motivation / the time / even remember to do the chore is if the other is also doing it. ends up in soapy water splashing and wrestling in piles of clothes when theyre not worn out from work, but when they are, having someone else doing the chore with them feels comforting..

they make it work!!! they know what they both/ each want their home together to look like, so they do their best... :)

jamesie youre my most loyal patron of my retrospring and i love you for that. oh my!!!!!!!! at some point i think i got a bit too old to be, like, cannibalism-obsessed... that part of 15 year old me's brain is gone... but i can appreciate a lovely fine dining moment! actually eating is a pretty big motif in my mermaid/pirate reihi universe hehe.

CW GORE FROM HERE ON

but fantasy aside, if we're in the real world... i think i see it. gore suits them!!!! rei because he's rei, and hiyori because there is suuuuuch an extremism to the way she loves... hiyorin with her delicate fingers digging into rei's chest, elbow-deep in the gore, reaching for the heart because she thinks its aaaaaall hers, he's sworn it to her, hasn't he? ❤ it should be hers, wholly, beating side by side with her own... gulp! swallow! now it is ❤

rei would eat her too. he's probably made a lot of jokes to that effect. ohhh himechan youre so cute, i could just gobble you up... ♪ you look absolutely delectable today, what if i took a bite ♪ he should actually do it. hiyorin doesnt like pain, so he'll give her general anaesthesia before gently, lovingly tearing bites out the most delicate parts of her flesh... side of the neck, the skin on her wrist over the veins... gently gently consuming the most tender parts of her, showing her his utter attentiveness and gentleness ❤

thats just the way they love each other ♪

ASJSKSKSJJD DID GENE AND I TALK ABOUT THAT? I TOTALLY FORGOT... but oh my god, yea ive been Thinking about that a fair bit too...... i really love it............. family is such a huge deal for them respectively and i think if they ever got to that point where they decided to try for a child they would really both do their bests...🥺 for each of them it would be like seeing a new side to their partner.. the side of them that's brined in the absolute unconditional love that they never got growing up but are determined to give their very own children... 🥺🥺🥺

hiyori would get even More whiny and tantrumy then swing to even worse guilt about it lol... but rei really would show her a lot of grace wouldnt he 🥺 he has a lot of patience when it comes to her... he knows she doesnt mean malice to him... he'll just hold her and soothe her and get her whatever thatll make her feel better. he'd go downstairs to buy her whatever shes craving no matter the time... im thinking about rei in his pyjamas at 3.30am at the konbini buying her whatever obscure snack she suddenly woke up snd started craving

ive been having this extremely, specific thought about them postpartum. throughout hiyoris pregnancy i imagine she couldnt go back to idol work and performing for at least half a year if not a lot more after delivering their child... hiyori and rei really thrive on stage i think so they have a mutual understanding and agreement there... during the pregnancy it was rei who got to take to the stage between taking care of hiyori but afterwards he stepped back to spend more time taking care of their child while hiyori slowly returned to the showbiz <3 neither of them are neglecting each other or their kid, just that theyre taking turns in the spotlight during the occasional idol jobs they take <3

also because i really wanna see hiyori on some like tv show, glowing again a few months after giving birth and rei carrying their child in a baby sling and watching her from backstage <3 and all the staff cooing over their beautiful beautiful baby <3 and hiyori getting really girlishly happy and excited when she sees her boy and their child waiting for her behind the set <3 this answer went so off the rails. My bad. i just love them

jamesie!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes. reihi is hilarious bc theyre both so headstrong on their own, but we have rei who Would crumble at any slight provocation from hiyori and hiyori who has absolutely no issue or shame playing it up for her boy. i KNOW rei's all kukuku you young ones shouldnt do adult things leave them to the adults but theyre just so decadent together. and i think while rei views her sort of like his kouhai a bit, theyve spent their teenagehood doing so many adult things together (thanks to orerei) that shes unwittingly like a sameage friend to him LOL. imagine if (19) hiyori's watching (20) rei drink and if she wants a sip from his, i think rei would go thru mental gymnastics like. my gf is not of age to drink > but its just one sip > what the fuck does the law matter > and shes so cute..... giving me puppy eyes through her pretty pretty lashes... > fuck it. then they get drunk together.

also this got me thinking how far hiyori would go in "convincing" rei... 🤭 definitely lots of pouting and eyelash batting, and i think a fair few little tantrums 🤭 rei's just like Sigh. this is my girlfriend..... but he adores her for it, i think he really does

huffing and puffing. i'm here, i'm here!!!

