Quiet people have the loudest minds

For the rest of this post, I'll be referring to the pants wearing, short-haired brother as Hawk brother (鷹, read as "yīng" in Mandarin, "taka" in Japanese; hawks represent keen vision, swift action, and the warrior's noble spirit, in Chinese the same character is also used for "eagle" which symbolises strength) and the brother with long robes and a man bun as Owl brother (梟, read as "xiāo" in Mandarin, "fukurou" in Japanese; in Japan owls symbolise good luck and protection from suffering, while in China they are seen as guardians of wisdom but can also be death omens). I'm headcanoning these hanzi/kanji as the first characters in their given names until Nii-sensei gives us their canon names

(Juuust kidding, I've already picked out full names for them for my own potential fanfic purposes, I just don't think revealing them is relevant here. But if you ask, I'll spill)

Please be warned that this post is going to be 80% Owl brother propaganda bc I've decided I like this guy haha

First off, I realised they're all wearing red overcoats (how do I know it's red in a black and white manga? The tone used closely matches Suo's hair and we know Suo's hair is reddish-brown - tho ofc we don't know for sure until Nii-sensei posts coloured sketches) so this could be the Red Chanpuru's uniform. Probably it's not the brightest red out there, maybe closer to maroon, something that is inconspicuous enough to pass as normal clothing but distinctive enough to allow RC members to recognise each other on the street. As Endo said that these guys never step out into the spotlight. The same "hidden in plain sight" thing also applies if we assume the red coral and tassels jewellery is used as the insignia marking RC's officers. A "if you know you know" kinda code for a gang that works in the shadows. Suo wears his as earrings, Owl brother wears yajin (press lapels) and Hawk brother... *squints suspiciously at the hand he kept in his pants pocket the whole time* maybe it's a shibazi bracelet?

I've also seen something about how the colour/materials/placement of the tassels has symbolism but so far I haven't found anything concrete on that other than Taoist colour theory (someone who actually knows Chinese could have better luck researching this). Tho earrings could be a sign of either servitude (but I don't have a primary source on this, heard it on a youtube analysis video) or be a protection charm for young boys (if only one ear was pierced). But ofc you also gotta keep in mind that wbk isn't the most realistic manga and while Nii-sensei might take inspiration from lots of places, the symbolisms might not be one to one with the original source

As far as the ranks go, I could see Hawk brother hiding either one coral bead (same rank as Suo, making the two of them Owl brother's vices) or three beads (outranking the other two and making their hierarchy similar to Furin's Grade Captains with Hawk brother holding a similar rank to Hiiragi, I'm leaning toward this second theory atm). I could see these three either leading their own squads and/or the three of them acting as some kind of officer SWAT team within RC

(This is also why I wanted them all named after birds of prey... imagine being some petty criminal hiding in your evil lair and suddenly getting ambushed by these three and all of them fighting to the same level as Suo did with Obiki or that one time he tried bashing Endo's head in- Tho I suppose these guys' style might be more negotiations first and if that doesn't work, then whoop ass)

(Also the mental image of a hawk, a falcon, and an owl roosting side by side was fucking cute in my head, sue me)

The rest of their outfits I think are just personal preference rather than related to rank (like with Bofurin, as long they wear the Furin jacket or some part of the uniform - yes I'm looking at you Suo with your summer uniform - they can wear whatever they want under it). So I'm gonna analyse the outfits next for some hints of their personality and potential fighting styles

Hawk brother with his high-waisted pants and short jacket would be perfectly suited to be a quick and aggressive (read: Sakura-like) all around brawler, just with more... Eastern/kung-fu twist to it like Suo's fighting style as they likely have the same teacher/master. He seems likeone who's casual and quite friendly if a bit rough around the edges. Has a bit of a temper too, maybe. I think he'd have been Suo's battle partner, someone he fought back to back with before meeting Sakura. (Also as a side note, I feel like RC!Suo would have much less qualms about using his fists or lethal force in a fight- or at least he probably would have before Furin but might feel differently about it now)

