#mizitill

“desperate warmth from a cold body. who else can i give all my undying love to?”

comforting our sorrows with hollowed shells

mending together with our grieving lips

desperate love machines locked in a cell

we follow the warmth written in our scripts

and whatever the fuck theyre doing

pairing: mizi x gn!reader x till

tags: romantic rivalry, till has no luck with love, charming!mizi vs. awkward!till, friends to lovers

poor till finally moves on from his feelings for mizi and develops a crush on you, only to discover that mizi has feelings for you as well–

mizi fell for you first and has been quietly pining for you for a while. you two were friends first before mizi realized she wanted to be more than that

till has been getting along with you, but wasn't particularly close to you, until recently. and now, he only has eyes for you, always trying to find excuses to be around you

out of the two, mizi is the charming one! most of the time, she isn't even trying! but when she does try to make your heart beat faster for her, she effortlessly manages to do that

till is more awkward, so you'd have to be into that type of guy! someone who stumbles over their words around you and likes you so much that he can't function. it has his appeal too, but it's not for everyone

ultimately, mizi realizes first that till likes you as well. till remains oblivious of that fact for quite a while, until mizi bluntly points out to him that both of them seem to have a thing for you–

I have no clue if this song is about Mizi or Ivan .

But my running theory is that this is about Mizi on a surface level, and it's about Ivan on a depthful level.

And with the addition of the "Don't you hate me," line it seems likely that it's probably about Ivan.

You could argue that it could be Till overthinking stuff with Mizi and believing she should hate him for liking her while she likes someone else. But Mizi isn't the kind of person who he knows would do that.

Meanwhile, Ivan came back to a prison just because Till didn't run away with him, so Till can logically and emotionally think that this man would have every right to hate him.

Now I'm just gonna analyse, using this translation by @/whatafruit

I can't say a word,

I turn back around every day,

This could obviously mean how Till gets really shy around Mizi and stutters around her most of the time.

But he also more obviously does this with Ivan. He does not say a word when he notices ivan and often just turns away. The first clear instance of this being the most impactful.

Now the lyrics;

I'll probably get it across to you for sure

Close the distance between us

To be inside your heart...

Initially appear to be about Mizi. He's distant with her, he wants to be closer to her, and have a place in her heart.

But then we get to this;

I get scared again like an idiot

Widen the distance between us

Mi Vida Loca...

And its goes back to likely being about Ivan. He sees uneasy whenever Ivan shows affection, and gets scared from it. He actively widens the distance between them.

The lyrics give a peek into the general mindset of Till as well.

(Ooh!)

They say this is a beautiful song,

and they open their arms wide for me

But more than the countless spotlights I want you

My light is born from you

He says that he is able to create such good music because of the light born from his love for whoever the song is about (at this point, it probably both Mizi and Ivan to some extent (bisexual disaster)). He doesn't want the fame or the fans that come with writing his songs, he just wants the person he loves.

(Oh) Your smile that doesn't love me

(Even so) I'll also smile at me who doesn't love myself

This is the part which stumps me the most.

The second part is easy enough to understand. He will smile at himself, even though he does not love himself.

But the first lyric is easy to connect to Mizi due to her recent comics. She smiles all the time, but there were moments where she didn't truly mean it.

It's harder to connect it to Ivan, who smiles the most around Till. He fakes his emotions alot, so Till could have interpreted that as a smile that does not love him. It's also possible that the smiles Ivan gives Till have a sense of longing that is inherently tragic. Which, again, could have been misinterpreted by Till.

I'm way late to making this post, but I've never believed that Till died. Here's why:

Foreshadowing

1. Being Shot

Many fans have heard of the "red tape theory." But did you know Till being shot has been foreshadowed at least two other times, potentially non-fatally? The first time was back in early May 2024 in this art for ALNST Friday:

@crustyfloor noticed the bubble gun pointed directly at Till's head and the impact motion lines of a gunshot on the other side. They speculated that since it's not an actual weapon but a bubble gun, Till would be shot in the future but the wound would be non-fatal.

Then, for those who don't know, the "red tape theory" refers to this album cover art from late September last year:

The idea is the tape is meant to symbolize a bandage or perhaps a scar: a treatable wound. The splatter indicates where he will be shot (the same as above).

