[answered on: 5/8/2022]

Ah yes a well discussed topic, I've covered this before... and, I shall cover it again. *swirls wine glass*

As always, some preamble, to sort of explain my thesis and how I go about thinking of Sunny/Mari first times in general. I do have a sort of internal logic to it, based on the game, it might... sound a little cray but bear with me. I sort of take The Recital as a marker of "Mari and Sunny's feelings for one another WILL come to ahead by this point". The Recital is kind of like, a due date, make or break. Once we past the Recital, the clock is ticking for the impending f*ck.

The reason for this being, that the year prior has been kind of building up steadily to Mari and Sunny having to confront what they're going through. It's a loaded year, between practicing for the waltz, Sunny straining during practice, Mari locking herself away, cram school — the fact that Sunny had a near-death experience that summer... The walls are closing in, with regards to Sunny and Mari having their lifelong closeness challenged by social expectation, impending future responsibilities. As Mari is being forced to consider college, and work harder on her academics, they are both having to think about what life without the other is, means. Sunny nearly dying further puts a pin in it, for Mari — she also is dealing with 'loss' as much as Sunny in canon has to confront it. The idea of losing something precious, forever, potentially. Never having what you once had, as a child, again. The comfort and security... slipped from your fingers.

Both Sunny and Mari use repression to hide their emotions from one another. While there seems to be different reasons/motivations in some ways, they collude on not being able to communicate their emotions well, hiding signs of strain and stress. Sunny admires and adores his sister, he misses spending time with her, so he picks up violin to join her in performance. He is unable to express the way that violin strains, frustrates, saddens him. He is unable to just tell her that he misses her. Mari, meanwhile, is rarely seen crying, even by her brother she shares a room with. The hints of her becoming stressed by piano and school are squirreled away, found only in her notes and the glimpses of her unable to sleep well at night. Her perfectionism makes her feel inadequate in everything she does, whether it be piano, or, innocuous things like baking cookies or making flower crowns.

They have a lot of natural chemistry and spend hours of the day together, and clearly love one another deeply. But there are barriers between them also, due to their collective communication issues. (To be fair, these same barriers exist between all of their friends as well —Kel/Hero/Aubrey/Basil are all equally not privy to Sunny and Mari's inner struggle.) But they are both hiding things from one another that will inevitably make the Recital a loaded event, where their feelings come to burst.

... I always think Sunny and Mari are, ah, a 'fuck or die' concept that happened to unfortunately end on 'die'. It feels like there are 1000 timelines where something less dire happened, but they had bad luck. And, of course, the most tragic version of events makes for the best video game plot, lol. TBH, even if we do not have an incest lens on the story, I still think that Sunny and Mari could've recovered from the Recital going poorly... Like, EVEN IF Sunny BROKE his violin, ruined the recital for both of them, shoved her even... IF SHE JUST did not FALL and become CONCUSSED, and if BASIL THE ABSOLUTE PSYCHO had not THEN LEAPT TO HANGING A BODY. I think things would have GONE BETTER. EXPONENTIALLY BETTER!!! I mean, me and Avvy wrote a fanfic about this, basically, LOL... the point of our fic is, even if Mari WAS MAJORLY INJURED from the fall, but survived, I think they could just TALK ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS... ORGANICALLY.

Honestly though it's so easy to imagine a bunch of splinter timelines, like Sunny destroying the violin and Mari just crying, shutting down due to their argument — and their parents coming home to this mess, chewing out Sunny, canceling the recital. All this drama, would be survivable, still... Obviously we see how much Sunny feels like an utter monster for what he did; he is capable of reflecting on his past self at the top of the stairs and feel like he acted out of line. He would feel guilty for ruining his sister's recital (which he already felt he was doomed to do)... and Mari is, well, capable of forgiving Sunny for potentially murdering her, SO I THINK. She could be understanding about anything, given the time to work it through with him...

So, I think, even in the most severe, intense, loaded version of events — broken violin, argument, yelling, crying — that they would be able to heal past it and get to the root of the issue. That they are both miserable having to meet expectations for their family, for society, that the prestige of learning instruments and performing was too much... That Sunny was miserable feeling as though he had to 'earn' Mari's time and affection, when it was something he always had in the past.

Ehm, however, I do have to see the events as colluding in sex because — while ofc we sympathize for Sunny out here — I do think it is INTENSE to need MORE out of your sister that you still snuggle with when you have nightmares and still like, hang out with all the time, having picnics together fshfhdgh... Seems like what you need and want is more than just being friends ksdkgh...

Anyways I say this all to explain that I think Sunny and Mari are actually but a hair's breadth away from stumbling into sex and further intimacy from one another, the... feelings have always been there, waiting, incubating, only getting more and more unbearable as they age. I think the ages they are at for the Recital 'fuck now or die' moment makes sense *freak voice* biologically, even. Sunny is experiencing puberty and his first incel rage tantrum, is what I mean. And his sister is becoming hot sexy fuckable. Next year they were going to be a 13 yo boy and 16 yo girl sharing a room, just like ruminate on that sentence. For a moment. Let it simmer. Makes you think, right.

There's lots of decadent moments to choose from. I like either of them being instigators also, it feels like fair game. Between Sunny's cluelessness and Mari's playfulness... Sunny's intensity, Mari's flirtatiousness. It's like mmm. Indulgently, it feels like there's such a wide range of ages it could start too... I mean I've drawn todcon for a reason wwww. Dunno what it is with these two, it's so easy to imagine it happening, sincerely!! Whether it's very young, kind of blithe curiosity exploration of one another's bodies, something happening in the middle of some game of pretend, this or that... Or, tender tweens, becoming more cognizant of the world/interest in the other... shyly admitting feelings, wanting to promise a life with one another... starting to have new friends and getting insecure, wanting to sink into the known comfort of each other... Or, the intensity of teenhood! Puberty coming down hard! Being frustrated by school, other friends, getting jealous-!! Competing for attention, feeling ENTITLEMENT, feeling peeled apart by your boiling crush-!! A moment of PASSION, GRABBING the other, RAHHH, be MINE!! It's all so 💞💞💞💞 ahh, sunshine... I think it just has it all, the gradient of innocence and like strangeness, perversion, ww... They're so normal and so weird, both of them... Yknow?? Sunny's such a normal boy but feels like a freak, pervert, weird fixations, weird inclinations... Mari is such a normal girl but so flirty, playful, inviting, overly encouraging, doting, welcoming too much... Sigh-!!!