alias_sqbr (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alias_sqbr) wrote2020-11-25 06:39 pm
alias_sqbr) wrote2020-11-25 06:39 pm
Entry tags:
The Unexpected Gayness of Our Two Bedroom Story
So I bought this otome game on the Switch because I'd enjoyed the couple of routes I'd played for free on Love365 (which aren't included in this version) and liked the characters. Mostly it's the fluffy tropey romance I was expecting but to my complete surprise there's ACTUAL QUEER CHARACTERS?? And two of the love interests are ambiguously shippy???
Unfortunately I have VERY mixed feelings about how this is all handled, but don't remember any queerness whatsoever in any other Love365 game, so overall I'm not sure how I feel.
Anyway. The premise is that the heroine is a journalist whose mother has just gotten married to a guy with a son her age...who turns out to be a workmate! And also her housemate! And NOBODY MUST KNOW!!
I've played three main routes and some side stories. I'll probably play the others at some point when the premise feels fresh again.
Akiyoshi: Your strict but decent boss, like a slightly bossy older brother. This was very cute.
Kaede: An awkward, stand-offish kuudere with Secret Pain. This was also pretty cute. Also he was weirdly shippy with Chiaki, who'd seemed creepy so I'd not been intending to romance him, but I got curious...
Chiaki: Charming sadistic manipulator who secretly hates women. CONSENT ISSUES AHOY. He was interesting but also awful. He gets nice by the end but ehhh. They actively avoid addressing his feelings about Kaoru.
The remaining dudes are a nice guy and a sharp tongued tsundere.
The side stories have to be played one after the other, the couple I've done were ok but didn't add much to my experience. It's stuff like the plot from the guy's POV and various sequels.
The port to Switch was competently done, it works fine on a big screen being played all at once with a console controller.
Ok so that's my review. Now for my reactions.
Content note: Consent issues, mixed treatment of gay/bi characters
AKIYOSHI'S ROUTE:
I don't have much to add to what I said about Akiyoshi except that I really dislike how Voltage games with major power imbalances never have the "And of course I would never abuse my power over you" conversation. I mean I don't think he would! He's a decent guy! But I can only enjoy these romances by avoiding any sequels, and telling myself they have the conversation just after they get together and maybe have him no longer be her DIRECT SUPERIOR.
We do get our first canon queer character: Bianchi, a Very Italian bartender with a crush on Akiyoshi. Akiyoshi doesn't mind being flirted with, and noone else seems to think it's a big deal, but when MC brings it up Akiyoshi states very firmly that he's straight.
So this is...eh, not totally terrible, but even if Bianchi is sympathetic he doesn't have much depth and is stuck with an unrequited crush on a straight guy.
KAORU'S ROUTE:
I flailed to a friend as I was playing it:
So I'm playing this very generic Love365 otome about Secretly Sharing A House With Your Workmate, and always thought the LI Chiaki was very shippy with the other LI Kaoru but assumed it would stay in the realm of no homo. But on Kaoru's route, when Kaoru is angsting about his Secret Trauma, Chiaki worries about him so much, and so jealous that he's closer to MC, that MC explicitly thinks Chiaki possibly has romantic feelings for Kaoru.
So now I am very curious to play Chiaki's route. Kaoru is an autistic coded kuudere, which is my jam. Chiaki is a superficially cheerful but subtly sly and manipulative younger guy, which can be my jam so we'll see.
Currently stalled because MC is being a dumbass
Oh he kissed me what does it meaaaaan
IT MEANS
HE LIKES YOU
COME ON
oh I like him so much I will flinch every time he looks at me
and then when he avoids me take it as proof we are growing apart
COME. ON.
He does have a dead girlfriend he's hung up on and told MC he's not going to love anyone else for a while but that was BEFORE HE KISSED HER.
Finished the route, it got cute again at the end, them both being dumbasses who can't talk about their feelings and have to awkwardly stumble through blushing stuttering implied confessions. Like, I don't think either of them said "I like you", she just sort of flailingly implied feelings that he'd then rejected and he said "I thought it was clear" then kissed her again and she was obviously into it and they both went ok good we're on the same page THE END.