i had to leave this ask to marinate in my inbox for a day while i came up with talking points better than They Just Are, and i think i hit some good thoughts on the bus ride home! sorry for the wait, and this is Long, but let's go now~~

we'll start from the facts - these two weren't meant to be shipped. like, at All! ofc we have the big ships for both of them namely hyjn and rk/rkg, and their units, and we have the slightly rarer ships for both of them w the other characters theyve interacted with before. there's varying basis there for all of them, but reihi lacks that.

when the canon establishes a relation between two or more characters, it's pointing towards greater narrative themes - enstars esp in ! but even in !! is very bildungsroman, it signals a lot at youth/ growing up/ love on the interpersonal side of things. i'll hazard that even with the rocky way undeden character arcs are written (esp in recent !!) the stories and the themes Do end up at a more positive resolution, at a really high rate. i'm thinking of undead's bridal light; kaoru's hesitant about asking undead for help, but throughout the story undead cheers him up in their own way and kaoru ends up having the rest of them back him up and he gets to open up to them too. we've got the whole fear of vulnerability and relying on others that segues into Actual vulnerability and relying on others. thinking of reikao's romcom; rei scolds kaoru and causes a coldness in their relationship, but kaoru decides on his own terms to work hard to stand by rei's side as his equal, and they mend whatever crack came between them. with hiyojun its a bit different - and unfortunately my memory is REALLY bad and i don't remember their arcs really well - but they, too get closer to each other over ! and !! and open up to each other about themselves (saga iirc? and conquest)

this is to say, the large majority of rei and hiyori's respective main ships point towards Good things like love! helping each other! vulnerability! hard work! goodness! and often, their individual debilitating character flaws get glossed over in those reads. like, !! killed "i'll bash your head in with this prize trophy!" hiyori and "you can only be my slave" hiyori, as we all like to say... the hiyori that is overwhelming and egotistical and too full of bravado, who outshines and nearly pushes the other person out of the relationship. rei's less so i feel, since we certainly get "let me help you with this, and that, and Everything about your life" rei a lot - but a lot of it is rebuked by kao going stop that sakuma rei. (also, read my lovely friend gene ao3 user earthgod's 'rotten at the core' which is sexy reikao about their terrible flaws!!!) but yeah. the endpoint of for rei and hiyori in their notable ships in general is, inkeeping with the overall themes, about trying to get them to be better people by being in a healthy loving committed relationship.

which is great and all! who doesn't love improvement! i do too!!!! but reihi is kind of completely unbound by social justice. they're a free for all. this is kind of abstract and metagaming, but my point is their main ships are, in the actual Canon, having them improve as people by being in the relationship, even if its by a little bit... while reihi doesn't have that at all. unlike rk and hyjn, and despite their Insane similarities and parallels, they were likely never meant to be shipped. i.e., there's no canon-provided rosiness and gloss that threatens them... there's a lot of friction between their personalities. they both have presences the size of a small country, and too much ego, and their worst flaws absolutely conflict with the other's traumatic experiences - we have "let me teach you and guide you" rei sakuma and having been dictated and ordered around by her family all her life hiyori tomoe. too fearful of emotional intimacy too prone to laughing every attempt off hiyori and rei who grew up in near absolute isolation. canon says about rk and hyjn, ok. they have flaws. but they end up okay. the vacuum they exist in doesn't affirm that about rei and hiyori.

i think in and of themselves, it's not Necessarily a toxic relationship. after all, people are often imperfect for each other, when there isnt the rosiness of a story. but reihi is at the very End of the rope and straddling the line between being good and being bad for each other. from a metanarrative perspective, it's exciting to write them because of that!!! what happens to love when every choice you make with/ about your partner is just drawing new lines in the sand that could entirely knock down the sandcastle, or something. they're just really not perfect at all. and not rosy. the story doesn't run its course prettily. honestly, if they were real life people, youd probbaly be like what the fuck stop this bullshit WHYA RE YOU GETTING BACK WITH YOUR EX WHO LEFT YOU TO TRAVEL THE WORLD IN 2015 WITHOUT LEAVING A VOICEMAIL HIYORI hey REI WHY ARE YOU GETTING BACK WITH YOUR EX WHO ONLY TALKS ABOUT THE NEW LIPSTICK SHES BOUGHT AND DRAGS YOU ALONG EVERYWHERE AND yeah. it's about deniability maybe. oh, reihi.

