v 🐺🐰

[Verse 1] He is sensible and so incredible And all my single friends are jealous He says everything I need to hear, and it's like I couldn't ask for anything better He opens up my door and I get into his car And he says, "You look beautiful tonight" And I feel perfectly fine

like the "you're not shit. you're flesh and blood, like any other human" [301] speaks so strongly to what kaiser "need[s] to hear", but at the end of the day, kaiser has never particularly cared for ness's worshipping specifically because he "knows" he manipulated that behavior into him [261] also, though this was a lot less mind consuming, whenever i see the line "I get into his car", i can't help but think of midorima and takao from kuroko no basuke, and the way midorima made takao ferry him everywhere on a cart attached to his bike. and, while definitely more comedic and healthy than what fits the mood of this idea, i can totally picture something similar for kainess

[Chorus] But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain And it's 2 a.m. and I'm cursing your name So in love that you act insane And that's the way I loved you Breaking down and coming undone It's a roller coaster kind of rush And I never knew I could feel that much And that's the way I loved you

i imagine this is how their "thing" started, screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain, i mean. like, the night of the manshine match, isagi's still doing extra training. kaiser, the cat that he is, is still up prowling the facilities, sees isagi, and decides to entertain himself with a bit of isagi-antagonizing. isagi makes it about soccer, bc ofc he does, but then they end up tied by curfew, so they start arguing abt feats and then the screaming and the fighting as they walk into the locker rooms when ofc kaiser gets slammed into the lockers by isagi and in the heat of the moment, slams their lips together, teeth clacking from the force, in a bid to just SHUT. HIM. UP.

[Verse 2] He respects my space And never makes me wait And he calls exactly when he says he will He's close to my mother Talks business with my father He's charming and endearing And I'm comfortable

obviously, even when ness is better after the nel, not as obsessed with kaiser's football being the key to his magic, he's still going to be relatively aware of kaiser's wants and needs from force of habit. - he won't ever crowd into him the way isagi will in the midst of fight - he won't make kaiser wait for him the way isagi will when he's chatting with his many, many bllk friends - he won't make kaiser ever even think he might not be a priority the way isagi will by forgetting abt promised calls when he gets stuck in his head analyzing plays in the viewing room i imagine, when bastard munchen gets called back to germany after the nel, there's a small celebration bc they ended up winning the league and noa is there, and for whatever reason, ness is chatting with him, and all kaiser can think abt is the way isagi challenges threatens promises to drag noa down from his number one position / take the world cup [284] and the way isagi's offer of that devil's contract [285] sparked something in him, he hasn't captured since

this verse was also the place that made me think what if isagi got together with kurona or hiori or yukimiya (or even bachira, which i don't personally ship, as i think of them as platonic soulmates, the ultimate qpr, but i do get it, for sure, or rin, though i don't think their vibe is so different from iski/kiis and calm that it would fit this song), and he's watching whoever he invited over interact with his parents and thinking about the way kaiser could never be so sweet, kind, and well-adjusted, but they'd be enamored with him nonetheless. maybe, more even with the way his parents are still asking about kaiser [304] without his even being in the country. basically, i could think up an entire parallel fic from isagi's perspective about kaiser.

[Chorus] But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain And it's 2 a.m. and I'm cursing your name So in love that you act insane And that's the way I loved you Breaking down and coming undone It's a roller coaster kind of rush And I never knew I could feel that much And that's the way I loved you

kaiser thinks back to bllk and the way isagi acted so differently with him compared to everyone else, like slursagi seeped through even when he was off the pitch, the way it made him feel like he was the only one who could pull the real, unhinged, insane side of isagi out of him regardless of the time and place. he thinks back to the night before the pxg match and the way isagi falls asleep on him, legs tangled together, right after he promises that he'll always chase kaiser, to pull him off his throne and join the rest of them [isagi, the bllkers, every soccer player who kaiser claimed he was above, maybe], the implication, ofc, being that he'll bring kaiser down from his position of emperor/god to the position of humans/mortals, though he doesn't say this outright. he thinks back to that the way he first challenged isagi [156], thinking he was just a stepping stone on his way to leaving noa's shadow [207], to the way he assigned isagi his role as clown [157], to the way isagi forced him to actually take him seriously in the manshine match [203], to the way he stared at those screens in the viewing room, gritting his teeth as he uttered "you're finally big enough to eat, yoichi" [207], to the way their "thing" let him forget everything else in the moment, to the way he managed that bicycle kick through the ubers defenders that isagi thought was impossible [220], to the way isagi scored with hiori's pass without looking that kaiser thought was impossible [238], to the way isagi's two gun volley shocked the world though kaiser saw his evolution in the way he never stopped training and thinking of new ideas [257], to the way he stripped himself down to zero [262] and achieved his kaiser impact magnus [266], to the way their devil's contract brought them closer than ever [285], to the way isagi called him superstar [285] in the way he only ever referred to noa prior* [1], to the way isagi shooting the last shot felt like a nail in the coffin [293], to the way isagi extending his hand out to him after the game saying "thanks for your hard fucking work, my finest..." brought him hope that he promptly slapped away when he heard the last word "clown" [294] and knew that even if he didn't want it this chapter of isagi's life was closed

