ChaoS;Child (1st run)

These are my thoughts from the first run of Chaos;Child. Reactions were written while reading the chapter, and Thoughts were written after the chapter but before starting the next one. No delusions selected.

Spoilers for ChaoS:HEAd (mostly Noah-Sena) are in rot13: https://rot13.com/

This is pretty long, so it may be worthwhile to skip to Chapter 11 Thoughts.

For 2nd run (and probably more), I'll use https://pastebin.com/bgTnbCSc

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Prologue
- The streamer was likely seeing a delusion of cheese in place of his own arm. The visitors likely included a Gigalomaniac, or some kind of device similar to the Noah transmitters.

Chapter 1 Reactions
- Nono seemed really shaken about the current incidents being linked to New Gen. She likely has a personal connection to the New Gen incidents, possibly related to one of the victims or someone else involved (somebody in Chaos;HEAd?)
- NONO IS HIS SISTER WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
- Okay, they're not blood siblings, but I guess they might've been raised together in the past?

- Why didn't the police officer realize they were students? Too distracted by the actual incident?
- Why did the door to Room 305 unlock?
- Details: The two cops came and found the man dead and the woman unconscious. One officer stayed, and the other went to call for backup. The girl regained consciousness and then attacked the officer in the room, when he was knocked out by the shattering glass. When Taku and Serika came in, they found both the girl and the cop unconscious, with curtains over the bed. They heard that signature knock, saw the man in the bed, the girl got up, and then Taku lost consciousness from a hit behind him.
- Why was the man exposed to Taku? Was it simply because the bed was rotating and the curtains didn't cover the entire perimeter? Or were the curtains moved at some point?

- Taku and Nono are both "earthquake orphans" and were raised in the same shelter.
- Taku was trying to take Serika to the hospital after the earthquake. They apparently snuck in there a long time ago. Present!Taku had a flashback of a pink-haired girl (Serika) covered in white (bandages?); it looked like she was being tortured (Gigalomaniac awakening attempt?)

- Why did the girl in the hotel respond to Shinjo's "Did you have it and they didn't realize it, or did you never have it?"
- Why was the window of the hotel room open?

- When Taku fell, his cheek unfortunately made contact with a glass shard, which is why it was bandaged.
- The other two orphans were a boy and girl with black hair (no Serika).

- The Sumo Sticker might have been the reason why the window was opened. Was it predicted that somebody would notice the sticker from the window? Was it for the police or detective? Or was it predicted that Taku and Serika would get inside?

- Arimura told Takuru he will be killed... What does she know? Is she a Gigalomaniac? Can she see the future? Or does she have some information about these incidents that allowed her to conclude that the one who entered will be a target? It seems more and more likely that Takuru breaking into the room was planned all along.

- A Gigalomaniac is utilizing the Sumo Stickers to see through them...? Did Takuru actually see the eye appearing from it or was it a delusion? Even if it was a delusion, was it induced by a Gigalomaniac, or was it his own paranoia?

- Who are Amy and Ed Lucas? It sounds like Ed Lucas is placing the stickers, and now has a close eye on Takuru (because Takuru printed the sticker? Or something else?) and can kill him anytime.

