We are NOT doing the romance route!! Absolutely not. Atlas what were you all thinking? We will just completely conveniently go with the options where it doesn't exist and any Ken crushing on Hamuko is completely one-sided.
Rank 1
Just getting to know him. Taking him out to Wakatsu for dinner. He talks a bit about how convenience store food just... isn't as good as what his mom used to cook, and that he wishes he'd have praised her for it.
Rank 2
You take him out to eat at Wakatsu - Ken seems dispirited, but eventually you can get him talking about Featherman R. Bonding with him over sentai shows perks him up, revitalizes his appetite.
Rank 3
A remark on the rice being dry at the restaurant leads to you suggesting you could bring him during earlier hours instead. He rebuffs, "I'm just being shy", that you should have fun with your friends and he's just grateful to be included once in a while. Apparently honey makes rice taste better when you cook? That and 'food made with love' were things he learned from manga. When you say you read manga too, he replies, "but you're an adult? And a girl, too..." and he seems tickled by you saying you just can't stop reading them. After rambling about a series he really loves, he cuts himself off... even attempts to ask for more or show mutual enthusiasm don't quite perk him back up, since he seems to be thinking he needs to grow up out of it.
Rank 4
Ken's fixated on his smallness, asking whether it's true that you need to eat well to grow up right. He asks, "You'd prefer someone more like Akihiko, right?" sir....... I know you have a baby crush but come on....
After 10/4
He brings you to the alleyway... all he does is mourn. All he needs is you there for him.
Rank 5
He's struggling to eat his calcium meal. Ken feels guilty for doing all of the sharing and talking. He admits, after some thought, that he threw away all of the fighting manga he was reading before - "Fighting isn't a good thing" "It was exciting to see a bunch of bad guys die". He realizes that it was childish, and not appropriate for him. You reassure him, that despite his feelings, he's okay the way he is now. Now is when he admits that he wants you to notice him. Sorry, kiddo...
Rank 6
Today he's chowing down. After a little chat about his calligraphy lesson, he admits to liking omurice, which you offer to make. He remarks that everyone in the dorm is very sweet to him - making sure he gets nice things, sharing treats or toys or such in a 'subtle' way to not belittle him. Junpei getting snacks with toys and only keeping the snacks, Yukari offering to get ice cream for them but skipping on it herself, so on. He says he doesn't want pity, that no one needs to be nice - we reassure him, "That's just how I am."
Rank 7
Instead of going out, tonight, you decide to make omurice for him in the dorm kitchen. We sit and eat. SIGH... he admits that he wouldn't like if we were dating anyone. "A kid like me shouldn't be butting into personal stuff like that!" YEAH, HONEY, YOU SHOULDN'T. Romance is just not on the table.
Rank 8
On our way out to dinner, a classmate of Ken's meets up. The classmate mistakes Hamu for being Ken's sister, which makes Ken panic and raise his voice. He struggles to say what you are to him, not helped when you chime in "we're friends". The kids shout at each other, classmate calls us weird, says 'you're older', calls you a hag (lmao). You're unbothered, but Ken's frustrated... he asks why you bother with a kid like him, when the ages are so disparate. You assure him - you are friends. Your friendship with people in your age group doesn't preclude that. He says that he looks up to you for your kindness and your strength. "I want to be more like you."
Rank 9
At school, Ken almost got in trouble for not having something he wanted to do with his future. As he climbs the playground, he explains that his friendship with you and how you respect him as an individual and not as Just A Kid helped him feel different. "I don't simply wish to become an adult anymore. ... It all depends... on how I become one." He's matured, realizing he needs to grow up at his own pace rather than wishing for it to rush faster.
Rank 10
We go back to That alley again. He talks about how he'd been afraid to think too much of his mom, of growing up as fast as possible. He thinks, based on what he learned since last conversation, that he can move on more properly now. He thinks he understands more of what Shinji was trying to teach him. He gives you his old house key, wanting to share the happiness of his childhood memories from his old home symbolically.
