@Tenesquik: Rui Kamishiro – His Story, His...

Rui Kamishiro – His Story, His Neurodivergent Traits, His Fear of Abandonment, His Self-Acceptance, and His Development: A Thread 🧵

Honestly, I didn’t really know where to start. I think it’s easier for me to go in chronological order of Rui’s life rather than release order to properly explain my thoughts. I hope it won’t be too messy…

(Disclaimer: English is not my native language, and I’m an emotional wreck while writing this thread. If you have any thoughts or corrections, feel free to share! I’d love to talk about Rui with you.)

Let's start with Rui's childhood, specifically by referring to RMD (chapters 3/4/5, with the translation available on YouTube by Arvon Oven):

We are introduced to a seven-year-old Rui who immediately displays behavior that is atypical for a child his age.

He passionately talks about a moth he is observing, while all the other children his age are completely disgusted by the insect. He then delivers a monologue about its anatomical structure, its biology, and the ways it survives predators through different defense mechanisms—

until the insect eventually flies toward the other children, terrifying them and making them scream.

The truly interesting thing about this scene is that it directly shows that Rui, as a child,

fundamentally struggles to put himself in other people's shoes and to predict how certain people might react. The highly scientific aspect of his analysis is, of course, there to emphasize that he is gifted for his age and that his hobbies are unusual.

However, he is so absorbed in the insect that he completely fails to notice the obvious disgust of the other children and is only disappointed when the moth flies away. This detail is extremely important because this difficulty in understanding others' thoughts and reactions

(which is also a major reason why ND people struggle with communication) is essentially the core explanation behind most of the events in RMD and Wonder Halloween.

Later, we are shown a scene where Rui is at school, and his teacher announces that he has won a robotics competition despite his young age. At first, the reactions are positive, but then his teacher asks him to give a speech.

At that moment, Rui decides to talk about the mechanical functions, the engineering behind his robot, and his future improvement plans, which leaves the entire class—including his teacher—completely perplexed.

Naturally, when someone is asked to give a speech in this context, people usually expect them to talk about how they’ve always loved tinkering, how their parents' profession might have influenced their passion, their future dreams, or the support they received.

People expect a fundamentally emotional speech, but Rui instead lists the technical characteristics of his project as if he were explaining a thesis he had just written.

Once again, the scene reinforces the fact that he has a hard time understanding what people expect from him in terms of communication and emotions. To him, it makes perfect sense to explain the flexibility system of his robot, even though his entire audience is completely lost.

Moreover, at his age, he obviously lacks the ability to simplify his explanations (which, let’s be honest, probably wouldn’t have interested most of his classmates anyway). This only intensifies the awkward atmosphere in the classroom, and eventually, a child blurts out,

"We don’t understand anything!"—which completely crushes Rui’s spirit. You can feel that he has a genuine desire to talk about what he loves and to share his passion.

The comment from his teacher about the jury calling him a genius for his age only makes things worse, as many children begin to feel jealous of him since he is constantly praised for his intelligence.

Even before the window incident occurs, the other kids are already quite cruel to him, making remarks that highlight how different he is—too lost in his own world, too smart to be understood.

Rui is highly sensitive to how others perceive him, even more so than the average seven-year-old. The fact that he is continuously marginalized and labeled as "different," not just by his classmates but also by adults,

means that even the smallest negative remark completely ruins his mood for the day. He is well aware of his communication difficulties on top of the issues related to his passions. He even tells his mother that no matter how hard he tries to communicate with others,

in the end, he is just different.

His mother reassures him, telling him that being different is not a bad thing. She shares that when she was younger, many people called her a "weirdo" simply because she loved science and biology, and that before meeting Rui’s father,

she was often isolated as well. Rui clings to her words more than anything and continually tries to rationalize his marginalization by holding onto the idea that he is simply different.

It’s important to understand that he does not see his mother’s words as something negative. On the contrary, they give him hope that one day he will meet someone who will appreciate him for who he is. However, when he meets Nene for the first time—

who ironically also has major communication struggles due to her crippling shyness—he tries to rationalize the situation by telling himself that he is himself, and people are people. He clearly notices that she is afraid of him and does not want to play or spend time with him.