Next, @rotingdoll noticed in the teaser trailer for Round 7, a crosshair made of light appears, and a moment later that creates a flash of light over Till:

Similar to the bubble gun, it could be argued a crosshair of light is also meant to symbolize non-fatality, since light is usually harmless, just like bubbles. The light passes through him from top to bottom, covering him only fleetingly.

@kitsquared noted the same symbolism happening here as well:

This time, the light isn't even covering him but is behind him. The burst of light is in the same location as the impact motion lines and the red tape: over his branding.

Blood spray from a bullet comes from the exit wound, not the entry, according to @verdantlights. In other words, Till was not shot from the right but from the left, the exact same location as was foretold.

2. Round 5 & Round 7 Parallels:

@cepheusgalaxy pointed out Ruler of My Heart and Blink Gone are the only rounds Luka is a contestant in. As such, Mizi and Till fall prey to the same psychological manipulation that exploits their trauma and grief. In parallel, both Sua and Ivan purposefully lost so that Mizi and Till would win - and therefore live.

(Gifs from @sailermoon)

@noven-warsh outlined Luka's strategy:

1. taunting them with intimacy

2. reminding them of their dead loved ones

(Gifs again from @sailermoon)

3. and then maintaining his composure as they lose theirs'.

@mikhardwheat noted Mizi and Till are equally overwhelmed, they've had no time to process the deaths' of Sua and Ivan, and are surrounded by reminders of their grief. @cepheusgalaxy pointed out Mizi and Till are both extremely emotional.

They both struggle to focus and engage in the competition.

They look to the crowd and are demoralized by the overwhelming support from Luka's loyal fanbase.

Meanwhile, Till is witnessing Mizi's round, and Mizi is witnessing Till's round.

Even more significantly, as again identified by @cepheusgalaxy, Hyuna has returned to the stage. Ruler of My Heart is the only round no one died.

Not only is Round 7 a replay of Round 5, it's also cyclical. Mizi has returned to the competition. The rebellion is back on the stage again. We've come full circle.

mizitill both use physical violence as a tool of blame, translating to punishment and ignorance. by physically retaliating in times of distress, any self doubt is ignored in favour of placing blame onto an offending party instead. all this is done to avoid reckoning with themselves, until it's too late.

violence is cemented as a mode of communication due to their respective childhoods. mizi faces the continual risk of being crushed; till faces punishment for his self expression.

urak beats till to set the distance between them. it's not corrective of anything in particular, rather, it's to break his will. in his profile, it's mentioned that urak is insecure about his human-like appearance - insecure about his perceived powerlessness compared to other segyein. therefore, he makes sure his pets know their place, so that he can fit in his. this projection of blame absolves him of his weakness.

mizi is shown that the segyein world is ruled by violence, and that any weaker creature can be crushed without thought at any time. violence is a show of power, and a necessity for survival. when she enters anakt, she learns that in the human world, violence is also a method for corrective punishment. she learns to heed the warning, and changes herself accordingly.

till has the most instances of violence, because he's allowed to, in a sense. mizi, as a girl, can't show anything but agreeability. however, she can show off her strength as her claim to power, eg, often placing first in athletics at anakt, demonstrating it over sua. on the other hand, till is not physically strong, but it's his desire to fight despite the fact that's important.

to examine individual scenes as example:

cheer up comic: till hits ivan as reaction because he implied they are not friends. till can't handle any sort of rejection, so he hits ivan, deflecting his insecurities onto him, and runs from the situation.

karma: mizi's conflict with hyuna is represented by a physical fight. incapable of significant action that would cause change, mizi instead lashes out at hyuna, who represents a world where she is culpable, rather than a world where she can enact her justice (see: violence and deflection again).

unable to process their emotions, they deflect the blame and suppress their guilt. without any other way to express the magnitude of their emotion, they turn to anger, and fall back to fighting. this directly contrasts ivansua, who repress themselves and confront their feelings internally.

when they turn the blame on themselves, they allow violence to be done to them instead. instead of inflicting their pain outwards, mizi accepts karmic punishment in the form of disproportionate misogynistic violence (witch hunt), and till turns his ire onto himself at the hands of his guilt (hallucination ivan). this is their catharsis.