FreenBeck Coming For Our Necks.

FreenBeck coming for our necks.

Got it.

FreenBecca x Liio

segasaki getting Triggered by his co-host wearing glasses in a live weather forcasting broadcast bc it reminded him of man-san's husband who he is currently jealous of bc he thinks yoh finds him kinder and someone who listens to and pays attention to what people say, something segasaki thinks in his head that yoh feels he doesn't do (when yoh was referring to the segasaki character man-san has made up in her manga about them two), and yoh watching segasaki try and pull off his Professional Poker Broadcaster Face but instantly picking up that something isn't right with segasaki bc he's stared at his face for so long now and has drawn in it so many times over the years now that nobody else would realise that something is wrong with segasaki but, of course, yoh does .......... god its allllll in the details.

The fact that Segasaki is still touch starved in spite of having a physical relationship with Yoh speaks volumes to me. They have been intimate in many ways, but when the question comes to emotional intimacy, that's when Segasaki gets surprised.

He gets giddy when he's holding Yoh's hand on the ropeway. He gets surprised when Yoh kisses him or initiates touch first.

He feels content when Yoh cuddles up to him.

gif by @taikanyohou

He gets happy when Yoh gets jealous. Because for him, these are the ways to confirm that Yoh is not just an emotionless companion for him to get off with. It's at these moments Segasaki realises that Yoh likes him back. That Yoh is also willing to give himself emotionally to him. That Yoh also sees him as a suitable partner to be vulnerable in front of.

#a well proven tactic.

Me ... rabbit hole.

Segasaki's Public Persona

Hi sorry I gotta put these boys back in the microwave and hit whammy on the +30 seconds button ad infinitum to examine them or I’m not gonna make it to next Thursday for the next episode. 

This time I need to talk about Segasaki’s public persona and how it relates to his relationship with Yoh.

Throughout the series so far, we’ve seen that the public Segasaki is very different than the private Segasaki. The public Segasaki is charming, polite, and friendly. He speaks in a different register. He even smiles and laughs! But it’s very much an act that Segasaki turns on and off at will. Yoh notices when Segasaki turns the act on him (describing it as 外面, his “outside face,” as notfreetoday outlines here) in Episode 3 and Segasaki deliberately weaponizes it in Episode 4 to assert his claim on Yoh to Man-san.

In Episode 6, we see the college-era public Segasaki, as Yoh first sees Segasaki in the cafeteria surrounded by friends. He smiles, he laughs, he speaks in that different register. But when he’s not “on” in the conversation, he looks uncomfortable. When he catches Yoh looking at him, he looks downright miserable. But Yoh doesn’t look away, and we see Segasaki notice him, question what he’s seeing, and then be utterly struck by feeling something, some kind of connection. (It’s a beautifully subtle piece of acting.) Yoh catches a glimpse of the private Segasaki and remains enthralled; surely a novel experience to someone who feels the need to perform in these settings to make people like him.

Segasaki clearly finds it intriguing enough to take advantage of an opportunity to meet Yoh and ditch his friends. He’s still very much the public Segasaki with Yoh in that first meeting; polite and friendly and charming. But he immediately starts testing the waters. What if I whisper conspiratorially in your ear, making it clear it’s us vs. them? What if I grab you casually to steer you around? What if I tell you nerdy weather facts? What if I get close to you? What would you do?

And Yoh responds beautifully. While confused that someone like the popular Segasaki would bother with him, he’s happy to be in a little conspiracy of two with Segasaki. He lets Segasaki steer him without protesting. He’s fascinated by the weather facts. He lets Segasaki crowd him because he realizes he enjoys it. Yoh might not be able to parse that his overwhelming feelings for Segasaki are romantic at this point, but he does demonstrate to Segasaki that he’s someone Segasaki could trust with his private self. 

Which we see in the scene immediately following in the library set an undetermined amount of time later. Segasaki’s dropped the honorifics. He speaks to Yoh in that low voice he only uses with Yoh. He crowds him and clearly enjoys Yoh’s reaction to being crowded. He even bosses him around a bit, assigning him a little book report so Segasaki has an excuse to see him later.* This is not the public Segasaki everybody else gets to see; this is the private Segasaki that he only trusts Yoh with. 

Segasaki’s public persona versus his private self is a theme that was introduced as early as Episode 1, but I wanted to point it out here because I think this is one of the key reasons that Segasaki fell in love with Yoh and fell so hard. The preview for Episode 7 implies that Segasaki didn’t realize how fake his smiles with his friends were until he saw himself in Yoh’s sketches. Not only can Segasaki be himself around Yoh, but Yoh may be the one who opened his eyes to the dichotomy between his public persona and his private self and the toll the former takes on him. No wonder Segasaki’s so in love with him and so fearful of losing him; Yoh is a safe harbor for him that no one else is. For Segasaki, Yoh is home.

And Yoh has no idea how important he is to Segasaki and he's gonna find out!!! Ahhh!!!!

*The book Segasaki hands Yoh is a copy of J'cause français, non?, which appears to be a linguistics book from the 1980s addressing then contemporary fears about the downfall of the French language. I looked it up because I thought the book might be a cute Easter egg, but it’s clearly just a random book from the school library they were filming in. That said, I love the idea of Yoh mentioning he's looking for a book and Segasaki panicking and handing him a book in a language neither of them can read because he wants to provide for Yoh so bad. Nerds (affectionate). 

I'm as fascinated by their offscreen personas as their portrayals of Yoh and Mizuki.

More with this pair, please.

Just more.

The Struggle (of being able to say gagaoolala) Is Real 🤣🤣🤣.