ugh, i'm so fond of hiyori-and-rei-get-over-their-debilitating-problems-and-settle-down. like so, so fond, you have no idea. i wish it works out for them too. i cant tell if im being rational or just because i have, like, sims of them in the sims 4 and they have an apartment and are engaged to be wed... LMFAO.......... for me, right, i think its really a coin toss. like both are so possible. again, the lines in the sand! theyre so delicate, a small thing could set them off and put them down either road. theyre so butterfly effect. i feel like ive been so ambiguous but i just love every possibility for them.. perfectly imperfect if you will. poor things. lovely things.

we've hit... actually 1000 words here....... so i'll.. reroute back to what i think you were actually asking about HELPNFGJFD ie screaming crying shouting match reihiyo... toxic toxic fr... im a repressed hiyori truther, so i dont go here much. but god i think its happened at least once. its even better if hiyori Is repressed honestly like all her pent up frustration just comes crashing out and rei doesnt even fuckin expect it. like i thought we were kinda fine?? WE WERE NOT FINE. (haha pun?) like aesthetically it suits them sooooo much. sorry. i just cant bring myself to write or portray it... i know i said theyre unbound by social justice but my heart is too tender... maybe one day we'll get ameyume-written screaming match. one day.

if youve actually made it here, i feel like i owe you like, a discount. hey if you ever comm me or something let me give you a 5sgd discount. SJFDGSKFKAJKSFHJFD my god i seriously Yapped but i hope theres something new and interesting inside!!!!!! ahhh also id really love to read about you and your girlfriend's reihi thoughts!! im stuck in my own reihi asylum alone most the time so i loveeeeeee reading others' opinions, id be so happy to read them if you posted more tweets about them too!!! <3

OH MY GOD. been waiting to talk about this publicly.... a friend once said in another life id be a hiyorei shipper but that's not this life, and i agree with him. i'm stuck with reihiyo....

honestly i love hiyorei and i definitely see the aesthetic of sad soppy wet black cat rei and hiyori who's the boss of his ass in more ways than one. honestly in my read of them theres some of that in their dynamic too!!! i feel like im inherently more of a reihiyo guy though because to me, by putting them together theyre kinda Necessarily like that... LOL i think by being w rei, hiyori wants to be babied by him a bit... even if she doesnt openly admit to it... she subconsciously? wants to hear him say good girl~ that kinda thing... (i think her family is pretty short on open love like that... thats my reading) and rei's older sibling / caretaker(?) complex probably kicks in around hiyori too bc shes a bit younger. reis an older sibling and hiyori a younger one and family's a big thematic Deal for both of them that colours their characterisation a lot so my take is it tints how they view each other n their dynamic, ie rei being more leftside and hiyori being more rightside LOL. but ofc theyre them n they can subvert even this too like i said. their places in their dynamic are always kinda in flux i think, their dynamic is pretty fluid in that they both switch around who's the more dominant/assertive and who's the more submissive/passive. but their dynamic is marked by this teasing bantery vibe which really just means theyre always pushing and pulling and shifting between the continuum of reihiyo–hiyorei dynamics and its very fun~

im just soooo fond of reihiyo though. there's something very special and heady about it... its a bit doomed bc that dynamic is the result of their subconscious urges/ knowledges of who they are as people and the socioemotional roles they occupy in their relationships w other ppl... but it's intoxicating bc reihi has such a distinctive flavour and is really fuckin tasty. sorry if this is rambly and hard to read its 2am... let me know if u have any questions regarding the lecture ☀💭

the sillies!!!! i'm trying to decide who between them has the fear of heights... until i realised the two of them are probably insane enough to think its really fun and thrilling to be suspended so high in yhe sky. rei would probably pretend to be scared like oh noooooo hiyorichaaaaannnnn we're stuck here foreeveverttrrrrr and hiyorin's like LETS TAKE PHOTOS W THE PRETTY SCENERY REIKUN!!!!!!!!🤭🤭🤭 yeah theyre so silly. i hope they never make it back down.

i like the thought of them going to the amusement park whether its prewar or !! era :) those two have so few proper childhood/ teenagehood experiences... them experiencing those together makes me so happy! i think hiyori would really like the shooting games and she'd get really competitive about winning prizes. they'd both enjoy the unhealthy carnival food too!!!! the amusement park is probably not rei's first thought of what a good time is but i think hed enjoy playing the games along with hiyorin~ and carrying all her prizes for her too!

