First of all, I want to thank you for leaving such a long and sweet comment. I truly re-read it multiple times because it was just so... so THRILLING to see my work thoroughly appreciated like that. ( ; w ;) I love that you love Carmelita and Ricardo since I often feel they get outshined by the sheer... um... Extra-ness that is Kitten Pink and James' chaotic relationship. I hope you enjoy those routes when you get to them.
Thank you for that. I wanted relationship types to be the focus and Carmelita/Ricardo's dynamic is so carefully constructed. Mainly, it's because I think that going from friends to lovers can be scary and I wanted to express that with Carmelita's route. Ricardo is much more forward with his affections (likely because he's felt them longer) whereas Carmelita is more like a recent awakening wherein she discovers that she DOES want Ricardo in that way... she just is too shy to express it and fully take the leap.
One of the main reasons PAIRS is a NaNoRenO project is because I was TERRIFIED of reception since it's not a conventional otome. I was scared to spend my own money to make it, haha. All that to say that to hear that you like the setting and more or less get why I chose it is incredibly gratifying. Thank you SO much, really. I hope you enjoy my other work and I'd love to hear your thoughts if you don't mind sharing them. :^)