To Heart 2: Sango and Ruri Himeyuri

Generic disclaimer: Same basic rules apply as in my [To Heart 2->toheart2] project. Please do comment or contact me in case I have mistakes in describing each girl’s scenario.

Playing this scenario went off smoothly as well. The HMX maid robot stuff was incomprehensible to me though, but generally since this story is about the Himeyuri twins, it doesn’t get too much focus. It’s rather nice that some predominant To Heart references like Kurusugawa Electronics and HMX-12 come into play. And so without further delay…

Yes, twins! Only one scenario for them though. This picture basically sums it up. Sango (left) is the fun lively girl, and Ruri (right) is the angsty loudmouth! Try to fit a parallel of [Futakoi’s->futakoi-alternative] Souju and Sara, and that’s Sango and Ruri for you. They have a Kansai/Osaka accent though. Considering that, I think Sango is more like Petoko from Petopeto-san. As for Ruri… I never thought it was possible, but she dethroned [Yuma->toheart2-yuma-tonami] in terms of angst levels! Ruri is the loudest, most annoying girl in To Heart 2!

Lucy

The Himeyuri scenario actually requires that Takaki get close a bit with [Lucy Maria Misora->toheart2-lucy-maria-misora]. Takaki gets his first glimpse of Sango when Lucy and him were out shopping. Sango imitates Lucy’s “ruu~”! Yup, throughout the scenario, Sango greets you with “ruu☆”! After a while, Lucy takes off back to her home, thanking Takaki for all his efforts.

Meeting

Takaki meets Sango again sitting at a wall with a cat. She’s kinda hurt, so Takaki assisted her on the way to school. Sango seemed to fall instantly in love! Since Takaki usually doesn’t associate much with girls, Yuji wants to see his prospect. At lunch, Takaki sees Sango and talks to her. Surprisingly though, this “Sango” gets angry… very angry! Later though, they found out that the girl is actually Ruri, Sango’s sister and twin. Meeting them together, Sango instantly falls into rabu-rabu suki-suki mode, thanking Takaki with a kiss! Ruri, being her sister’s angsty protector, refuses to accept Takaki, and now declares an all out war of shouting ALL POSSIBLE WORDS to Takaki!

Pervert!

I think this scenario is the most vulgar of them all. Even if the pictures don’t tell much, the dialogue (especially Ruri’s) goes borderline fanservice. Yes, Ruri thinks Takaki is a pervert! Well, maybe it’s because first impressions last. I think Takaki assisted Sango by carrying her over. Now, Ruri has lots to worry about, Sango is totally in rabu-rabu suki-suki mode.

Computers

Okay, and so Takaki regularly visits Sango in the computer room. She seems to be good with computers. She has a lot of plushies too. They also went to the library for some research stuff, but then Sango accidentally sleeps due to being tired. The library was about to close, and so again Takaki carried her out. Ruri sees the entire thing, and again started throwing all her anger!

Yuri?

One day, Ruri tried to act like Sango towards Takaki, but failed instantly. Sango appeared, and asked Ruri why she’s so antagonistic towards Takaki. Okay, here we are… Ruri loves Sango! O my gawd, is this a case of futakoi (twin love) the yuri version? Well maybe not, Ruri is just overprotective towards her sister. As she says, “everyone who loves San-chan is my enemy!”. So far that’s just Takaki. Despite this, she still cries in Takaki’s arms because she’s becoming emotional. Sango appears, saying that someday Ruri will also rabu-rabu suki-suki Takaki. The three of them in rabu-rabu suki-suki mode… Ruri shouts impossiblity!

At Home

Sometimes, Yuji and Tamaki throw serious talks to Takaki about the Himeyuri twins. Actually at first, Takaki isn’t interested with Sango. And to further that out, having Ruri act like that isn’t too good for anyone. Takaki ponders on that thought one day, and so he seems too bored to go to class. But the Himeyuri twins actually paid a visit to him, and also decided to skip class for that day. Take note that Ruri is kinda forced into it, and all the more negative towards Takaki, but her blood starts to boil down from here. Ruri actually is bad in cooking, and was afraid that Sango will criticize it, but Takaki interjected, saying its rather good gooking, although a bit different. I guess the rest of the day went on with the three playing around. Tamaki and the others went home, and the misunderstanding ensues.

