Takumi loves Reira (Manga Spoilers)

That’s it. That’s the post.

No, but for some reason this is an unpopular opinion. From the points I’ve heard, they say that it’s either because Takumi is incapable of love, that Takumi only loves Hachi because he said so, that Takumi said he sees Reira as a little sister, or that he regrets sleeping with her. And most of these are good points. But I feel like when it comes to Takumi as a character, you have to look deeper into his words, watch his actions, and see into his thoughts. Takumi is manipulative, he knows how to use his words to get the outcome he wants (Like with the executives at Cookie and with Hachi). It’s hard to really trust his words.

The first reason why I think Takumi loves Reira is his own backstory. It starts and ends with her. This is one of the rare moments where we actually peek into Takumi’s thoughts. Takumi says of his childhood with her, “Her clear singing voice had a way of taking the turbulent atmosphere surrounding me and washing it all away”, “If angels really existed, they would sing with a voice like this. They would smile like this”, and, “She was my sacred angel that I could never violate. Reira was my sanctuary. I needed something solid like that in this dirty, disappointing world…Don’t ever stop singing by my side, if possible”. Since their childhood, Takumi has viewed Reira as this savior, this sanctuary, this angelic being that was to be protected at all times. What’s really interesting to me is that he says that Reira is someone that he could never violate. I bring this up to go to my next point.

So, as we all know if you read the manga, Takumi and Reira sleep together. Prior to that, the two end up kissing on Valentine’s Day and Takumi is very conflicted. Practice starts later than usual, he rushed out of there with a conflicted expression on his face, he avoids looking at Reira for too long, gets nervous about her and Shin possibly coming over to his house, are you following? And then after they have that interview and Takumi scolds her, he says that she basically has Stockholm Syndrome and fell for him (her kidnapper).

Something that I don’t see many people point out is that Takumi also has a very negative self image. He sees himself as deserving of hatred, the root of all evil, etc. Which is funny because he has a more positive image of Reira, who he refers to as his angel. And then when you look back at the quote from before, where he says that she is his sacred angel that he could never violate, it makes sense why Takumi would never want to pursue a relationship with Reira. He feels like he doesn’t deserve her. He feels like he would destroy her. That’s why Takumi tries to convince Reira that she doesn’t have feelings for him. It has to be all in her head, she has to be confused, because why would such an angelic being love someone like him? Which is why when Reira says that she doesn’t want to be happy, it hurts Takumi. He says, “So whatever I do, my role is to rob you of your happiness…I didn’t mean to take away your happiness. I didn’t start Trapnest to do that”. So it makes sense why Takumi would regret sleeping with her. Not because he views her as his little sister, but because he feels like he just made things worse and soiled the angelic being that he wanted to protect.

Going back to Trapnest, he created the band for her. Nope. Not just created. He learned how to play bass and guitar to support her voice, he led the band, he basically managed the band, he curated their image, he wrote the songs, everything he did for Trapnest was because of her. He had an image of Reira that he wanted to project to the world, he understood Reira’s voice better than anyone and that’s why he was so heavily involved in their music so that it brought out the best in her, he slept with her to make her happy. This man devoted his entire life to Trapnest and Reira. He told Hachi to her face, work was number one. He can’t live without it. Then we dig deeper and realize that Reira is work. Hell, Takumi says this to Ren himself. In a way, he basically said that Reira is number one. And I believe it. Why? Because in the future, this man is staying in London with Reira (I don’t know if they’re living in the same apartment, but they’re both clearly staying in the city) instead of his wife!

Takumi loves Reira more than any other woman he has been with. She is his sanctuary. She saved him. She gave him hope. She gave him purpose in life. But Takumi will never allow himself to be with her or even admit to himself that he loves her, because he doesn’t believe he deserves her. She is his angel and he is the root of all evil in his mind. The only thing he can do is bring sadness to Reira’s life, while she brings happiness to his. Everyone else in the manga can see it, Takumi the only bitch in denial. Someone save this man from himself, cause he truly made himself the Demon Lord.