Now to work through the like 8 extras??
First is the story from his POV which is mostly boring but he is just as much of a flailing dumbass as her inside lol. Also he's currently thinking about how similar Chiaki and MC are (and how both are like his cat)
Chiaki: You're thinking about MC, right?
Kaoru: Half right. I was thinking about you as well.
"He seems embarrassed for some reason"
GAME STOP MESSING WITH ME LIKE THIS
I mean Kaoru is way more into MC than Chiaki but that's when he's dating her so hopefully I will have space to imagine them getting together when she's on some other dude's route
Chiaki, visibly blushing: You're a real bastard sometimes
Kaoru: What?
Chiaki: nothing
HOW IS THIS GOING TO GO ON CHIAKI'S ROUTE
Kaoru is 6'0 to Chiaki's 5'9" nice height difference
CHIAKI'S ROUTE:
So I wasn't going to play Chiaki because he seemed the "gentleman on the surface but actually a rapey asshole" type but he was SO shippy with Kaoru I got curious. Alas it wasn't shippy with Kaoru at all, but it didn't contradict Chiaki having feelings for Kaoru, and was certainly a trip.
The FIRST THING Chiaki does on his route is be all "So you're my new sister? :D" while playing footsie under the table.
Turns out that while he is the "gentleman on the surface but actually a rapey asshole" type he is also the rapey little brother type, which is at least...less gendered? Kinda?
He's like 90% sweet and helpful, 10% plausibly deniability 'it was just a joke' sexual harassment.
Also after five routes (including the ones I played for free) of guys being fairly respectful and nonsexual and also neither of them thinking of each other as siblings, this one both has him being sexually skeezy and BOTH of them emphasising the sibling thing. Also he's her junior at work and I assume in Japanese there's a whole senpai/kohai thing going on (I am so into girl senpai/boy kohai)
MC accidentally climbs into Chiaki's bed and he is DELIGHTED, covering her mouth so she won't scream (kind of understandable in context) then saying he needs to 'calm her down' before he'll let her go and taking this as a chance to cop a feel (NOT OK)
She is pissed.
Bu then he's nice again! Except when he's not!
She enjoys teasing him about having terrible handwriting which turns out to be because he's left handed and was forced to write with his right hand. Is that still a thing in Japan?? I know this is a somewhat older game but still.
Haaa and it turns out to be all MOMMY ISSUES, he doesn't trust women because his mother left with no warning when he was a kid. He is sleeping with a woman from work but doesn't respect her or see her as a girlfriend.
So MC is determined to move out, but just as she does so she kinda regrets it: he's mostly pretty nice to live with, and they have some cute moments of connection. But when she says she's leaving he immediately goes all OH I SEE ANOTHER WOMAN IS LEAVING ME, TYPICAL and acts cold.
Yet he says he misses her, and she misses him too. He also seems hurt that she didn't want to acknowledge him as family at work. While he was implying to people that they were dating to mess with her. Sure!
She decides to try and connect back with him As Family, at first he's stand-off-ish but eventually seems charmed, and takes her out for drinks to celebrate a work success. He makes a vague, ineffective effort to not have her get too drunk.
AND THEN. SHE WAKES UP NEXT TO HIM IN BED.
She desperately tries to believe he just got tired and slept next to her but he very heavily implies they had sex and she's all "With CHIAKI?? My STEPBROTHER?? D:" then tells him he needs to take responsibility since she was drunk. (EDIT: Turns out he was lying, which is something I guess)
I think she just means an apology for let's-not-call-it-rape but he says "Ok so we're dating then. So you'll move back in? :)"
I.
And like she really does seem to like him as family. I mean she thinks he's hot, too, but...this is not the kind of psychosexual drama I was expecting! Kaoru hasn't even really come up! Even Bianchi the gay bartender didn't bring up sexuality stuff! Though I guess "hates women due to mommy issues" is a classic Terrible Reason For Bisexuality :/
They have a date which is like 50% cute bonding 50% weird mind-games. MC has to admit she does have some feelings for Chiaki, but when she tells him that he just looks surprised so she goes "SEE YOU WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE IT IF I DID".