Amusement Park

Yuji tells his usual, saying that this is not right. Two-timer Takaki? Yuji forces him for a double date with the Himeyuri twins at the amusement park. Seeing yet another threat, Ruri is in her usual self. They planned to enter a haunted house. Ruri is quite scared, and even clings on to Takaki! Sango teases her sister, but Ruri denies liking Takaki at all. The twins still are close to Takaki alone. Seeing that his plans are not going right, Yuji asks Takaki what Sango likes. Apparently she likes penguins, and so Yuji offers to buy a penguin. They see that the gift shop at the park seems to have no more penguin plush toys, and so they go to the shopping center. None either. Suddenly they realized that Ruri is actually missing! Takaki however has an idea of where she might be. They go back to the amusement park, and indeed Ruri is there. Ruri actually found a penguin plushie. But Sango actually planned that the penguin is for Ruri, because Sango wants to “make a lot of friends for Ruri-chan.” This will be important later.

Living together

Lately Takaki seems to be a bit malnourished. Actually he doesn’t get enough nutrition, maybe living only on instant noodles because he’s alone in the house and no one cooks for him. Poor Takaki, and so Sango actually offers food, and even live together at the Himeyuri residence! Of course, Ruri doesn’t like the idea but sshe accepts anyway. Here we discover that Sango is not only good at computers per-se, she actually makes a living out of it! She’s a robot programmer at Kurusugawa Electronics! Amazing! And with that they get a big house, but without any parents. So having Takaki live with them is kinda ok. But as usual, everyday jinks include Ruri screaming “pervert!” all the time. Maybe it is Sango’s fault partially, one day she even rushes out of the bathroom wearing only a towel!

Physical Exam

There will be a physical exam at school, and so the Himeyuri twins seem to plan an exercise program lately. Ruri though, seems serious because of an earlier bet she had with Takaki. She tries to push herself, and in the end gets exhausted and lands into the clinic. Ruri apologizes to Takaki for making him worry. The exam results show that Ruri is heavier than Sango. Ruri is quite sad, but then Ruri sees that she has, erm… better 3-size than Sango. Quite happy now, but then speak of the devil, Tamaki appears and shows off her 3-size. Who can win over her anyway?

Idol Video

Yuji has some weird project to film an idol video! Of course, the subject is Sango and Ruri. At first, they film such boring videos such as a guided tour of the school, but then Yuji says it still lacks the moe~ factor. In the end, they get to film the twins in swimsuits! The so-called ‘climax’ is when Sango and Ruri… chu! Yup, they will kiss! Yuri factor! They were almost there, but… Ruri says stop. She says this is wrong, they are sisters.

Feelings

Ever since that time, Ruri has been kinda distant. I guess her love and care for her sister is serious. Sango notices that and wonders if she is hated. So Sango thought of an idea. She tries to do the laundry instead of Ruri doing it. Ruri comes home, and sees that Sango actually did the laundry the wrong way. Sango starts to become sad, saying that she was only doing it for Ruri. Well Ruri forgives her, and they are close with each other again. Ruri says to Takaki though that she’s gonna suppress her feelings for Sango’s sake.

Jealousy

But then this main plot will put all of them to the test. Finally, Ilfa appears! She is a maid robot (HMX-17a), and her AI is designed by none other than Sango herself. She calls the AI as Dynamic Intelligence Architecture, and is the most advanced so far of all the HMX series. It indeed shows as Ilfa seems to have way more emotions vocally. Ilfa is supposed to serve as a friend and a maid robot to Ruri, and so they are gonna live together at the house. This poises a different problem to Ruri. Takaki aside, Ruri seems to be very jealous at Ilfa. Especially with Ilfa offering to cook food for them. At school, Ruri refuses to eat the bento prepared by Ilfa for the girls, and she runs away. At the Himeyuri house, Ruri is seen trying to cook food. Ilfa offers to help, but Ruri angrily refuses.

