kimisute main story notes

these are bullet points i wrote in notepad while reading kmst mainsto. the level of detail fluctuates based on how interested i was. there's some bias (i am especially mean to gyro). translations might be sillified or bad in some lines (or just straight up romanized because "sou da ne" is my mortal enemy), but probably nothing outright misinterpreted. if you want more details on any particular thing lmk!

for other stories, go here.

portions i would recommend listening to during/after reading for the voice performances (you can ask me for clips):

chapter 1 episode 1 - stst banter
chapter 2 episode 1 - futa moments
chapter 2 episode 4 - felix moments
chapter 2 episode 5 - rintaro's tone

at the opening of each episode, it displays the chapter+episode numbers and a "side" (e.g. "side Argonavis"). this indicates the main focus or viewpoint party. for episodes that feature multiple parties, i'll list the indicated side and whoever else appears in parenthesis.

tutorial

tutorial episode 1 - assistant producer (argo)

you work for some super popular producer guy with a casual hotshot personality but he's just a mob guy so who care. you're an assistant producer for all three companies: apollo records (argo/stst), sky fox records (epsi/fuurai), and dreadnote music (gyro/faniri). tutorial is just you visiting each of the companies and getting your first impression of all the members
first up, you head to apollo records (argo/stst)
furusawa mentioned being indebted to your boss
argo sort of loosely recap the fact that they all participated in lrfes, but that it's been suspended. all bands are currently undergoing their major debut now (i think exempting gyro since they already did that? also not sure if there's a distinction btwn "debut" and "major debut")
stst didn't come to introduce themselves because their schedule is too busy (banri was impressed). furusawa calls stst his breadwinners lol
furusawa mentions that he's lightly acquainted with sky fox's representative (sosui)

tutorial episode 2 - assistant producer (epsi)

now we go to sky fox (epsi/fuurai)
shu jiiiiis at you and you can either go "ummm i'm not sus i prommy" to which he's like "yeah obviously. otherwise you wouldn't be here" or "(am i being evaluated...!?)" to which he's like "come on now, why so tense? you're not looking terribly reliable..." aka shu being a little uppity bitch right off the bat
reiji handles the "this is x who does y" introductions; he mentions that haruka and kanata are twins and hrk is like "u coulda left that part out... >:/" but kanata's like "NOOO it's important!!!!" and then goes on about how ~deep~ their ~bond~ runs with his usual disgusting language and hrk just goes "bro shut up"
reiji does a very good job of ignoring all of that
i'm putting a magnifying glass over the way sosui words the sentence where he formally states his intention to work with you in order to spread epsi's music. i'm always thinking about epsi's theme of wanting to be seen, so the choice to specifically say "to spread their music" stands out to me
shu comes right at you saying u reek of ameteurness. ok. reiji's like "shu, they're going to be working with us from now on, so......" "hmph! i know that"
tadaomi asks why the actual producer (your boss) didn't come, and sosui answers that he's just very busy. and then he's like "epsi, you all were going to practice after this, weren't you? off you go ^_^" it feels so parent-child.....
reiji says his formal "excuse us" and shu's like lookin forward to working with u """assisstant producer-san"""

tutorial episode 3 - assistant producer (fuurai)

fuurai is fuurai and they get really messy with their intros
funniest part was
yamato: idk whats going on. anyway im yamato i play guitar and i like white rice
misaki: you have GOT to stop mentioning that
yamato: the guy who yelled at me just now is misaki. he's not a yankee, he's a drummer
misaki: DON'T INTRODUCE ME?!???
when you're about to head off sosui says mashu-san may seem like a strict person, but dont worry and dont be too intimidated (implying sosui knows mashu well enough to see that.... gears turning)

tutorial episode 4 - assistant producer (gyro, tomoru)

dreadnote time! (gyro/faniri) im actually not sure how to spell dreadnote i think there might be some styling like "dred:note" or smthn but they always say it with katakana so im not sure
extremely typical gyro you could prob guess it yourself. but i did find it notable that when ryo explicitly mentioned his age, he said "it's been 21 years since i came to earth" and idr if he's ever phrased it that way before? i feel like this makes it extremely clear that his "sin" is related to his birth, whereas we'd only just speculated that before
tomoru arrives and mashu says "that's it for gyro's introductions." and in a side casual slgihtly gentle voice he says "you can go now" to nayuta (who wanted this to be over from the second he stepped into the room) and i thought that was kinda cute
tomoru says he's a member of faniri and also serves as their manager; mashu tacks on that he forgot to mention he himself serves as gyro's manager

tutorial episode 5 - assistant producer (faniri)

the rest of faniri arrive late
koharu: wahh sorry we're late!! the streets were just packed out there
jun: nooo it's because i took way too long to tie my shoelaces that we're late :( why'd i have to do that at such an important time.....
daimon: we hit a lot of red lights. don't blame yourself.
jun: ahhhhh no that's my fault too!! we always hit every light whenever i'm in the car!!
mashu had shown you an mv earlier so they start talking about the comparison btwn the members on and offstage
koharu instantly says do NOT mistake me for a woman ^_^
felix: "my names are FELIX and Felix Louis-Claude Mont d'or, but i wonder which one is the real one?" i hate both the implications and the fact that he used an eloquent sounding word for hypotheticals ive never encountered before. stop being the most fluent gaijin in history
jun whined about his offstage self being a lame otaku and felix was like but that's your charm ^_^ and jun went "my charm... is being an otaku...." like he really believed it for a second and then he went "NONONO thats not a thing!!!!"
then u check back in with ur producer boss and he releases you to the world of crazy bandmen

chapter 0

chapter 0 episode 1 - argo

argo just finished a live; ren praises everyone and says he felt like they were pulling him along, but everyone else disagrees strongly and says ren was the one pulling them with his extra good singing today
they're participating in a fes with bands much more famous than them, but it seemed the audience was equally receptive to them, so their set was a big success
furusawa arrives and praises them a bunch, says he's glad he put his faith in them
furusawa asks yuto to have argo hang back after the fes bc he has something to talk to them about

chapter 0 episode 2 - gyro

gyro just finished a live, stock standard gyro interaction where reons like omggg that was awesome and nayutas like no you fucking sucked what was that improv and reons like but the crowd liked it.... :/ and kentas like actually you should listen to nayuta. im so tired
nayuta goes on to list his criticisms to miyu (sloppy, crude power) ryo (too inconsistent) and kenta (weak solos as always)
then he picks at reon AGAIN and reon makes this amazing disgruntled series of noises like OKAYYYY 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
ryo's like "and thus ends another live ^w^" and kenta asks nayuta if anything else bothered him, and nyt seemed surprised at himself for a sec bc there wasn't anything else
reon brightly asks miyuki if he wants to go grab a meal after; i feel like this + the prev moment really marks how things are less sour amongst gyro
before nayuta can walk out, mashu comes in and makes him stay to tell them all that they need to write a new song for a new project(? collaboration? something)
ryo calls mashu "shachou-san" (mr. president) and thanks him for the opportunity to spread more of their sound. im so sorry he really does sound lobotomized now
but kenta goes "ryo. yokatta na" (good for you, huh?) we have some rights.........
nayuta is resistant to the project but kenta convinces him to go along with it or at least wait til they hear the details before he rejects it out of hand. miyuki's like "mashu-san wouldn't pick something that doesn't suit us, let's trust him" and fsr mashu doesnt actually give the details but he does say "if you can't do something like this then there's no point in letting you debut" (but he thinks it'll be easy for them so no worries)
mashu heads out to talk to some other bands (im unsure if this means The other bands yet) and then miyuki randomly is like "huh the music industry news is blowing up rn.... 'music legend iryu koga returning to japan'!?" and nyt is like O_O then tch's and leaves immediately

chapter 0 episode 3 - faniri

koharu and jun come home from shopping and felix greets them "welcome back, dinner will be ready shortly ^.^" and kohajun are like WHAT!?!??!?!??!???? but daimon explains that felix just helped a bit with arranging the food so dont worry. and feli goes "wdym dont worry whats that supposed to mean" he sounded genuinely confused
jun asks where tomoru's at and daimon says tomoru called him earlier to let him know he was leaving the company office, so he should be arriving home soon... in the meantime daimon asks jun to help get the dinner over to the table. it just struck me how cute and domestic they all are
felix asks daimon if he can sprinkle something on the food and daimon sounds really uncomfortable when he says m-maybe next time i think today's food is good how it is...... i do love how innocent feli sounds when he says "ne, daimon".... i rly like paying attention to the way names are said by each chara, and i looove how daimon's name sounds in felix's tongue (rly i love how he says everyone's names lol)
feli's like oh ok if you say so! (earnest) and daimon lets out the most comical discreet sigh of relief and jun fervently whispers "THANK YOU DAIMON-SAN THANK YOU"
tomoru finally arrives and the moment he walks in the door felix puts a glass in his hand and they kanpai and tomoru's like um k-kanpai what is this for..!? and they explain it's to congratulate him for changing jobs (felix's idea)
tomoru is touched and thanks everyone, then goes on to say that he'd like to talk to everyone about the future direction of faniri (taking work home with him huh....)
feli says sharing opinion is important (THAT'S NEW COMING FROM YOU.) so he asks everyone to share their thoughts. daimon ends the episode with a "sou da na..."

