oh god, i don't even know how to organize my thoughts about it, i'm certainly gonna forget smth but...

janus was just... so good?? i can't believe we got to see scenes like the origin of "maa-kun", the bite™, mao inviting ritsu to play with them.... aaaargh, i imagined how all these things could've played out for so long, like i have so many fic drafts centered around them meeting and stuff and it's just... it still feels surreal we get to actually see all of that after 10 years ;u;

(i was a little surprised by the retcons they made, but all in all, they still fit well within the story, so i can't really complain about them, honestly)

i also really really loved seeing baby ritsu in action, like how bratty and smart he was (i lost my shit when he trapped rei in the basement frfr), but i admit i cried more than once reading (and working on) that story. we've always knew the sakuparents were never around much, but to know that ritsu and rei barely remember their faces, see how much rei was entrusted with from a young age, deprived of a childhood bc he had to look after the family business as a literal child, and the raw emotion with which everything was written, especially ritsu's breakdown in the last chapters... it was truly heartbreaking. some of the things he said as he poured his heart out to mao hit very close home too, so i was pretty shaken when i finished reading it (sobbing wet cat at 3am bro, truly a sight lol).

all in all, i think the story gave us a lot more dimension to ritsu's and rei's characters (and mao's, but mostly the sakumas), why ritsu acts the way he does around rei (that it was smth that stems from their childhood, not only the war thing when rei left), how his issues with abandonment were explored, etc. it was actually more than i expected initially, so kudos to akira for once hehe

(now if you'll excuse me for being an annoying maoritsu truther, just wanted to say that i also won't be forgetting mao not denying the marriage proposal again so soon, like bro don't feed my delusions like that ;;;;)