Little chest of everything

also thank you for aroace hc

So I've been sitting on this one for a while bc I wanted to go through the manga again to gather proof (ty for your patience) 🙏

That post blew up SO much more than I thought btw I genuinely expected only myself and like 3 other people to be sitting in this corner I'm both shocked and thrilled to know that so many of y'all see the vision

Anyway here it comes!

1. Aroace rights: Yuusaku Hanazawa

It's pretty straightforward with Yuusaku. We know that he never had a relationship, he was never shown wanting one either. His whole thing was being the flagbearer - a role that had an unwritten No Sex rule - and he seemed completely content with that.

He had opportunities to deviate from that path or at least to show any trace of hesitation. One would be when Sugimoto questioned him about whether this is what he really wants during the Kaeko plotline. Another would be when Ogata dragged him to that brothel and even offered that everything could be kept secret. In both cases Yuusaku's answer was pretty much a 'no thank you': to respectively, the possibility of romance, and the possibility of no-strings-attached sex.

And sure, in Case One he went on an entire spiel about honor, duty, and inspiration. But I think such practiced speeches could also mask something else. That being: him genuinely finding no appeal in sex and romance, and seeing the flagbearer role as also a convenient excuse, a way out of any expectations to start a family that he would have been no doubt faced with otherwise. Just like it was a way out of expectations to kill. Do you see the parallels. Keep them in mind we'll come back to that

2. Aroace wrongs: Hyakunosuke Ogata

Ogata is a bit more complicated. Still, I can point to several reasons for why this headcanon is near and dear to my heart.

First things first: the way he talks about (romantic) love and sex is always either utterly dismissive or has the ring of someone who's trying to understand something he can't fully grasp.

Some examples:

"Like God, love is a vague word" -> sounds to me like that condescending 14-year-old atheist meme. Does he think God exists? If not, what would this imply for what he thinks about love? Much to think about

^Dismissive dismissive dismissive. Clearly trying to start some shit as usual, but also showing how he looks at romance/sex from above, like something that's used to manipulate people and can be funny, but is never really serious. And he wouldn't be so dumb to let it control him.

^This is his "I see right through you" face. Tsurumi's trying to use the same grooming/manipulation techniques he used on others here and it isn't working. Getting touchy, dropping in some praise; Ogata notes that he's flirting, but he's unaffected. If anything, his stare in the second panel here looks like he's actively dissociating. Later on, when Usami accuses him of trying to earn Tsurumi's love, his answer is simple. No. He isn't. That's not the motivation behind his actions.

On the other hand, when it comes to familial love, Ogata adopts a very different tone. He's preoccupied with it, 'testing' it in all sorts of ways and wondering if both parents loved him. But he's also capable of mentioning the care he had for his family members more casually, and those forms of love, he's not half as dismissive of.

Then there's the otter stew incident. Y'all I don't think I've ever seen anyone as Not There as he was in this chapter. When all the others start seeing each other in a, ekhm, new light, he just. Passes out and lies there. With the emptiest stare. Instead of working on him, the aphrodisiac killed him. It's a gag, sure, but also *gestures* it doesn't get any more obvious than that

Oh btw. Remember how he dragged Yuusaku to that brothel? You could think that he was trying to get his perfect brother down to his level. You could think that he enjoys going to such places. You could be well excused for thinking that. If not for Satoru Noda himself saying that he had no idea what he was doing. Let's be real he probably got the tip to go there from Usami, played the part in front of his brother, and departed as soon as Yuusaku left. If you're paying attention, you can actually see him pushing the women off once the jig is up, later in this chapter. What he was trying to do was to make Yuusaku do something that he perceives as a bad thing (which ties to his origins as a bastard son). And he's not even fully seeing just how Weird it is to try to get his brother to do it; arguably because of how disconnected he is from sex as a concept.

Last but not least. I said we'd come back to the parallel with killing. I know that Ogata is discussing his approach to guilt here. I know. But just squint with me for a moment. And try to see how maybe, just maybe it also explains how he sees the world on a larger scale. Also when it comes to love. Everyone is like him. They must play pretend or be plain stupid if they'd do so much for romantic feelings and/or sex. What do you mean they actually want it? No one feels that way.

In conclusion