chapter 0 episode 4 - epsi

tadaomi on a black screen jumpscare. he says it might be nice to reread his observation diary (!?!?!?!??!??!??) once in a while since he might notice something new about past experiences. it starts showing the other members of epsi in grayscale as tadaomi thinks about them
"epsilon phi's vocalist, ujigawa shu. second year middle school student. shu-kun, you must love your father because he's all you think about. thanks to you, i've been able to see all kinds of expressions, and it's helped me a lot. it's been a lot of fun."
"epsilon phi's drummer, karasuma reiji. he's the same age as me. first year college student. reiji-kun used to be "fushimi reiji", but after his birth family's business went bankrupt, he was taken in by a distant relative. the cause lies with the president of duck river, shu's father... for the sake of revenge against shu's father, reiji stayed by shu's side. the one who told him the cause of the bankruptcy was me. when the purpose from that time is achieved, i wonder what emotions i'll get to see..." no comment
"but recently, the expressions he has towards shu-kun has changed a little... i wonder what happened between those two." the expression ↓. im alright
"epsilon phi's gutiar and vocalist, nijo haruka. and on bass, haruka-kun's younger twin brother, nijo kanata. those two... are particularly interesting." (said with delight)
"haruka-kun is often minded by his younger brother kanata-kun, and they always make such beautiful expressions." (the verb for "minded" could be a lot of things like "taken care of", "bothered by", etc... it covers a lot and is very apt lol) "it's the face most people make when they're in a very bad mood. something like that is usually called a 'bitter expression', i think. kanata-kun often smiles when he sees it. shu-kun says that ''when haruka treats kanata coldly, that's when kanata's true smile comes out.'" (tada quoted shu here with the kyoto dialect and all lol)
tada lets out the cutest little laugh and says "they're so close." (as in rl wise). omi i love your stupid ass
"shu-kun, reiji-kun, haruka-kun, kanata-kun, and everyone from the other bands who were in lrfes... i hope you all show me more emotions."
smash cut to epsi sharehouse
reiji comes home and tadaomi's hanging out in the living room by himself and says "reiji-kun, welcome back. you're not with shu?" <3333333333333333
reiji says shu will come shortly, tadaomi says haruka went to get ramen and kanata went after him and they might be back anytime now
shu arrives and asks what tadaomi's up to, and he says he's been going over his notes and just got to the time when shu entrusted him with writing lyrics. shu's like oh yeah i might ask you to do some more since your first were good
they talk about making a new song soon, and tadaomi enthusiastically offers to help, which reiji expresses is unusual for him to say. tadaomi says that the last time he helped, he felt like he could feel shu's feelings through the music he made.... and shu was like lol ew. but encouraged tadaomi to try assisting again if he likes
nijos come in with haruka growling and kanata whining and reiji sounds absolutely AGGRIEVED when he scolds them for making so much noise. im standing next to tadaomi with popcorn tho they sound so funny
shu taunts them (idk what hes really saying with his bitch of an accent but i know the tone) and haruka tch's off to his room. kanata goes to leave too but reiji stops him and reminds kanata it's his turn to take care of the trash ("even though we have a regular housekeeper, you can at least help that much") and kanata's like wakatteruyoooo i'll get aniki to help me ^w^
reiji gets a phone call and excuses himself from shu (from shu. even tho they werent even talking or previously accompanying one another. 👍👍👍) and tada asks if shu's going back to his room too. shu's like "well, what about you?"
transition to black background tadaomi thinking to himself: he thinks about how being in his room means he won't be able to see all the fun things that the other members do. then he says "lately, shu-kun has been pretty docile... it's a little boring."
episode end......... i didn't notice any tadaomi dead eyes, interestingly

chapter 0 episode 5 - fuurai

futa and kohei come to sky fox records to chat with sosui; futa is like sosui-san u have to eat this thing with us and kohei's like SSOOORYRYY FOR FUTA'S RUDENESS but sosui is chill and seems sincere when he tells them that fuurai's energy is what people need right now
cuts to a memory of fuurai discussing whether or not to take up the offer to leave duck river and join sky fox records; yamato says sky fox's offer seems too good to be true (being able to make whatever music they want, which is what duck river is not allowing. "too good to be true" offers is also how they got stuck with duck river to being with, despite yamato voicing that same doubt at that time) while aoi says they won't be able to succeed if they leave duck river without somewhere to go
misaki gets annoyed with all the mulling and yells OK everyone shut up we're doing a majority vote!!! who's in oppisition!? (kohei and yamato say hai) who's in favor!? (futa and aoi say hai).... and misaki's like .......IM THE TIEBREAKER!????
ultimately he ends up agreeing with aoi and votes in favor
futa's like YAYYY let's go accept sosui-san's offer to join su, su.... sukai.... sukaifo!! (he cant remember the name)
cut back to present; kohei seems to have been retelling that conversation to sosui, who's glad that they gave the decision such thought. there are mentions of Plans and Preparations and that sosui would like them to work on a new single

chapter 0 episode 6 - argo (stst)

argo are in the back halls of the venue waiting for furusawa to come back for the talk he wanted, and they start checking up online to see that they're getting lots of praise. they get excited and banri in particular starts hyping them up and talking about the possibilities
a "???" appears (ryusuke) and hes like who are these brats who're talking so big just because they joined a label?
rin scolds him for being unecessarily rude i think rin scolding ryu is like 30% of everything he says
argo straighten up and nervously greet stst and ostukare them, since they're all aware of stst's seniority and power
ryusuke seems disappointed and think they're trying to suck up to him + seems bored with these random kids in his label
rio's like "wdym...." and rin's like "doesn't mean anything when it comes out of ryusuke's mouth"
that whole scene was weirdly tense and then furusawa arrives and the music brightens up
ryusuke refers to furusawa as "occhan" (dialect shortening of ojiichan probably)
furusawa was late so he gets right to the point and informs them that straystride will be teaching argonavis
i got jumpscared by all 5 argos going "eh!?" at the same time which was not adjusted for volume
seems like the idea is that stst will teach them about the basics of operating within a label and start getting them into media appearances since stst does a lot of those
ryusuke taunts them a lot tho, saying things like "arent yall a bunch of country bumpkins from hakodate? maybe you oughta run back home if you're not up to the task" but ren puts on his protagonist hat and goes "we wont run >:("
ryu goes "hou...?" and rin goes "he-...?" theyre so cute....
ryu takes this as a challenge and seems interested to see what argo can do now— "or at least, you should work hard to prove you're not just bullshitting". rintaro says he's looking forward to it