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Ken
Rank 1
Just getting to know him. Taking him out to Wakatsu for dinner. He talks a bit about how convenience store food just... isn't as good as what his mom used to cook, and that he wishes he'd have praised her for it.
Rank 2
You take him out to eat at Wakatsu - Ken seems dispirited, but eventually you can get him talking about Featherman R. Bonding with him over sentai shows perks him up, revitalizes his appetite.
Rank 3
A remark on the rice being dry at the restaurant leads to you suggesting you could bring him during earlier hours instead. He rebuffs, "I'm just being shy", that you should have fun with your friends and he's just grateful to be included once in a while. Apparently honey makes rice taste better when you cook? That and 'food made with love' were things he learned from manga. When you say you read manga too, he replies, "but you're an adult? And a girl, too..." and he seems tickled by you saying you just can't stop reading them. After rambling about a series he really loves, he cuts himself off... even attempts to ask for more or show mutual enthusiasm don't quite perk him back up, since he seems to be thinking he needs to grow up out of it.
Rank 4
Ken's fixated on his smallness, asking whether it's true that you need to eat well to grow up right. He asks, "You'd prefer someone more like Akihiko, right?" sir....... I know you have a baby crush but come on....
After 10/4
He brings you to the alleyway... all he does is mourn. All he needs is you there for him.
Rank 5
He's struggling to eat his calcium meal. Ken feels guilty for doing all of the sharing and talking. He admits, after some thought, that he threw away all of the fighting manga he was reading before - "Fighting isn't a good thing" "It was exciting to see a bunch of bad guys die". He realizes that it was childish, and not appropriate for him. You reassure him, that despite his feelings, he's okay the way he is now. Now is when he admits that he wants you to notice him. Sorry, kiddo...
Rank 6
Today he's chowing down. After a little chat about his calligraphy lesson, he admits to liking omurice, which you offer to make. He remarks that everyone in the dorm is very sweet to him - making sure he gets nice things, sharing treats or toys or such in a 'subtle' way to not belittle him. Junpei getting snacks with toys and only keeping the snacks, Yukari offering to get ice cream for them but skipping on it herself, so on. He says he doesn't want pity, that no one needs to be nice - we reassure him, "That's just how I am."
Rank 7
Instead of going out, tonight, you decide to make omurice for him in the dorm kitchen. We sit and eat. SIGH... he admits that he wouldn't like if we were dating anyone. "A kid like me shouldn't be butting into personal stuff like that!" YEAH, HONEY, YOU SHOULDN'T. Romance is just not on the table.
Rank 8
On our way out to dinner, a classmate of Ken's meets up. The classmate mistakes Hamu for being Ken's sister, which makes Ken panic and raise his voice. He struggles to say what you are to him, not helped when you chime in "we're friends". The kids shout at each other, classmate calls us weird, says 'you're older', calls you a hag (lmao). You're unbothered, but Ken's frustrated... he asks why you bother with a kid like him, when the ages are so disparate. You assure him - you are friends. Your friendship with people in your age group doesn't preclude that. He says that he looks up to you for your kindness and your strength. "I want to be more like you."
Rank 9
At school, Ken almost got in trouble for not having something he wanted to do with his future. As he climbs the playground, he explains that his friendship with you and how you respect him as an individual and not as Just A Kid helped him feel different. "I don't simply wish to become an adult anymore. ... It all depends... on how I become one." He's matured, realizing he needs to grow up at his own pace rather than wishing for it to rush faster.
Rank 10
We go back to That alley again. He talks about how he'd been afraid to think too much of his mom, of growing up as fast as possible. He thinks, based on what he learned since last conversation, that he can move on more properly now. He thinks he understands more of what Shinji was trying to teach him. He gives you his old house key, wanting to share the happiness of his childhood memories from his old home symbolically.