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baba-wolf · 7 years

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Why ObiYuki > ZenYuki

First of all,this is just my opinion and this rambling will contain spoilers! So now that I have cleared this, let’s get to it cuz this is gonna be LONG

I don’t hate ZenYuki. It’s a decent pairing, they have cute moments and stuff and at first it was my main ship in AnS. But then came ObiYuki and at first I didn’t think any of it. But then chapters came out and as the manga goes forward I feel like there isn’t any contest between obiyuki and zenyuki for me.

I finished rereading the whole manga about a week ago. And my first point about zenyuki is going to be it’s start. That damn kiss. I hate it.

Zen kissed Shirayuki without permission, without confession without anything. Hell, Zen even says he did it without her consent! And if Shirayuki was so in love with Zen and stuff imo, she wouldn’t have reacted the way she did. She was startled, embarrassed, confused etc. And she seeks protection from Obi!

On that day, she could have rode back with Kiki, Mitsuhide or even Zen if she asked. No, she chose Obi. He was neutral, she felt the safest with him out of all people. Which is huge! And then the almost hand touch. In this chapter so far Shirayuki is stressed cuz of the kiss, then we see she rode with Obi back, he tries to get info out of her what happened, Zen is on prince business and then Obi almost holds Shirayuki’s hand. After the kiss between the male characters Obi a side character gets a moment like this. And then Zen appears, Shirayuki hides behind Obi! She seeks comfort and protection from him. And he understands and helps her. After ZenYuki did that bad kiss we have moments like these with ObiYuki. So yeah, ObiYuki > ZenYuki for me

Little later we have the Tanbarun arc. Which is for me mainly ObiYuki. For me Zen being a prince is bad for ZenYuki. Say what you want but many times Shirayuki has faced prejudice for her connection with Zen, she has to deal with Izana’s mind games which make her uncomfortable, she has to “behave properly” like dance classes and stuff. It’s stress, getting into royal enviroment as just a normal person and living with these things.

So Shirayuki is sent to Tanbarun and even if Zen wants to go with her he can’t. Obi senses the distress and has his own feelings growing too, so he and Zen have a duel.

Obi has nothing holding him back. No royal title, nothing. This line does it for me and I don’t think it only stands for the coming arc. Obi will always protect Shirayuki in Zen’s place. If something were to come up like a royal arranged marriage or they were to break up Zen can always count on Obi being by Shirayuki’s side. This is a lifelong promise from Obi.

Then in chapter 20 we have Shirayuki thanking Obi for coming with her to Tanbarun, Mitsuhide picking up that maybe Obi has developed new feelings, Obi complimenting Shirayuki in her dress, her wearing the hair ornament that she got as a present, adjointing rooms scene. You know, lots of stuff for a non canon pairing in just one chapter.

And this arc is just full of important moments like the library scene, the balcony scene. Obi and Shirayuki are together in Tanbarun and the author is just throwing romantic moments at us. If I didn’t know about Zen then ObiYuki sure would look like the main couple. And there wasn’t a confession or a kiss.

Then Shirayuki gets kidnapped and Obi is nuts. He shows a dark side of him. He is really angry, dangerous and has a dark aura around him almost all of the remaining arc. Even when Zen and the others show up and he puts his mask back up you can still see he is tense. He is really affected by the kidnapping and not just cuz this was his duty. He made a promise and on the first chance where he is guarding Shirayuki this mess happens.

And at the end of the arc, we have Shirayuki and Obi talk after she is saved. Obi feels like a failure, he is sad, he won’t listen to her apologies. But Shirayuki still trusts Obi. She wants to go to Tanbarun, her special homeland, with him and this means so much to Obi. It throws him off that someone puts so much faith into him and shows so much kindness towards him after experiencing being kidnapped.

Obi never really got attached to people. In one of the coming chapters Torou who known him in the past mentions this too. Obi was always moving, never staying in one place long. I think that’s why he doesn’t really use names. If he did, it would make things more personal.

But here he is so overwhelmed with affection that he almost says her name. This moment means a lot, I think this is the hight of the whole arc. Throwing Shirayuki and Obi together, showing how they click in their time, how other characters pick up on it, how Obi starts to realize things after the balcony, how he fails and yet how Shirayuki still accepts him and doesn’t push him away. For me this arc was the birth of ObiYuki.