chapter 1

chapter 1 episode 1 - stst

stst doing their radio program, night ride. i love how ryusuke says "on mc, tennouji ryusuke de-su!" he hits the su in a particular kansai-ben way
they start joking about beer and ryusuke makes sfx noises like he's drinking???? and rintaro is like "RYU youre not allowed to drink while recording" and ryu is like "why are u saying that so seriously youre right in front of me u know its imaginary!?!???"
ryusuke: "man now that weve talked about beer so much i really want some 😔 rintaro this is your fault"
rintaro: "come to think of it, aren't we like beer?"
ryusuke: "oh yeah! i'm the liquid and you're the foam."
rintaro: "yes exactly"
ryusuke: "wait no foam will disappear, analogy rejected! it's either that or beer in a cold mug, right? ....wait what da hell are we even talking about"
rintaro: "everyone must be tuning out now."
ryusuke: "and whose fault is that!!!"
rintaro: "i wonder whose...?"
ryusuke: "dont look right at me when you say that!?!!!"
rintaro: "hey all you listeners out there, please use our boring radio show to fall asleep~"
couple more lines of banter idk how to tl and then rintaro suddenly announces they're doing a fan letter corner and ryusuke's like "wtf was that abrupt transition"
the first question they get is if they've found anything interesting recently; rintaro asks ryusuke to answer first and ryusuke's like "dont thrust it on me like that rinchan 😣" i need u to know everything ryusuke says is voiced in the funniest possible way. hes my new misaki
ryusuke: "anyway there's interesting stuff happening every day, isnt there?"
rintaro: "yeah. like, just this morning, ryusuke had..."
ryusuke: "h-hold up! please pause for a second rintaro-kun!! didn't i ask you to keep that off the record!? you couldn't even wait 24 hours before bringing it up!????"
rintaro: "then i'll bring it up next time ^^"
ryusuke: "NOOO OFF THE RECORD!!! pwease... off the record...." im begging u to listen to them theyre so fucking funny
rintaro: "you really care about it that much...?"
ryusuke: "LISTEN. i'm the ikeike-est* rapper from naniwa. this would Destroy my cool image. understand?"
ikeike = as a dated colloquialism, means "fashionably clothed and assertive; flashy"
rintaro: "isnt 'ikeike' kind of dead... anyway all you did was walk out the door with mismatched socks on"
ryusuke: "YOU SAID IT ANYWAY..... you are CRUEL and EVIL rinchan"
rintaro: "all this rinchan rinchan has to stop. who're you callin rinchan??" (first time this conversation there's any energy in his voice, he sounds angry. he also slips into kansai-ben here!???)
ryusuke: "this is what you're getting seriously mad about.... wait, we've only read one letter and it's already been this long!!"
rintaro: "let it be known it was mostly ryusuke's fault. well, go on, apologize"
ryusuke: "yup, super sorry. wait, why only me????"
[screen fades to black for a moment, time passes]
ryusuke: "well, despite all the twists and turns, we're getting close to the end of the program."
rintaro: "i really don't get why it's so popular. thanks everyone"
rintaro receives something from the radio staff, ryusuke reads it out that their program has reached its 2nd anniversary
rintaro narrates that the staff communicate to them with a cue card lol?? that they'd like stst to give a comment about the year
ryusuke's like "ur not supposed to point out the cue cards..."
they seem surprised that they've reached 2nd anni already, and rintaro mentions this is the third program on which they're the main personalities
ryusuke says that if this is the only stst program you've heard, you wouldnt know the other two are a lot more serious
rintaro says the concept of night ride is to be able to fall asleep while listening to stst's silly banter
ryusuke is grateful that it's been popular enough that they've been able to keep doing it for so long. also asks listeners to tune in to their next variety show + come to the live they're going to announce soon
rintaro sighs at the way ryusuke slipped out news of their next live so sloppily
ryusuke: "rinchan, yoroshuu! :3" i hate him
rintaro sighs again, "stop calling me rinchan 😔"

chapter 1 episode 2 - faniri

faniri agree that they need to discuss faniri's future/strategies; tomoru notes that faniri is just one of many vkei bands and they need to figure out how to stand out amongst the crowd
koharu says he has something to say before they start talking about that. the music changes to a piano bgm i haven't heard anywhere else yet
he brings up that he recently caused a lot of trouble for his work (im honestly not sure what he's referring to here, might have been in a dbes faniri song story i didnt read/don't remember?)
so he's thinking about moving to a new 24 hour daycare facility where he'd have more flexibility with his shifts, that way he can prioritize the band even more
everyone seems happy for him; this whole thing is being treated with a lot of gravitas which reminds me how much koharu cares about the kids he works with (when he had to transfer from nagoya to tokyo for lrfes, he cried)
bgm brightens up and jun's like im still the only one without a job :'( but felix is like you're our precious composer! i'll be counting on you ^_^ and jun's like felix-san...! ^w^ while the others mutter about how felix is probably going to make a lot of unreasonable requests again (jun composes based on feli's directions)
theyve been talking too much without eating their amazing daimon-cooked dinner and its starting to get cold... daimon says he'll get more drinks and tomoru stands to help, but koharu is like bro you're the man of the hour sit down (the way he says it feels like he physically put his hands on tomoru's shoulders and put him back in his chair lol)
they talk about more boring things like how tomoru is adjusting to his new manager position but he still feels like an amateur in a pro world
felix gets a call from gilbert 😳
felix: "bonsoir, did something happen?"
felix: "...i see. so uncle has... alright. thanks for letting me know."
WHYD IT END RIGHT THERE

chapter 1 episode 3 - faniri

tomoru rushes in like SORRY I OVERSLEPT....! (this guy never changes huh) and the others are like oh you forgot? today's practice was cancelled bc felix had to return to france suddenly
daimon: "i'm worried about him, but let's just treat this as a day off and get some rest"
jun says it must be hard for tomoru and koharu to get days off; koharu says it's not too troublesome as long as he knows far enough in advance since he likes to fill in for others when he can. tomoru says mashu-san understands that rest is part of the job, so it's a lot easier for him to get time off now
jun's like mashu-san is scary tho isnt he... just one glare and i'm frozen to the spot....
koharu: "he's the top man in the company we work for, don't talk about him like he's some kind of monster?? he's not that scary anyway, right?"
daimon: "whenever we have meetings, i feel he's very concise and easy to understand. but i can see why he's not jun's cup of tea"
tomoru: "isn't mashu-san always really kind though?"
jun: "what!? when!? whenever he looks at me i feel like he's saying 'why dont you get a real job' ><"
tomoru's like well ofc you would think that.... he goes on to insist that mashu isn't a cold person at all; he agrees with daimon's description and that even though mashu-san seems very busy, he always makes time for tomoru when tomoru needs help
koharu says he's glad tomoru has such a great boss now compared to the shitty company he was with before
tomoru says he felt like his previous job (medical systems engineer) was very rewarding and valuable, but that it could be kind of lonely... he thinks his juniors at his old job seem to be doing well now, so his work there is done (he was a team lead back there). he feels like the timing of moving to his new job with dreadnote was very fortuitous
koharu is glad tmr is happy about it and then says he wants to go to the studio and practice anyway + asks if the other wanna join him
the others are cool w practicing except jun who was like "i thought today was supposed to be a rest day :'("
fade to black, some days pass
they come back from another practice session feeling good about their next live, but jun is worried about the fact that felix hasn't returned yet. they don't know when he'll be back, he only gave a vague "a few days"
tomoru: "i wonder if his uncle is ok..."
daimon: "when he had that phone call with his brother, he looked rather grave..."
tomojun prompt kohadai to remind us of some felix lore: felix's uncle was more or less felix's foster parent, and felix's father died when felix was 17. so his uncle became his guardian
koharu: "...all we can do is hope that the worst hasn't happened..."

