#tortisuka

Teruhashi gets her own pic bc I didn't make the canvas big enough

I think Toritsuka legitimately really likes Kusuo’s company. I’m not altogether sure -why-, since he isn’t very nice to him. I think it’s because Saiki is the -nicest- anyone has ever treated him, and that’s honestly sad. I wonder if anyone else really respects or cares about him on a fundamental level- as a human being. I don’t really think so. His parental figures seem to have abandoned him, his grandparents were dead from the beginning, and most people at school avoid him like the plague. I imagine an inability to tell humans from ghosts growing up did a number on his capacity for social interaction. Getting addicted to porno mags was the nail in that social coffin. It’s a shitty coping mechanism.

It’s no wonder he’s constantly vying for Saiki’s attention. Though I think it has little to do with who Saiki actually is as a person and more to do with just wanting... someone who will listen. (haha remember that one throwaway line about Kusuo only having a shitty personality left, if he got rid of his psychic abilities??) Saiki is too nice (rather he refuses to enforce his boundaries or cut him off for good) He still constantly pushes Saiki to help him do gross and unnecessary bullshit. I’m not trying to exuse Toritsuka’s actions by any means. I’m just saying that he’s got more reasons for it than just being horny. And also that Kusuo doesn’t always necessarily have the most noble of intentions for not cutting him off. Tortisuka is a fairly usable pawn to Kusuo.

Also, there’s the whole “Master” thing. Toritsuka deifys Saiki for reasons established in the Manga. But he doesn’t leave once Saiki tells him that he was born with his powers, and cannot teach them. He’s still interested in Saiki because of what he is at that point, and wants to know what life would be like as someone with powers that can basically grant them control over anything and everything in their life. So he strokes Saiki’s ego and continues to call him “master” in hopes of finding out something interesting (and maybe in the back of his mind he’s still holding out for psychic powers that can be taught.) Saiki threatens him, and Toritsuka very quickly figures out there’s absolutely nothing he can do to actually complete with this guy. He slowly figures out that Saiki’s powers don’t actually solve all of his problems for him, more often than not being more troublesome than they’re worth. But he sticks around for the fireworks shows because it’s pretty dang impressive (and because he’s scared.)

Aside from that, I think Toritsuka is attracted to Saiki because Saiki is inclined to use his powers to help people, and that’s something Tortisuka can’t quite grasp. After all, no one’s ever really been there for him. Sad as it is, that would make Saiki the first (also probably his first... I hesitate to call them real friends, but I guess they are.)

Conversely, Saiki doesn’t like Toritsuka very much at all. I don’t think I need to explain that part. But from the beginning, he’s interested in Toritsuka’s powers and he’s sympathetic to Toritsuka for what he had to go through because of his powers. He admires the potential of said powers, and wouldn’t mind Toritsuka as a person if he were a more considerate human being, and actually put some effort into the scholastic subjects that interest him (anything except skirt chasing.) He simply refuses to excuse Toritsuka’s shitty attitude and creepiness. Which, honestly, is pretty great. There isn’t enough of that in anime. The scene where Kuriko kicks him across the schoolyard for abusing his powers to attract women is one of my favorites. I do think he goes too far by outright threatening murder to ensure his silence. He theatens to kill him multiple times throughout the comic which, while well deserved, I am sure doesn’t do his confidence any favors. Constantly intimidating someone and meddling with someone who already deifies you is probably... not good for that person. Definitely not if you don’t want them dependent on you. Tortisuka needs a support network and professional help, not a teenage asshole ordering him around.