Owl brother and Suo wear much fancier clothes but when Suo turns and we get a glimpse of his ankles, you can see that his long robe has a slit on at least one side (probably both sides and knowing Suo those slits go all the way up/over his hips), meaning he can still use that devastating side kick of his if the need arises. We haven't seen Owl brother's full outfit or hems yet but so far his robe looks... quite impractical for fighting. If his long robe doesn't have a slit or only has a knee high slit, he's effectively limiting himself from kicks (which might be better for their enemies lol, we've seen what Suo's kicks are like) and his fighting style would end up being more like Kiryu's; playing back-up/defense, using his palms to redirect his opponents moves and tossing them in front of stronger fighters - Hawk brother and Suo in this case. He gives a calm and collected impression and might be more of a leader/ commander rather than an active fighter in battles. Like someone who only joins the fight as a last resort/when something goes wrong. (Tbh tho I think it would be funny to see Owl brother lamenting at some later point about how an enemy just had to "make him" kick their lights out and how he ripped his fancy robe in the process oh woe is me)

Actually makes me think that Suo might have been copying Owl brother's calmer, more defensive and redirection focused fighting style (minus the kicks, the kicks feel like Suo's own thing and are perhaps his signature moves) in Furin and his actual RC fighting style is something different and much more aggressive. Atm I'm thinking he'd have probably learnt to fight before joining RC in street fights maybe, and his master only taught him more refined techniques and anger management, probably discouraged him from simply punching things... which is why when his control slips, the fists come out too and then we get stuff like his KEEL crash out (one minor hc but I think Suo is hiding Kaji level anger issues lol)

...This also brings to my mind a sudden thought that that side kick of Suo's that I mentioned earlier feels like something linked to his baser instincts too, like it's more of a panicked knee-jerk reaction than something he plans to do. We've only seen it twice as far as I recall, the one inch kick in his fight with Kanuma when Kanuma suddenly rushed at him with his fist raised.. and the second time with Nirei in ch211 when Nirei got very close to punching him (the first time, he landed it the second time). 🤔🤔🤔 Suo's other kicks like the ones he used against Obiki and Endo feel much more gracefully executed and in the KEEL fight I think we only saw the guy flying, not what kind of kick Suo landed on him. The side kick really just makes me think of a cornered and frightened animal lashing out, like a very violent "Get away from me" (Suooo, is this a trauma response? Nii-sensei, is this foreshadowiiing??)

Getting sidetracked in real time, moving on-

The way they banter here makes them seem close. If there's any rank between them, they're definitely not acting on it, they're acting like family. (Esp if they weren't Suo's brothers and Suo outranked them, they wouldn't dare squabble like kids behind his back and you'd expect them to greet him with bows instead of "Sheesh, back again?") There's also something about how Owl brother speaks that reminds me of Suo himself (tho Owl brother is def a lot more savage with his teasing than Suo is). Lbr tho I'm mostly grasping on the "Hm. That's an interesting take" here. But if Owl brother also does the "Mhm!" at some point then I'm calling it lol. It feels like to me that Suo and him are very similar people? Or like parts of Suo's personality might have been copied from Owl brother?

Tbh I'm also not closing out the possibility that Owl brother could be Suo's master. If this image is Suo's master, then they have similar hair at least, and we don't see this person's face just like we haven't seen Owl brother's face yet so we can't tell how old they are (my guess is that the brothers would be 4-7 years older than Suo, with Hawk being slightly older than Owl). Like maybe we've been looking at Suo's master from the wrong angle this whole time, maybe they're not an Adult (also gotta keep in mind this is the manga where the only ones shown doing actual parenting are a few grandparents and Yuki Shitara), and instead Suo was just like Nirei once upon a time and simply picked an older kid he admired as his teacher. Tho the word "Shishou" does have somewhat parental vibes... (or maybe I'm just thinking Furuba here) It could also be that the master only taught Suo martial arts and the life lessons came from Owl brother? Or at the very least it feels like master's life lessons could have been filtered to younger Suo through conversations with Owl brother

