Been thinking about Okazaki Hanano.
Looking at her backstory, we learn that the only reason she was even conceived was to be a blood and organ donor for her mother, Haruka Yonekura's experiments. However, because she was born with the inadequate blood type, her mother took her to the greatest, most trustworthy doctor she knew to fix that - Kan Toranosuke.
At thirteen years old, after undergoing countless surgeries, Okazaki - still known as "Yume" - ran away for good. Later on, she met her roommates and began living with them.
Her being brought up as a lab rat already planted the seeds for her later behavior. Since birth, she was made to feel as though she was a defective product that needed fixing. In her terminal, it seemed that her mother had already given up on her and was thinking of having a new child altogether. But Kan believed that he could fix her, which is why Yume got attached to him despite how uncomfortable he made her feel.
Looking through Seki's terminal, we get a list of incomprehensible behaviors from a now 17 year old Okazaki - stealing a van then blowing it up, buying a scarab from a random man, going to fast food restaurants and getting away with not paying through various underhanded tactics, only going to school to steal appliances, regularly stalking a community service worker (Tsuno Manami), walking around in such extravagant clothing despite engaging in illegal activities on the daily.
This odd way of life makes sense if we look at it through her perspective. She's had no stable place of residence since she was 13 years old and was seen as nothing more than an organ donor by the one person who was supposed to guide her. Of course she would cope by believing she was some transcendent being and therefore laws do not apply to her. She started taking on the alias of "The Phantom Thief of Nagoya" as a way to turn her tragic existence into an exciting one. It is fun to imagine that she is this evil ethereal force who lurks in the night stalking her angelic Nemesis, preparing for the day they have an epic battle in which both of them proclaim their undying loyalty for their rivalry before dying in a blaze of glory. Way more fun than acknowledging the reality that she was born for a purpose she could not fulfill and experimented on endlessly without her consent and she had to fend for herself at an incredibly young age with no one in the world who truly loved her.
She needs to delude herself into thinking she's this Evil Villain because acknowledging her past would make her feel...weak. And there's no way The Phantom Thief of Nagoya could be weak. Yume Yonekura was weak - but not Okazaki Hanano.
And this beautiful mess of a person ends up being thrown into the Session One Killing Game. Already, in her Student Interview, she is messing with Seki - introducing herself as Isono Miki and answering questions as Ninomiya Yōhei. She stands out amongst the characters because of how calm she seems. When the other students respond with fear or aggression, Okazaki cracks jokes and feels comfortable enough to lie all throughout this interview.
If we do not know her backstory, we could be inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this is simply how she copes with the stress of the situation. However, this benefit of the doubt will not last long.
The thing with Okazaki is that, as open minded as we might try to be, it is incredibly obvious to the average audience member that she will be the Chapter 3 Killer. And her behavior throughout the game only validates that assumption - her refusal to remove her mask, callous attitude towards the murders, her receiving a gun as her reward, her vast knowledge of pharmaceutical drugs, her tormenting and toying with Wada Masanari culminating into her fracturing his ribs.
So naturally, when Kamimura Kazutoshi gets found decapitated and disemboweled in the art room and Tsuno Manami gets caught in the stomach by a cartoonish wooden trap, all eyes turn to Okazaki. The only thought in our minds is : "Why?".
And the answer is as detached from reality as her psyche. It turns out that she had been planning to murder Tsuno, her Nemesis, since the beginning. In fact, being put in the killing game with her was a golden opportunity she couldn't let pass by. As for Kamimura, he was badically just bait for Tsuno. She also just wanted to mess with Hasegawa Ken. She had had this strange desire to act as his therapist prior to this, seemingly intrigued by his state of mind. So in a sense, killing Kamimura was like killing two birds with one stone.
Tsuno had no idea who Okazaki was before meeting her for the first time in the killing game. She had no idea she lived with her in Nagoya until [Restaurant], which Okazaki said threw her in a silent fit of rage. In fact, the only reason she was even messing with Wada was because she wanted to see the anger on Tsuno's face. But it was never quite satisfactory.
Throughout the killing game, she had made friends with Watari Nishino, who was absolutely devastated by this Chapter 3 reveal. Okazaki seemed surprised when Watari told her she hated her. Which is...interesting. Maybe the reason why Okazaki befriended her was because she thought she'd make for a good assistant in her Evil Deeds because of her wild and mischievous personality. Even though, over here in reality, it is obvious to all of us that Watari would never participate in her nonsense.
Speaking of, I would like to draw attention to the way Okazaki approaches relationships. According to Ninomiya Yōhei and Okazaki's wiki page, Okazaki would coerce him into having sexual relations with her through various means - such as taking away his insulin or threatening him with a knife. She would even sometimes lock him in a dog cage. When Ninomiya recounts those events, he does it in a pretty light-hearted way, but it is clear that this demeanour is probably a front to hide how much she's really hurt him. He rationalises her behavior by implying that this behavior was what he should have expected from a "menhera". In general, their relationship seems chaotic and unhealthy. They only seem to go back to each other to have sexual encounters.
In the killing game, she forms a crush on Harada Keizou, despite him stating multiple times that he has a girlfriend. According to Okazaki's wiki, Harada's death pushed her to commit her crime - implying that his death had an impact on her. Despite her supposed feelings towards him, she still taunts him near the end of his trial. "Harada, where's Sawa?"
Her feelings for Watari seem to be more complicated. I think she was the closest, healthiest friendship she's ever had. Unfortunately, Okazaki was already too far gone and dead set on getting her Nemesis to notice her. I believe Okazaki knew this, which is why she says that they'll be proper friends in another life. In another life, she'll be able to fully dedicate herself to their friendship. Because she'll no longer be The Phantom Thief of Nagoya, she'll be a fox. She won't be tethered to that self-appointed title and the arbitrary responsibilities that come with it. If anything, she's communicating that a life with Watari means freedom.
When it comes to her psychological profile, she showcases extremely low empathy and, despite having good street smarts, is pretty clueless when it comes to social interactions. Like when she wonders out loud : "Why does everyone say they need a minute?" when Tsuno asks for a moment to collect herself after the group finds Kamimura's body. Speaking of street smarts, she's prone to testing out theories through actions rather than words, like when she set off a gunshot mid-trial to test out if Kamimura would faint in order to eliminate him as a suspect in the second trial.
Okazaki Hanano is a person who was not raised as a human being, so naturally, she grew to believe she wasn't one. Rather than taking the depressing route of acknowledging her unfair, tragic circumstances, she decided to run away from the truth in favor of more exciting lies. And who could blame her for that? Well, everyone who died after Chapter 3.
