TL;CR MEME

[divus]

TL;CR MEME

1. Comment with your character.
2. Receive comments from others.
3. Reply to their comments with long ballads and explanations of your characters' relationship throughout the game.
4. Endure everyone else reading your comment like the vultures they are.

Comments

[selfimmolates]

Taka, the only good emo...

though he was also an emo who was a shit to Ray when they first met, so he cursed him. Not because he actually disliked him, but because he wanted to test his powers so why not, and also because he knew Taka would HATE it (there's a reason Rise went "ah right, he's only twelve..." then, sorry Taka). To be honest, he never really thought of Taka as annoying or whatever (even if Taka found him so)—Taka didn't threaten anyone he cared about, and he wasn't incompetent, so he was fine in Ray's books.

But yeah, he mainly viewed him as "Senri's friend". (He did start feeling a little bad about it, especially since IIRC Senri mentioned that Taka was bothered by all the people who only spoke to him because of Senri, but Ray had no idea how to change that because he's also terrible at making friends and went into the competition intending to just make use of people.) He was invested in Taka's well-being (and therefore did things like focus on Fortune's killer by Senri's request), but a large part of it was that Taka's mood affected Senri's mood, so.

Though outside of Senri, he did think Taka was one of the more reliable people in the game, and it was easier to talk shop with him, even if the fact they were hiding their alignments meant they couldn't be actual allies.

In a way, Ray's view of Taka changed after Senri told him he was a bad liar and he started believing that (especially when he realized Taka's alignment was, in fact, Merriment because tbh he kind of figured Taka lied to Madoka). The idea of being bad at lying and/or hating it is sort of foreign to Ray?? How do you get through life while being honest???? Look at him and Sasuke, they're dishonest as shit. And he realized it was probably one of the reasons they had trouble clicking, as Taka was in a weird position for him: Ray couldn't just use him, because Senri would get mad and also Taka wasn't trying to use him in return (and at this point Ray had developed some semblance of a conscience), but they hadn't crossed the bridge of becoming allies either, because he assumed Taka didn't trust him.

So Taka confessing his alignment to Ray was a honest surprise to him! He knew it was a big deal for Taka to do that, based off things Senri had said; therefore, there was the moment of "oh, this is a sign of trust, isn't it..." Between that and the aforementioned feeling bad about treating Taka like an extension of Senri, it's why Ray tried to give him some reassurance at the end, even though he's terrible at it and it pained him so much to admit any kind of feelings. MAY THEY NEVER SPEAK OF THAT AGAIN.

(Likewise, this was the point where Ray would've started getting to know Taka better, but then he went and died. Oops.)

At that point, he cared enough about Taka to, as said, feel bad about causing drama in his and Senri's relationship (and after the Merriment lie, he probably would've stopped getting Taka to lie for him). It pretty much cemented Taka as a good guy who probably didn't deserve any of this, and it was for both him and Senri that Ray sort of tried to play therapist in their relationship (namely by telling Senri that it was unfair for him to treat Taka like an ideal; Senri would be crushed underneath his own expectations, and it'd just hurt Taka). Taka also admitted to hating liars and whatnot, which again is something Ray cannot empathize with at ALL, but it made it pretty clear that Taka didn't really belong in this game.

To which, honestly, Ray had mixed feelings about. On one hand, Taka was still here, so it would be to his benefit to get good at/used to lying. (Also, to stop blaming himself for things, but Ray knew he couldn't do anything about that, and to get used to murder.) On the other hand, Ray became the way he did out of pragmatism and not because it actually makes him happy, so he didn't really want to wish that on Taka. Ultimately, that Taka could say he wasn't suited for this competition made him a better person than Ray and Sasuke both, and Ray figured that, especially after returning home, Taka would probably live a happier life if he maintained his honesty.

So he hopes that Taka, like, gets therapy/healing (probably in the form of Senri) to deal with his trauma once he's back home and lives a relatively fulfilling life, and please do not contact Ray???? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SMART ONE!!