And of course there isn’t a better way to end this beautiful arc with a not so pretty ZenYuki kiss. After witnessing obiyuki sweetness, Zen kisses a sleeping, unconscious girl. Shirayuki may be strong but the events got to her. And here we have Zen, whose first kiss was without consent, again kissing a sleeping Shirayuki. Just no. If he kissed her on the forehead or something it would have worked but for me this way it just deals damage to the pairing.

After the Tanbarun arc comes the Lyrias arc. We get new characters, a new main place in the manga. Jumping a bit forward, a sickness breaks out. And when Obi and Zen appear, who gets to stay and help Shirayuki? No, not the main love interest, the prince charming. It’s Obi who also flirst with Shirayuki in front of Zen and Izana. Real smooth.

After Zen leaving because of his duty and Obi staying with Shirayuki this arc like the last one shows obiyuki together, how they solve the case. Zen is out of the picture, Obi is in the middle of it. The manga isn’t even trying to hide obiyuki. They spend time together, go through this hardship together, work together and understand each other more.

Here Shirayuki saw through Obi’s act. She is touched by his kindness. The way they look at each other is just precious. From Obi okay, but from Shirayuki who is already head over heels in love with Zen I think it means a lot.

After the Lyrias arc we get smaller moments but still important ones. The one in chapter 47 where Obi lightly touches Shirayuki’s hand to support her, Obi finding her after she fell asleep with a fever, waking Obi up, cooking together. Just small moments so we don’t forget that Shirayuki is together with Zen and she doesn’t have a growing other relationship...

Chapter 57-58 are killers. Till these chapters nothing was confirmed. We could, hardly but still, pass these things off as platonic things. Close friendship. But then Shirayuki is sent to Lyrias for 2 years and everyone is shaken a bit. Everyone gets a hug, we get an obiyuki hug and foreshadowing.

This is more important than the hug! Why? Cuz Shirayuki says smiling that she thinks Obi will follow her, that he will be there with her. Not Zen, but Obi who she has spent more time with. Obi is always there with her, watching her. Shirayuki feels that if she goes somewhere Obi will be beside her. This is really beautiful and Obi is surprised too. And luckily, they will meet up in Lyrias a few chapters later.

But not before this.

This is the point where I went to heaven. His smile, his confession are just so beautiful. He admits it to Zen that he likes the girl that his master loves. And that he didn’t want to go be with her for 2 years without Zen knowing his feelings. That’s what I call being fair and honest. Obi respects Zen and his relationship with Shirayuki, he doesn’t want bad feelings between him and Zen. Obi is just too good for this world.

The moment Shirayuki sees Obi her face lits up and she blushes. What she said came true and she feels happy to have Obi by her side.

And chapter 62 is just gold. They talk and Obi asks if it’s okay for him to stay with her. And he is nervous too you can see it. But Shirayuki just says of course and her expression surprises Obi. No wonder.

Try to convince me that this is just meant for a friend. If you say that Shirayuki doesn’t love Obi like she does Zen I can accept that. At this point. But her feelings are growing, her relatopnship developes with Obi. And nobody can deny that.

After chapter 62 it’s mostly adventure time. For me the next big moment is the silent goodbye that they have in chapter 80.

No words are said or needed. They have built a connection. Obi looks back at her and Shirayuki looks strong. She isn’t teary eyed or anything. She is worried sure but her eyes say she expects him to return to her. She from past experiences knows and feels that Obi will come back to her side.

Their reunion will come in chapter 88 which sadly I couldn’t find yet, just the spoilers. But in the spoilers Shirayuki has a warm smile and says welcome back and she meets him first before Zen.

The conclusion.

In my opinion ObiYuki has more development than ZenYuki. Obi and Shirayuki started as strangers then became friends and are growing stronger together while supporting each other. For me zenyuki is still the same charming princes common girl crush on each other. Many times Obi stands by Shirayuki’s side cuz Zen can’t because of his social status. And thinking about it, does Shirayuki want a royal life? If she marries Zen she will be expected a different behaviour, she will have to adjust to a whole different lifestyle. What she has now, working in Lyrias suits her much more than dancing and balls and such. We have seen she can’t dance, doesn’t know sometimes how to properly behave with other nobles and such. I think a royal lifestyle would burden her more than would help her.