The B plot involves Chiaki and MC trying to connect with a reclusive famous female writer, who says she hates men and will only work with MC, and looks at MC in a way that makes her feel like the author is checking her out??
OH WOW. AUTHOR GOT VERY HANDSY WHEN THEY WERE ALONE. MC is shocked and runs away, then afterwards feels bad for being so rude to a client haha. I'm not a huge fan of the skeezy man-hating lesbian trope but MC is mainly upset when she realises Chiaki set her up to be alone with the author on purpose, and I feel like she'd be just as upset if it was a male author. So I'm reserving judgement until I see how this gets handled in the end.
Chiaki unrepentantly says he was using MC, and trust between colleagues is a lie, but she feels like he almost WANTS her to hate him. Also...sigh, she realises she loves him so much she doesn't care. FINE.
Akiyoshi, meanwhile, doesn't want MC to be unsafe but they both just assume that there's no option to just ask the author to stop hitting on her so the only choice to avoid alienating her is to make excuses not to be alone together. Which...might also be the reaction if it was a male author :/
Aw but then he takes them off the project. MC objects, saying she isn't in danger, she just inadvertently led the author on, and it will be fine now she's prepared. WILL IT.
Even though this is in Chiaki's best interests he is confused and furious. She's being way too nice, and making him want to trust her.
He explains that he's always had women into him, but they just liked him for shallow reasons. Then at uni he had a tutor who looked after him like an older sister...and then they started dating (MOMMY. ISSUES.). Then she got a job and started drifting away, spending time with another man. When he called her on it she said it was all his fault for having too much baggage, that noone would want to be with him.
He decided to never trust women again. When MC moved in, he started seeing how long it would take for her to hate him.
Chiaki: You must think I'm pretty vile, huh. I'm really sorry.
MC: None of it was your fault.
Me: I mean...some of it kinda was...
He asks if she's willing to try being with him again, and she says yes, and that she loves him. They get sniffly and hug. They stay up all night talking and wake up together, and then have a nice mutually consensual kiss.
Author: I'm not going to apologise >:(
Chiaki: I don't have a problem with gays, but are your intentions with MC serious? Or were you just lonely? Believe in yourself! And write this story! I know what it's like to use people because I've been hurt in the past. I've sensed the same feelings in you. Why not open up to us about it?
Author: ...noone else has noticed that about me before.
Aww, they bonded about being shitty to women?? That's...sort of...cute???
Author: I was in love with a man but then he stole all my money.
MC: (But...she's...gay...???)
Sorry Chiaki you may need to explain the concept of bisexuality to her slowly with diagrams.
OH NO. THE AUTHOR FOUND HAPPINESS WITH A WOMAN BUT THEN THE WOMAN STOLE HER MONEY TOO.
Chiaki and the author bond about having been betrayed, and she says he seems much happier now than he did before.
Chiaki: I've found someone. I'm sure you'll find someone too, once you let yourself be true to who you are. And we want to help you find who you really are. We want to show the world your genius again.
Author: ...very well. I apologise for my indiscretion, MC.
MC: I'm sorry I lost my head.
Author: From now on I'll concentrate on the story.
Even nice!Chaiki is pretty focussed on getting the story but it all worked out I guess.
We see the office dealing with the massive positive response to the story. Minato decides Chiaki's success deserves a reward of tickling, which makes Chiaki very embarrassed, especially when Kaoru joins in and Chaiki starts sneezing because of the cat hair.
Kaoru: Hee, look at you wriggling and squirming, just like a cat. You'll grow pointy ears next.
Chiaki: You're messing with my hair ;_;
MC: :D
Yeah, he deserves it.
Coulda done with more Kaoru/Chiaki fanservice but this will do, I guess.
Chiaki was offered a promotion but turned it down, not wanting to feel like he got it by using MC. They go home and get mildly tipsy and he gives her a letter to read when she's drunk. She insists on reading it now and he's endearingly embarrassed at the idea she might laugh, it's just a short declaration of his feelings which she finds super charming.