His mother’s words serve as a lifeline for him at that moment, something to hold onto so that he doesn’t completely fall into despair every time he faces rejection, especially from Nene. Additionally, he puts a lot of pressure on himself for not being able to make her comfortable

.A small observation: Rui now has certain speech quirks, such as using the suffix "-kun" when addressing most people he speaks to (except for Nene and Mizuki). However, during RMD, he does not have this habit and instead addresses Nene with "-chan." I think this might be because,

at that time, he was much more concerned with how others perceived him and was making an active effort not to be too eccentric. His way of speaking was also more restrained and composed, except when he became passionate about something. By the time of the main story’s beginning,

he has already lost hope in being understood by anyone, so he makes much less effort to fit in—but I will expand on this later in the thread.

When Nene’s family invites him to see The Little Mermaid, everything changes.

He is genuinely surprised that a stage performance can captivate him despite already knowing the story. And as with anything that catches his attention, he wants to talk in detail about what fascinated him so much. But this time, unlike usual,

Nene actually talks with him and listens to his thoughts about the play.

For the first time, he shares a common interest with a child his age. For the first time, he feels listened to by someone his age while passionately speaking. For the first time,

he feels like he is on equal footing with someone. At that moment, for the first time, he manages to make his first friend his age.

When he listens to Tom Gray’s interview, the director’s words resonate deeply with him because he has literally just experienced what Tom describes

Tom says that as a director, he wants to create plays that connect people across all boundaries. To Rui, these words mean everything—he sees theater and stage directing as a way to communicate his feelings, a way to be understood.

He places immense value on theater, to the point of making it his dream, because it is the medium that finally allowed him to be understood by his peers. He is truly happy when performing with Nene, thrilled to see her engage with his ideas,

and overjoyed that she seems as passionate as he is about something.

However, the problem is that Rui, when fixated on something, completely ignores everything else around him—even as a child. When he has an idea, he is unable to consider the potential dangers it may pose;

he only focuses on how exciting it is. This trait is not exclusive to theater—Nene even points out in her Wonder Halloween Side Story 1 that Rui tends to skip meals and lose sleep when he’s caught up in his ideas.

Rui himself acknowledges multiple times that when he thinks about his performances, he forgets everything else.

Now, if you combine this tendency with his inability to put himself in others' shoes or understand their emotions,

you get the reason why the window incident in RMD happens.

Rui is absolutely set on having the children jump from a window to recreate an iconic scene from his play. Because he is convinced that it will be a stunning moment,

he does not understand why the other children are scared of performing the stunt. Additionally, Rui, being extremely rational for his age, downplays the risks involved—risks that other children would instinctively avoid, which is natural because, after all, they are only 7 yo

There are two key factors to consider:

Initially, the children agree to perform the stunt, only realizing at the last moment that they are terrified and cannot go through with it.
Rui genuinely believes that the others share his enthusiasm for his idea.

Because he struggles to understand people—and because they initially agreed—he assumes that if he proves the stunt is "safe," they will follow without fear.
The children react harshly after he jumps out of the window to prove it’s safe.

They cannot comprehend how someone could be so reckless, but they also likely feel hurt that Rui tried to dismiss their fears in such a way. He gives the impression of being superior, of having more courage, while to them, it is perfectly reasonable to be scared

(which, to be fair, it absolutely is—I am deeply saddened by how they mock Rui afterward by calling him weird for jumping, but at the same time, it is entirely natural for a child to fear putting themselves in danger. Rui, on the other hand,

has very little awareness of himself and his actions because he is so caught up in his ideas).

At this moment, Rui realizes for the first time that even through theater, he is incompatible with others—he remains misunderstood, and he starts to question his decisions.

Nene tells him that she loves his performances, and that is likely the reason why, despite yet another social failure, he continues to fully invest himself in theater. Because in the end, there are people like Nene,

people who will be able to appreciate his work and understand his feeling.

Over the years, the situation never improved before high school.

He went through repeated experiences where people abandoned him or initially seemed to be in sync with him but eventually left because they were simply incompatible, as he explains so well in his two WL chapters through the analogy of the zombie plushies.

The situation deteriorated so much, and he ended up withdrawing into himself to such an extent that even when Nene tried to offer him her help during middle school, he refused and kept his distance from her, even though she had always been by his side—out of fear of being hurt.

