BRB Drowning in Angst

So in other words

And yeah I do remember shisaku lol

I remembered another doubt, did mahiru MAKE the kiju weapons (specifically black deamons) or she was a partner in making of those weapons? She did help them to them to reach in hands of humanity but did our dearest genius MAKE them? And if it wasn't her then who was it- hyakuya sect?

Also did mahiru and other members of hiragi family know any the hunger games that shinya went through? Wb kureto?

And the parents of the kids, did they know for what reason these kids were being taken away?

Also even when guren was 5 y/o his diet was srsly taken care of, but shinoa is seen eating package foods, perhaps cuz she is not imp for hiragis? So then the other hirgai kids would have had a better diet when they were younger ryt?

Shinya and kureto, did they some sort of operationg to yield the black demons? Or maybe I'm wronged cuz in ons yuu yoichi and kimizuki simply took the weapons ...

First off, sorry about the late reply! Had a lot going on.

I'm glad you do! I'm sure Kagami doesn't given he's forgotten about Narumi, and he's still alive LOL

So we're told that Mahiru made them, or at least came up with the process, but, and I might be misremembering this, we don't really SEE that outright? As you say, I believe she more led them to that knowledge, so in a way, it makes sense for that to be part of her legacy. As for who? Just unnamed scientists probably. A lot of the stuff like this is kinda just "unnamed scientists". Like, who experimented on Yoichi? Well, the Hyakuya sect, but the individuals were just unnamed scientists.

Yes, they would have known this. As shown in C@16, Mahiru visits Shinya when he won, and she's very aware of who he is and what he means to her. I suppose you could argue that this doesn't really *prove* she knows, but it's implied I'd say. Kureto knows too. I'm quite sure. I don't believe it's ever said outright, but with how a lot of their interactions play out, I feel like he knows exactly what Shinya's whole deal is. It just makes too much sense for him to know. Kureto is in the dark about a lot, but something like this, a Hiragai tradition seemingly, has to be known to him. I can't imagine otherwise. Shinoa is up in the air. Though, I do have a feeling she knows this too. Again, nothing is said outright, but given how he's treated within the family and how he talks about himself, I would be more surprised if they didn't know or at least have an idea of what he went through. It doesn't strike me as the kinda thing that would be a secret within their immediate family there. Beyond that though, I don't think it'd be known. We see how others treat him, and he's treated like a Hiragi.

Yes, the parents likely had SOME idea. I don't imagine they'd know specifics, but given what little we know about it, it seems they know that they can give up their kid so that they can possibly become a Hiragi. It's a cult. It shouldn't be that surprising that a lot of parents would be willing to give their kid over for that kind of opportunity. It's an honor in fact. I could swear that this was even said, maybe implied. Not that I know much about cults, but giving up your kid for the direct betterment of the cult's leaders isn't that strange (at least in media). I imagine they also knew they'd never see their kid again, but specifically what the kids were tasked with doing? I doubt it.

While Guren was from a lower family, he was still the Ichinose heir. He would of course be taken care of, but Shinoa? Yeah, I believe you're right. We already see that really no one cared about her outside of Mahiru, maybe Shinya. She's a bit of an afterthought for the family. So yes, I imagine the other Hiragis were way better off. How could they not be? However, if you were to tell me Shinya also had a worse diet, I wouldn't be surprised. Given his ruse with Mahiru though (committing to the fiancè thing even though she doesn't care for him), he still was likely better off than Shinoa.

Yes. In C@16, it's explained that there's a surgery one must undergo in order to control a black demon. It's also mentioned that the success rate is low, 20%. Not only that, but I believe that it's said that there's criteria too, so not just anyone would be subjected to the surgery.

Yoichi and Kimizuki were able to handle the weapons likely because they've been experimented on since they were really young. We don't know what exactly they were testing for, but I don't think it's too far-fetched to say this would include the ability to control demons. As we saw in Yoichi's backstory recently, his parents were apparently implanted with a demon or whatever, so that likely had some odd effects too. I imagine Kimizuki was in a similar boat. Though, obviously he's not as powerful.

ANYWAYS I read ln and got some doubts

In the tv news yuu's name was mentioned, and shinya noticed very well, shinya even knew the fire had smtg to do with hyakuya sect. So when shinya met yuu during the whole kureto suspicion on guren scene in vr, wouldn't shinya have started to join the puzzle pieces, wouldnt HE have had the BIGGEST doubt on guren,

I mean I get that guren told shinya to "not pry" but like this was after yuu turned into serpah, shinya was in jail for ig few months, wouldn't he have made it out

Also I noticed, in lns, the list that saito (or mahiru idk) gave to guren which had names of kids who were experimented upon- yoichi and tomoe (his sister)'s name was mentioned, so even if yoichi was hallucinating his sister or whatever, but the whole damn hyakuya sect can't be hallucinating ryt?!

