vin

Spring Feels Colder Without You 31-32

She is desperate to be seen and loved again, but will not sacrifice her principles just for that to happen.

Most of the detailed background information comes from young historians, like Maki's brother and Tanaka. Pieces of information that don't seem to fit the narrative, such as Nounuki-sama as a euphemism for mercury despite "Hikaru" having nothing to do with the metal, turn out to be important. Asako's grandmother best fills the role of village elder with sound advice, but since she passed, it's Asako who keeps her wisdom. The adults who know about the Great Brain Snatcher only know that it's terrifying, killed one of their friends as children, and the Indou's ritual kept it at bay (which is also inaccurate). Yoshiki and "Hikaru" had to go searching themselves.

And to top it all off, anecdotal evidence is repeatedly shown to be unreliable. Impurities destroy memories, leaving only physical evidence like books and records. The villagers in the past misunderstood the nature of the Great Brain Snatcher and the holes, and not because people in the past were superstitious, but because the things they were dealing with cannot be directly observed and conform to preexisting biases. And when it comes to information only passed down to the men of the family, it only took two deaths for the Indou family ritual to almost be lost forever; it's implied Hikaru's father was even killed for finding out something different.

no longer human

the ability to disagree and argue and create and strive is important.

the hive can't do any of that without getting the shakes.