oh this is SPICY, the gossip the drama!!!! i have to admit im very poorly versed in ritsu's lore... i have rei tunnel vision wrt the sakumas... so im not super sure about the actual lore so ill just do my best w what i know and make a few conjectures! i think ritsus role as a reihi bystander is really interesting and i dont thnk about him enough

pre war year is super spotty in terms of canon so i guess i can just make sweeping statements. in this year we have 16/17 rei and 15/16 ritsu and hiyori... and since this is before rei started going overseas All the time, i imagine the sakubros were on okay terms? pls correct me if im wrong.....

so reihiyo. rei's going out w her more often and becoming a dork in love. i imagine ritsu certainly notices his older brother's change in demeanour at home, him having become a little happier after meeting hiyorin... i imagine ritsu couldnt attend much of school that year and wouldnt have physically Seen rei hanging with hiyori but i like to think reihiyo became something of a famous/popular couple in school because theyre both so so attractive and talented as idols 🤭 the kind that people chatter about! which makes its way back to ritsu! maybe thru mao..??? and also rei's def brought hiyori to his family home before. those two combined prob gave ritsu a pretty clear idea about hiyori, whom his oniichan has been hanging around a lot.... but heres where shit can hit the fan. maybe ritsus like oh, shes just another girl oniichan's messing around with. if shes just a fling then ritsu's seen too many of those already. until he realises how stupid in love rei has become around her and being a dork and grinning daydreamily all the time or whatever and ritsu catches rei doing little affectionate things for hiyori like buying her gifts and leaving them around the house or whatever then he realises Holy shit. my oniichan is Down BAD for this girl!

i think this can segue into really interesting emotional implications for the sakubros and on the reihiyo premise, hiyori could even act as the trigger/ catalyst for the sakubros to split and become very distant in the war era year. the emotional and thematic implications start to go crazy once we have hiyori allied with eichi during the war, and Ritsu helping eichi too... in ritsu's pov i imagine his feelings about hiyori are p complicated. shes at once the girl who brought his brother back to life but also one of the exfine members trying to kill him.. shes the person who's taking his brother away from him and monopolising rei's time, and is also indirectly is the one who sent him overseas... and she's someone "on ritsu's side". its just messed up!!!!

tldr i personally think ritsu had (correct) suspicions but also very complicated feelings toward hiyori

AHHHHHHH SO CUTE SO CUTE SO CUTE 😭😭🩷🌹🩷😭🩷🌹😭😭🌹 i love this.... rei being pathetic in front of her its too good... a tiny bit of hiyorei moment....? obsessed w hiyori having a handkerchief w red roses too the colour symbolism always goes crazy w these two and i Enjoy them sharing each others colours <3 are you quite dumb! is SUCH. a hiyorin thing to say I GIGGLED (in the metaphysical realm; my throat is too shredded to make noise) theyre perfect. thanks hiyorin. THANK YOU GENE! so fond. wowwwe reikun the gift of eternal health... all it takes is the touch of a woman <3 im so happy for him <3 ty gene jie 🩷🩷🩷 i will do my best to look for one 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

TASTES LIKE ORGANSKSKAKSJJJS i love rei ive been meaning to try tomato juice for his sake but. im scared... organs.... 🤭 hello atlas!!!! thank you for hitting me up this is SO CUTE... i love that its prewar era too 😭😭🫶 i cried.... hiyori calling rei sweet... something about that is so lovely bc i think hiyori at 15/16 is often too repressed (and in a way shy) to outwardly say what she thinks of rei LOL its cute thinking that she tells him that when he takes care of her... cute.... ahhhhh rei showing hiyori care in his own way.... so cute... theyre so sweet... i Really like the prewar element to it too cus thats when theyre not so familiar or used to each other yet... its lovely thinking this is a step forward in their relationship.... so so cute!!!!!!!!

LOVE THEM! me and my good irl friend are cosplayers, theyre mainly a mugi coser and i'm mainly a hiyori coser and we're often hiyomuging!!!!! so i'm very acquainted with hiyomug on that level 🤭

hiyomugi is so funny in the canon though. love hiyori bossing mugi around and calling him npc-kun and making him carry her bags. literally hilarious. i think the way mugi just Lets her act the way she is gives rise to so much tasty hiyoriness... that sweetly venomous side to her just slides out so much more easily without the other party's resistance and thats so sexy. when they are vaguely terrible with each other. OH i just recalled white bear... the hiyomugi selfie is canon 🥹🥹 i imagine they have a whole lot of random pics together bc theyre forced together by circumstance a whole bunch, its cute :)