To Heart 2: Tamaki Kousaka

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

Next to Konomi, Tamaki's scenario is one of the easiest to understand. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

This one takes the cake, and it surprised me the most. My least favorite To Heart 2 girl actually has one of the best scenarios in the game! I admit that Tamaki didn't interest me at all when I was playing through Konomi's scenario. But after playing this one, I can now understand why there seem to be more Tamaki fans than fans of any other girl in To Heart 2. And so with that said, I'll give you a glimpse of Tamaki's story.

Okay, so basically the initial events play out the same way as Konomi's, so please refer to these important days for further understanding, if you haven't read them yet.
To Heart 2: March 20
To Heart 2: March 21
To Heart 2: April 7
To Heart 2: April 8
To Heart 2: April 9
To Heart 2: April 12

Tamaki Kousaka is Yuji's elder sister. At first, she appears as a classic, typical onee-san we often see in various anime or games. One who annoys her little brother oh too much, one who is always the event planner, and also one who is practically there to rub something in. Sometimes kind, sometimes stingy, and always seems to pinch and physically annoy the boys. Of course, Tamaki acts as the perfect onee-chan for Konomi, and she fits that role very, very well. As the scenario passes though, we see her as rather very involved with so many things in so many ways.

Different

First up is about the local kids in the area. Those kids who play often at the playground all seem to like Tamaki very much. She always tells them stories, in which the kids listen to attentively. A seemingly different Tamaki than usual, especially in Takaki's eyes, because he and Yuji usually see her as a threat to them having fun. Another event is at the piano room, where Tamaki is seen playing the piano, with rather peaceful atmosphere. She plays classic and sentimental tunes at that. Takaki and Tamaki started to be rather close when they went to the riverside at a bright sunny day. They sat in a tree and enjoyed the breeze. Tamaki lied down in Takaki's lap, and accidentally dozed off until early evening.

Nya!

Ever wonder why Tamaki's hairstyle is like that? One day, Konomi asked Takaki to walk her dog Genjimaru, because she is supposed to go somewhere. While walking the dog, Takaki meets Tamaki. Apparently, Genjimaru seems to like Tamaki, and starts to chase her around. Tamaki… is scared of dogs! She screams: "Nya~~~~!!!!! Nya~~~~~!!!!" Yup, she seems to act like a scaredy cat trying to run away from a dog! The end result is that she hurt herself in the knee. And so Takaki carried her in his back, going home.

Onee-sama!

This one is a rather fun subplot so I'll lengthen the detail. One day, Takaki went to the Kousaka residence like the usual, but this time, three girls appeared and confronted him! Kaoruko is the one at the left, Kasumi is the one at the right (she actually seems rather quiet). Reona is the one at the middle, and she seems to be some sort of leader of the three. They have extremely formal accents when speaking, which sounds rather elitist. Acting like they own the place, they refuse to accept that this lousy guy (Takaki) is actually a friend of the Kousakas, most especially Tamaki. They were rather disgusted that Takaki addressed Tamaki as Tama-nee (addressing like that suggests that the persons are rather close friends). Ok, and so Tamaki finally appeared. The girls exclaim… "Onee-sama!" Hehe, now we know… these girls seem to be Tamaki's former classmates, and by the way they addressed Tamaki, they seem to give her high regard. They look like Tamaki's fans!

They want Tamaki back in their school. Note that she has recently transferred into Takaki's high school. Tamaki politely refuses, but it seems that these three girls are hell bent on following her. The next day, we see that they have worn the school uniforms, meaning that they have transferred as well! From that day, they have been following (pestering) Tamaki to no end, appearing in the piano room where she plays, and cheering for her in a basketball game. After school, the girls offer Tamaki to join them, but Tamaki said that she and Takaki have plans. Actually, this is a lie (with rabid convincing and pinching of Takaki just for him to play along), an excuse to get away from the girls. Now, they seem to look at Takaki with jealous eyes. After walking away from them, Tamaki tells that she doesn't hate those girls, but sometimes it gets annoying (they almost seem like stalkers to me).

And yup, Takaki is actually getting stalked by those girls! One entire day, Takaki feels as if he's being watched. Then he got a letter, telling him to go into the temple by the forest. At the temple, he's now confronted by the three girls. Reona says some rather awful things, and Kaoruko agrees, while Kasumi remains silent. They forced Takaki to relinquish all ties from their onee-sama, but of course being a friend Takaki disagrees. Suddenly, Tamaki appeared! And rather angry at their negative remarks towards Takaki. At last, they confessed on why they are doing this… THEY LOVE ONEE-SAMA! Yes folks, this is a yuri thing! Reona even said the "aishiteru" word, which implies an intimate, romantic kind of love. This obviously spells trouble, because for one, Tamaki is also a girl! And to think that these three girls are even united in loving Tamaki…

The situation is turning oh so awkward, so Tamaki calls for a desperate measure… she told the girls that Takaki is her boyfriend! The girls refuse to accept that, but it's slowly turning into a stalemate, and so the girls arranged a dare. They requested that Tamaki and Takaki have a date on Sunday… with them watching! Of course, within all this, Takaki is quite negative about the idea of playing boyfriend, but what can he do with Tamaki pinching and hurting him all the time? And so they did arrange a date. The pretend-couple goes to the aquarium, and then to the shopping center, and then to Marvel Burger (rather cheap places for those elitist girls).