He also started paying much less attention to his behavior and appearance. After all, he would remain misunderstood and isolated for who he was, so he saw no point in trying to be likable.

His encounter with Mizuki probably helped him a lot in holding on because Mizuki gave him validation, allowing him, to some extent, to still consider himself appreciated by some of his peers, even if it was someone as broken as he was.

At this point, Rui seems very superficial in how he acts toward himself and his self-esteem. I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, but there is an overall feeling that he doesn’t really have self-worth regarding how others perceive him.

(This is more of a headcanon, but I think that until Pandemonium, Rui struggles to consider his own appeal as a person. He doesn’t have an inferiority complex about his abilities—he is aware that he is a genius—

but he has trouble believing that people could appreciate him for who he is. Of course, WxS helps him a lot with that, but Pandemonium is really the first event where he makes friends with people who simply want to get to know him

and are not interested in his directing skills or anything else. I’ll talk more about this later—sorry if this is a bit disorganized.)

In Chapter 5 of WxS’s main story, we get our first real introduction to Rui in the WxS narrative. Interestingly,

the chapters that directly reference Rui focus on his strangeness and loneliness, with the adjectives “Strange” and “Lonely.” These are truly the two major themes of his character—the constant isolation that comes from being different.

I find it particularly interesting that this is highlighted in the main story titles because, while the “found family” aspect of WxS applies to all members, it is especially important for Rui. His entire character revolves around being accepted by others,

understanding his own emotions, and developing the ability to communicate—things that are, I believe, major aspects of an ND person’s life.When Rui meets Tsukasa for the first time at Kamikou, we immediately see that there are already rumors about him being strange,

even though he had just transferred. These rumors are significant enough that people outside his class talk about them. As I mentioned before, unlike in his childhood, Rui no longer tries to be well-perceived by anyone because, in the end, no one will understand him.

He has accepted the idea of being alone, and his eccentricity is even more apparent. This becomes even clearer when he suddenly tells Tsukasa that he was watching him with a drone as if it were nothing—

as if he genuinely wanted to scare him away because he had no interest in dealing with anyone.Rui isn’t completely oblivious. Even if he struggles to put himself in others’ shoes (and to be fair, by the time he’s in high school,

there are many examples showing that he has grown in this aspect), he is fully aware that such a statement will only fuel the rumors about him being weird. That’s precisely why he is so surprised when, despite his words and the circulating rumors,

Tsukasa invites him to join his troupe. Imagine telling someone you were watching them with a drone, and their only response is to ask whether you built the camera and microphone yourself before inviting you to work with them.

That’s already strange to most people, but for someone like Rui, who is used to being constantly rejected for his oddness, it must feel even more bizarre.The fact that Rui initially refuses Tsukasa’s offer to join the troupe further emphasizes that he wants nothing to do with him

He likely acted that way in the first place to make Tsukasa stop trying to interact with him. Ultimately, the only reason he agrees to join is because he wants to create an opportunity for Nene to perform in theater again.Before anyone argues, yes,

Rui does want to do theater with others, and he genuinely aspires to it—but he doesn’t realize it himself. He is so afraid of being hurt that, subconsciously, he convinces himself that he doesn’t want to be around other people, as Nene mentions in Chapter 17.

That’s also why he doesn’t immediately return to WxS after Nene rejoins the troupe. He is absolutely terrified, and as long as Nene is performing, he considers his task fulfilled. That’s why I say that, at first, he only accepts Tsukasa’s offer to give Nene a chance.

It’s because he believes he will end up hurt that he tells Tsukasa they are incompatible—just like the zombie plushies in his WL say they will never be able to get along with others, that they are incompatible with other plushies. This is a personal interpretation,

but especially after WL was released, I believe that when Rui says those words, it’s not just because he thinks Tsukasa only wants to be popular. It’s also because, for Rui, no matter what he does, he will never be compatible with other people—he will always be misunderstood.

This idea becomes even more crucial in Chapter 18, after the members of WxS put on a play to help Rui realize his desire not to be alone. He is still hesitant because he is afraid of being with people who may not be the right fit for him.