chapter 1 episode 4 - epsi

sosui apologizes to shurei for having to take time out of their schedules to come meet him at the office. this is so backwards i love it
shu says he's the one who wanted to talk with the three of them; sometimes the office is necessary for such things
shu talks about how it'd be a good idea to release a single soon after debuting in order to create some buzz. he goes on that they should be looking at new approaches in order to stand out since there's always new stuff coming out and people quickly forget. (THEMATIC AGAIN!!) "reiji and sosui no ossan, you're thinking the same thing, right?"
i've seen jp ppl refer to sosui under duck river as a shitty/does-nothing secretary and i love how that's carried over to him saying in so many words "yeah do whatever you want" AKSHFJKA he just agreed with shu's sentiment with no further comment. he's one part lazy, one part chill, and one part sincerely likes to see epsi/fuurai doing what they love
oh actually he went on to say that shu is the one who started up sky fox so everything really is up to him... he directly asks shu what he wants to do
shu: "sou ya nee..." (music turns tense) "i'd love to do a big festival again...."
reiji: "what are you thinking of doing......"
shu: "hey hey no need to be all on guard like that. i'm not gonna pull another lrfes"
"back then, papa.... well, that aside, i'm just talking about what we can do to make a splash with the news."
sosui agrees, but recommends holding off with announcing their next single. reiji asks why, but sosui just says "just wait a bit" a little reluctantly like he feels bad for having to keep it a secret
sosui reminds shu that the concept of the new single is totally up to shu, and shu's like "obviously. if you tried to enforce one, that'd be a breach of contract" lmfao
shurei go out into the hallway and reiji asks about the contract. shu: "n~? what's this, reiji, you curious?"
reiji says he knows the outline of the contract, but he wants to hear the details again
shu says there's nothing weird going on, just that "creative" and "management" are two separate things (so sosui shouldn't have any say in song concepts and etc)
reiji still seems apprehensive, but shu says he's already got an idea anyway: the next song will be made by haruka and tadaomi (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
sidenote that this hallway exchange was like note for note a typical shurei exchange, but very noticably feels significantly less hostile. like there's no malicious ulterior motives at play here so it's just shu being shu and reiji being reiji.... shu implicitly asking reiji to just trust that shu knows what he's doing, reiji being concerned not for his own sake but for shu's.... feels good
shurei come to the studio where the others are; kanata greets them and tadaomi asks them how the meeting went. reiji says things are still being worked on, shu explains that their new song will still need to wait a bit. BUT he announces to them that he'd like tadaomi to write the lyrics and haruka to write the song
haruka is chill w this (just kind of an exhale and a "sou ka yo") and tadaomi says "wakatta, i'll do my best" in a cute slightly-determined way
haruka asks if they get to make the concept too and shu says yep i'm leaving everything to you. looking forward to seeing it when it's done~
kanata: yokatta ne, aniki! ^w^
haruka: ............. (sighs)
reiji: "with that out of the way, shall we begin practice, shu?"
shu: "indeed." this is nothing but if u heard the way they said it. shu just sounded so light and unburdened.... happy....
bg changes to a sunset sky
tadaomi: "me and haruka tasked with the next song, huh..."
"i'm surprised that even the concept was left to us. i wonder what inspired that, shu-kun?"
"could it be you have something fun up your sleeve?"
"if that's the case, i'm really looking forward to it."
"if we really are composing together, this'll be the most i've ever gotten to interact with haruka-kun." i wonder if laur knows this is happening
"maybe i'll even get to see a side of haruka-kun i've never seen before."
"what can i do to see something new?"
"because it's been so boring lately..."
(chuckle) "i want to know more..."
"all those emotions i don't know, i want to learn more and more..."
"not just haruka-kun. shu-kun, reiji-kun, and kanata-kun too.... i want to feel more of what's in their hearts."
(chuckles again) and end episode. it was playing relaxed music again idk why. surely even newbies are nervous by now

chapter 1 episode 5 - fuurai

aoi finds kohei looking kind of down and asks him what's up... kohei says "im ok, but... don't share what im about to say to the others"
kohei: "this morning, i had a dream.... about sakutaro."
aoi: "ah... kounii, about sa-.... um, don't you think it's time we tell futa?"
kohei: "eh...?"
aoi: "i mean, we've been hiding it all this time..."
kohei: "honestly, i'm tempted.... to tell you the truth, i once asked futa if he knew sakutaro."
aoi: (shocked) "eh..."
kohei: "but he didn't pay it much mind. that's why i don't think it's the right time yet..."
says weird things i cant tl. he's worried futa won't be able to go on if he learns the truth
says he's seen how rattled futa gets when sakutaro (sax) is damaged, so it's hard not to feel like it's not the time yet...
"i don't think i'll be able to tell him until i can rid myself of this hesitation"
aoi: "i know how much this all hurts for you, but... i think we have to face what misaki said." (i think this is about somethign from dbes fuurai band story) "we've been keeping this secret, but can we keep it up...?"
kohei: "we can. no, we have to. from now, and forever..."
aoi: "kounii... :("
i learned in post that "from now, and forever" is also the title of kohei's initial SSR and that punched real good
they hear the door, and kohei tells aoi this conversation is over. aoi's like "ok... :("
yamato comes in and kohei tone switches sooo sexily hes all chipper and casual like "oh welcome back yamato, you're early"
ymt asks if its just kohei+aoi home, aoi says misaki's still at this part time job and futa must be "over there"
cut to futa at a riverbank, who da hell knows what he's doing out there. he starts talking to sakutaro (sax) like ur looking as good as ever today!!! ah, but it's getting dark so i better head home before kounii scolds me.... even tho im not a lil kid anymore :/ you agree, right sakutaro? oh, where'd i put my bag... ah, over there!
a whole bunch of stuff suddenly happens at once; the short of it is that futa saves a little boy from getting hit by a passing cyclist, and the boy's mother is thankful to futa. futa apologizes because the boy still fell and scraped his knee, but the mother says he could have been hurt a lot more if futa hadn't intervened
futa's like nooo should we go to the hospital just in case? and then he gets weird and the light in his eyes disappears, he starts panicking "s-sakutaro...!?" (sax) saying it over and over... seems he dropped it in the effort to save the boy
the little boy is like "oh no is it hurt :( should we take it to the hospital?" and futa agrees at first like yes a hospital will be able to fix sakutaro...! and then he seems to struggle with his thoughts for a moment, and then shakes it off, then insists he take the boy to the hospital to get his knee looked at
episode end.......

chapter 1 episode 6 - gyro

reon asks miyuki about the article he's reading; it's about GENESIS TRAX
ryo: "that's nayuta's dad's label isnt it?"
reon: "GYAHH--!!!!! RYO-SAN, SHUSH SHUSH!!!" this is my fave reon line ever he made such a noise as if ryo appeared out of nowhere
miyuki: "nayuta isn't even here tho, you don't gotta be so nervous about it"
reon: "you didnt even check to make sure before saying that!!"
ryo: "reon, you're really careful about not making nayuta mad huh"
im lost as to what they're saying from here but i think it's about axia movie
reon's suddenly like u know i wonder what happened with nayuta to make him hate his own father that much
ryo: "you're curious?"
reon: "you're not??"
miyuki thinks it's enough to just know That Thing is the reason nyt gets upset. ryo agrees. the japanese art of minding ur own business
ryo makes a space analogy about keeping nyt in good form, myk says that the topic makes nyt so uncomfortable, so if he knew the others were researching it on their own....
reon: (shudders) "i dont want to imagine that..."
miyuki: "exactly"
cut to dreadnote office, music is tense
mashu asks kenta to tell him honestly how nyt is doing. kenta says not great since the news of his father returning to japan
kenta is worried that if nyt is this bothered just by the news, what would happen if they were to meet?
mashu: "you can't keep avoiding it forever. ...this is going to continue being a problem."
kenta: "for nayuta?"
mashu: "for all of you."
then mashu shoos him off for practice and says he has another meeting to get to
cut to practice
nyt is bitching that everything sucks, tells them to start from the top again, reon's like "how many fucking times are we going to go thru this intro?!??" you get the feeling that nayuta is most frustrated with himself
kenta tells reon to cut it out and suggests to nayuta that they take a break
nayuta "tch"s and goes to leave— and then a ??? says "pardon me for a moment." it's voiced.
nyt labors over saying "o......omae wa........." and kenta also stammers when he says "iryu koga....!? why are you here...."
i hate koga's voice so much. he uses keigo and sounds younger than nyt
he's like "wow you're still all up in knots. i wonder if the day will ever come that you're happy to see me. i've been waiting for you.... Boy"
nyt makes some KKkHH noise and episode ends

