DroolingLurker

I wanna love you more than anybody before~

word count: 875 words

content warnings: afab!reader, some suggestive stuff but it’s pretty lighthearted

author’s note: bitch i’m back on my bullshit. i started laughing thinking about this on my drive home today. soooooo enjoy! go listen to Je T'Adore by Kim Petras

Soo I'm rewatching it and in the first episode in the first two min. I saw that Hoshina is actually using a rifle :0

Idk if this was already known on here but hey, this could also be a reminder or new info for those who maybe need it

Even if this was an error made by the studio, since this scene wasn't shown in the manga, I really wanna know how much damage he does with a rifle.

Okay, So, I'm under two schools of thought when it comes to Hoshina welding a gun.

It's either Astronomically low- or it's around half of his base output.

Its stated in both the manga and the show that dropping the limiters brings him to 97% (I think, I'm remembering this off the top of my head so I could be wrong.) The No.10 suit brings him to 100%, and its mentioned in the second/third episode that there's only two people base who are qualified to tackle 6.4 fortitude solo and thats both him and Mina, so relatively speaking its probably pretty high, maybe 90% or lower with limiters?

But here's the thing. While its not directly stated, there's clearly something that happens between human biology and the suit that makes it clear that some people have an innate preference for certain weapons. The whole reason Mina was chosen to wield a big ass cannon was because of her prodigy-like output. If I remember correctly, someone close to Hoshina (might have been his father, idk, like I said most of this is off the top of my head) stated that he's only good with his swords and I think in one of the side stories they go even further to say he's got a low output with guns specifically.

So here's how I see his situation. Maybe it's an ancestral thing about his family being predominantly sword users until the modern day, maybe there's something in his biology that just works better with swords (Guns=core strength preference while swords=high energy and the suits can read that?) but there's something the suits are reading and that's definitely being picked up. And this could go one of two ways.

1)The aptitude readings flip over in reverse when encountering someone who's not holding their preferred weapon type. Like if a gun user held a bow then that rating goes from 80% to 20%, and if that's the case, then there's a good chance that Hoshina can't even pick up a rifle. (Obviously this might not be the case as he is seen using one in the opening fight, but I was kinda thinking that Hoshina holding a gun was more of a cameo situation since you can see Haruichi, Iharu, and Aoi in the opening sequence as well.) But yeah, if suit aptitude is a critical as it's made out to be in the physical trials as demonstrated by Kafka not being able to pick up a JAKDF issued rifle with 0%, then it could stand to be said that carrying a standard rifle would be quite taxing for Hoshina as with 20% it might be wearing him down faster. But if we also consider that in the opening sequence he's not going up against a small to medium class, then it might not be expected for him to be in the fight all that long anyway. He might just be there to lead a squadron as distraction as Mina lines up for the killing shot. From the two "normal" extermination trips we see being done, the opening sequence and the Giant Mushroom Takedown, part of the plan was basically finding a way to pin the target in place. Hoshina wouldn't be able to do that with his swords if he was going up against something bigger than a medium, but he could definitely last a few minutes with a rifle and 20%

2) The other option is that it only shrinks by half, so instead of it dropping from 90% to maybe 10% like above, its more of a drop from 90% to maaaaybe less than 50%. That would make more sense for the opening sequence, but not for the long run context of the story. While it wasn't run for very long, the manga still made it a point to constantly mention Hoshina's preference for swords and bring up the fact that his whole reason for joining Mina was that she was helpless with bladed weaponry. While he wasn't a prodigy with the swords, he was still better at it to the point that it made more sense to base his career on utilizing them over a gun. It was even stated that if he wouldn't give up swords, then he should give up on field work and just be an instructor. That's not something you tell someone with a 50% aptitude with guns. Even if it's not the best weapon suited for him, its been made clear that 50% can still do damage with the right support.