* point of clarification here. while in english, isagi does refer to world five and the master strikers as superstars, the way they're written in japanese is different, either with different kanji 超次元選手 [chōjigen senshu, super-dimensional player] or just with katakana スーパースター [sūpāsutā, superstar]. only when referring to noa 英雄選手 [eiyū senshu, athlete hero] or kaiser 超英雄 [chō eiyū, superhero] does isagi use the characters 英雄, or hero, which sets these two, specifically, apart from the rest

[Bridge] He can't see the smile I'm faking And my heart's not breaking 'Cause I'm not feeling anything at all And you were wild and crazy Just so frustrating, intoxicating, complicated Got away by some mistake and now

honestly, this bridge is just so accurate to this idea, which like duh, that's the whole point. but i mean that i can't even pick and choose things to highlight here, all of it applies. just think: ness might've known kaiser better than anyone else prior to the nel, but with the way it and meeting and clashing with isagi changed him so thoroughly, would he really know all of kaiser after. he's also probably a little too caught up in the fact that kaiser finally "let him in" that it's clouding his vision. that kaiser's smirks carry a different sort of hollowness than before. before, kaiser's smirks were hollow in the sense that he used malice to hide his own insecurities about being less than human. but after? kaiser's smirks are hollow bc he finally touched the sun, felt, for a split second, what it meant to be human under isagi's gaze, only to have it ripped away from him and no, kaiser's heart's not breaking as ness continues to treat him the way he always has off-field, the way that never filled him even before the nel, and only so much less after it, because he just doesn't care about any of it. ness is just there to ease the hollowness he feels because he doesn't know how else to cope except strangling himself, but he can't actually do that anymore if he wants to at least pretend to be better than ever when they meet again pretend to be better than ever when the best five weeks* of his life are already in the past, when the best five weeks of his life were full of biting insults and teeth upon his lips, sharp retorts and sharper nails across his skin, and easy shots and easier laughter ringing in his ears, when isagi was the amalgamation of everything he hated, but the line between love and hate is paper thin and he doesn't even know when he was walking along the border, a foot in both worlds, knowing that isagi had felt the same in those short, short, short, ephemeral five weeks, when he knows that's the closest anyone's ever gotten to him even when he didn't let him in, though he did, he did, oh he did, and he's not sure how it slipped away when it was the highest he ever was and he swore never to let go of what was his, though was isagi ever...

* i didn't originally have a concrete timeline for this but as i thought about it - manshine match seemed like the perfect time, so five weeks from manshine match to pxg match (because manshine match + ubers match + free day + pxg match + 3 * 10 days in between = 34 days, which is approximately five weeks)

[Chorus] I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain And it's 2 a.m. and I'm cursing your name So in love that you act insane And that's the way I loved you Breaking down and coming undone It's a roller coaster kind of rush And I never knew I could feel that much And that's the way I loved you Whoa-whoa-oh-oh, oh

and now kaiser's awake in the middle of the night, ness by his side, but he still can't get those metallic blue (his favorite color) eyes out of his head, can still see them even halfway around the world with his eyes wide open staring into someone else's. he can't, no, he won't ever find anything like those eyes on him ever again, that voice calling him a superstar, a genius, that mouth staking its claim across his chest, those hands bringing him to completion like none other, those legs wrapping around him as he returned the favor, the back he clung to when he was feeling too much all at once, the fingers that smoothed away tears from his lashes, the lips that curved up when their owner saw kaiser focus solely on him, the body that collided with his in every which way, pain and pleasure mixing an intoxicating swirl of feeling, and kaiser never knew that being human would feel like that, would feel so all-encompassing, all-consuming to the point he forgot himself, and what his place was, but he doesn't think he'll ever be human again either

[Outro] And that's the way I loved you Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh Never knew I could feel that much And that's the way I loved you

Ray always respected and valued Emma as an equal. Even if he found her naivety frustrating for how he saw it as actively working against her chances of survival beyond the wall

(Chapter 4)

she and Norman were both there to comfort him in any way they could, even when they couldn't understand what was upsetting their friend so badly and he couldn't articulate to them what was wrong.

(Chapter 181.1)

(2020 Exhibition Interview)

Ray believes if they can just get Emma to let go of this fantasy of taking everyone with her on the escape, she and Norman can make it in the outside world. He knows how capable they both are in their different methods of approaching things, has seen how well they complement and balance each other out. Norman will keep Emma grounded in the realm of possibility and temper her hopes, while Emma will push Norman to think beyond perceived limitations and save him from completely succumbing to cynicism.

It's why he's so pissed and riddled with worry when Norman acknowledges his plan is more sound but actively chooses to follow Emma's anyway.

(S1 Episode 2)

After Grace Field and having her and Norman shift his entire world view, humbled isn't quite the right word since he was never haughty about this, but he was willing to trust Emma's methods more now that he knew hoping "for a future that is like a dream" wouldn't be another blow to his heart and that striving for an ideal was genuinely viable.