kara just comes running out of the portal to punch tsuru in the face
NO I’M KIDDING (mostly) because Kara still 100% believes this is his Tsuru, Hanamaru Tsuru! He’s thought so from the start, and since Tsuru and Jiji made no attempts to tell him otherwise, he’s going to keep thinking that’s the case until they return from the Enkyou mission and he tries to talk to Tsuru about it.
So until then, he’s… really glad Tsuru was here in the village with him, even if it was only for a short time. Tsuru is one of his best friends, along with the rest of the Dategumi, and Kara would do almost anything for any of them and for the Date themselves. That, and the fact that Tsuru is the eldest and best preserved of the lot of them, meant he was in denial after Tsuru was pronounced dead until he found the broken sword, and that… kind of broke him, too. He’s used to being left alone, but none of the Date swords have ever broken before. It’s a different kind of pain.
He probably would not have done as well as he did without Tsuru having been here. He wouldn’t have learned to make jell-o shots, wouldn’t have adopted the chickens or named the horses, wouldn’t have reevaluated Lili or bonded with Shess as quickly - all of these things happened because Tsuru was there, in the beginning. Without wanting to revive Tsuru, he may not have seen the point of trying so hard in trials or anything. He might even have just gone and TPK’d as once they discovered only one could be left. It would have been a very different game!
But all of those things did happen, so he had someone present to keep working for, besides his drive to get back to the Enkyou mission. He didn’t want to let Tsuru down, and that was the only reason he ever wanted to be lms. He’d been resigned to bringing a broken sword back to his saniwa, but once he heard there would be a chance to revive him, Kara was all about it! It was his responsibility as captain to protect Tsuru, after all - he had to try. As annoying as Tsuru could be, there was no way he would ever abandon him.
And then they got tweets! And Tsuru wouldn’t stop sending them to him - and Kara would have responded immediately, if he knew how. That’s the only reason he didn’t, and why Tsuru had to start sending other people after him. Sure, it was annoying that the messages cut off instead of delivering the full message, but whatever. Kara never dared to mention it to anyone, but he was more relieved than he’s ever been to get messages from Tsuru, because it meant he wasn’t really gone, he hadn’t really left - and he was still trying to help. He didn’t know until then that they were being kept on a different plane, so he could imagine that Tsuru was losing his mind from boredom until then, wherever he was.
As much as he groused about the messages getting cut off, the only time he was genuinely annoyed with Tsuru for them was when he tried to give romantic advice. Like, first of all - there are more important things? Didn’t Tsuru say they were supposed to be getting important information? Why was he wasting messages on things like this! What is he getting at! This is dumb!! And who does Tsuru think he is, anyway? If Kara didn’t know romance before this, why would he? Secondly, wasn’t Lili dead by then? (I don’t remember when these texts happened.) How did he expect Kara to follow his advice?? AND ALSO - there was a mission to accomplish and learning about romance was not part of it. What the fuck.
It was a big circle of dumb and I hate it.
Moving on - he didn’t say so but he was very happy to see Tsuru in the digital world, and even more so to have the chance to fight with him again. It was almost like Tsuru had never broken at all, and they could pretend for a little while that he’d just been on a different mission. Kara missed him immediately when they went back, but it left him with a renewed sense of motivation to make it to the end.
And then he did, and they learned that the signs would be corrupted. He knew about Tsuru and Jiji by then, so he knew Tsuru must have been devastated to hear that. And swords being swords, he knew that no one was better suited to take Jiji down than Kara himself, though he wishes with all his heart that Tsuru would have been there to help him. It didn’t feel right to do it without him, but it was necessary, so he gave it his all, for both their sakes. As much as he hated Jiji during that battle for the things he’d said, Kara can’t say it wasn’t appropriate, for them both to break in battle at another sword’s hands. It was really the only way it could have gone. He’ll just. Pointedly pretend not to know how Tsuru must have felt, in that moment that both he and Mikazuki broke on the battlefield.
But then! They were all alive again! And everything was great! Kara’s super looking forward to going home with an unbroken Tsurumaru, to take on the Enkyou mission together and then get back to their regular lives in the citadel without all this murder. Imagine the surprise when he tries to talk to his Tsuru and finds out that he doesn’t have a clue what Kara is talking about!
Cue him bursting through the portals to find Tsuru and kick his ass. You could have told him, you absolute jackass. And don’t say it’s for the surprise - Kara isn’t going to accept that shit. He’ll be angry about it for a while, once he finds out, but eventually, I think he’ll go to visit this Tsuru to demand an explanation and to like… try? To make up with his friend? Because it may not be his Tsuru, but he’s still Tsurumaru, and they had a unique experience together that Kara will unfortunately never forget. He can’t leave this Tsuru behind forever, you know?
