OOO episodes 11-12

[gekidasa]

“I’m just trying to do what needs to be done.”

—Hino Eiji

Firstly, yes, that is what Eiji does, and that’s why he’s effective, he just does what he needs to get shit done. And that’s why he’s a hero, even though he doesn’t think of himself as one. He doesn’t do it for any other reason, other than someone has to.

Gotou finally understood. Up until he’s looked down on Eiji because he doesn’t behave or measure up to the idea that Gotou has of what a hero should be. He doesn’t think on a grand scale, of saving the world, just of helping in the here and now.

Gotou has finally realized that he’s spent all this time wanting to save the world without actually getting much accomplished, and he’s opened himself up to being used by Dr Maki because of a desire that he’s not actually doing anything about. He also realized that in the meantime Eiji has actually done more with his simple approach of helping whoever needs it, however he can.

So this leads two things. The first being that he’s only going to make a difference by doing whatever he can, whatever “needs to be done”, whether it is shooting Greeds with bazookas or just bringing new candroids to Eiji. I think that he’s come to accept that, and that he’s okay with it (which, by the way, I imagine is what opens the door to him actually becoming the man he needs to be in order to be a hero in his own right). The other is that he has let of his resentment of Eiji, and is willing to stand with him, and have his back. The moment Gotou holds out his hand to help Eiji get up after the fight was awesome, because you know that’s the moment that another great rider partnership is born.

“Brofists forever” and all that.

ETA: Just watched 13-14 and it was a bit premature to think Gotou had goten over all his issues :D;

Mirrored from my blog at tl;dr.
I’d love it if you left comments over there, although it’s fine here too! :D

Comments

[greatfountain]

UGH I LOVE THIS. It's so... god, it's just so them. This could have been a scene in-show and dsfokjgkfdjghkfdojgudfshjgfd my lord they're so cute and perfect and themselves and he's such an ass and she liiiiikes it even though she hates it and. Ugh. ♥

[gekidasa.livejournal.com]

Yay, thanks! Kitaoka is SO much fun to write, because generally you can't have characters say the pompous ridiculous shit comes out of his mouth and have it ring true, but... SUPER LAWYER.

This could have been a scene in-show

I tried very VERY hard to have their initial exchange be a callback to the first conversation they had in the series without having it be word for word, so... thank you! ♥

and she liiiiikes it even though she hates it and. Ugh. ♥

Reiko is a textbook example of the lady who doth protest too much. >D

[dikkir.livejournal.com]

Ohmigosh. It's scenes like this that break my heart fifty times over whenever I think about the end of Ryuki. So bittersweet.

Reiko/Kitaoka is seriously one of the most beautifully developed KR relationships, for sure.

Thanks for such a lovely piece!

[gekidasa.livejournal.com]

Thank you, this is a really nice comment!

And I agree, they are. I love them so much, and I'm always happy to find other people like them too. ♥

[estelwolfe.livejournal.com]

Yay, Ryuki fic! I'm glad that this finally got written. It's so in-character and rings so true to the series. I love the idea of the characters meeting up again with that little sense of deja vu, of recognition without actual recognition. The two of them have such a complex, layered relationship, too, that's fun to play with. Thanks for writing and sharing!

[gekidasa.livejournal.com]

...This has actually been written for weeks, I just forgot to post it because I suck like that. :Dv

I'm glad you think it's in character and true to the series, because Ryuki is my favorite Kamen RIder series, and Kitaoka is my favorite KR character! And yes, that is exactly one of the lingering effects of that finale. It makes one want so bad that they'll at least feel a twinge when they meet again, instead of just passing each other by, you know? And by "they" I mean any of the characters.

Thank you for commenting!