“Why can’t it be just San-chan and me?”

Ruri blurted out all her feelings. She loves her sister Sango very much. That’s why she doesn’t want anyone to get in the way. But then Sango says that Ilfa is for Ruri, and she wants Ruri to be Ilfa’s friend. Ilfa however has a different reaction. So as not to make the twins hate each other because of her, Ilfa says that she is not a friend, just a doll. Ruri starts to get angrier and angrier, to the point that she even directed her anger to Sango herself. “I hate San-chan! Die!” Suddenly, Ilfa slaps Ruri. Ruri cries and runs away. Ilfa is surprised at herself with what happened. Sango starts to blame herself for everything. Actually, each girl starts to blame herself, so let’s piece up the puzzle together one-by-one.

Ruri

Ruri is seen at Takaki’s house. She admits her wrongdoing, but she can’t go home. She blames herself for being a bad girl, and thinks that Sango and Ilfa hates her for what happened. Takaki tries to convince her that no one hates her, but isn’t convinced. Ruri says that Ilfa is a maid robot, and can look kind but actually hates her now. As for Sango, Ruri says that she is a failure as a sister. She can’t cook well, and is always giving her sister trouble. Now with Ilfa being a perfect maid robot, she feels like she’s just an extra. Nobody likes her. Of course, Takaki likes Ruri. He kisses Ruri, and tries to convince her to make amends once and for all.

Sango

Sango feels that it is her fault that all this happened. Since childhood, Sango is seen as a smart girl. I think certain family problems made her try to go away and live alone though. Ruri is also forced to go away from home too, and so Sango feels she dragged her sister along wrongly. Their parents died, and having no support, Ruri actually fails to make some friends (mostly because she’s protecting Sango all the time). Ruri is lonely, and Sango realizes that. Since then, she made a promise that she’ll make lots of friends for Ruri. She started to buy lots of dolls and plushies for her, poising as friends, but it’s just a doll after all. This is where her prowess started in terms of robotics, to the point that she can make AI that can be friends. Now, she thought that Ilfa could be a great friend for Ruri, but the opposite happened. Sango thinks if she made the wrong decision.

Ilfa

When asked if she ever hated Ruri, she doesn’t. On the contrary, she actually likes Ruri so much. When Ilfa was still in production stages (maybe AI or body still incomplete, something like that), she was scared of something. Being a maid robot, she may be scared of how people view maid robots. Since they can never be human, no matter how advanced their AI is, they will always just be viewed as dolls. This really troubled Ilfa, but then one day Ruri came to play. She touched Ilfa’s hand, and smiled generously. This was Ilfa’s earliest memory, and made her realize that it doesn’t matter how maid robots like herself is viewed, as long as they can bring happiness to humans the same way as humans bring happiness to them. Now, Ilfa thought that she was the one breaking the sisters apart, and so she planned to leave the house.

Ending

So Takaki brought Ruri back, while Sango brought Ilfa back. The three girls all talked about it, and realized that nothing is really wrong after all. Everything they did, they only did it for the other, because they all love each other. Ruri says sorry to Ilfa, and she falls in Sango’s arms.

Epilogue

Whew, with all troubles gone they are now the four of them together in rabu-rabu suki-suki mode! Actually, not quite. Ilfa actually has sisters, and she wants to introduce them to Ruri. And as usual the hijinks ensue with Takaki and Ruri. “Pervert!”

The Himeyuri twins scenario has so many dramatic parts, I liked it very much. In my opinion, this is the most well-scripted story, with even Ilfa’s character fully fleshed out even though she only appears later on in the series. The three-way talk near the end is ever so endearing, with the girls paving the way for understanding each other’s feelings. Each one so selfless, so caring for the other… I actually exclaimed “wow” at one point. Simply one of the best stories in To Heart 2.

This is a [Summer of Bishoujo->] feature