Also is it just me or is this the most emotionally honest thing Suo has said in the whole series? Ofc it's still Suo so he has to word it in the most "cryptic ancient sage" way possible but at least to us readers, his meaning is very clear? "I come to this balcony to think. I reminisce about the past and feel anxious about the future. I miss the friends I left behind. If I close my eye, it's like I can still hear the wind chimes and I can feel close to them". And for him to open up at all about his thoughts implies he has a lot of trust for these two. But unfortunately his brothers didn't catch the ball, tho it feels like Owl brother might have wanted to press further if Hawk brother wasn't there to ruin the moment or they weren't in a rush to find Suo and bring him to a secondary location. I wouldn't be surprised if Owl brother tries to check in on Suo again in a chapter or two

And now we're heading 100% into the Fanfic Lane. Aka my speculations for what their relationships/history with each other is like

I would assume that the brothers and Suo have known each other for a long time, like at least 5-6 years, possibly even longer. I could see Suo getting adopted into RC already in elementary school. Like maybe he was a street urchin (or an abandoned box of kittens, if you will) at some point and his brothers found him and brought him to their master and he was taken in. At least Hawk brother seems like he has a long history of distrusting every word out of Suo's mouth and no longer falls for his bs lol

I could also see both brothers being very protective over Suo (Hawk brother perhaps being more physically demonstrative about it, Owl brother feels like someone who'd offer solace with his words and be someone who's there for Suo to talk to), maybe to the point where they have a hard time looking at Suo's eyepatch, bc in some way they blame themselves for not having been there on time to prevent the injury. Esp if the injury happened during Suo's time in RC and not before. And at the same time, if RC is a cult/sect, the organisation may be very strict and authoritarian and "showing weak emotions" or "coddling children" may not be allowed or is at least heavily discouraged

So no matter how caring and well-meaning these brothers are, they probably haven't been able to shelter Suo from all (potential) abuse in RC. If the brothers themselves register RC's practises as abuse either. I don't think they themselves would be abusive to Suo (at least I hope they're not) but I could easily see them being unintentionally emotionally neglectful due to their own RC trauma/upbringing. And Suo being a quiet, mature, responsible "easy child" doesn't help the matters either

Especially if we go by the theory that Suo's master has passed (and there's someone Suo is much less fond of now in charge), it could be as simple as the brothers just being completely ill-equipped/not knowing how to help a grieving teenager. But they could be people Suo could trust and talk to if only Suo didn't have a compulsive habit of bullshitting his way through every conversation

But also if there's one trope I'm an actual Whore for, it's estranged siblings/tragic misunderstandings between people who truly love each other but can't spit it out for one reason or another (like siblings affected by the same trauma in different ways, the axe forgets but the tree remembers, the Hedgehog's Dilemma, tropes like that are my jam and I'll find a way infect everything I touch with them) so please take everything I've said in this section with a heaping spoonful of salt. There's like a 90% chance I'm just seeing what I want to see

And finally we have this panel and let me tell you, this one hurts me more than the "Suo-san was suffering" one. Bc in that one, while Suo's expression was completely new and unfamiliar to us, at least he was still recognisable as himself. This one here, while he still has all the familiar attributes of the Suo we've grown used to; the eyepatch, the earrings, the curtain bangs and ever-present smile... there's nothing familiar or "Suo" in his expression. It's like looking at a skinwalker

Every time I see this panel, I end up zooming in real up close to his face, in an attempt to find something "Suo" in there. And maybe there's still something left in his eye (once you get close enough to see pixels haha). But that doesn't really make it any better. It's like his eye is saying "I love my brothers but I don't want to be here anymore" and "I'm scared, terrified even, but I'm trying my best to keep it together". Wherever they're headed to next, he's so clearly foreboding about it. Almost like he's about to walk out to his own (metaphorical) execution

My prediction for ch217 is that there are still one or two other members of Suo's family we've yet to see, a third older brother and/or his master. And that one of those is probably gonna be an authoritarian and shouty/scary figure who Suo's not that fond of