Toko Fukawa

I know the Bad Ending is non-canon. It doesn’t happen. I know that is Asahina’s child, like I know that Togami dates Fukawa in that ending.

This can’t just be Naegi’s imagination, unless his guess on Kirigiri’s execution just happened to match what happened IRL. Seeing this post made me stop and think. Working backward, I recontextualised Togami’s and Fukawa’s behaviours.

First, Fukawa. She had a shitty childhood, and that’s putting it lightly. Her classmates bullied her. Her parents abused her. Physically. Mentally. Sexually. There’s a reason Genocider Syo formed. She uses writing/fantasy for escapism.

Next, Togami. He also had a shitty childhood. He was created to possibly be the next heir of the conglomerate. He had to be the best at everything. He had to see ‘family’ as opponents to ‘kill’ for him to ‘survive’. He was a business venture.

Understandably, this messed them up. To cope, both of them tried to detach from their emotions. For one of them, this created Genocider Syo. The other became out-of-touch with their feelings and based their identity on their conglomerate.

It’s funny. One feels too much, while the other feels too little. We can see why they’re distrustful. Fukawa has had her heart broken. Been taken advantage of. Has seen the world’s ugliness. Togami was raised to treat everyone as a foe.

When they meet in DR1, Fukawa sees a guy who, like her, doesn’t trust others. He is intelligent, honest and blunt. IMO when he announces in Ch2 that he doesn’t want to work with them and they may poison his food, that gives her heart a push.

Meanwhile, Togami sees a stuttering romance novelist who rambles about disgusting things like love. Togamis don’t love! His parents didn’t have him because of love. Love/emotional bonds are a weakness that can be taken advantage of.

Togami pushes away anyone who tries to get close to him. Not just Fukawa, but when Celes tries to say they’re similar, he snaps at her. When Naegi tries to befriend him, Togami insults him. He speaks his mind. I think Fukawa appreciates that.

Togami won’t pretend to be her friend then post her love confession on a noticeboard. He won’t pretend to be nice, or be two-faced. Yes, he reveals her secret to everyone, but then she doesn’t have to worry about hiding Syo for longer.

No, he didn’t frame Syo for murder for the lulz. He did it to out her safely to everyone and to test Naegi and the others to see who could be a threat later. It also meant that the two gave each other alibis and helped ensure their safety.

While Fukawa does fantasise about him, I don’t think she’s blind to the ‘real’ him. There’s a non-canon event in DRS that says this too. But anyway, it’s these similarities to him that draw her in. And he likes books too? Bonus!

She likes his differences too. His confidence. And he’s handsome and intelligent. From Syo’s free times, we learn Togami is the only person she doesn’t want to kill. Everyone else who turned her on, she killed. This is a unique, genuine love.

But it’s one thing if she just likes him. He’s not obligated to like her back. Here’s the thing... it’s not so simple. When Togami tells Fukawa to go away, she does, yet we see them together often. This suggests he’s letting her hang around.

After Ch2, she’s more sexual toward him and starts calling him Byakuya-sama. There’s a scene where Syo says they were together and that she’s wearing red lingerie. Togami flees shortly after. This is up for interpretation but... imo they had sex.

As a fun bonus, there are these scenes later on. Togami has no reason to be as horrified as he is that this is being broadcasted across Japan unless he has done something he wouldn’t want people to know about. Having sex with Fukawa, perhaps?

In Ch3, he leaves Fukawa’s body unsupervised knowing no one else can be killed as there have been two deaths already. Sakura even points out he knew. He replies he would be glad if she died. It’d be easier. *looks at bad end pic* sure jan

Despite his death wishes, he doesn’t put her in danger. Now, a big turning point is Ch4, where he gets a wake up call. He learns not to make light of people’s emotions/bonds. From here, he makes a marked effort to be more patient/thoughtful.

He compliments Fukawa on finding a knife. He tries to order her ‘nicely’ to fetch a pickaxe. In the last trial, while before he bossed her about, when they need Syo to front, he says he’s depending on her rather than demanding she switch.

