Tsuruno Yui Deserves Better

now, how did hayakoko become the way it is now?

they start off with the both of them being lonely, kokoa the grieving girl who lost her mother with a distant father, and hayate the lonely girl who feels distant from her family that expects so much from her and feels she has a hard time with love.

kokoa makes a song that encapsulates her feelings about her mother, the song being kogetsu. it sounds, as hayate explained it paraphrased, "it has a lot of rock elements but it still manages to sound lonely. it's like it's screaming for someone to see them."

hayate then decides helping the composer sounds a bit too much, reaching out over something she doesnt know sounds difficult to her. instead she decides to be lonely with the composer, to give the song the words it needs to convey the loneliness that hayate understands.

hayate spends all night making lyrics that properly explain how the loneliness sounds to her. after she notices that it's morning and kokoa still accepted dms, she questions herself if she should send the lyrics to her.

and she does, without saying anything else, soon after she meets the mysterious composer, who is kokoa, a girl that apparently also goes to the same school as her.

kokoa notices how compatible they are as musical partners, composer and lyricist, and continues working w hayate.

a week later of knowing each other, hayate suddenly declares she loves kokoa and that they should be partners, not just musically, but romantically. crazy, she knew this, but if she didn't act quick, kokoa might fall for another.

kokoa, obviously, declines. too early.

a few weeks -- months maybe -- pass and then theyre now dating. yay!

during that time, hayate managed to move away from her parents with the help of her grandpa, who supported her gladly. since kokoa's father is barely present at the house to take care of kokoa properly, she would spend most of her time with hayate at her place, visiting to make lunch and dinner for her, even help with laundry and such.

kokoa also doesnt try to expect so much from hayate, she does things in her own hayate-like way and it's fine. they might not agree all the time, but both of them know that they'll both love each other even with that. kokoa makes sure hayate knows she's loved and checks on her if she notices something is odd or different about hayate.

hayate, in return, helps kokoa whenever she needs to release a few things out of her chest. she knows what helps her relax, she knows to not crowd kokoa with questions or anything whenever she feels that way and knows to tell her words of comfort or praise when she finishes, making sure she knows that it's okay for her to release her frustrations when needed.

quicker explanation/tl;dr: hayate and kokoa didn't know/had forgotten how (genuine) love from someone was like and the both of them help each other out when the other is struggling. both of them may be lonely but they can be lonely with each other. they know what makes the other feel safe and how they would react to certain subjects and know when to reach out.

now, next is the obvious one: kyoshino. explanation time!

kyoko as a child, thanks to her father's love of listening to records, fell in love with a dj shinobin's music and soon decided to make music of her own. shinobu, on the other hand, was a young genius that was taught by her grandpa who was a legend and has this fan of hers that used to be an admirer now made music of her own and she wanted to make sure, kyo-co, would never surpass her.

this continues until middle school and kyoko finds out that the princess she kept on seeing as child whenever she walked through the street when she was younger is going to the same school as her.

their first meeting face to face.

soon, after a few things here and there, kyoko finds out that same princess is also dj shinobin, her idol. as soon as she learns this, she asks her to form a unit with her. crazy, she knew, but if she didn't act quick dj shinobin might form a dj unit with another person that wasnt her.

shinobu, obviously, declines. too early.

at this response, kyoko decides to get better. so she does, making one or two tracks a day and sending it to her idol hoping it would impress her. as she does this, she also does vocal training to ensure that her voice was impressive enough to reach the expectations of her idol.

weeks -- months maybe -- pass and she finally makes a track that impresses -- scares-- her idol at her quick growth, she's excited, and pride fills her, perhaps too much.

so she performs a live with that song.

and it was terrible.

no one, not a single person at that live could catch up with her song and her voice, it was too much.

after that failure, she is dragged to the side, questioned by the person that started it all, dj shinobin.

her idol questions why it was terrible, why the performance is subpar and it hurts kyoko. her idol then says that if she were in her shoes, she would make sure it was refined, better. it hurts kyoko's already hurting pride.

so shinobu says that from now on, she would make sure kyoko's music was refined and perfect, and that she should form a dj unit with her.

time passes, then, on christmas day, kyoko gets to perform a live with shinobu, with their audience being each other.

and peaky pkey was born.

quicker explanation/tl;dr: shinobu was a genius and kyoko was someone who had to work hard to look talented. both of them support each other and even if it involves butting heads, they would always find a middle ground eventually. they both know each other like the back of their hand, they know how the other would react to things thanks to how long they have known each other and they know how to push each other to their limits until they're satisfied.