And so the three girls deliberated, giving Takaki a zero score on the date. Of course, Tamaki interjects, saying that having fun is the important thing, and gave Takaki a perfect mark. Reona and Kaoruko still won't believe that they are lovers, but they are slowly giving up. They were about to leave but… for the first time Kasumi talked! She still doesn't accept it. And now, she wants Tamaki and Takaki to… KISS! And… so they did! Finally, those girls gave up and went back to their previous school.

Affection

Since then, Takaki has been dreaming lately about the past. He now seems to remember about when he and Tamaki were kids. Apparently, there was a time when Takaki was sick, and Tamaki helped him get better… with some kind of negi (green onion). Yuji confirmed further that they were playing a lot when they were kids. Also, after the kiss event Tamaki seems to be a little bit more shy than usual towards Takaki. They were also supposed to eat outside one night, but Tamaki declined when they were already at the cafe. Her softness continues on, Tamaki seems to be very careful in her words when talking to Takaki. Until one afternoon when they were going home… she was supposed to confess I think, but she fainted. She said it was a slight cold, but she can't already walk. Takaki offered to carry her home again. Tamaki asked things like "Am I heavy?" or "Am I such a bother?" while pinching and punching Takaki along the way. Poor lad.

"Hey, being like this, don't we look like lovers?"

This time, Takaki carried Tamaki all the way into her room. Suddenly, Tamaki took the initiative, and pushed Takaki into the bed! (nope don't get the wrong idea) Tamaki started to tease him, saying they look like lovers. "How about we become lovers for real?" Of course, Takaki thinks it is a joke, having that pretend-lovers thing and all. Tamaki starts to become sad, and then her cold strikes again. Takaki laid her into the bed, and when she said that she can already manage, Takaki went home.

"Me loving Taka-bou, is it that weird?"

Takaki went home, but I guess he really wants to confirm Tamaki's health… and the 'joke'. He went back, and saw Tamaki struggling with the cold. So he takes care of her, maybe in the same way she took care of him back when he was sick. Tamaki now asks for his response to what happened early on. Takaki still thinks it is a joke. By now, Tamaki started crying.

"Why do you think it is a joke?"
"Why do you think it's not possible?"
"Me loving Taka-bou, is it that weird?"
"I'm not messing around!"
"Even that time, I'm not messing around…"

Flashback to the past. There was actually a time when… err… a childhood promise was made. No details needed, I guess this is in summary a childhood promise story. In any case, young Tamaki had said "Even if we would be apart, I will continue to like you." Young Takaki thinks it's a joke. Back to present, I guess that triggered Tamaki's innate despair… imagine all those years… Still crying:

"Just when I had confessed already, do you even know how much courage I needed?"
"Isn't Taka-bou the one messing around?"
"It's all Taka-bou's fault! All of it!"
"Just ignoring my feelings, take even a little responsibility!"

Takaki deeply apologizes. Tamaki answered back, to just forget everything. Just forget this happened, and go on with their usual relationship and lives. But Takaki disagrees with that. I think by this time, Takaki wants to do it all over again, correctly, because he also loves her. Tamaki apologizes too, because in truth, she is also wrong in the situation. She is also running away, hiding her confession of love inside a joke.

"This time, I won't run away"

Back to where they left off, this time proper confessions were made. I guess that's it then. Tamaki's cold strikes her again, and so Takaki laid her to bed, this time holding her hand all the way.

Epilogue

Tamaki is seen with a yukata, holding Takaki, while enjoying the summer festival (with fireworks of course).

What do you think? Isn't that very heartwarming? Though it became a bit cheesy by introducing the childhood promise thing, the rest of the story is full of fun, funny, and dramatic moments. The three girls subplot took the cake as one of the best To Heart 2 stories I've ever seen! Those girls are kinda pretty too, any chance they'll have a sidestory of their own? I hope there would be one in the To Heart 2 PC version. Come on, I like those three girls! Look at Reona, isn't she hot?

Tamaki's scenario is one of the best, and I think many would agree on that. I also tend to think that she is a most complex character, one that doesn't belong in stereotypes of bishoujo game characters. Although she started out a typical onee-san, she ends up a charm. Very nice.

Three scenarios left! At this pace, I guess I could finish the entire game after all. Go me!

This is a Summer of Bishoujo feature