#chapter 130

Once more, I'm going to start this thread by crediting @/VibingLemonArt (on Twitter) for this chapter's translations!

Nene's subtle, tangible and yet tragic development

I've noticed this in previous chapters too, but this chapter stuck out to me in particular. Everyone knows how Nene's eyes used to be clear, symbol for the window of the soul, right...? You could always guess what she's thinking based on her expressions alone, without relying on her narration.

But... Her pupils have been shrunk for a while now, obscuring what she truly thinks. Of course, there's also panels where her gaze is normal, but... This definitely wasn't nearly as common as it is this arc.

Nene realized that she has to stop Amane from saving Tsukasa if her present is to be restored, hence why she started the chapter with a lie, no, a half-lie, as further highlighted by her expression either hidden or complicated.

Why did I say it's a half-lie? Because the truth is that she is indeed there to help him. He would end up much worse than when he was Hanako, and she knows it. The lie is that she'd help him save Tsukasa.

However, she is obviously conflicted. She can't just throw Tsukasa in the hole and go, her heart won't let her, even if she knows the result of just letting things stay like this, to the point she even imagines her friends looking at her in disappointment.

I'm sure that conflict of hers will be further explored in future chapters.

I think this specific occurence may be a callback to chapter 121 where Amane pushes Nene out of the house and preparing himself to get eaten up before Nene pulls him along, a comparison to her getting out by herself as she figured out that all the others have died.

In other words, she wasn't about to lose Amane too.

Salvation, part 2

This segment where Amane tells Nene that he doesn't like Tsukasa at all seems, on the surface, to be a reply to Tsukasa's question from chapter 101. For what he knew, Amane's life plunged into hell because "the impostor" took Tsukasa's place, so of course he couldn't say he likes him.

But this is where it gets complicated; Because in 101, Tsukasa says that Amane wants him nearby, so he's conflicted whether he wanted him there or gone.

Amane, however, did not want to decide; He just wanted to go back before everything went to ruin, and thought that if Tsukasa simply didn't disappear on their 4th birthday, everything would get solved.

I'm rather taken with Amane's wording "Not someone like him". Which gets me to think that it's not solely sensing the pit god's existence within Tsukasa that turned everything bad, and my beliefs are grounded in the pit god/Tsukasa acting all weird with Kunishige back in chapter 79.

The most touching moment of the chapter is no doubt "I'm glad I was able to save you, Tsukasa". It strongly parallels two other instances of this kind, down to the gestures, but it differentiates itself from them with Amane's expression.

Everything down to the gestures which are filled with affection are the same, but this moment differentiates itself from the other two by Hanako being unable to smile. Rather, he cries tears of happiness at the thought of being able to save his brother, a desire that took over a huge part of his miserable life. A wish he couldn't have granted even as Hanako.

The Pit God (and its revenge?)

As a first note, the Pit God is associated with black water again, as it had been in the Happiness chapters and the Red House arc, its victims depicted as drowned. I believe this is a topic that could be tackled in another type of thread, but to keep it short, this may be another reference to Izanami, the shinto god of Creation and Death, who resides in the underworld.

It's rather terrifying that a God told Amane it wouldn't forgive him, and it might be a precursor to either future events or be a reason as to why new present Yugi Amane turned out the way he did.

Running away from the Pit God, who states it wouldn't let them get away, Amane, Nene and Tsukasa manage to get out of the House, only for the lights to flicker, the world turn to darkness and to find themselves back inside to an interior Amane recognizes as his own.

Now, I am of the belief that the trio did not return to 1968 as one might think, but a trick of the Pit God's, who recreated Amane's version of the Red House from his memories.

We've already seen this with Kou in the Red House arc, where the Red House reproduced his house's kitchen and his mother in it.

After all, the Red House already seemed to have been under the Pit God's control. It claimed it wouldn't let them get away, and handprints would appear from outside of the door, and yet it was open. I find it extremely suspicious, as if the Pit God was urging them to cross the door.

If they indeed time slipped into 1968, then why did they suddenly teleport back inside of the Red House, known to be the Pit God's domain? It's fishy, no matter how you look at it.

It didn't help that it was shortly after that it "settled down" that it happened. It might be the Pit God's way of "not forgiving" Amane for trying to take away its sacrifice.

Plus, Nene still needs to somehow return to the old present.

Short analysis of Amane's QOL in 1968

From what can be noticed, the place is visibly run down. The walls and doors are clearly not in their best state, and the wallpaper is even coming off. The slippers are all placed haphazardly.

The trash is not taken out and just piled up at the front door, and there are only two pairs and a half of shoes left, not counting Nene's, as she earlier in the chapter took her shoes off and they're right in front of her. Amane supposedly did as well, but his are mysteriously missing...

Based on the sizes of the shoes, the sandals belong to the mother, and the others seem to belong to the fathers'...?

