Deuce’s Past

Deuce’s mother says she would often dress Deuce up in costume for White Rabbit Fes as a child, giving examples from before he entered elementary school and saying that he wouldn’t want to wear normal clothes.

She says that she would bring him to the festival every year “until all of a sudden he decided he was too big to come with me,” but when Deuce says “It’s perfectly normal to age out of hanging out with your mom,” she agrees, saying, “I was the same way when I was a teenager.”

Riddle asks if Deuce did any activities such as gymnastics when he was a child and Deuce says that, while he tried a lot of things, nothing really resonated and he had more fun “tearing around on a tricycle,” explaining, “My mom said I didn’t have to force myself to do anything, so I didn’t really get into any activities in a big way…”

Deuce says that pre-NRC he found being at home to be “kind of a drag.” Silver asks why, if that’s where his mother was, and Deuce responds, “Yeah, that’s kind of why… We didn’t see eye to eye in those days.”

Epel is scandalized by how Deuce doesn’t seem to know anything about his own hometown, and—embarrassed by his inability to answer any questions about where he’s from—Deuce tries to fill in the gaps in his knowledge by reading aloud to the White Rabbit Fes group from a guide book when they arrive.

Later we learn why it is that Deuce does not know anything about where he is from: he would skip so much school prior to NRC that he didn’t do things like go on field trips to the Hall of Records.

Deuce will sometimes mention how he “caused people a whole lot of grief” in the past. After his mother calls him about the festival he says he’s decided he’s been away long enough by now, and we learn what he means in a vignette: he tries to ask a neighbor for a favor and they become hostile the moment they recognize him, saying that they do not care how much his mother has apologized for his past behavior and trying to send him away.

Deuce apologizes for his past and, with Ortho’s assurance that Deuce is not smart enough to act polite just to get someone to drop their guard, the neighbor allows them to borrow his workshop to make Ortho’s rabbit gear, specifying that it is Ortho they do not want to disappoint.

They threaten Deuce, reminding him that they do not trust him, and comment on how even letting Deuce inside the workshop will damage their reputation.

After the confrontation Ortho asks Deuce if he is already and Deuce responds, “Just kinda…hating myself,” explaining how he feels like he’s changed but that doesn’t erase what he’s done. 

Deuce is so different now that he is not recognized by people in town who warn him about his own past self, saying, “I’m sure he’s just as awful as ever, wherever he is.”

Deuce reflects, “I guess people still talk about me. And still think I’m ‘just as awful as ever’……” and wonders if he maybe hasn’t changed that much after all.

When Deuce happens upon his workshop-owner neighbor during White Rabbit Fes fretting that they have forgotten their rabbit ears and will not be able to join the foot race as a result, Deuce offers to summon them. The spell works, but a workshop employee freezes up rather than showing gratitude

Deuce apologizes for getting involved, impressing the workshop owner with his concern for the employee.

The workshop owner tell him, “You owe a lotta people a lotta things, the way you used to act. But we’re square for today,” and has the employee thank Deuce properly.

Deuce wonders, “Maybe I really have changed…”

Deuce is recognized by his mother’s coworkers, who say that he used to be so scary looking that they had all kept a safe distance from him (Grim: “They seem really scared of Deuce”).

Frightening people is also the reason why Deuce is not used to talking to girls: “Any girls other than my mom—any guys too, really—would take off the moment I made eye contact with ‘em.”

Deuce summons a cauldron during the festival’s foot race in order to protect himself from a bully, and the bully recognizes him as “the legendary delinquent of Clock Town —Cauldron Deuce!”

The rest of the gang whispers about rumors that Deuce beat up five other gangs by himself, defeated 100 armed men with his bare hands and couldn’t be brought down by the whole police force, but Deuce insists he did nothing of the sort.

Deuce explains a little about what he was like prior to NRC, saying that he would cut school, refuse to use honorifics with his teachers, hung out with bullies, bleached his hair and show off with his magic.

Deuce is delighted when he wins an award for his track-and-field achievements, confusing Jack, who says Deuce should have been able to make a name for himself on any sports team with his skills. Deuce responds, “I’ve never seriously participated in team sports before…but never mind that.”

After Riddle scolds Ace and Deuce for wanting to skip school to go to Playfulland Deuce reflects, “he did make a good point-skipping school isn’t okay.”

Ace responds, “Did you actually think skipping school was normal until he got mad about it? That’d explain why you brought it up to him like it was no big deal…”

Deuce says that he was an easy target back home because he stood out too much, people would assume he was “muscling in on their turf” and pick fights with him, and references a time when he got into a fight against five other people at once.

It seems that bugle playing is taught in middle schools in Clock Town but Deuce cannot do it, saying, “I thought all that flute playing and singing was silly…so I skipped out…I don’t think that anymore, of course!” and “Wish I could tell my past self he’s going to embarrass himself one day…”

In the guide book there is a comment that Deuce will sometimes make “expressions where you can see the yankee influence”, and Deuce is heavily coded as a former yankee (or maybe just a former aspiring yankee?)