chapter 2

chapter 2 episode 1 - fuurai

futa at the hospital with the boy and his mother, says he's glad the injury wasn't serious, boy + mother thank him for his help. futa's like "make sure you pay attention to what's around you, ok?" to the boy... futa is cute in this kind oniichan role
outside the hospital the mother asks futa if his sax is really ok, and futa's like dont worry about it!
but then cut to a street in the rain and futa is in a serious panic, light in his eyes gone, panting and fretting over sakutaro, at one point his live2d model shudders
"sakutaro... sakutaro... does it hurt!?"
"i'm sorry, i'm sorry...! sakutaro, i'm sorry...!"
"it's gotta hurt... we have to get you home...!"
"i don't want to lose you again!"
"................'again?'"
"...w... why did i say 'again'...."
"....sakutaro....? uhhgn..."
screen flashes white for a moment
"wh...what face did i see just now..."
".........uugnhn...."
smash cut to bright happy music at sky fox records
sosui apologizes for making the others go through the trouble of coming to the office (seems this is his regular opener) "i wish i could've come to you guys, but..." i'm partially convinced he keeps saying things like this as a cover for him not wanting to go anywhere lol, like it's never been said that he's super busy or anything
kohei's like no its ok we should be the ones doing the legwork in that regard, and sorry for futa's lateness, he should be here any minute...
sosui says something like "it's helpful to me that you think so" yes saving your lazy ass <3 then says he wants to talk about their new song right away
sosui says he'd like them to make something bright and with a rhythm that people can't help getting into even if they've never heard it before, and misaki's like "isnt that kinda what we always do tho?" sosui agrees, he still thinks it's good to highlight it
he wants them to write something that can be used as a perfect example of what fuurai's about. later on he wants them to try challenging themselves with more variation, but for right now he think's it'd be good to have a song like this to easily communicate fuurai's distinct flavor
yamato says "wakarimashita" but misaki gets mad at ymt because he thinks he sounds dissatisfied, "shouldn't you be super excited!??? sosui-san is letting us make what we want!!"
ymt is more wary and thinks they should only celebrate if the release is successful
misaki's like WHATEVERRRR UR KILLING MY VIBEEEE
aoi tells misaki he gets how misaki feels but dont make too much noise in the office
i'm noticing quite a few times that aoi and misaki back each other up/support/agree wtih/understand each other's views, makes me realize how close they are
kohei says they'll get back in touch with sosui once they have a demo, aoi says okie doke let's all head home and talk about the composition
as they're leaving, sosui mutters to himself "...if the way things went today continues, this could get a little bad"
aoi accidentally overheard this and goes "huh!?" and sosui sees him and says "oops... looks like you heard that. let's just hope my concerns are unfounded."
aoi: "right... it'll be ok. we'll be able to do it, somehow!"
he then excuses himself and leaves properly, then sosui mutters "...now then, what to do about this." the tone of his voice in these muttering lines in really interesting. he definitely knows more than he lets on. maybe even Does more than he lets on too
back at fuurai sharehouse, kohei comes in calling for futa kinda mad bc he hasnt answered his phone
dead-eyes futa: "kounii! it's sakutaro, sakutaro is...!"
kohei: "!??!? this is... we need to get sakutaro to an instrum— HOSpital right away" (almost said instrument repair shop or something) "aoi, are you coming!?"
aoi: "yep, to the usual place! futa, let's go!"
aoi sounded urgent but prepared; i don't think he's thinking about revealing the secret to futa at this very moment but i do wonder if it might happen at wherever they're going, if only because futa seems very close to realizing it himself

chapter 2 episode 2 - epsi

epsi sharehouse living room
kanata: "tadaimaaa"
haruka, instantly: "tch. sigh. 😒😒😒😒😒🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄"
kanata: "oho? you're working out here, aniki? that's pretty unusual for you."
kanata: "ne ne, how's the song coming along? it's been a while since shu put you up to the task, and all..."
hrk: "...none of your business. get lost"
knt: "eh~ i wonder what kind of song must be weighing on aniki's mind. you know you can ask kurama-senpai for help, right?"
hrk: "i told you to stay out of it!"
door opens
tadaomi: "ah, so it was kanata-kun who just came in. welcome back."
kanata: "kurama-senpai, tadaimaaa ^_^ how's the song you and aniki are working on?"
tadaomi: "hmm how do i put it... normal, i guess? we're still working on creating ideas. once we have some candidates, we'll decide which ones to use."
tadaomi: "ah, but haruka-kun has been struggling to come up with anything good."
kanata: (disgusting little laugh) "yappari~"
hrk growling: "TEMEE...."
tadaomi: "haruka-kun, are you doing alright? :( it seems like you still haven't made much progress..."
haruka audibly calms himself down with a steadying breath, "...sorry for the hold up."
tadaomi: "it's okay. whenever you're ready to start discussing, just let me know."
hrk very quietly under his breath: "so that means you're already finished your part...."
tadaomi: "huh? did you say something?"
hrk, quickly, tired: "nothing"
tadaomi: "ok. if you have any troubles, you can come to me ^_^"
tadaomi: "ah, but you studied abroad for six months, so there's hardly much advice i can give you, right? when you came back, you said you'd gotten a lot out of it."
hrk makes a struggle noise
tadaomi: "come to think of it, this is the first song you've had to write since returning. i'm looking forward to what you have in store ^_^"
kanata: "me as well, aniki! ^_^"
hrk: ".............................."
cut to studio practice, bgm says they were playing orthros
shu tells them to stop and exasperatedly points out that haruka slipped up again
hrk swears in frustration
reiji: "haruka, what's going on? that was a pretty basic mistake."
hrk: "i KNOW"
shu: "if you know then fix it already 😔 im taking a break. reiji, come with me"
reiji: "wakarimashita" then they walk out together. the author of this page is very happy
kanata: "im gonna go to the konbini. aniki, you want anything?"
haruka: "just go"
kanata: "haiiii -w-"
tadaomi: "haruka-kun, are you ok? :("
haruka: "...yea."
tadaomi: "alright. i'm glad."
tadaomi: "if you weren't ok, you'd be more like you were before going abroad."
haruka: "...what??"
tadaomi: "hm? was that a weird thing to say?"
haruka: "....nevermind."
haruka, in a rush: "i need to go cool off."
goes out into the studio hallway, kanata's there
kanata: "ah, aniki! how are you feeling?"
haruka: "not like anything about me looks good..."
kanata: "nothing at all? yknow, i just Love it when you get all self-absorbed and spin yourself into a ditch~" what 😭😭😭
haruka, angry: "WHAT?"
kanata: "after you left me aaaall alone to go study abroad, you said you learned all kinds of things, right?"
kanata: "but tbh rn i'm just not feeling any kind of growth from you 🤷"
kanata: "seems like all that time you spent away was just a complete waste, right? ^^" says this like a taunting punchline, if he had a lackey they would both be laughing rn
haruka: "TEMEE......."
hrk struggle noise, curses, leaves
kanata whispering to himself: "huhhh so he just pulls out here... (sighs) how boring. come on, i want you to take your frustration out on me more :/"
kanata: "because i'm the only one who can take it. i'm the only one haruka has, right?"
i get chilly on these rare times knt uses haruka's name instead of aniki...
kanata with his voice getting into that disgusting tremble: "i wonder if the day will ever come that my self-destructive aniki will come to me for help~"
kanata: "i'm sooo looking forward to it."

chapter 2 episode 3 - faniri

faniri have just finished rehearsing at a livehouse, koha/dai/tomo/jun are all feeling super good about how well things are going, they're pumped for tomorrow's live, and are glad felix was able to return in time
but tomoru seem to think feli looks a little off and asks if he's ok, citing that feli only just got back from france in time for rehearsal
feli says not to worry (he says it first in french and then corrects himself to jp. he does actually sound uncharacterisically weary)
koharu double checks like hey dont push yourself too hard... felix says he'll rest as soon as they go home
tomoru says he'd like to talk about plans; says it's time to start working on a new single, and that their schedule for it should be fine with their usual pace of making new songs
jun is like wahhh the pressure...!! but koharu is like "nahh what are you worried about, you always do fine. right, feli?"
feli responds with a very distracted and unenthusiastic affirmation ("aa, sou da ne")
daimon asks that tomoru give them the details of the plan later, so that felix can get home and rest sooner. jun seconds this and asks that felix rest well for their live tomorrow
felix has a SAD expression looking down to the side as he says again "sou.. da ne." he manages to put some energy into his "arigatou" though
back to normal expression and almost-normal voice, he says he'll rest for the sake of their underlings. koharu goes "yup, you do that!" and then feli somewhat formally excuses himself and leaves
music INSTANTLY switches to sad piano bgm
tomoru says that felix has looked gloomy since returning from france and wonders if something happened there
daimon says feli's uncle's condition has stabilized (confirming that something did happen to his uncle's health) "but..."
jun: "then, was it something else...?"
daimon: "...i don't know."
koharu: "i wonder if feli's gonna be ok..."
tomoru: "it really is worrying :("
koharu: "yeah. and it's not just that, it's..."
jun: "huh? is there something else going on?"
koharu: "...nevermind, sorry, i've still gotta think about this. please don't worry about it though."
jun: "wha!? that was a pretty worrying thing to say though!??!?"
koharu: "now then, let's pack it up! we've gotta get things in order for the live tomorrow ^_^"
daimon: "right."
jun: "wahhh so we're really just gonna blow right past that...."
tomoru: "i think that means we better just leave it alone for now."
jun: "ah... ok :("
tomoru: "let's get packing up too so we can get home."
jun: "un :("
cut to a park, felix is by himself, tense music
feli: "............"
".....nngh...." it's this like. grunt noise??? like he's been hit with a sudden sharp pang of something
"....i...."
"...father...."
"...no, i can't, i must go home and rest. for tomorrow..."
".....vampire, huh....."
episode end. what the fuck was that