In Ch5, he tries to stop Syo from touching Mukuro’s body when he thinks it might be a trap, then replaces Fukawa as his errand girl with Naegi when they realise there are bombs. I’m not saying he’s not a jerk sometimes. It’s a slow process.

Both of them still have a lot of toxic behaviours to unlearn. This is difficult to do in this sort of environment. I’m not saying Togami loves Fukawa at this point, but we can see he doesn’t seem to outright hate her. It’s complicated.

Now, let’s look at post-DR1. At the end of the game, they mention their future arcs. We’ll see Togami help and support Naegi and the others. We’ll see Fukawa love Togami but let other people into her life too. Friendship is important.

In DRAE, we learn Togami helped her not faint seeing blood and helped her control Syo. When she opted to stay in Towa to support Komaru, he encouraged her even though he wanted to rescue her (and Komaru) ASAP. He even collects her later.

Togami inspires Fukawa to better herself. She mentions he told her ‘you gain meaning in life with personal growth’. She wants to be strong so she can protect him. She goes from calling him her white knight to fantasising being his knight.

And Togami can be inspired by her! He has been taught that love is bad and for the weak. However, she shows love makes her stronger. She is someone who can understand him and be patient and loyal. I like how everyone calls him Togami, but she calls him Byakuya-sama. When he realises he has lost everything, including the conglomerate - his identity and reason for existence, her love doesn’t waver. To Fukawa, he is ‘Byakuya-sama’ first and foremost. Not a figurehead, or a title.

In DR3, Fukawa seemed to know it was Togami calling them, which implies he's usually the one that does. Kirigiri also mentions Fukawa's waiting for Togami in SDR2. Despite the long distance, they're keeping in contact and Fukawa's love burns strong. 

I think they have a lot to bond over. Bad childhoods, trust issues, literature, movies... I can genuinely see them happy together, and they deserve happiness. They still have a lot to work through, but one appeal is seeing that work pay off.

To cycle back a bit, yes Fukawa ‘stalking’ him is bad and saying inappropriate things. Yes, him being controlling is bad. These behaviours stem from their bad upbringings and are things they unlearn. It can be messy. It can be ‘toxic’.

I want to touch on that it’s implied that Fukawa’s intense feelings for Togami stem from their forgotten memories, like how Chihiro thought they recognised Naegi, or Kirigiri’s anger at the headmaster. And because Syo kept her memories but shares feelings with Fukawa, I can see why Fukawa’s ‘love’ seems to extreme. Monobear remarks it’s strange Fukawa fell for Togami in Ch2 ‘of all people’... yeah, because it happened again. And because of Fukawa’s home life, she doesn’t understand boundaries. IMO the way she talks about some girls comes from how her mothers talk about her. I can see them seeing Fukawa as a rival for Fukawa’s father’s attention. Not saying this excuses Fukawa, but I get it.

With these sorts of characters, that’s how it can be. There are other ships with them that the fandom glazes that can be just as toxic if not more, but TogaFuka gets all the criticisms. But this is a thread about TogaFuka, not them, so w/e.

I want to talk briefly about fanworks. There is sooo much you can do with them! This ship can do hurt/comfort, angst, fluff, romance, tragedy, comedy... There are lots of fantastic artists, writers and fans. It’s fun talking about them.

There are people who like it because they think it’s toxic, or have headcanons/interpretations different to me. And that’s okay. This is just a thread on why I ship it. I like the longburn, the characters, the growth/potential and dynamics.

What I don’t think is okay is harassing shippers. Calling us slurs. Sending us death wishes. Spamming us with irl gore. Mocking us. If you’re that insecure about yourself, don’t take it out on us. It’s not our fault.

I’ve done my best to condense this so trust me, there’s a lot more I could say lol. Again, this isn’t a ‘this ship is canon’ post or ‘this is why you can’t hate TogaFuka’ post. This is me saying why I, Livi, like this ship.

Anyway, follow for more TogaFuka infodumping and check out these links:

https://togafuka.tumblr.com/ archive of TogaFuka, started in 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa my fanfiction, I’ve had a lot of people tell me that my works made them like the ship