Haa oh man so his POV starts out pretty moustache twirlingly evil, though he doesn't dislike MC he's perfectly happy to manipulate her for his own advantage and all the "niceness" she was so charmed by initially comes from a pretty nasty place. Or at least he tells himself it does, since even once he's obviously into her he's massively in denial about it.
Then we see the night they get drunk together and he's if anything just annoyed that she's such a lightweight so he has to take care of her, all tsundere about Not Having Feelings. When he gets her home he thinks about how he could take advantage but just gives her a kiss on the forehead and falls asleep next to her. I was hoping it was something like that.
Kaoru NEVER shows up during ANY of the Chiaki POV scenes, allowing the writers to avoid showing us how Chiaki feels about him.
Which I guess is better than no-homing it? Like the most logical interpretation of Chiaki's route for me, taking his behaviour elsewhere into account, is that he had a crush on Kaoru but assumed Kaoru was straight (and probably doesn't want the hassle of being out as bi anyway) so had no intention of pursing it. Then when Chiaki got into MC he got over Kaoru but still likes him as a friend.
Especially since the narrative so blatantly parallels Chiaki with the bi author. IDK why they couldn't just have Chiaki be bi but I guess some players would be alienated by that so they played it safe. Given how rare any sort of same sex relationship is in otome I don't know how much I can blame them but I do feel like they could have been a little braver, especially considering the popularity of Samurai Love Ballad Party, a different Voltage game with overtly bi love interests. I guess this game is older? But still. I am very bad at telling the difference between representation and fanservice (to the extent the two things can be separated) when it comes to Japanese media but I'm sure some of this was intended to be fanservice.
I still kind of ship Chiaki/Kaoru, and will be imagining them getting together in the background of the other routes, but Kaoru can do better. Being a man who Chiaki already likes and treats nicely would avoid SOME of Chiaki's terribleness but I can see both of them being a mess once things crossed the line of plausible deniability, because of their respective trauma about trust and emotions and also probably some internalised homophobia. MC may be a dumbass but at least she's not terrified of love on principle.
I'm wondering if there'll be more hints of queerness like this in the other routes. I've had enough of this premise for a while and am having more fun with Cafe Enchante but I'm sure I'll play the other two eventually.
Unfortunately I have VERY mixed feelings about how this is all handled, but don't remember any queerness whatsoever in any other Love365 game, so overall I'm not sure how I feel.
Anyway. The premise is that the heroine is a journalist whose mother has just gotten married to a guy with a son her age...who turns out to be a workmate! And also her housemate! And NOBODY MUST KNOW!!
I've played three main routes and some side stories. I'll probably play the others at some point when the premise feels fresh again.
Akiyoshi: Your strict but decent boss, like a slightly bossy older brother. This was very cute.
Kaede: An awkward, stand-offish kuudere with Secret Pain. This was also pretty cute. Also he was weirdly shippy with Chiaki, who'd seemed creepy so I'd not been intending to romance him, but I got curious...
Chiaki: Charming sadistic manipulator who secretly hates women. CONSENT ISSUES AHOY. He was interesting but also awful. He gets nice by the end but ehhh. They actively avoid addressing his feelings about Kaoru.
The remaining dudes are a nice guy and a sharp tongued tsundere.
The side stories have to be played one after the other, the couple I've done were ok but didn't add much to my experience. It's stuff like the plot from the guy's POV and various sequels.
The port to Switch was competently done, it works fine on a big screen being played all at once with a console controller.
Ok so that's my review. Now for my reactions.
Content note: Consent issues, mixed treatment of gay/bi characters
AKIYOSHI'S ROUTE:
I don't have much to add to what I said about Akiyoshi except that I really dislike how Voltage games with major power imbalances never have the "And of course I would never abuse my power over you" conversation. I mean I don't think he would! He's a decent guy! But I can only enjoy these romances by avoiding any sequels, and telling myself they have the conversation just after they get together and maybe have him no longer be her DIRECT SUPERIOR.