chapter 2 episode 4 - faniri

MORE FANIRI!?? it's now the beginning of their live, gin no yuri instrumental bgm
each of them do their usual mc typical to their stage personas, feli sounds fine and normal
transitions to black bg with feli and cest la vie instrumental bgm, he's thinking to himself
feli: "the king who rules over all vampires, FELIX... the ability to weave songs for the satisfaction of the underlings is my joy."
"the hatred i bore for vampires as a child.... i've long since left it behind."
"even so... of late, i've been shaken by an inner voice so often..."
a second felix appears on screen, labeled "???" and speaks in FELIX's deep voice and language
???: "and that is your weakness."
feli: "...!?" (startled gasp)
???: "vampires are demons that suck the lifeblood from others. a higher being that harvests the life force of those around them, gloat from the satisfaction of it, and exploit others."
???: "you understand quite well, do you not? that you are the child of vampires..."
feli: "urusai...! you won't get in the way of my precious evening party...!!" (angry feli 😳)
fades back to live house, members thinking to themselves
koharu: "is he ok...? things feel different from usual..."
daimon: "his voice has a shaky intensity to it... i hope it's intentional, but it doesn't really seem that way."
tomoru: "milord...? or rather, feli-san...?" the way he slides from LIGHT to tomoru tones in this one short line is immaculate
back to feli's mind realm
???: "everything! rule over it all! pay no heed to those beneath you!"
???: "if you call yourself the king of vampires, then behave as such!"
feli: "ngh— that's enough! end this, i'm begging...!"
he sounds so tortured.... i'm finding it really hard to choose the right words to express feli's less-than-elegant demeanor in these parts without sounding too ooc, but this really is such an unusual, desperate, and absolutely anguished state to see him in...
fade to dressing room
jun: "today was, um, really different from the usual energy... felix-san, i've never heard you sing with such ferocity."
jun: "it was even a little scary."
daimon: "agreed..."
koharu: "..." (discomforted exhale)
felix: "..." (uncomfortable grunt)
tomoru: "um, feli-san... are you... okay?"
back to feli mind realm for a moment
???: "you are the king of vampires, are you not?"
back to dressing room
felix: "urusai!!" (he really SHOUTS this)
tomoru: "!!????"
feli: "gh— tomoru...!? :( i-i'm sorry, i didn't mean to yell..." his voice sounds so small and afraid when he says tomoru's name 🥺🥺😭😭 most apologetic i've ever heard him...
tomoru: "i-it's alright, i shouldn't have asked that so suddenly..."
feli: "no! it's not your fault. it wasn't anything about what you said..."
daimon: "...felix, let's get you home."
jun: "r-right! you've gotta be super tired and all...!"
feli: "but...!! ...no, you're right, i should..." he says the "but" SO desperately
tomoru: "please do. we'll take care of everything here."
felix: "Je suis désolé..." (despondent whisper... "i'm so sorry")
he leaves
jun: "it's really weird to see him so shaken... i wonder what's going on..."
koharu: "............."
tomoru: "koharu-san?"
koharu: "w-what?"
tomoru: "um, nothing really, it's just that you look really grave..."
koharu: "yeah? it's nothing, don't worry about it."
daimon lets out the weariest, knowing sigh.... "for now, let's just deal with packing up."
back at faniri sharehouse
daimon: "where's felix?"
jun: "he went out for a walk a little bit ago."
daimon: "gotcha..."
tomoru: "um, koharu-san, daimon-san, you two have some idea about what's going on, right?"
koharu: "what makes you think that?"
tomoru: "it's kind of baseless, but... the way it felt back when we were in the dressing room..."
jun: "m-me too! um... i'm really worried too."
jun: "b-but if you can't tell us, that's ok!"
koharu: "right... yeah, of course you'd notice."
koharu: "i don't actually know what's going on, but..."
koharu: "i've seen feli like that before..."
EPISODE END WHYYYYYYYYYY

chapter 2 episode 5 - gyro (rintaro)

sad piano bgm
reon asks kenta how nyt is doing, knt says it's best to just leave him alone for now
they say nothing new for like a dozen lines, confirming that nyt's father is the source of nyt's recent uneasiness, feeling bad for him. myk was briefly annoyed that kenta didn't tell them about it sooner but he said he only knew shortly before them anyway
miyuki goes out of his way to ask ryo-chin what he thought of iryu koga after seeing him in person
ryo: "it's true that he seems really amazing, but i feel like there's too much sacrifice... nayuta is a first-magnitude star, while that person is halley's comet."
ryo: "that ferocious light and charm can pull you in, but also brings great ruin..."
ryo: "personally... i'm not that pulled."
reomiyu are like yup that's a very ryo-like answer...
myk asks kenta what they should do about all this, knt says "honestly it's hard to say". goes on to describe how nyt's past breakdowns were always related to iryu, and all kenta had done was watch.... but this time he doesn't intend to just watch
says a bunch of vomit-inducing sentiments about how they're all devoted to nyt as the center of the band and they only exist for him and oouuruhghghhhh
"wherever nayuta's body and heart are, i will follow."
ryo: "kenken, that's where you say 'we'."
miyuki: "yeah, you were lumping us all together up til that last part, and it's the most important"
kenta sort of indirectly promises to rely on them for nyt's sake as needed
ryo: "yup, anything you need ^w^ we'll protect nayuta's brilliance."
nyt at the park, he just curses to himself
goes to black bg (a memory?) iryu koga, IN FUCKING ENGLISH: "impossible!" (then back to jp) "with your constitution, you'll never become a vocalist! you have no talent whatsoever."
nyt: "shut up..." (no model appears, ig he's trying to shut up his own thoughts)
iryu: " i told you, didn't i? you have no talent... give up."
nyt: "shut up, shut up, fuck off...!"
iryu: "you're still all up in knots. i wonder if the day will ever come that you're happy to see me. i've been waiting for you.... Boy" (same line from earlier in mainsto)
back to park
nyt: "i told you to fuck off!!!!" and he starts panting.... embarassing
???: "...what are you going on about?"
nyt: "...huh? you..."
rintaro: "GYROAXIA's asahi nayuta. i don't know who you were snapping at just now; have you considered it might be troubling for passerby?"
nyt: "haa? it's none of your business."
rintaro: "i meant that you're being noisy and you should knock it off. what, you won't understand unless i say it clearly for you?"
nyt: "temee...."
rintaro: "...guess ryusuke's gonna be a while still. welp, guess that leaves me no choice... come with me for a min, kouhai."
they walk to a diff part of the park
nyt: "what's this about?"
rintaro: "so. how long are you going to chase after your father's shadow?"
nyt: "hah?"
rintaro: "ohhh, you aren't aware of it yet? or maybe you've just been ignoring it. well, doesn't matter either way."
rintaro: "if you keep going on like this, GYROAXIA is as good as dead."
nyt: "the fuck do you know!??"
rintaro: "is your father's shadow really what you should be looking at? there's something else you need to fix your eyes on."
rintaro: "unless you grow up and realize 'it', you'll be beyond saving."
rintaro: "...welp, that's all the time i have. thanks for letting your senpai kill a few minutes, asahi."
he leaves
nyt tchs so hard... end of episode

