Ep50 altB

Gotta say, 10 years ago I was really disappointed that "Towacchi" was the extent of their final interaction.

When I was laying out the road map for this season, I really wanted to have a KiraTowa comic at the very end. As I drew closer to December 31st, however, I started contemplating either leaving their final scene "off-screen" (this would mean I'd only draw altA to give closure to Side Character Kanata) or saving it for any post-Rewatch doodling. It was important, sure, but I can't say I really had enough bandwidth left in me to include it. In the end, the storyteller in me couldn't have them hanging—especially when they've only gotten together!!

The way I've portrayed KiraTowa here is different from my approach with HaruMina. Part of it is because the runway's so much shorter for them, it doesn't really allow for the kind of build up I like. Ep24 is without a doubt the impetus, but outside of that there's not really much there—few episodes I could co-opt to give KiraTowa proper development. So anything happening between them has mostly been relegated to background noise, a comedic punchline, or left to the imagination altogether. This generally aligns with how they were treated by fandom at the time of broadcast; most people just drew comics about their daily roommate lives. That's all and good but when you're trying to draw a piece that relates to each episode, there's very little reason to set anything in their shared living space.

So things don't really develop, they get together in a rushed and vague kind of way—how in the world was I going to end this?

I thought about them having said their goodbyes the night before, but that literally left me with nothing much to draw here. I thought about them having a more intimate goodbye here, but they're outdoors and Towa's a sensible person who wouldn't go around making out where the sun does shines.

The idea that ultimately stuck goes back to how I didn't really develop them. Both of them have wasted so much time beating around the bush, playing off their feelings, not taking anything seriously, that time just runs out. I imagine that upon learning that Towa was going to leave, Kirara just retreats at the inevitability of it all, similar to how she wasn't willing to face herself when abandoning her own dreams. She's never been particularly serious about her feelings for Towa, sees herself as simply reciprocating, so maybe she tries to deflect to lessen the pain of her departure.

I don't know how Towa managed to stay silent this whole time, but I guess she's got a stubborn streak to her as well.

And all that frustration comes out in their last few moments.

To the end, no one exchanges the word "love", but I think there's enough there that you wouldn't doubt it.

_{Side note! I took inspiration from 0952, the last time my ship had to part. A much better result this time around (^^)v}

_{Side side note! I was STRUGGLING with those backgrounds @_@ They were originally supposed to be on the other side of the building but that didn't look secluded enough once I looked at reference pics so I moved them over.}

February 15-18, 2026, dA