Madara Mikejima/Tsumugi Aoba

**Madara Mikejima/Tsumugi Aoba** is the relationship between Madara Mikejima from MaM and Tsumugi Aoba from Switch.

## Relationship and notable canon moments

Madara and Tsumugi did not have many interactions back in the day (! Era) even when they were in stories together such as **Shinsengumi** and **Checkmate**, but their relationship has been growing more and more in the current era of Ensemble Stars, with them frequently interacting in part due to their friendship and also thanks to the relationship they have as idols under NEW DIMENSION and their involvement with it. Madara states in **A Dark Night's Passing** that part of the reason he even joined the agency in the first place is *because* Tsumugi is a *"good friend"* of his. If it weren't for them, even if said in relation to DF's contributions, in Madara's eyes, NewDi would've been crushed and disappeared by now. While being caring towards each other with a sense of nurturing and deep mutual understanding, they are a pairing with a lot of nuance and potential, who's dynamic can be explored and enjoyed in different ways.

They both seem to want to be a support for others, with Tsumugi's specialty literally being listed as supporting others and Madara often coming to other's aid! While Tsumugi sees himself as nothing special, a broken machine, Madara is so multi-talented he feels isolated for that reason. They have similar goals in some regards, and have a friendly disposition, and care deeply for others more than themselves, especially those they devote themselves to.

⚠ **Grand Slam** is referenced a lot in this page due to how much it adds to Madamugi. To read the chapters dedicated to Madara and Tsumugi, the epilogue has been translated here: first & second half. Here is an untranslated video version of the second half, fully voiced, since it adds to the experience when taking their tones into account.

In **Tri-Lights** (Tsumugi's center event where Madara was the Event Bonus 5☆ & white day scout, one of the event 3☆, *and* the cameo in Tsumugi's unbloomed, holding his hands ever so tightly so he wouldn't wobble and fall onto the cold ice,) Madara promised to escort Tsumugi until he grasps/regains his ice-skating skills from his childhood, telling him that he can hold his hand as much as he needs, and Tsumugi takes the offer, thanking him and saying he thought it was like cycling or swimming, once-learned always remembered.

Madara calls him a "manipulator of hearts", which Tsumugi only responds to with a passive-aggressive sigh and a smile, and he often encourages Natsume's cruelty towards him [1] [2]. They can sometimes be far too honest to each other to an almost harsh extent. In the end they are still close friends who, in *Grand Slam* while talking alone, made a promise between the two of them to see a sparkling, hope-filled future together. Their comments towards each other and how they read each other like an open book makes their relationship exciting.

Madara is said to appear in the office with the excuse that he's *"here for a visit"* only to help him with his work without allowing Tsumugi to make a fuss about it, which is sweet due to how much he overworks himself. He didn't even have any motives behind it other than to provide assistance to him, who piles so much work onto his plate he can hardly deal with.

They help try to keep everything together in regards to NewDi in the director's absence. With Tsumugi being the deputy director & Madara a close friend of the director's even before *Meteor Impact* where it was first mentioned, it's almost like they are raising it together while he is gone, even if Madara is not afraid to put it on the line when it's for reasons that are important to him, such as his attempt to disband double face in **Spring Evening's Respite.**

Leo says *"I think you are like Mama—and the outsiders are giving him hard feelings by denying him for good reasons."* Him saying that Madara and Tsumugi are alike is very significant, considering the importance of his relationship with Madara. He also considers himself to be friends with Tsumugi!

Tsumugi revealed that Madara's involvement in Double Face helped the agency financially, to the point they managed to stay out of the red. He also mentioned that he wished more of the agency's idols would be *"More involved in the political side of things, like… Mikejima-kun."* In an attempt to get Double Face disbanded during **Spring Evening's Respite**, who's activity Tsumugi actively supports, Madara threatened to harm Tsumugi and NewDi with no hesitation. Once he gave in, he said he was thankful for the fact he didn't have to, which may be genuine.

Despite DF's shady reasons for having existed at first, Tsumugi is not afraid to go to such lengths in that and other occasions when it comes to the agency if it'll be for the greater good, as seen in his actions during the war and now. Contrary to his 2nd & even 3rd year self, despite his moral compass still not being the most correct, he has expressed a further sense of remorse about his actions of the past as of late and wants to continue his mission with Switch and NewDi of spreading happiness without shedding any more blood the way he did at Eichi's side while moving forward (Not necessarily related to Tsumumada, Tsumugi gets scared over the events of the war repeating in Next Door with Natsume in Eichi's place, despite not having shown that sort of worry before, since he sees it as a mostly good thing despite the pain it caused). While Madara does things that might hurt others and often further taints his view of himself due to his complex views on morality, relationship with violence (which he often resorts to despite seeing as solving nothing, calling it his ultimate strategy) & sense of justice even if he doesn't hesitate when it's for thoes he cares about, being used to doing so, Tsumugi's sense of morality is utterly skewed. It took him long to feel any guilt for anything close to the right reasons, now he sometimes villainizes himself for his actions, referring to himself as a *"fallen angel, or a demon"* to Madara.