chapter 2 episode 6

argo talks about how well things are going for them after that sponsered fes they did
banri mentions that it was furusawa signing them on that helped save them after duck river cut off their support following the suspension of lrfes
things are a lot easier for them now that they're under a label; they don't have to work part time jobs as often
wataru mentions that he's been asked to start working on their next single (i think that makes all 5 og bands confirmed new singles? not sure if stst confirmed yet)
banri and yuto talk about how they're super glad they're able to work at their own pace on stuff etc.
wataru says he noticed yuu was playing really fast at their last live ("your pick was flying")
wata asks banri and rio if they also noticed; banri says not at all and rio was like yeah i did but i didn't think it was a big deal so i didn't mention it. then yuto says in a super pouty voice "ok geez i'll be careful not to rush from now on :<"
they talk about their next setlist, bring up that they don't want to become too stale
yuto and banri get excited about possibilities again, yuto says it won't be long til they can put food on the table just from band work
rio casts some big doubt like "just because we're starting out great doesn't mean we should think so optimistically"
yuto's like cmooon rio don't rain on our parade
rio digs in and the music changes to the sort of combative one, and he really emphasizes that this success is something they shouldn't get carried away with
rio feels like their strength is being tested (what with having stst assigned as their mentors) to see how long they can stay afloat
yuto's like yea bro i get what ur saying and i totally agree. im just trying to be cheerful???
rio: "there's a difference between optimism and recklessness..."
yuto flinches when his phone buzzes
bgm changes to the more suspenseful tense one
rio and banri ask him what's up, but yuto says "n...nothing. anyway, i think this convo is done. i'm going to my room"
his exit sfx was running instead of walking
wataru gets on his own phone and is like uhhhh i think this might be it
ren reads it aloud: "hakodate city council member: arrested" and then he's like..... wait, that's yuto's dad!?!??
END CURRENT MAINSTO!

chapter 3

chapter 3 episode 1 - argo (stst)

argo at the studio, bgm is junction. man i miss junction that one actually fucked
yuto stnading there swearing and then the bgm instantly changes to sad piano when wataru asks him to take a break bc yuto's getting impatient with his playing again. banri forces a break by running out to grab a drink
everyone's like buddy u gotta chill... are u ok.... and yuto is like ggrgrggr our live is coming up lets just keep practicing....
rio's like yeah and your bad mood is going to affect practice :/ get yourself in shape before shiroishi comes back
banri returns and they end up practicing more anyway
fade to black for a moment, time passes, rio tells them to stop and is like ok buddy that's it practice is done for today. being in a bad mood is only going to decrease the quality of practice and then you'll form bad habits
yuto puts up a fight and rio is like well ok if u wanna keep practicing then do what u want. and then rio walks out..... argo actually fighting......
but rio gets jumpscared at the door by ryusuke suddenly entering (ryu: "wtf you scared me opening the door so vigorously" rio was legit that mad wow) rintaro is also there
rio ends up leaving anyway and ryusuke goes "arara he left"
wataru asks if whatever stst wants can wait til later; ryusuke says since they're argo's ~mentors~ he just wanted to observe a bit. "though i'm not sure there's much worth lookin at here"
ren: "wdym... :("
rintaro: "what, was he not clear enough?" rintaro hates ppl who dont get things the first time 😭😭
ryusuke: "where's all that confidence from last time, huh? nanahoshi."
ryusuke: "from the looks of it, yall are gonna collapse of your own accord."
ryusuke: "your leader's all tetchy too... doesn't look too good, does it?"
wataru's like did you just come here to corner us
banri's like ummm arent u guys super busy.... i wonder if u can really spare the time with us since you just happened to be passing by ahaha....
ryusuke: "aho. we weren't just passing by, we specifically took the time to come see you guys."
ren's like ummmm excuse me im gonna go run after rio. yuto's like yes please do and ryusuke's like HUH
rintaro: "looks like he ran away after all, ryusuke :^)"
ryusuke: "that occhan did tell me to keep an eye on that guy in particular..."
ryusuke asks the three remaining argos to come with him for a min. he and rintaro have both used a very specific kansai-ben phrase to say this

chapter 3 episode 2 - argo (stst)

MORE ARGO... WE'RE AT A BAR....?????
rintaro explains its a music bar he and ryusuke like to come to. you usually have to apply to perform there but if there's a free opening you can jump up and play
ryusuke asks a mob staff guy if he can use the stage and mob guy says ok, then rintaro looks at argo like "what are you standing around for, you guys get ready too"
ryusuke says they always borrow labelmates to act as their support for lives(? might just mean at the bar, not sure)
wataru and banri like u-um fr?!??? rintaro says yes fr now get ready already
the three argos get super impressed by stst's ability and power as pros etc
the mob staff guy thanks them for livening the place up, stst mention that they know the owner and they like the bar too so they're always happy to play there
staff comments on the young-looking support (argo) and ryusuke's like yeahhh they're more naive than i thought
rintaro has them all sit down
he mentions they've been coming here since before their major debut; ryusuke says they can't come too often now or else fans will start crowding the place too much
stst tell argo their performance is a bit amateur; not necessarily bad, just still rough around the edges
ryusuke: "as i said before, 'naive'. or should i say 'too dependent on others'?" (wordplay: the words used are 甘い amai and 甘え amae respectively)
stst say that if they're too reliant on others helping them out of problems and want to just play as buddies or whatever, then they're better off just playing as a hobby (Yuto Didnt Like That)
ryusuke: ".... and that concludes our special guidance for today!"
wataru: "...huh??"
ryusuke: "what, you thought we'd tell you how to do everything from scratch? do we look like that kind of nice oniisan to you?"
rintaro: "ryusuke is actually a nice guy tho."
ryusuke: "rinchan. that doesnt need to be said rn"
ryusuke says he wanted to be able to say these things to nanahoshi, but o wells. stst leave
wataban are like man.... kind of feels like we dont know wtf to do now.... wtr calls out yuu who's been staring into space; yuu is like ah yeah anyway should we head out? banri agrees bc they're kind of out of place here lol
cut to park, it says "just a little bit ago", so we're picking up on rio and ren when they first left the practice studio
essentially rio just says he thinks yuto needs some time to sort out the Issue

chapter 3 episode 3 - fuurai

FUURAI TIME. for clarity, saxophone sakutaros will be marked with 🎷. unmarked sakutaros are 朔太郎
ao/fuu are at the riverbank; dead-eyes futa is fretting like "aoi how much longer :( sakutaro🎷 is in pain :(" aoi says the person he contacted should be there soon to "medically examine" sakutaro🎷
oh fukc. it fades to a black and white hospital bg....
futa's mother(!!) says something in broken fragments; she says futa's name, sakutaro's name, and ＊＊＊
futa: "sakunii... chan? ＊＊＊...?"
fade back to riverbank; that other piano bgm starts playing... futa gasps and the light in his eyes is back
aoi: "futa? what's wrong?"
futa: "aoi... who is 'sakutaro'?" he says this in such a deep tone....
aoi: "...!??"
they return to the sharehouse and kouhei and misaki are like aoi is it true.... did he actually remember
futa is there repeating "saku...niichan" "why is this memory appearing..."
aoi and kohei both hesitate to say anything, and futa gets angry: "why aren't you telling me!? you KNOW, both of you!" misaki: "futa, just chill out for a sec..."
futa: "misaki... misaki you know too, didn't you :("
misaki: "...yeah, i knew. we'll explain, just hold on a sec."
misaki: "kounii. make up your mind now."
kohei: "misaki..."
misaki: "futa's triggered it himself. do you really think he'll be happy if you continue to keep it from him?"
misaki: "he's not a kid anymore. the fact that he's come to realize it on his own should tell you it's time."
aoi: "...and it's probably just too late to keep it hidden now..."
kohei: (thinking to himself) "(i know what misaki and aoi are saying. i want to tell futa about sakutaro too. but...)"
kohei: "(but... if i tell him while he's in this state, won't that be breaking my promise...?)"
kohei: "('protect futa's happiness', those were sakutaro's last words...)"
kohei: "(i promised to fulfill his last wish. to realize my dream with sakutaro, together with futa...)"
kohei: "(if i were to tell futa now, i feel like he'd break the way he did then...)"
kohei: "....i'm sorry. i still can't tell you anything."
futa: "why...?"
kohei: "i promise to tell you everything someday. misaki... please tell him just about sakutaro."
misaki: "...got it."
kohei: "thanks :("
futa: "........" (upset noise)
misaki: "i met your brother when i was really little. i was probably like, 3 years old? this was before meeting aoi."
bg changes to a blue sky
misaki: "he was seven years older than me, and i thought he was the coolest guy ever. you loved him too; you were always calling after him, like 'sakuniichan, sakuniichan'"
sky fades to grey, then fades to....... this cg.......
(the following memory is unvoiced)
sakutaro: "kohei, would it be ok if we played with my little brother and his friend today too?"
young kohei: "sakunii, otouto-kun, and a friend? sure."
sakutaro: "futa, misaki. this is my friend, kohei-kun. let's all play together, ok?"
young futa: "ko-hei-kun?"
sakutaro: "kohei-kun is two years older than you, so you should probably call him kohei-oniichan."
young futa: "ko-hei-nii-chan! :3"
young kohei: "umm, nice to meet you, futa-kun, misaki-kun ^^"
young misaki: "r-right... umm, can i call him ko-nii?"
young futa: "oh, good idea! i wanna call him ko-nii too!!"
sakutaro: "these two are in the same nursery school as you, kohei."
sakutaro: "you're in different grades, but i'm hoping you can all get along and play here in the park." (not sure how to phrase it, but he's implicitly putting some 'look after them' responsibility on kohei)
young kohei: "got it. if you can't be here to be a big brother to these two... then i will!"
young futa: "yayyy more niichans!!"
sakutaro: "haha, a brother instead of a friend, huh. good for you, futa, misaki."
fade back to the sky, misaki narration returns
misaki: "...but sakutaro got sick a lot, and he ended up being hospitalized when we started elementary school, so we couldn't play together anymore."
misaki: "then... in our second year of middle school, his condition got worse..."
fade back to sharehouse
misaki: "you couldn't bear the thought of losing the brother you loved so much.... so your memory of that time was completely erased."
futa: "my memory was..."
music stops
futa: "then, my sax is..."