I think Shirayuki’s first love is Zen, but that doesn’t mean she can’t fall deeper for someone else. Being liked by a prince as your first time experiencing love is unique and thrilling. But I think what she has is a crush. Despite wanting to be by Zen’s side she spends more time with Obi. I think she is more free with Obi. You see their development in the manga while I can’t really name a big change for Zenyuki. He loves her, she blushes they kiss that’s all. That’s first love. But not the one. Obiyuki feels more developed, natural, comfortable, relatable. The manga puts them together a lot maybe that’s why. But why if they are not the main couple? For bait or for something more? No matter the ending, ObiYuki will be always special for me, more than ZenYuki. Obi and Shirayuki built an amazing relationship no matter the outcame and I will always smile when I see these two dorks together.

#akagami no shirayukihime #obiyuki #ramblings #just my personal opinion #long reads

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wishingforatypewriter · 7 years

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Rewind

Summary: Erina reflects on a missed opportunity

It was a typical Friday night at the Nakiri mansion. Alice and Kurokiba had gone out on a date. It was a double date this time, if Erina had heard her cousin’s boastful ramblings correctly, but she had no idea who with.

A few minutes after they left, Hisako had slipped out of the back door wearing lipstick and perfume and a black dress with a slit up one side. If her endeavors on previous Friday nights were any indication, she wouldn’t be back until the wee hours of the morning.

This time, like each time before, Erina had been sorely tempted to ask her friend where she was going and who she kept meeting and whether she thought it would last, but she didn’t. People were entitled to their secrets—their secret pleasures, their secret sorrows. There were things Erina preferred to keep hidden as well.

With a resigned sigh, the second seat closed the romance manga she had been reading and let it rest on her down pillows. She walked over to her desk and opened a small drawer with a key she kept at the bottom of her jewelry box. Inside was a plain manila envelope, one she had sent Hisako to deliver to the Polar Star dorm three months prior. Thinking it had contained only routine shokugeki related paperwork, Hisako had offered to store it in the ‘voided’ section of her gargantuan file cabinet. But Erina had insisted that she should keep the documents with her in case another opportunity to use them ever arose. It hadn’t.

Taking a seat on her plush swivel chair, Erina took the top document—printed, of course, on her personal letterhead—and read her statement of challenge for the first time since the day she composed it.

Yukihira-kun,

It had all started about two weeks after the shokugeki that changed everything. In a 3-2 ruling, Yukihira Souma dethroned the illustrious Nakiri heiress and took the first seat of the Elite Ten Council. Subsequently, nearly every senior at Tōtsuki—and an impressive number of underclassmen—set out to challenge him for the top spot. The impulse, however ill-conceived, was understandable. If a commoner could reach the academy’s pinnacle, why couldn’t any of them? What Erina couldn’t wrap her mind around was why he always felt the need to entertain their requests.

“You’re up early,” Erina had said one morning when she’d spotted her cousin on her way out the door.

Alice glanced up at her, yawning. “Takumi Aldini took the spot last night, so I had to settle for a shokugeki before classes.”

“Alice.” Erina gave her hair a petulant flip that was made less threatening by the fact that she was still in her nightgown. “Do you truly believe that you’re going to win against him?”

“It’s a crapshoot, honestly,” the fourth seat revealed. “With our grade, the rankings barely mean anything. You, me, Yukihira, Hayama, and Ryo-kun are all basically at the same level. Who ends up winning depends on luck, the weather, how you feel when you get out of bed.” She gave a noncommittal wave to punctuate her point.

“You’d like to think that,” Erina said, mostly to herself. “Well, try not to take too much time. He and I have to go meet with the people from Saveur magazine later this morning.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t make you late for your date.” Alice winked at her cousin before opening the door. If someone had told Erina she’d ever miss being teased like that, she would have never believed it.

“For the last time, Alice, it is not a date. It’s an interview!”

“Whatever you say, Erina. You can console him on the way there after I win.”