He appears to hold a sense of understanding or even projection onto Tsumugi, which is why he claims they both have "*regrets that eat at them"* they need to overcome, because it's true. They both demonize themselves often, fundamentally not seeing themselves as good and being at least to some extent self-deprecating, which is part of why they understand each other. Similar to how Madara genuinely sees himself as a selfish, bad person, tainted with the darkness of the kinds of work he's done and even his rogue status as a child, Tsumugi claims he's more of a villain than Ibara during *Wonder Game*. Tsumugi says it's not unexpected for Madara to be empty (it takes one to know one).

Currently, Madara often brings up Tsumugi's role as the leader of *fine* on more than one occasion, once during *Grand Slam* and once during **Spring Evening's Respite***,* which could be him being cheeky or an attempt to get to Tsumugi, to remind him he has blood on his hands just as he does; which *could* be seen as tied to the fact he was involved in Kanata's execution while in the library committee and able to contribute to spreading the image the cult had during the war, Kanata's execution being a bad memory for Madara due to not being able to be there for him while being a good one for Kanata. Because Tsumugi often speaks in a monotonous tone, it was easy to hear how he got annoyed when Mikejima's voice changes while calling him out in the fully voiced version of their chapters of said story.

While Madara is devoted to trying to portray his "Mama" persona, a motherly role he's clung to since he was a child, he also shows desires to be different than his own mother and father—saying he doesn't want be like them at all—in the recent *Lookback* scout. This is similar to Tsumugi, in **Altered** and **Next Door**, far too upset over the idea of being too much like or becoming his mother, despite loving her so dearly.

It doesn't seem they hold truly bad feelings towards each other, since they got along well enough in **Shinsengumi** when they worked together, even though Tsumugi used to be the leader of *fine* and part of the Student Council with Eichi and Keito. In short, within canon they understand each other, help each other, and have made a promise, even with the more complicated parts of how they see each other... their characters parallel in ways I will not go into here.

An interesting thing to point out is that Madara has said that *"people who don't put themselves first give me the creeps!"* and that such a way of life, trying to bring everyone (the audience, in his words, as he points out the fact this is a common practice in the idol industry as seen by Seiya's own loss of humanity) satisfaction, is unnatural because *you can easily lose your humanity like that* in **Concerto**. Tsumugi lost whatever crumb of humanity he had as a child growing up, attempting to be a useful tool in order to feel like he's worth anything at all—it means he'd be creeped out by him. (Madara here was a total hypocrite believing he does put himself first, because he sees most of what he does as selfishness and self serving acts. Which is funny because Madara & Tsumugi are both very selfless, but out of the two, Tsumugi is *far* more selfish. In fact, his actions during the war were rooted in selfishness despite his utilitarianism being so genuine. The pain he caused was so selfish, his desire to serve someone was selfish, and so was him asking why Rei didn't do anything at the end of it all.) It's funny, how Madara would fundamentally be disturbed by his philosophies and yet Tsumugi also thinks Madara is a hollow shell, himself.

Still, that might be, in part, business reasons & self projection (which he has done often and is woven into the promise they made) aside, why he manages to sympathize with him more than he does with the rest of *fine*... he always reminds him of his past yet is still his friend & not just civil but even sweet with him when he isn't prodding at his wounds, knowing that he had involvement in one of the worst days of his life (Kanata's execution) yet still being so kind to him. Part of what makes their relationship so fascinating is the duality that comes with mutual understanding and profound care, and the slight sense animosity—how Madara is one of the few people capable of irritating Tsumugi at all, only noticeable through an utmost subtle change in tone and nothing else.

They are both very much about moving forward despite all that afflicts both of them and seeing a brighter future, and promised to do that together. They seem like a foundation for each other to be comfortable with and rely on... If Madara doesn't self-sabotage as he often does and Tsumugi's ability to see through him so clearly doesn't get to him badly, they could grow into something more, even if what their current dynamic offers is just as fun...!