We do get our first canon queer character: Bianchi, a Very Italian bartender with a crush on Akiyoshi. Akiyoshi doesn't mind being flirted with, and noone else seems to think it's a big deal, but when MC brings it up Akiyoshi states very firmly that he's straight.
So this is...eh, not totally terrible, but even if Bianchi is sympathetic he doesn't have much depth and is stuck with an unrequited crush on a straight guy.
KAORU'S ROUTE:
I flailed to a friend as I was playing it:
So I'm playing this very generic Love365 otome about Secretly Sharing A House With Your Workmate, and always thought the LI Chiaki was very shippy with the other LI Kaoru but assumed it would stay in the realm of no homo. But on Kaoru's route, when Kaoru is angsting about his Secret Trauma, Chiaki worries about him so much, and so jealous that he's closer to MC, that MC explicitly thinks Chiaki possibly has romantic feelings for Kaoru.
So now I am very curious to play Chiaki's route. Kaoru is an autistic coded kuudere, which is my jam. Chiaki is a superficially cheerful but subtly sly and manipulative younger guy, which can be my jam so we'll see.
Currently stalled because MC is being a dumbass
Oh he kissed me what does it meaaaaan
IT MEANS
HE LIKES YOU
COME ON
oh I like him so much I will flinch every time he looks at me
and then when he avoids me take it as proof we are growing apart
COME. ON.
He does have a dead girlfriend he's hung up on and told MC he's not going to love anyone else for a while but that was BEFORE HE KISSED HER.
Finished the route, it got cute again at the end, them both being dumbasses who can't talk about their feelings and have to awkwardly stumble through blushing stuttering implied confessions. Like, I don't think either of them said "I like you", she just sort of flailingly implied feelings that he'd then rejected and he said "I thought it was clear" then kissed her again and she was obviously into it and they both went ok good we're on the same page THE END.
Now to work through the like 8 extras??
First is the story from his POV which is mostly boring but he is just as much of a flailing dumbass as her inside lol. Also he's currently thinking about how similar Chiaki and MC are (and how both are like his cat)
Chiaki: You're thinking about MC, right?
Kaoru: Half right. I was thinking about you as well.
"He seems embarrassed for some reason"
GAME STOP MESSING WITH ME LIKE THIS
I mean Kaoru is way more into MC than Chiaki but that's when he's dating her so hopefully I will have space to imagine them getting together when she's on some other dude's route
Chiaki, visibly blushing: You're a real bastard sometimes
Kaoru: What?
Chiaki: nothing
HOW IS THIS GOING TO GO ON CHIAKI'S ROUTE
Kaoru is 6'0 to Chiaki's 5'9" nice height difference
CHIAKI'S ROUTE:
So I wasn't going to play Chiaki because he seemed the "gentleman on the surface but actually a rapey asshole" type but he was SO shippy with Kaoru I got curious. Alas it wasn't shippy with Kaoru at all, but it didn't contradict Chiaki having feelings for Kaoru, and was certainly a trip.
The FIRST THING Chiaki does on his route is be all "So you're my new sister? :D" while playing footsie under the table.
Turns out that while he is the "gentleman on the surface but actually a rapey asshole" type he is also the rapey little brother type, which is at least...less gendered? Kinda?
He's like 90% sweet and helpful, 10% plausibly deniability 'it was just a joke' sexual harassment.
Also after five routes (including the ones I played for free) of guys being fairly respectful and nonsexual and also neither of them thinking of each other as siblings, this one both has him being sexually skeezy and BOTH of them emphasising the sibling thing. Also he's her junior at work and I assume in Japanese there's a whole senpai/kohai thing going on (I am so into girl senpai/boy kohai)
MC accidentally climbs into Chiaki's bed and he is DELIGHTED, covering her mouth so she won't scream (kind of understandable in context) then saying he needs to 'calm her down' before he'll let her go and taking this as a chance to cop a feel (NOT OK)
She is pissed.
Bu then he's nice again! Except when he's not!
She enjoys teasing him about having terrible handwriting which turns out to be because he's left handed and was forced to write with his right hand. Is that still a thing in Japan?? I know this is a somewhat older game but still.