now. third! tsubaoi. ooooh tsubaoi. (the fact that im condensing rondo unit story 1 this much is killing me, btw. also also REMEMBER AOI LORE AND TSUBAKI LORE AS U READ THIS.)

it begins with aoi, a skilled but airheaded dj that can make music that moves one's heart. and tsubaki, a skilled but lonely singer that is struggling with her passion for singing after being told she wasnt needed and lost contact w her childhood friends (rika and miyu).

after a performance aoi was always told that she needed a vocalist to give her music more life, even hiiro, her friend and co-worker, said so. after aoi promised hiiro she wouldnt pull an all-nighter and still did so, she heard a voice.

a beautiful voice with a familiar tune.

she followed it to the source until she stops at a church, she went inside to see one girl.

she could only say she knew the song and the mysterious singer runs away from her.

hours pass and aoi couldn't get over the girl, after hiiro reminds her of an important meeting, it turns out that her boss managed to find a vocalist for her, yuki sakura, but declines. after bumping into and getting nagisa as her guitarist, aoi sees someone familiar at a university.

that mysterious vocalist.

aoi goes up to her, introduces herself and the singer does as well. aoi tells her that she's been finding her and hands her her business card. she tells her, bluntly, she needs her, that she couldn't stop thinking about her and her voice.

tsubaki, obviously, declines. this person must've been hitting on her.

aoi is left to only hope that tsubaki would watch their performance.

their performance is about to begin and masaki asks them to try something, aoi agrees.

tsubaki arrives at the performance, noticing how skilled aoi is as a dj. their eyes meet and aoi transitions into a familiar song.

prayer begins and tsubaki is confused why the song is playing. was this song for her?

then, aoi announces something-- someone.

their vocalist, yuki sakura.

tsubaki is confused and conflicted and decides to leave. they didn't need her after all.

after aoi runs after her and cleared up the confusion involving yuki sakura, tsubaki is asked if she should join the unit.

she says she'll think about it, giving aoi hope.

after some slight nudging from nagisa, aoi gets a call from tsubaki that she wanted to talk with her and that they would meet at a familiar place. after getting the go ahead from masaki, who told her that yuki (sakura) can fend for herself, aoi goes to meet tsubaki.

tsubaki tells her that she wants to give aoi herself, her voice. agreeing to join the unit.

after finding out that nagisa and hiiro were eavesdropping, aoi tells them their unit name.

rondo.

after their debut event, they get invited to join a very large event that invites many different skilled dj units of different clubs called the music crown to compete against each other.

they go to the event to represent ALTER-EGO and hiiro warns aoi to not give up, confusing aoi, but keeping it in mind. one of the clubs there is called 'SUNGING', filled with many talented djs. one of the members of the unit go up to them.

that member being yuki sakura.

she says a few words to all of them, especially aoi. telling her she will make sure that she'll notice her singing, worrying tsubaki and the others. they tell her to not mind her words and brush them off, but, even with those words of comfort, the seeds of doubt are already planted in tsubaki's mind. the performance begins and as soon as they are about to perform their set...

tsubaki cannot sing.

she suddenly lost her voice, halting their performance to a stop.

weeks pass, and they find out nothing is wrong with tsubaki but she still cannot speak. she still wishes to tell them something, just one thing.

she tells them she is quitting rondo.

this surprises everyone, but they respect her decision.

she goes home, bored of a movie she chose and decided to walk instead.

she walks through the district, wandering.

wandering until she arrives at the church she goes to.

she hears a sound, a gentle and beautiful sound.

it entices her to go inside, noticing children gathered all around the single person playing the organ.

she notices the person is aoi, who asks her for a favor.

to help with her part-time job.

she explains to tsubaki that her part-time job was playing the organ, right after explaining this to her her boss, inoue, tells the both of them that the vocalist couldnt sing for the performance and asks who tsubaki was. aoi tells him that she is a friend of hers, not mentioning the fact they used to be in a dj unit together (and using her last name), and asks her to help them.

tsubaki declines, telling aoi she couldnt sing. aoi simply tells her that she didn't want to force her anyway.

inoue then specifies that the reason the vocalist could not sing was because they were sick, giving aoi an idea for tsubaki to play the piano.

tsubaki was confused, asking aoi who was going to sing.

which was aoi herself.

during the performance, tsubaki notes to herself how much of a good singer aoi was, almost to the point that she could sing again.

which she does.