## Trivia

* Tsumugi says he envies Madara's drawing skills.
* Tsumugi has very serious views about taking care of children due to his past that he makes Mama aware of when they were at the daycare during **NEW COLOR**[1], even though Mama could hardly handle himself actually taking care of children because his Mama image isn't exactly about looking after real children.
* As mentioned before, Madara is stated to help Tsumugi with his piles of office work in **King of Thieves**, which probably happens on more than one occasion alone. In a homescreen line, Madara seems to be entering the office and Tsumugi asks if he can help him, if he's free; in another, Madara asks if he called, and Tsumugi asks for them to have a meeting and "create a wonderful stage" (rough tl).
* Madara claims he sympathizes with how Tsumugi "lost" his past unit.
* Tsumugi tells Hiyori that he can *"be his papa or his mama"* in **Altered**, claiming it's his role in past *fine*, which is somewhat reminiscent to the Mama role Madara tries to push even if to a far lesser, one instance extent. He also refers to himself as Sora's papa during **Pleiades Night**.
* Switch and MaM's songs have common notions of being happy and learning to be selfish for the sake of one's well-being in their lyrics.
* Both are somewhat associated with the color green for different reasons. Green is often used to symbolize rebirth and renewal, similar to the promise they made.

(Since this is intended to be an objective encyclopedia of a site despite having my biased views, original page editor notes are these allowed I think they should be for the context of this one:

Although I love him and am NewDiP, I haven't done MaM studies in a bit, so apologies to MamaPs for any innaccuracies...! I've noticed how much their relationship keeps getting expanded on and there's already been so much potential even when they never spoke but now they do. I hope their relationship continues to grow and they keep annoying each other deeply and get to see the brighter future they dream of together. While there's so much potential for turmoil they could be the most loving boyfriends despite the twistedness. They need that sense of comfortability that only they could provide each other. Workplace yaoi... Here is how madamugi could be the most domestic couple ever and also Mess Each Other Up Badly Forever! (1/1737) ... Apologies if the formatting for this was weird! This is my first time and I wanted to have a place to keep my knowledge while also having their information here for others who were curious to educate themselves on madamugi interactions and will be updated in the future.

The following section is things that aren't necessarily related to their relationship in canon but thoughts I rotate, starting with ones relating to canon and ending in headcanons, so it'll get unprofessional...

* While this is delusional, how Chiaki got to be what Madara wanted to be but sees himself as failing at in regards to being Kanata's hero is somewhat similar to the situation of Tsumugi wanting to be the bluebird to bring Eichi happiness, but having his role usurped by Wataru. (there's key differences but, you know.) The parallels between Kanata and Tsumugi are also interesting to explore due to how it plays into his relationship with Madara, aside from the war context, Kanata being an integral part of him. The blue hair, airy demeanour, lack of love from a mother and religious or cult-related trauma of varying degrees and a little bit of meanness towards Madara are consistent...! Maybe he has a type of boy to rotate around.
* During the war, they both saw themselves as outsiders of the main story being told, in different senses of the word. For Tsumugi, it was more him trying to claim he had no influence in any of the events that took place. Tsumugi was more than happy being a tool to be used and nothing else, even if he really wanted to be *something*, he still saw himself as being merely a background character, while Madara sees himself as an outsider in the same way the 5 eccentrics were. With Madara being kept out during that time it was inevitable, but even after, when he could be present, he'd purposefully distance himself from everything and everyone, even if butting into their business at times, it's all he knows.
* Someone once said that in their eyes Madara and Tsumugi were the enstars characters most likely to kill, in 2018 or so, and I agree honestly...! Well. They got close enough, both involved in what seem to be genuine losses. (Madara's DF endeavours and Tsumugi, indirectly, in the war.)
* Their family related trauma in part shaped them into who they are, with Tsumugi's homelife and how Madara was disowned by his family. They both seem to want to care for others in a specific way, even if Tsumugi doesn't make it a huge part of his persona. Perhaps they would take care of each other, more than they already do in canon…
* I notice how Tsumugi does not call Madara Mama, as many also choose not to, nor does he refer to him as his first name even though Madara calls him by his first name and they seem to be friends. He calls him Mikejima-kun, not allowing him any proximity to the name Mama... it makes sense for him to call him Mikejima-kun and he isn't the only one and this is nothing. But it would be really funny if the reason he doesn't do it is because he finds it stupid.
* They're like the most physically affectionate couple ever and they are always seen around each other in the office just trust me. The NewDi staff is used to the sight of Madara orbiting Tsumugi's desk and of them simply being near each other or ending up on the other's lap during break. After the MaM x DF x Pizza Hut collab you just know he brought him pizza. Love and light.)

My final message... Goodbye...

Matching hairstyles ^\_^ From different stories but still.In the transparent, Tsumugi's hair is tied up like his!full cg... hand-holding...