In the end, Alice didn’t win the shokugeki, but she still managed to put them off schedule.

“You’re late,” Erina said when Souma slid into the car they’d be taking to the interview location. “If you’re going to occupy this position you should at least make an attempt to be somewhat punctual.”

“My bad, Nakiri,” he said, unbothered as ever by her scolding.

As they started driving, Erina checked her emails and texted Hisako and approved all the tastings she’d attend in the next two weeks. About half an hour into the journey, she actually ran out of work to do.

She usually brought more paperwork with her on trips, but since she normally got absolutely nothing down when Yukihira was around, she hadn’t seen the point. Just as she was contemplating her unexpected productivity, a string of sneezes from the boy next to her drew Erina out of her musings.

She glanced over at the first seat. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What?”

“You’re not talking my ear off like you usually do,” Erina pointed out. And then, although he had been looking pretty tired before, he flashed her that ever irritating grin—the one that made people think that nothing was ever a problem for him. By the end of their first year, she’d known for certain that it was fake at least eighty percent of the time.

“If you wanted to have a conversation, you could have just said so.”

“I’m not saying that I wanted to talk to you! It’s just unusual for you not to rudely impose on me and distract me from my work, so I thought I’d ask why.”

“You know, Nakiri, you have a pretty cool talent there. You can really make anything sound hostile.”

“And you can distract people until they forget the questions you don’t feel like answering.” That was another thing she had noticed at the end of their first year. She had watched him talk circles around Tadokoro and Takumi—even his own father—and not one of them ever noticed he was doing it.

Souma sighed, then coughed a little. “What was the question?”

“What. Is. The. Matter. With. You?” She enunciated each syllable individually. “And if you say ‘nothing’ I will probably punch you.”

Souma smirked at her. “I would pay to see you punch someone.”

At this Erina rolled her eyes. Then she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “You know, now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever actually punched anyone, and…” The second seat grew quiet, realizing what he was doing. How often did he actually do that to her? “And that is not even the point! Yukihira!”

In the face of her withering glare, the first seat could only laugh. When he started coughing soon after, Erina just shook her head.

“Do you have a cold or something?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I think I’m just tired.”

Sighing, the second seat slid over and placed her hand on his forehead. “If you have a fever, it’s only a small one,” she decided. Then she retracted her hand and turned her head away, content to pretend that she hadn’t just done that. “You’ll probably be fine if you take it easy for the next few days.”

But of course he didn’t take it easy. And when the first seat walked into the French cuisine practicum they had together that Thursday morning, he looked like hell and sounded worse.

As was expected, they both finished their rouille de seiche well ahead of everyone else in the class, and received top marks, and had ample time left over to quarrel over nothing the way they always did. Or at least, they would have been quarreling if he could manage to get more than two sentences out without coughing like his lungs were about to end up on the floor.

“You sound like shit.”

“When did you start swearing, Nakiri?”

Erina’s cheeks flushed faintly. “Shortly after meeting you,” she said—and sadly it was pretty much true. Then she glanced out the window where the rain steadily pelted the campus. “I have a car coming around after class ends. Let me take you home. If you drop dead, I’ll be stuck with all your paperwork.”

“Thanks, but I have another shokugeki right after this.”

The Nakiri heiress rolled her eyes. “You really have no sense of self-preservation.” If only he had sabotaged himself this well back when she was rooting for his demise. “Against who?”

“Hayama.”

Erina’s eyes widened, all Alice’s talk about crapshoots and rankings rushing back to her. “You’re literally giving him the first seat,” she said. “Even on a normal day, there’s about a fifty-fifty chance that you’d lose to me or Hayama.”

“That's—”

“True. And you know it.” Erina crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t be stupid. Just cancel the match and reschedule it for later. It’s not like you have anything to prove anymore…well, I mean I still won’t accept you, but that’s a completely separate issue.”

“Things must really look bad if you’re worried, Nakiri,” he managed to say before he started hacking again.

Erina just sighed. There was so much she resented about that statement, she didn’t even know where to begin. Who said she was worried? And even more pressingly, who said she worried about him any less than anybody else? “You’re not going to listen to me anyway,” she said.

“I’ll pull it off,” he promised her, right before the class period ended. “Just watch.”