aoi, just like tsubaki, notes to herself that she didn't think her voice would return so soon, but even so was glad to hear her beautiful voice again.

when the first part of performance ends and they say their thanks, tsubaki points out to aoi that hiiro and nagisa were right there in the crowd.

this causes aoi to tell her to move and sing the next song, which tsubaki does.

after the performance, hiiro and nagisa thank tsubaki for helping aoi with her job, reminding aoi to give tsubaki her pay. this causes nagisa to note that she was a bit hungry and for hiiro to say that aoi was going to pay and for tsubaki to come with them.

after she accepts and listens along to the others talking and having fun, she says that she felt that she didn't belong here and tells them that even if she did get her voice back she still didn't want to sing.

nagisa reacts heavily, telling her that she was using rondo as an excuse to stop singing and that only she could decide if she should stop singing. tsubaki repeats that she wouldnt sing ever again, causing nagisa to say that it's fine as long as she could live without singing ever again. this hurts tsubaki deeply, causing hiiro to try to sooth the situation by telling her that nagisa didn't mean to hurt her, but is cut off by tsubaki leaving, causing aoi to yell for her again but this time go after her.

she stops when tsubaki stops and aoi tells her that inoue sent her an email that stated that everyone that watched their concert enjoyed it. aoi also compliments tsubaki and tells her that she cant imagine rondo with a different vocalist. tsubaki is about to tell her something before aoi asks if she's being insensitive and tsubaki tells her she is nice but is just scared of standing on stage with rondo. compared to the concert they did together a while ago to a performance as rondo, it was vastly different to tsubaki. aoi tells her that she is apart of rondo so she could sing in any way she wanted. tsubaki then tells aoi that she isn't sure if she has the resolve to be able to carry the burden of being a member of a unit.

aoi shows her a smile and tells her to stop trying to carry that burden. she continues on by telling tsubaki that if she wanted her to be the vocalist, they have to stop being connected to alter-ego. tsubaki questions why and aoi tells her that rondo is meaningless without her. tsubaki questions her again, asking how she could say such a thing, and aoi replies by saying she knew what was really important. tsubaki tears up, thanking her. aoi asks if she could come back.

and tsubaki says yes.

they hug and share a cute moment with hiiro and nagisa. during that moment they tell tsubaki that they had been invited to an event by yuki sakura's unit, which tsubaki accepted.

a few days pass, and theyre rehearsing at a studio, they banter and talk until aoi asks them to listen to a song she had been working on. a song that had been formed from the four of them.

prayer[s].

at the performance day, theyre setting up and checking their equipment, making sure everything was in good shape. aoi asks if tsubaki was alright and she tells her that she's fine because she knows that the song was meant for her and her only. then, during that performance, tsubaki managed to sing the song aoi made just for her voice.

now. to sum up their relationship/do a tl;dr: aoi was a genius or skilled dj and tsubaki was merely hard-working or wasn't even amazing to other people until she met aoi. they were both lonely, loveless people for most of their lives, they found comfort in each other because they understood that feeling of loneliness the other had in some way and also because the other helped them find a reason to continue, especially on tsubaki's part. even with that, they helped each other out in any way, for tsubaki, it was the entirety of their road to d4fes story and the maid event while for aoi it was the romeo and juliet event and side origin. they help and drive the other to do amazing things. also yk the teasing aoi unknowingly does to tsubaki who always has a red face whenever it happens.

so! ignoring my obvious bias on rondo, there is only one last ship to discuss. which is neosophi.

neosophi is a bit hard to talk abt for some considering the current state of their relationship but i will try my best even tho i know people will probably disagree with (kill) me!

so. neosophi. why is it even here, crow? some of u probably ask.

well, neosophi, like literally all the ships ive talked abt, have similarities that i will point out after i explain/do a tl;dr and talk abt how their relationship started.

so, let's do this! (considering sophia's backstory on how she met neo, please be careful, i avoided using specific words but still proceed w caution!!)

neo is a girl that had lost her mother at a young age and had to be taken care of by her father then, after he left neo, her grandparents. neo had gained many talents as a child, perfect pitch at 3, singing opera at 5, and composing songs at 7. she was a genius. and there there was sophia.... who. did not become a princess overnight that's for sure. (this was to lighten the mood im sorr--) she didn't have a very good life. im only touching this (very) lightly bc it legitimately made me feel so bad i kinda erased some bits from my mind. sophia was disliked and was a disappointment by everyone in her life and was reminded of that probably every day. her parents, her teachers, and her classmates saw her as some sort of anomaly. she was in the wrong. she was a failure. she was no genius. these thoughts and words affected her so much it almost drove her to, well, cutting her life short.