Haaa and it turns out to be all MOMMY ISSUES, he doesn't trust women because his mother left with no warning when he was a kid. He is sleeping with a woman from work but doesn't respect her or see her as a girlfriend.
So MC is determined to move out, but just as she does so she kinda regrets it: he's mostly pretty nice to live with, and they have some cute moments of connection. But when she says she's leaving he immediately goes all OH I SEE ANOTHER WOMAN IS LEAVING ME, TYPICAL and acts cold.
Yet he says he misses her, and she misses him too. He also seems hurt that she didn't want to acknowledge him as family at work. While he was implying to people that they were dating to mess with her. Sure!
She decides to try and connect back with him As Family, at first he's stand-off-ish but eventually seems charmed, and takes her out for drinks to celebrate a work success. He makes a vague, ineffective effort to not have her get too drunk.
AND THEN. SHE WAKES UP NEXT TO HIM IN BED.
She desperately tries to believe he just got tired and slept next to her but he very heavily implies they had sex and she's all "With CHIAKI?? My STEPBROTHER?? D:" then tells him he needs to take responsibility since she was drunk. (EDIT: Turns out he was lying, which is something I guess)
I think she just means an apology for let's-not-call-it-rape but he says "Ok so we're dating then. So you'll move back in? :)"
I.
And like she really does seem to like him as family. I mean she thinks he's hot, too, but...this is not the kind of psychosexual drama I was expecting! Kaoru hasn't even really come up! Even Bianchi the gay bartender didn't bring up sexuality stuff! Though I guess "hates women due to mommy issues" is a classic Terrible Reason For Bisexuality :/
They have a date which is like 50% cute bonding 50% weird mind-games. MC has to admit she does have some feelings for Chiaki, but when she tells him that he just looks surprised so she goes "SEE YOU WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE IT IF I DID".
The B plot involves Chiaki and MC trying to connect with a reclusive famous female writer, who says she hates men and will only work with MC, and looks at MC in a way that makes her feel like the author is checking her out??
OH WOW. AUTHOR GOT VERY HANDSY WHEN THEY WERE ALONE. MC is shocked and runs away, then afterwards feels bad for being so rude to a client haha. I'm not a huge fan of the skeezy man-hating lesbian trope but MC is mainly upset when she realises Chiaki set her up to be alone with the author on purpose, and I feel like she'd be just as upset if it was a male author. So I'm reserving judgement until I see how this gets handled in the end.
Chiaki unrepentantly says he was using MC, and trust between colleagues is a lie, but she feels like he almost WANTS her to hate him. Also...sigh, she realises she loves him so much she doesn't care. FINE.
Akiyoshi, meanwhile, doesn't want MC to be unsafe but they both just assume that there's no option to just ask the author to stop hitting on her so the only choice to avoid alienating her is to make excuses not to be alone together. Which...might also be the reaction if it was a male author :/
Aw but then he takes them off the project. MC objects, saying she isn't in danger, she just inadvertently led the author on, and it will be fine now she's prepared. WILL IT.
Even though this is in Chiaki's best interests he is confused and furious. She's being way too nice, and making him want to trust her.
He explains that he's always had women into him, but they just liked him for shallow reasons. Then at uni he had a tutor who looked after him like an older sister...and then they started dating (MOMMY. ISSUES.). Then she got a job and started drifting away, spending time with another man. When he called her on it she said it was all his fault for having too much baggage, that noone would want to be with him.
He decided to never trust women again. When MC moved in, he started seeing how long it would take for her to hate him.
Chiaki: You must think I'm pretty vile, huh. I'm really sorry.
MC: None of it was your fault.
Me: I mean...some of it kinda was...
He asks if she's willing to try being with him again, and she says yes, and that she loves him. They get sniffly and hug. They stay up all night talking and wake up together, and then have a nice mutually consensual kiss.
Author: I'm not going to apologise >:(
Chiaki: I don't have a problem with gays, but are your intentions with MC serious? Or were you just lonely? Believe in yourself! And write this story! I know what it's like to use people because I've been hurt in the past. I've sensed the same feelings in you. Why not open up to us about it?