He loves any Tsurumaru, even if they’re being huge jerks, and he hates that. Please don’t keep any more big secrets from him :/
no subject
NO I’M KIDDING (mostly) because Kara still 100% believes this is his Tsuru, Hanamaru Tsuru! He’s thought so from the start, and since Tsuru and Jiji made no attempts to tell him otherwise, he’s going to keep thinking that’s the case until they return from the Enkyou mission and he tries to talk to Tsuru about it.
So until then, he’s… really glad Tsuru was here in the village with him, even if it was only for a short time. Tsuru is one of his best friends, along with the rest of the Dategumi, and Kara would do almost anything for any of them and for the Date themselves. That, and the fact that Tsuru is the eldest and best preserved of the lot of them, meant he was in denial after Tsuru was pronounced dead until he found the broken sword, and that… kind of broke him, too. He’s used to being left alone, but none of the Date swords have ever broken before. It’s a different kind of pain.
He probably would not have done as well as he did without Tsuru having been here. He wouldn’t have learned to make jell-o shots, wouldn’t have adopted the chickens or named the horses, wouldn’t have reevaluated Lili or bonded with Shess as quickly - all of these things happened because Tsuru was there, in the beginning. Without wanting to revive Tsuru, he may not have seen the point of trying so hard in trials or anything. He might even have just gone and TPK’d as once they discovered only one could be left. It would have been a very different game!
But all of those things did happen, so he had someone present to keep working for, besides his drive to get back to the Enkyou mission. He didn’t want to let Tsuru down, and that was the only reason he ever wanted to be lms. He’d been resigned to bringing a broken sword back to his saniwa, but once he heard there would be a chance to revive him, Kara was all about it! It was his responsibility as captain to protect Tsuru, after all - he had to try. As annoying as Tsuru could be, there was no way he would ever abandon him.
And then they got tweets! And Tsuru wouldn’t stop sending them to him - and Kara would have responded immediately, if he knew how. That’s the only reason he didn’t, and why Tsuru had to start sending other people after him. Sure, it was annoying that the messages cut off instead of delivering the full message, but whatever. Kara never dared to mention it to anyone, but he was more relieved than he’s ever been to get messages from Tsuru, because it meant he wasn’t really gone, he hadn’t really left - and he was still trying to help. He didn’t know until then that they were being kept on a different plane, so he could imagine that Tsuru was losing his mind from boredom until then, wherever he was.
As much as he groused about the messages getting cut off, the only time he was genuinely annoyed with Tsuru for them was when he tried to give romantic advice. Like, first of all - there are more important things? Didn’t Tsuru say they were supposed to be getting important information? Why was he wasting messages on things like this! What is he getting at! This is dumb!! And who does Tsuru think he is, anyway? If Kara didn’t know romance before this, why would he? Secondly, wasn’t Lili dead by then? (I don’t remember when these texts happened.) How did he expect Kara to follow his advice?? AND ALSO - there was a mission to accomplish and learning about romance was not part of it. What the fuck.
It was a big circle of dumb and I hate it.
Moving on - he didn’t say so but he was very happy to see Tsuru in the digital world, and even more so to have the chance to fight with him again. It was almost like Tsuru had never broken at all, and they could pretend for a little while that he’d just been on a different mission. Kara missed him immediately when they went back, but it left him with a renewed sense of motivation to make it to the end.
And then he did, and they learned that the signs would be corrupted. He knew about Tsuru and Jiji by then, so he knew Tsuru must have been devastated to hear that. And swords being swords, he knew that no one was better suited to take Jiji down than Kara himself, though he wishes with all his heart that Tsuru would have been there to help him. It didn’t feel right to do it without him, but it was necessary, so he gave it his all, for both their sakes. As much as he hated Jiji during that battle for the things he’d said, Kara can’t say it wasn’t appropriate, for them both to break in battle at another sword’s hands. It was really the only way it could have gone. He’ll just. Pointedly pretend not to know how Tsuru must have felt, in that moment that both he and Mikazuki broke on the battlefield.
But then! They were all alive again! And everything was great! Kara’s super looking forward to going home with an unbroken Tsurumaru, to take on the Enkyou mission together and then get back to their regular lives in the citadel without all this murder. Imagine the surprise when he tries to talk to his Tsuru and finds out that he doesn’t have a clue what Kara is talking about!
Cue him bursting through the portals to find Tsuru and kick his ass. You could have told him, you absolute jackass. And don’t say it’s for the surprise - Kara isn’t going to accept that shit. He’ll be angry about it for a while, once he finds out, but eventually, I think he’ll go to visit this Tsuru to demand an explanation and to like… try? To make up with his friend? Because it may not be his Tsuru, but he’s still Tsurumaru, and they had a unique experience together that Kara will unfortunately never forget. He can’t leave this Tsuru behind forever, you know?
He loves any Tsurumaru, even if they’re being huge jerks, and he hates that. Please don’t keep any more big secrets from him :/