And naturally, he did pull it off—though just barely. And she did watch, though she was watching him more than the match, willing him telepathically not to fall over—as that was what people tended to do when they could hardly breathe.

And when it was over, he’d smiled a smile she knew was just for her. Once again, Yukihira Souma had proven her wrong, and once again she was happy to have been mistaken. Erina hadn’t even minded that people could probably see her gazing down at him like some naive Juliet.

But then Kurokiba issued his challenge. And as tireless as the current first seat was in his pursuit of new cuisine, she could tell that he was too spent to pull off another match. So, Nakiri Erina did what she did best. She made a scene.

From her private viewing balcony, Erina whirled on her cousin’s aide. “Don’t be absurd, Kurokiba-kun. His next opponent will be none other than me.” The entire crowd gasped as Kawashima Urara tried her best to commentate on this new turn of events. “After I take back my seat, you can fight me for it. If you have anything of value to offer me, that is. It’d do all of you good to remember I’m not as lenient as Yukihira-kun.”

Then the stadium erupted again, with everyone from the middle school students to the Polar Star crowd chatting anxiously amongst themselves. At long last, the severe god tongue, Queen Erina, had returned to Tōtsuki.

Erina glanced down at Souma one more time, her lips curled into a smirk, her eyes warm with affection, before turning to leave with Hisako in tow.

“Shall I draft an official statement of challenge for you, Erina-sama?” her aide asked once they were back inside the mansion.

“No,” she replied. “I’ll write it myself. This one will be…unique.” That was putting it lightly.

“Alright…” Hisako’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she didn’t ask any questions—a favor that Erina would return a thousand fold in the months to come. “Is there anything you need me to get for you?”

“A shot,” the second seat said with a sigh. “I think Alice has a handle of vodka on a shelf somewhere.”

Hisako blinked a few times, clearly shocked, though trying not to show it. “Of course. I’ll bring it immediately.”

After she took a shot—three, actually—Erina sat behind her desk in her plush swivel chair and started typing.

Yukihira-kun,

It’s insulting that you thought for even a minute that this was a real challenge. Given your current condition, I could win the first seat back in my sleep. However, being a woman of principle, I could never bring myself do such a thing—least of all to you. While I generally don’t share your egalitarian streak, I can respect it…at least sometimes. But, putting all that aside, you must know that since the day you first set foot on this campus, the pinnacle of the academy has belonged to you and me. Since we were first years, it felt like everything and everyone at this institution, including my grandfather (a fact that I still find a bit disturbing) has been pushing us towards one another. I hated you for it at first, which I’m sure you already know, but fighting against it is too exhausting. I’d be lying if I said you weren’t someone important to me—although I’m definitely still going to say it. Don’t waste your energy fighting every single battle that comes your way, because when I do decide to take you on again, I won’t hold back.

Additionally, on that note, get some sleep. If I see you in class, or at Parliament, or in any official or unofficial shokugeki venue any time before Monday, there will be hell to pay! Also, I suppose you can text me if you need anything.

Sincerely,

Nakiri Erina

Then she printed the form and slid it into the envelope and sent Hisako to bring it to the Polar Star.

It had returned to her unopened.

“I think we’ve become a nuisance to Tadokoro-san,” Hisako has said apologetically before explaining that the sixth seat begged her, all flustered and determined, to hold off the challenge ‘so Souma-kun could rest.’ Erina did all she did to keep from rolling her eyes.

After she finished reading it over, Erina put the letter back in her drawer and locked it. In the morning she’d wake up and fight with Alice and act like she didn’t see the curious red marks that periodically showed up on the side of Hisako’s neck. On Monday, she would pretend to be as delighted with Souma and Megumi’s puppy love as everyone else in their circle of friends. By Wednesday, the delight would seem real. And if the weight of feelings unconfessed fell upon her again on some Friday night when she was left to her own devices…

People were entitled to their secrets—their secret what-ifs, their secret somedays. The drawer would always be hers to open or lock.

Notes: This is just me rewriting the time covered in one of my Megumi-centered fics from Erina’s perspective. Thanks for reading, everyone!

#sorina #soueri #shokugeki no soma #erina nakiri

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