chapter 3 episode 4 - faniri

back to koharu saying he's seen this kind of feli before; daimon guesses it was from before the old band broke up (the prev band with felix and koharu, for which daimon was the roadie. feli suddenly disbanded that band without consulting the others)
koharu says feli acted a little strange then, though he isn't sure of the details
"he would decide things on a whim, just like now, but... there was a sort of like, dictator feeling to it. the band started getting into more and more arguments at that time"
jun asks if that isn't natural to have arguments come up from time to time, but koharu is like "nah it's... sorry i'm not explaining this well. i just feel like i'm seeing that feli again..."
jun is like a-are we gonna disband too!?!?? but koharu says he doesn't think so bc fantome iris is feli's ideal world, so he wouldn't be able to part with it so easily
tomoru mumbles to himself that they probably shouldn't participate if things are like this... daimon catches this and asks him what he means
tomoru shows them something on paper (there's a paper sfx) and jun reads the headline: "to celebrate the return of SYANA vocalist iryu koga, GENESIS TRAX will be hosting a sales ranking game"
tomoru says mashu-san offered to have faniri and gyro appear in a live after the show(?)
jun reads more; the arrangement will be to promote young bands in the industry and will coincide with the release of a new single by iryu koga
tomoru thought that appearing at this event with a new single of their own would be a nice marketing move, but with the Feli-san State Of Affairs they're gonna have to wait and see if they'll be able to
daimon says the new song has been started, but not much work has happened since felix was away in france... though felix did say he was going to collect his thoughts on the concept when he went out for a walk earlier
tomoru says it wouldnt be good to push feli-san rn, so he'll call mashu-san later to decline the offer
but jun protests, should we rly just go ahead like that...? koharu agrees that they'll need to give a good reason to feli before they do that
daimon prods koharu to tell tomojun more about felix's circumstances; anything that effects the band this much should be known by all the members
koharu relents after biting back a scowl that looked remarkably like that one dbes card art, but says he doesn't quite know the full picture himself. daimon says he'll supplement where he can
seems like they're about to explain but the episode ends.........

chapter 3 episode 5 - epsi

............EPSI TIME.....................
at first i was like omfg i cant take any more but the music is bright and relaxed and the first thing is reiji saying "shu" so im ok now
reiji: "shu, may i ask where you're intending to go?"
shu: "anywhere, really? i just didn't want to stay cooped up back there."
shu: "maybe haruka will be a little better once we get back from this walk."
reiji: "oh? that's unusual of you... though if you're worried about haruka, then it probably wasn't the best idea to leave him with the other two."
shu: "what. reiji, don't misunderstand me."
shu: "it's not that i'm ~concerned~ about haruka. i wanted kanata to whip 'im up into a storm."
reiji: "...you want to create more dissonance?" (says this weirdly, he might be quoting something)
shu: "his emotions bleed into his voice and playing, right? i think it'd be good if he could let it all spill out."
reiji: (thinking to himself) "(...you two are alike in that regard.)"
shu: "that aside, i'm also pretty excited to see what kind of thing haruka and tadaomi will make together."
shu: "i think the pressure on those two should be feeling preeetty intense by now ^w^"
reiji: "the progress on the composition has looked rather rough. have you been keeping an eye on it?"
shu: "you betcha. watching someone drown where they normally keep their footing is just delightful."
shu: "i think he'll come up with something better if he's driven into his slump even harder."
reiji: "understood."
reiji: (to himself) "...poor haruka." 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 the delivery on this line was phenomenal
back at the practice studio (tense music), haruka just returned and tadaomi welcomes him back
tadaomi apologizes to haruka bc he realized he mustve been making haruka feel like he's making tadaomi wait (to finish the composition)
tadaomi says that, come to think of it, shu had asked both of them to make the song, so instead of working seperately and then coming together, why don't they work together directly? that way a useable idea might surface more easily
haruka is irritated at first but gives in
when tadaomi says his yokatta/yoroshiku sentiment, he says it in a way that makes me nervous....
kanata returns and asks what they're talking about, haruka tells him it's none of his business again
shurei return as well and the music brightens up. kanata mutters that he's been interrupted. reiji asks haruka if he's ok and haruka says yeah
tadaomi tells shu that he and haruka are gonna do their best on the new song ^_^ shu is glad things seem to have worked out
over to sky fox records, reiji came to talk with sosui, who has something to tell him as well
sosui says he just received an invitation to the genesis trax-hosted sales ranking game event
reiji asks if sosui wants epsi to participate, and he says yep. he'd bring fuurai too but he's not sure if they're stable enough atm
reiji seems kind of startled at that, he's making a face i'm not sure i've seen yet
he then says that's what he came to talk about— that epsi is also a bit unstable lately
sosui doesn't seem surprised, and reiji asks if he'd already heard about haruka
sosui says he just kind of had a feeling, though he doesn't know the reason. he asks reiji if he knows why (sosui calls him reiji-kun that's so cute to me....)
reiji answers that nothing really stands out as a clear cause... sosui's like ok well both epsi and fuurai are set to release new singles so pls figure that out soon xoxo
reiji wakarimashitas and affirms that he'll relay all this to shu

chapter 3 episode 6 - gyro

gyro comes to dreadnote and mashu gets right to the point and tells them that gyro will be participating in the genesis trax event
kenta starts formulating in his head how to get around this but nayuta actually agrees to it
mashu is pleased and ask that they have their new single ready so its release can coincide with the event
kenta's like cool we'll contact you when the demo is ready and mashu says you do that. ok we're done now. (i love how efficient he is) ryo goes "see ya later mr. president ^w^" im gonna crush him like a bug
~several days later~ at gyro sharehouse
kenta starts bugging nayuta about coming out of his room since he's been holed up in there constantly
nyt is like fuck offff im taking breaks when i need to. but kenta calls him on it and straight up says that's a lie; he and everyone else has noticed signs that nyt has been working day and night
nyt starts leaving and kenta asks him where he's going. nayuta says "going for a walk bc you wont shut up" lol
ryo comes up to kenta and they talk a bit about nyt's condition and how to help him; ryo is like "anything you need kenken, just say the word and i'll help you ^w^" and kenta has a nice smile for the first time in a while as he thanks ryo
nayuta at the park, there's a weird... rustling shuffling noise?? and he thinks to himself "tch... it'll be a pain if they find the medicine. guess i'll have to hide it" !?!??!???
"'make sure to take these and rest as much as possible, otherwise your condition is likely to worsen'.... of all the times for this..."
back to sharehouse
nyt comes back and everyone tries to get nyt to eat a proper meal but he goes back to his room. he accepted a drink from miyuki tho
kenta says to just leave food in the fridge and he'll eat when he feels like it
basically just 934750432 lines worrying over that guy and trying to figure out what to do about it with no conclusion. notably reon is really bothered by the way nayuta is treating himself