(above: Yana’s memo from the guide book commenting on the “yankee influence” on Deuce)

In his clubwear card artwork Deuce holds his baton in the same way that yankee are often depicted holding pipes for fights in fiction.

For a quick review, The Japanese-language-term “yankee” is for a kind of youth subculture associated with being a rebel and having a tough, flashy appearance, often adopted by teenagers who want to look intimidating, reject societal expectations, be anti-authority, etc.

The term is probably from the American word “yankee” originally, possibly imported with post-war G.I. culture, but it is very much it’s own, independent thing (an example of wasei-eigo (和製英語,) English words that get new meanings after being adopted into Japanese.)

Going in the yankee direction is something that 不良 (furyou) choose to do sometimes, and 不良 are referenced often in Twst, translated on EN as “delinquents” or “young punks,” basically a starting point for kids who will maybe imitate some yankee styles (like Deuce and Epel), get often get into fights, smoke while underage, skip school, etc.

During White Rabbit Fes Epel says he had only heard of 不良-types in comics and TV shows (Idia and Ortho also talk about 不良 of manga, TV shows and movie), and he was shocked to learn that all of it is real. Deuce says, “I know what you mean. I went through a phase like that.”

This was one of the various dichotomies that made the White Rabbit Fes event so fun: Epel goes to Clock Town having heard that it is overrun by 不良, saying he assumed “the town would be awash in modded blastcycles, with 不良 getting into fights all over the place,” and he is disappointed by the reality as he had been “hoping someone would pick a fight with us so l could send them packing.”

Instead, he sells doughnuts while dressed as a bunny.

Epel says that his preconceived notion of Clock Town involved it being “graffiti all over the place,” and Deuce mentions experience painting walls with spray paint during the Rapunzel event.

Ace is not one of the people that Deuce has confided in about his past but he has been calling Deuce out on his 不良-speech since the prologue, as the his vocabulary is often yankee-coded (referring to Riddle as カシラ both to his face and behind his back (EN-server: boss / top dog), to Heartslabyul as his “turf,” etc). 

※Note: While “boss” is a perfectly accurate translation of kashira, it might not be having the same effect on EN, as EN will add the word “boss” to places it was never said (re: Ruggie to Leona, the twins to Azul) but Deuce is the only character in the game to use the word “kashira,” which is why it stands out and why Ace calls him out on it but not any of the other characters who also say “boss” on EN: it is supposed to be unique to Deuce’s speech patterns.

Deuce mentions riding a magical wheel before enrolling at NRC, and he discusses blastcycle modifications with Epel that are very reminiscent of the yankee motorcycle aesthetic. 

Leona picks up on the yankee slang in Deuce’s dream early on, and the names of the “teams” (while the kanji is written as “dorm” Deuce pronounces it as “team”) also seem to be influenced by yankee-style naming conventions.

The kanji used in the dorm names of Deuce’s dream are from both how they sound and for meanings that imply strength/violence/rebellion. All together they are gibberish, but individually they reflect the yankee aesthetic.

In the case of Heartslabyul, for example, we have 覇痛羅武流: something like domination/supremacy + pain + entangle/net (this is a popular kanji for yankee) + military/warrior + style/flow.

Yankee-style writings like this are not really meant to be practical or sensical but more about the look, kind of similar to how heavy metal bands will use dramatic lightning fonts that are not always very legible.

The point is looking bold and intimidating, not to make grammatical sense.

Ortho comments on this aesthetic directly after hearing Epel’s plans for a future blastcycle, saying that his modifications “seem practically designed to tank performance,” as he does not understand that making sense is not the point: it is about the style.

Deuce’s pink leopard-print outfit his loungewear is also not uncommon for that aesthetic and he mentions bleaching his hair, also common with real-life 不良 and yankee.

The clothes that Deuce describes liking in the game sound very similar to vintage yankee fashion that integrated things like heavy embroidery and tiger and dragon motifs, all of which Deuce and Epel talk about in the gym wear vignette.

In the lantern event we learn that Deuce experimented with a variety of different hairs styles back in his 不良 days: he does his own hair as well as everybody else’s, even placing hair accessories “at aesthetically pleasing intervals” for Riddle, impressing Vil.

Deuce says, “I used to mess with my hair a lot. Why? To look more imposing… Uh, I mean, to look more stylish, of course!”

Deuce is big on hierarchy, never referring to any upperclassmen character by anything except last-name-senpai (except Jamil in a special, one-time exception), and this is also possibly a holdover from his 不良 days. 

This seems to be difficult to portray about Deuce in English, so to compensate the official translation of the first novel added the line “Are you trying to overturn the natural order of upperclassmen and lowerclassmen?!” to Deuce’s dialogue so that English speakers are able to understand this about his character, even though that is something that Deuce has canonically never said in any retelling of Twst.