Multiple small piles of salt can be observed at the door, and in Shinto religion, they are placed at the entrances of buildings to purify the space and ward off evil spirits.

The absurd amount of bottles resemble sake bottles used in Shinto rites, which are offered to the deities as a symbol of purity, divine blessing and communion with the spirits.

Everything lines up with Amane claiming that his mother went crazy due to Tsukasa being replaced with what they thought is an evil spirit.

The family is struggling financially too, as their furniture is foreclosed. To explain in simpler terms, they're doing so badly with money, they apparently had to mortgage their house. In other words, they're in severe debt and at risk of being left homeless.

Likely causes are the absurd amount of money spent on religious items stacked everywhere at the entrance and their father not being present in their life.

The Yugi household has been depicted as a stereotypically traditional household with the mother as the housekeeper and the father as the one who works, but both are terribly failing at their assigned roles, and their children are the main victims.

The reason why Amane is in utter disbelief is because just earlier he thought that if he saved Tsukasa, the future would change, but he was so surprised to see everything stay exactly the same that he wasn't even willing to admit it was true.

The wording "this is MY house" contrasts against his dissociation with the house of 1955, confirming that this was exactly his living conditions prior to the time travel. (see my chapter 128 analysis for more)

More details, thoughts and predictions

First off, we finally get the theory that the key with the rocket keychain is the key to the Red House debunked. The keys are completely different from one another, down to the shape. Now it just makes me further curious as to what it's used for...

Back to the Red House arc, Tsukasa respects his promise to the Pit God out of the thought that it would bring Amane happiness. Iro put a lot of accent on Tsukasa willingly jumping in to keep his promise.

So I do wonder that if placing Amane back in the space he recognizes as his own house in front of a Tsukasa who didn't get to jump in the hole, it would make him not want to respect the promise anymore.

After all, the whole basis of his sacrifice was to "make Amane happy", but what if he's shown with his own two eyes that his decision only brought him misery? The entire thing would fall apart, wouldn't it?

At the same time, it might be a moment where Nene would be forced to cross a line she wouldn't ever be able to return from, especially if AidaIro wants Nene to witness Amane's life conditions with her own two eyes. After all, the only way for things to return the way they were is to make sure Tsukasa is successfully sacrificed.

In conclusion, I'm super hyped with the direction the authors took, so I can't wait for next chapter! TBHK currently entered an indefinite hiatus, so I'll patiently wait for them to get well rested and at full health for them to meet 120% of this arc's potential!

I have a few ideas about how this next chapter is going to go and I need to get them off my chest.

First things first, I love that we are still getting teased on this kiss between Twilight and Yor. We've been talking about it for so long that if we finally get paid off I'm never going to be able to shut up about it.

But, here's why I don't think it will happen.

Yuri cannot bear to see Yor smear her lips all over another man. I don't think that this is Loid exclusive. He's definitely going to find some way to sabotage this scene some way or the other.

Loid knows how strong Yor is, and the fact that he's been attacked now multiple times for just barely touching her is going to have him on high alert. That actor is in DANGER of his wife's violent reactions.

Yor might be wanting to be a better actor, but let's face it my girl is too socially awkward to pull of a pretend kiss with an actor. She couldn't kiss her fake husband, she is definitely not kissing some random actor.

Yuri is going to tell Loid about the kiss and make him put his foot down. Loid is not going to step in, (he might say something to the terrorists) but he's really doing the most to stay off camera. If he tries to disguise himself as the actor he might as well ask Yuri to arrest him.

I don't think we'll get the kiss in the next chapter, BUT I do think that we are going to see a few things happen:

Loid might finally gain Yuri's approval as his sister's husband. Loid has the opportunity to have his actions speak louder than his words (which he's NOT lying about this time.) Loid can prove to Yuri that he is willing to go above and beyond to protect and take care of Yor. He's probably not going to care much for him as a BIL though lol.

Loid might compliment Yor on her look and tell her that she looks nice or even beautiful. This will mean a whole lot to her seeing as she was stressing out a bit about what she should wear to the program to begin with.

We might get a scene of them HOLDING HANDS again, and while I know it's not what we want I'll take any sort of physical contact between these two!

But anyway, let's talk about tonight's chapter, chapter 130.

Alright, I see the problem here, and I should admit that the end of the drama is quite anticlimactic to the story overall.

I know it. That's why they don't like that singer. She's the one who caused that anticlimactic ending to the drama.

So all of the actors are cooperative and willing to do the reshoots. They ask the audiences to participate in the reshoots, but of course Loid won't ever let them expose his face on TV, so...

Again with the part-time job excuse, Loid? Now you sound more like an odd job worker rather than a psychiatrist.

And yeah, as there's an actress who can't come to the studio, they ask Yor to play the said actress's role, and she agrees.

On a side note, Yor is really cute with both her hairstyle and the outfit ngl.

Great reactions from both Camilla and Becky here.

So far, the reshoots got positive responses from the audiences, until...