What truly pushes him to decide to return to WxS—and, one could even say, to join WxS for himself this time—is Tsukasa’s response when Rui asks if he thinks he will be able to express his feelings better through theater. Tsukasa answers yes.I know I’ve already said this a lot,

but I will never repeat it enough—theater is the first way Rui found to communicate his emotions and thoughts. The fact that Tsukasa explains that it’s the same for him hits Rui right in the heart because he realizes that he can be understood.

There is another person who communicates the same way he does. His ideas for performances will no longer just be seen as scripts or aesthetics but as his genuine thoughts and emotions—because he is no longer the only one who expresses himself in this way.From that moment on,

WxS becomes infinitely precious to him—not only because it marks his first step out of loneliness but, more importantly, because it is the place where he finally feels understood.And it’s precisely because WxS is so important to him that he develops a deep-seated fear

of doing something bad enough that people will turn away from him. This is reinforced in Wonder Halloween and in the present-day parts of RMD. Rui’s behavior in Wonder Halloween is particularly interesting because it results from both his difficulty in understanding others

and his struggles in understanding himself.Due to the events of RMD—especially the window incident—Rui knows perfectly well how easily people can become frightened and defensive when they perceive a potential threat. That’s exactly what happens with Tsukasa.

Unlike in the flashback, Rui sincerely tries to put himself in Tsukasa’s shoes this time and completely abandons his idea for the performance because he fears that Tsukasa himself might become afraid.

It’s clear that Rui is deeply traumatized by his past inability to understand others and their fears, especially from his childhood. He unconsciously suppresses himself, which infuriates Tsukasa—

because it makes him feel just as guilty for not being trustworthy enough for Rui to feel comfortable being himself.

Rui has enormous difficulties with his own emotions. He struggles to give credit to what he feels, and even though this is more of a headcanon,

he tends to minimize his own desires if it benefits the greater good. He doesn’t even realize that he’s acting differently and is viscerally afraid of losing the members of WxS until Kaito himself points it out to him.

His low self-esteem regarding his ideas and emotions

(which directly fuels his fear of abandonment) is further emphasized in Side Story 1 of Wonder Halloween Kaito and part of the second chapter of his WL. The fact that the kitten plushie in Kaito’s side story describes Rui’s own words as strange

and says he could be hated and isolated for them directly reflects the negative perception Rui has of himself. Unfortunately, even though his self-image improves greatly over the years, some habits are hard to break. This is evident in his WL,

where he calls himself selfish for working so hard to keep Emu in WxS.

RMD in the current timeline tackles themes similar to Wonder Halloween, but with one major difference—Rui has gotten a little better at understanding himself.

He realizes that he’s afraid of Emu getting hurt and, therefore, of being rejected for it, whereas in Wonder Halloween, he had no idea why he felt the way he did. It’s because, in RMD, he understands that no matter what happens,

the members of WxS will never abandon him and will always work to bring his ideas to life that he is genuinely happy and finally relieved to have partially realized that he has found his place. (I say “partially” because his full realization of how much WxS means to him

isn’t complete yet, as seen in Curtain Call.)

Rui also has a hard time expressing his joy and emotions in the moment, which confuses Emu and Tsukasa (though Nene has known him for a long time, so she’s used to it). He mentions that, ironically, when he’s at his happiest,

he tends to be composed to the point where, at first, the members of WxS struggle to understand that he is actually happy. As I’ve said before, I think it’s great that in Rui’s ND characterization, the writers emphasize not just his intelligence but

also his difficulties with communication, empathy, and emotional regulation. He’s not just a “genius” character—elements like this give him real depth and make him more relatable and realistic. Plus, it avoids the stereotypical, romanticized portrayal of neurodivergent characters

The writers show Rui’s struggles on multiple levels, not only with obvious issues like communication but also with lesser-known challenges like emotional regulation—for example, how he appears calmer when he’s genuinely happy.

Then comes Cheer Squad.

This event is really interesting for Rui’s development because it is extremely similar in structure to RMD, but with one major difference—the WxS cast isn’t involved. First, Rui is particularly moved that someone from his school wants to work with him after seeing his work.