Also its illogical how within not even 10 mins guren squad could read his emotions and guess smtg happened 8 years ago (car scene in vr) but within the last 8 years they could notI get that they got a huge ass reason to suspect guren only after his betrayal but given how smart, observative, and cligy shinya is ain't no way he never pondered

The whole concept of shinya angst as guren started to distance himself is indeed sad, but shinya would ponder why, like try to find logic, not for himself but for GUREN...Also did the squad get to know who gave guren anaesthesia in wrat19, if they didn't, why didn't they doubt it?

And finally, in the recent ch, mahiru mentioned "gotta go shinyas nd guren r waiting for me" do demons die and end at same place as humans?, if that's the case so why r deamons afraid of their owners death? I mean wouldn't they crave death?

Oh, hell new anon! I am fine thank you for asking. Welcome to the fandom! Now whether the IP you picked to get into was the best one you could have picked. Well.

No, but seriously! Welcome!

Okay, I'm going to take this one question at a time, but to be transparent, it has been a HOT minute since I read the lns. My recollection of the details is hazy at best.

Regarding Shinya, I agree with you. It really seems there's some important event we're missing that would have taken place in R@19 to explain how Shinya never dug any deeper into what happened. Truthfully, the novels DO have some plot holes that I think we, unfortunately, just have to ignore. I even have this joking post about how everyone's clothes should be super messed up and give away that something bad happened to them beyond what Guren tells them post R@16. It's not something that is going to be addressed.

Kagami's writing is far from airtight, and as things go on, I think that becomes more apparent. There is some reason that R@19 (and the Mikaela novels) haven't been finished, and I've begun to wonder if it is because either: 1. Kagami realized that he'd have to explain some things he hadn't quite figured out himself yet 2. Kagami figured he could leave it to try and plug some plot holes later Though, really it could just be because Kagami lost interest. Either way though, yes. While the novels are great, they unfortunately make a lot of those characters look like they got dumber or weirdly complacent. Really, Shinya SHOULD have looked into things harder or started to put the pieces together, but given what we know, it really does seem like Guren told him to not pry into things at some point in R@19 (not in anything actually published) and Shinya respected that. Willfully ignorant for some reason that one seems.

This goes for your later question about the rest of Guren squad too. I think it's just stuff we either were never going to have answers for, or something that Kagami planned to address later in R@19, but since we may never get the rest of that story (it's been almost 10 years!!), who knows. It's so hard to say. Wish I had some detail you missed and I remember that answered it all, but I sadly don't have much of anything. Just know that I'm with you anon. A lot of stuff like this just doesn't make sense.

This leads me into the Tomoe thing. Now this one? This one seems like a retcon if I'm being honest. Do I believe that Yoichi was hiding some secret about himself (knowingly or not) for forever now? Yes, actually. There's always been something a tiny bit off about Yoichi, and I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop forever. I didn't expect this though. This seems... a little out of nowhere. As you point out, there's seemingly a bit too much evidence pointing to Tomoe having existed. It's really really strange that suddenly she never really existed. I'm honestly not sure what to say here. I suppose it's possible I'm forgetting details and it does make sense, but idk.

Now your last question about demons. That's something that, as far as I know, we've never had any answer to. Up until then, we'd never really seen a demon actually die. I guess there kinda maybe was Noya, but my memory is honestly a bit hazy as to how that went. Either way, it's kinda the first time it's been dwelled on. We've had a named demon's owner die before waaaaay back in the Nagoya arc, but it was Shusaku Iwasaki. Considering I wouldn't be surprised if you don't even remember who that is, it's not a surprise it wasn't a focus as to what actually happens. So! This is our first real instance of seeing what happens.

HOWEVER! What I think is important to remember and what I would imagine was the goal was that Guren was actively turning into a demon when he was dying. If they don't end up in the same place, then it makes sense that Mahiru would think they're going to the same place since she died before him. I would say the same for Shinya as I'm sure the only way he was able to hold on after being bisected was demon nonsense, but that can't be the case. Guren states he wants Yuu to kill him so he can die a human with Shinya so... I'm not sure anon!

I imagine it ultimately boils down to demons just not wanting to die? It does seem like they kinda just... stop existing once their user is gone since, afair, we've never seen a demon again after their user has died. It's my best guess.