neo had started singing at the park when she was twelve, every day she was there, singing. people would look at her but would pay it no mind. she had to be the best there was.

and then there was sophia, who was about cut her life short by going through her window. she thought there would be people staring at her, wondering, but she had heard a beautiful voice come from the park that attracted everyone's attention, keeping it all away from her.

it entranced her, the way the stranger sung and their eyes were all on her.

the stranger was neo.

sophia saw her as some goddess, a deity. and everyday she had listened to neo's singing at the park because of it. she had recorded her singing and made melodies to it that complimented her voice and her voice only.

then, one day, there was a man that went up to neo at the park that day and had asked her if she wanted to join him on his plan to make her the greatest singer in the world. neo had accepted his offer.

sophia, scared of never hearing neo's voice ever again, ran after them, asking the both of them if she could go with them.

neo then asks her what she sees. and sophia answers that she sees neo and neo only.

she is then accepted as her assistant.

two years pass, during that gap they had collected elsie, and they are about to face weronika without a dj to help them. suddenly, neo declares that sophia would be the dj, confused, she tries to decline, but neo and elsie tell her that she is the only one who could do it since she had known neo and her voice the longest and elsie had called her out on the melodies she would make in secret to neo's voice.

then soon, abyssmare had formed.

sophia is extremely worried and nervous for upsetting neo to the point even neo herself thinks she's overreacting. it's shown in one of their area conversations when sophia asks her (iirc) what she should get and neo simply stays silent, it causes sophia to get worried that neo got mad and she quickly apologizes and runs away, only for neo to say she was simply thinking.

it's mostly neo who gets more from their relationship -- she can ask sophia to get things for her and she wouldnt mind, she has a dj that knows her voice and what songs can work for her perfectly, and she would literally do whatever she asked -- sophia, to her, gets a lot as well. as long as she is by neo's side it is enough.

now, this one is short compared to the others because theyre pretty new and idk what happens past the one in the en server rn but yeah...

so quicker explanation/tl;dr is: neo was a genius and sophia was not. the both of them were pretty much abandoned/outcasted by the people around them and they reacted differently to it. sophia had accepted it while neo strived to prove them (her father) wrong. sophia knows when neo is unwell and will do anything she can to do something about it even if that means she doesnt do anything for herself also she sees neo as a goddess and her voice and singing being the reason she's (literally) living and going forward.

now i've talked about all four of these ships, now it's time to talk about the similarities they have.

one of them is a genius while the other is not or just hard-working; all of them were lonely before they met the other or were at their lowest; they understand each other to a certain level unlike other people; they drive each other to do better; and are closest or trusts them a lot.

neosophi is like tsubaoi taken to the extreme if you think. the dj who was bullied a lot when they were a younger thought the vocalist's voice was so amazing they couldn't stop thinking about them for a little and made songs that could work just for their voice. the djs see the vocalists as this amazing and talented person that someone important to them didn't see them as simply bc they didn't meet their expectations.

hayakoko is a mix of tsubaoi and kyoshino, but it has more similarities to kyoshino. they met each other online -- even though they go to the same school or soon will -- because one of them made a song/songs that inspired the other to do something connecting to music like making lyrics or making music. the inspired one then sends them their work w no warning and after seeing their work and properly getting together to see each other, their unit is formed just the two of them until the other two joined bc Reasons.

tsubaoi and kyoshino have similarities as well. the (genius) djs saw something in the vocalist -- who were both taught by airi -- no one did and inspired them to become better and become the person they are now.

and then there is neosophi and hayakoko similarities. all four were lonely at a young age and grew closer bc one of them gained enough courage to reach out to the other. both neo and hayate were taken care of by their grandparents (for hayate her grandpa) while sophia and kokoa were taken care of by their parent/parents. also both neo and kokoa have dead mothers.... so. uh. yeah.

the tsubaoi and hayakoko similarities! they have rlly gay/the gayest cards(<- this a joke, but if u think abt it--), one of them likes denying they get flustered abt the accidental teases by the other even tho theyre clearly bright red, and one of them (aoi and hayate/kokoa) gets to be themselves w the other (tsubaki and kokoa/hayate) bc they trust them so much.

the kyoshino and neosophi similarities. theyre the dj and vocalist duo of two of the most powerful units in the game storywise and among their units, they know each other the most. (that's all i got as of now lol)