We also see this during White Rabbit Fes where Deuce insists on Silver having the first bite of a shared potato and leading the group in a cheer, as Silver was the most senior of the group.

During the Rapunzel event Deuce insists on fixing Riddle’s hair for him after Riddle’s cuts it himself with magic, saying, “I can’t let my boss be seen looking improper. I gotta uphold our dorm’s rep!”

While doing his best to put distance between himself now and the self of his 不良 days Deuce will sometimes slide back into his old speech patterns and violent tendencies, commented on by characters such as Grim, mobs and Ortho as Deuce becoming a different person.

Ace says that Deuce needs to “stop assuming everything’s a fight,” and violence is Deuce’s first resort in many situations: he first intends for his duel with Riddle to be physical, not magical, and he would have possibly punched Riddle in Book 1 if Ace had not gotten to Riddle first.

(In the novel the prefect holds Deuce back from attacking Riddle to keep him from getting expelled again.)

Deuce is happy to take Jack up on his offer of a fight in Book 2, attacks CHARON in Book 6 to try and save Grim, and fights are a regular part of school at the NRC of Deuce’s dream world.

Deuce also tries to fight ghosts (multiple times), says he wishes they could solve the Magicam Monster problem of Halloween with their fists, and when Malleus visits him in class his first assumption is that Malleus is calling him out to fight.

Deuce challenges Malleus directly (“I’m ready to brawl ’til one of us can’t stand up anymore! BRING IT! C’MON!”), but Malleus fails to understand what he is going for.

Deuce also calls for Rollo to fight him, decides to “let (his) fists do the talking” during the Wish Upon a Star event, tries to fight Idia and bullies.

After the footrace of the White Rabbit Fes event Deuce’s mother asks if he is all right and he responds, “I’m pretty used to scraps like that.”

When Deuce’s tsum proves to be violent Ace observes, “The way it flips out at the slightest provocation is totally (Deuce).” Deuce tells his tsum, “You really gotta do something about the way you let things set you off. Otherwise you just make trouble for everyone!”

Deuce tells Sebek that he is always levelheaded.

Deuce’s dream of Book 7 involves the seven dorms of NRC being “locked in a nonstop battle over turf,” with daily disputes over school facilities that can only be accessed by winning the right to do so through a physical confrontation.

Leona comments that it is hard to tell if Deuce wants to be an honor student or a 不良 in his dream, with Ortho pointing out that a real 不良 probably wouldn’t be interested in disputes over things like access to the school library instead of money or physical objects.

But that is exactly what happens in Deuce’s dream, with Heartslabyul students and Octavinelle students battling one another with books as weapons over the right to use the library study rooms because they want to score well on tests.

Deuce is shocked by the revelation that the books of his dream are blank. Sebek asks, “In what way are you an honor student?,” nearly awakening Deuce.

Dream-Ace reassures Deuce that his world is perfectly logical, as fighting to use a study room is “totally what an honor student would do. The more brawls you win against other dorms’ students, the better you can study. Makes perfect sense to me.”

After he awakens Deuce wonders, “does this mean somewhere deep down, I wished I could resolve everything through violence?…Why am I always like this…?!,” but Ortho assures him that many of the dreams were distorted interpretations of what the dreamer wanted. (Deuce: “Oh, that’s good… I guess?”)

After students see a picture of him as an elementary school child Azul begins to panic, and Deuce empathizes, saying, “I totally get what you’re feeling. Everybody’s got a past they wish they could erase!,” and telling everyone to forget what they saw and never speak of Azul’s past again.

Deuce is largely hiding his past at NRC, taking a visiting group of bullies from his hometown into the woods during Halloween to drop a cauldron on them and threaten them with physical violence if they dare hurt the school as he is a new person now. (Jamil: “I had no idea Deuce could get that rough.”)

When his mother’s coworkers comment on how he used to have bleached hair he asks them not to bring it up in front of the other students, and when Epel reveals he has heard rumors of Deuce from his pre-NRC days Deuce pretends that they are talking about someone else.

When Deuce is recognized as actually being the same person from Epel’s rumors he fervently denies it (Ortho: “Your vital signs are going all over the place”).

Deuce says he saw his acceptance to NRC as his chance to change himself in a new environment, but when Epel asks if he has changed Deuce responds, “Not a bit. I can play the part of an honors student, but I can’t change who I am deep down.”

But, Deuce says, he has learned at NRC that even the most capable people struggle behind the scenes, but they never give up. 

Deuce intercepts when Ortho is being bullied by Diasomnia students, telling Ortho that he couldn’t stand seeing the bullies acting like he used to.

He has a long conversation with a bully in his hometown during White Rabbit Fes, saying that he reminds Deuce of the old him, but he doesn’t want to be like that anymore.

Afterwards the delinquent leader asks Deuce to adopt his gang and Deuce refuses, saying, “I’ve changed. All I want now…is to be an honor student!”