Author: ...noone else has noticed that about me before.
Aww, they bonded about being shitty to women?? That's...sort of...cute???
Author: I was in love with a man but then he stole all my money.
MC: (But...she's...gay...???)
Sorry Chiaki you may need to explain the concept of bisexuality to her slowly with diagrams.
OH NO. THE AUTHOR FOUND HAPPINESS WITH A WOMAN BUT THEN THE WOMAN STOLE HER MONEY TOO.
Chiaki and the author bond about having been betrayed, and she says he seems much happier now than he did before.
Chiaki: I've found someone. I'm sure you'll find someone too, once you let yourself be true to who you are. And we want to help you find who you really are. We want to show the world your genius again.
Author: ...very well. I apologise for my indiscretion, MC.
MC: I'm sorry I lost my head.
Author: From now on I'll concentrate on the story.
Even nice!Chaiki is pretty focussed on getting the story but it all worked out I guess.
We see the office dealing with the massive positive response to the story. Minato decides Chiaki's success deserves a reward of tickling, which makes Chiaki very embarrassed, especially when Kaoru joins in and Chaiki starts sneezing because of the cat hair.
Kaoru: Hee, look at you wriggling and squirming, just like a cat. You'll grow pointy ears next.
Chiaki: You're messing with my hair ;_;
MC: :D
Yeah, he deserves it.
Coulda done with more Kaoru/Chiaki fanservice but this will do, I guess.
Chiaki was offered a promotion but turned it down, not wanting to feel like he got it by using MC. They go home and get mildly tipsy and he gives her a letter to read when she's drunk. She insists on reading it now and he's endearingly embarrassed at the idea she might laugh, it's just a short declaration of his feelings which she finds super charming.
Haa oh man so his POV starts out pretty moustache twirlingly evil, though he doesn't dislike MC he's perfectly happy to manipulate her for his own advantage and all the "niceness" she was so charmed by initially comes from a pretty nasty place. Or at least he tells himself it does, since even once he's obviously into her he's massively in denial about it.
Then we see the night they get drunk together and he's if anything just annoyed that she's such a lightweight so he has to take care of her, all tsundere about Not Having Feelings. When he gets her home he thinks about how he could take advantage but just gives her a kiss on the forehead and falls asleep next to her. I was hoping it was something like that.
Kaoru NEVER shows up during ANY of the Chiaki POV scenes, allowing the writers to avoid showing us how Chiaki feels about him.
Which I guess is better than no-homing it? Like the most logical interpretation of Chiaki's route for me, taking his behaviour elsewhere into account, is that he had a crush on Kaoru but assumed Kaoru was straight (and probably doesn't want the hassle of being out as bi anyway) so had no intention of pursing it. Then when Chiaki got into MC he got over Kaoru but still likes him as a friend.
Especially since the narrative so blatantly parallels Chiaki with the bi author. IDK why they couldn't just have Chiaki be bi but I guess some players would be alienated by that so they played it safe. Given how rare any sort of same sex relationship is in otome I don't know how much I can blame them but I do feel like they could have been a little braver, especially considering the popularity of Samurai Love Ballad Party, a different Voltage game with overtly bi love interests. I guess this game is older? But still. I am very bad at telling the difference between representation and fanservice (to the extent the two things can be separated) when it comes to Japanese media but I'm sure some of this was intended to be fanservice.
I still kind of ship Chiaki/Kaoru, and will be imagining them getting together in the background of the other routes, but Kaoru can do better. Being a man who Chiaki already likes and treats nicely would avoid SOME of Chiaki's terribleness but I can see both of them being a mess once things crossed the line of plausible deniability, because of their respective trauma about trust and emotions and also probably some internalised homophobia. MC may be a dumbass but at least she's not terrified of love on principle.
I'm wondering if there'll be more hints of queerness like this in the other routes. I've had enough of this premise for a while and am having more fun with Cafe Enchante but I'm sure I'll play the other two eventually.