These are just a few things in the MoB novels that have kept me pondering.

Nibbler # 1:

At the beginning of volume 20, Miya makes this statement:

"It's difficult, you know. My brother, he had memories that were so painful he couldn't talk about them in words. Really horrible things were done to him. Father was no good. That's it, to put it simply."

The narrative follows this with "Takaya had received more of the abuse than Miya had. ...By the time he reached puberty, the injuries he bore in his heart were immeasurable."

Hmm. One wonders exactly what these "really horrible things" that caused injuries "immeasurable" and "so painful he couldn't talk about them in words" were. Fans of MoB talk an awful lot about what effect Kagetora's rape trauma had on him as Takaya, but very little about the effect of Takaya's apparently horrendous, but ultimately mysterious, childhood abuse.

We know that he was "punched and kicked into ragged tatters," and that he "adopted a tough facade outside to cover up the injuries he received at home." We know that he "endured the cursing and swearing and abuse."

The only real specifics we are ever given about what his father did to him (other than vague but chilling mentions of bruises, blood and cursing) is that once when Takaya was thirteen, his father got worked up to the point where he drew a kitchen knife on his son. The neighbors broke in before anything could happen, but we know that Takaya had "truly thought that he was about to die." 

Had the abuse really ended by the time Naoe stepped on the scene? It seems possible, given the way Takaya (and the narrative) seem to refer to it as being a past experience, and to hold up reconciliation with Ougi Sr. as a real, though doubtful, possibility. On the other hand, Takaya and his father still fight frequently, and Takaya still leaves the house to avoid him, much as he did when he was thirteen. Miya mentions at one point that their father has gotten a job, and and expresses the hope that this time he will be able to keep it. Previously, Ougi Sr.'s drinking, inability to hold down a job, and womanizing all went hand in hand. It could be that the uneasy peace that we observe at this point is nothing more than a reprieve...

What exactly went on in that house? It was bad enough that Takaya actually plotted to kill his father, and set off to do it when he was high enough. Considering that at the beginning Takaya associates Naoe with his pre-abusive father, the question has more relevance to the main couple of the series than simply being a matter of the personal history of one of its members. How did this mental association influence Takaya when Naoe turned out to be more violent and untrustworthy than he had ever guessed? 


Nibbler # 2

In my experience, MoB fans tend to think of Takaya as the innocent type, sexually speaking. There are plenty of reasons to think this. The one most of interest to fans is that he does seem honestly unaware of Naoe's feelings, even when Naoe is being really obvious. Naoe says bluntly romantic things and Takaya sort of squints and goes "you are the weirdest guy...isn't that the way you'd talk to a girl?" It doesn't occur to him that Naoe is intentionally acting in this way toward him until Naoe actually assaults him.  Even then, he doesn't believe Naoe is interested in him at all, but is only obsessed with the memory of Kagetora. Most evidence points to Takaya being inexperienced, uncomfortable with the idea of sexual intimacy, and largely oblivious to the frequently passionate effect he has on others, especially men.

So then...keeping all that in mind, how exactly does the following conversation come to pass between Mittsui and Takaya?!


"Hmn. My room's free, you can use it if you're cold. We've got girls over in the garage, so it's getting crowded. You don't like that kinda stuff, do you?"

"If you're gonna be mixing it up, you'd better let me have a piece of the action."

"Drop the act. When you're ready to throw your virginity away, I'll be sure to give you a personal lesson."

Takaya snorted, eyes glassy. "Screw you, jerk."

"I'm gonna shut that fresh mouth of yours up, too." Mitsui crouched and yanked Takaya's head up by the hair. "...Go wait in my room," he said, and went back into the garage. Eyes following him, Takaya took another deep breath from the plastic bag. His shoulders began to shake as he laughed, immersed in a feeling of well-being, his head tilted back against the wall.

"Who the hell wants to get screwed by you?" he sniggered


O.O

What startled me here was not that Mittsui came on to Takaya (who doesn't?), or that Takaya brushed it off. What shocked me was that it was clear at the end there that Takaya recognized that Mittsui was hitting on him. Normally, I would assume that Takaya would misunderstand, or would maybe think that Mittsui said some strange things sometimes, but would either assign some other explanation to it or just leave it at "strange." But that "who wants to get screwed by you" indicates a level of awareness not previously hinted at. Not to mention an amazingly blasé attitude about something which should, by convention and our experience with him in his later years, have either been unthinkable or frankly shocking (namely, a guy, and Mittsui of all people, making a sexual overture to him). And this when he was thirteen!

When I first read that chapter, I kept waiting for someone else to remark on it, but no one seemed to notice.