Since he realizes they have a similar artistic vision, he sincerely wants to help the cheerleading team captain. Just like in RMD, Rui wants to present a somewhat risky idea but doesn’t dare bring it up because his childhood memories

prevent him from having the courage to speak up. In the end, he’s disappointed in himself. However, thanks to Mizuki, he decides to express his feelings, and when his idea is well received, he feels genuinely happy and relieved.

The reason I mention Cheer Squad,

despite its structural similarity to RMD, is that this event is crucial for Rui’s development. It marks the beginning of a major shift in his life. People are starting to reach out to him and appreciate his efforts and work. It’s not just WxS and his close friends anymore—

complete strangers at his school are beginning to see him for who he really is. They’re looking past the rumors and preconceived notions to approach him. Rui himself states that he finds it easier to talk to his classmates in the first chapter of Pandemonium after the Cheer Squad

There are still people who look down on him, but little by little, things are changing for Rui.

Starting with Curtain Call, we see a significant shift in Rui’s behavior, as this is when he decides to pay more attention to his own feelings.

Even though his fear of being abandoned by WxS has largely been eased since RMD, there’s still the question of the future, which was first brought up in Mermaid Admiration and later reinforced in Island Panic.

It’s important to remember that even though Rui is no longer isolated at this point in the story and no longer has that visceral fear of being abandoned, he is still someone who struggles greatly with emotional regulation and understanding his own feelings.

When Asahi offers him a place in Arcland, Rui genuinely hesitates before accepting. He is so troubled by this that Emu and Nene both notice that something is wrong. Rui doesn’t fully understand why he’s hesitating—

he struggles so much to grasp and articulate his own emotions that he ends up making his decision based purely on logic. “My goal is to become a director who creates performances that everyone can enjoy and understand, regardless of intelligence, ethnicity, or wealth.

Arcland is a far better troupe than WxS for achieving that goal, so I’ll accept because it’s the most rational choice.”

This rhetoric is highlighted in the lyrics of Donna Ketsumatsu ga Onozomi Dai. (I know that talking about DonKetsu can be complicated,

but the lyrics are really important to me. Of course, I absolutely do not support the author, and I strongly recommend skipping this part if it makes you uncomfortable. I’ll mark a “End of the DonKetsu section” indicator in the thread for those who don’t want to read it.)

The three choruses of DonKetsu are particularly similar, and all three reflect the evolution of Rui’s feelings—or rather, his realization of his feelings—during the Curtain Call event.

The first chorus directly addresses Rui’s rational stance when responding to Asahi’s offer.

"Would you call this a dream, that comes with such pain?" "Begging the answer to an impossible question" These lines directly illustrate Rui’s struggle in responding to Asahi’s offer, the pain he feels at the thought of leaving WxS,

and the distress he finds incredibly difficult to put into words—even though it’s the fastest path to achieving his dream. Meanwhile, the line "Reasoning with all the logic in heaven and earth" directly references the fact that his answer is the most objectively logical choice

The second chorus refers more to Rui’s state of mind when Asahi points out that he doesn’t look happy at all about accepting his offer.

At that moment, Rui realizes that he struggles to admit he could truly flourish in his dream if it means abandoning his troupe.

He also realizes that his time with WxS is limited (Island Panic had just mentioned that they will eventually go their separate ways), and this is partly why he is so quick to accept Asahi’s offer—he is desperate, and that’s why he tries to be rational.

I think the line “Racing toward a dead end, counting on a miracle, complaining all the while” perfectly illustrates his desire to fight back but also his complete lack of direction at that moment—he has no idea how to deal with this situation.

But in the end, as the song says, “All the logic in heaven and earth are no match for the heart.” Rui cannot leave WxS based on logic alone. No matter how objectively better this opportunity might be for his career, WxS is too important to him. I

It is the one place where he can truly be himself—it’s literally his whole life. Abandoning it like this is absolutely impossible for him.

The final chorus definitively shows that Rui has made his decision to move forward and find a way to be happy. Even though he has no idea how to do it, he refuses to abandon WxS, and this is especially emphasized in Canary and OHE.

He is willing to go to great lengths to find a solution because, more than anything, he wants to be happy with his friends. Even though he sees this as selfish, for him, nothing is more important than the bond they have formed.

End of the section on DonKetsu.