---Chapter 1 Thoughts (after finishing the chapter):
- I think it is very likely that Taku breaking into the love hotel room was planned or at least anticipated beforehand, either by the culprit, or by one who also anticipated the attacks.
- The police officer didn't seem to realize they were students when they were in the lobby, and reminded them not to leave their rooms. Taku specifically pointed this out, so I doubt it was insignificant. My guess is that a delusion was projected into him and he saw a different couple. Even later on, when the police were looking into Taku's break-in, it was the security cameras that verified their story with no mention of the cop recalling seeing the students.
- When Taku first stepped into the hallway, he explicitly mentioned a feeling that he was being watched. We know Takumi had similar feelings in C;H while Shogun was watching him all along.
- The door unlocked for him. Even if he was a Gigalomaniac, I don't think (I might be misremembering though) he explicitly wished for the door to be unlocked, so it likely wasn't his own "delusion" that caused the door to be unlocked. Hinae also specifically mentioned the door unlocking for him when she inquired if he was the one who broke in. Maybe she unlocked it herself (so she knew somebody wanted to get in) and then pretended to be unconscious, or maybe she knew that somebody caused the door to unlock.
- The signature knocks were likely intended for Taku. It's also possible that the knocks were intended for Hinae, especially considering that she got up with her bloody eyes wide open after the knocks (especially notable if she was the unconsciousness was an act).
- The curtains unveiled the corpse to him when he turned after the knocks. Even if this was simply due to the rotation of the bed (which I'm unsure of; I was under the impression that the curtains were initially around the entire bed, since Taku didn't notice them moving), the timing seems too convenient.
- That being said, it is possible that these points arose as a rapid response to his intrusion, which might still have been unexpected. My final argument, however, is that these incidents clearly seem to be connected to (or at least inspired by) the New Gen incidents, where a notable component was Takumi (and Rimi) witnessing the incident, with Shogun anticipating Takumi's involvement. It seems likely that Takuru witnessing this incident was also predicted, and it would be too much of a coincidence if it wasn't. Also, Hinae might be Rimi's counterpart here, since she clearly knows more than she is willing to reveal, while she isn't the culprit either.
-- On that note, I do wonder if Kunosato's instructions were based on the assumption that this was based on the New Gen counterpart, leading to her conviction that Hinae was innocent. The "Did you never have it" question is still weird though, so there must be more to Kunosato's analysis.

- It may be too early for me to point fingers, but my primary suspect is Serika.
-- She encouraged Taku to break into the hotel (despite Nono's resistance).
-- She took him to the lobby despite the police officer's presence. Could she have known that he wouldn't see them as students?
-- She knocked on Room 306. This was a very suspicious move, and it's too convenient that nobody answered. I'm wondering if this may have been a signal of some sort.
-- She put Taku's phone in her pocket, despite vomiting during that time. If her vomiting was actually due to genuine trauma, I doubt she'd have the foresight and ability to take the phone into her pocket. I'm also fairly sure the extended recording (which resulted from her action) is relevant, but I don't have much good ideas on how.
-- She pointed out the sumo sticker when replaying the video with Taku. The sticker was really blurry, and the scene was horrific enough that I can't imagine anyone noticing the sticker during the video playback unless they were specifically diverting their attention away from the horrific scene of Hinae getting up with her bloody eyes wide open. I think she deliberately intended to highlight the sumo sticker to Taku before they even started the playback.
-- I don't think she can be the culprit, and it's even possible that against the culprit, but I think these actions were deliberately planned and her motivations are deeper than what it looks like.

- Why is Taku being targeted?
-- Takumi from C;H was targeted so that he could awaken as a Gigalomaniac and become a valuable sample for Noah. It's possible that Taku is a Gigalomaniac too, but Ed Lucas mentioning that he could kill Taku at any time sounds contradictory to the objective of having him awaken.
-- Who are targeting him anyway? In C;H, both Shogun and Norose had their eyes on Takumi, both seeking to have him awaken, but for opposite reasons. Ed Lucas is likely an enemy to Taku (killing) but there may be other parties which might not necessarily be enemies. Serika might be Ed Lucas, or she might be a different party. Hinae, despite telling him directly that he's going to be killed, is likely not an enemy, but she knows enough about the situation to conclude that he's going to be killed.
-- What caused Ed Lucas to have Taku at his/her mercy? It seemed to be a recent development, so it's not simply about Serika being close to Taku. Is it because Taku printed the sumo sticker?

- The window being open is no longer a mystery; this was likely done deliberately to allow the video recording from outside.
-- The fact that this enabled Taku to see the sumo sticker was likely intended as well.
-- Speaking of the video, the narration keeps mentioning Arimura Hinae, but I don't actually see her anywhere in the video...

- What was that brief flashback CG of somebody in white possibly being tortured? The timing suggests that it was either Serika, or it was a scene that Taku and Serika witnessed when they broke into the hospital a long time ago.

- How did that student council vice-president (forgot his name, sorry!) hear about Taku skipping middle school? Who is he in touch with that both knows about Taku and was willing to reveal such details?

- The first victim, who could see the future, was likely a Gigalomaniac. He recognized the people who entered after the signature knock, saying they helped him become famous. Could they have planned the murder so far back in advance?
- The second victim was very popular, with the audience being attached to her voice. Could this also have been a result of Gigalomaniac ability?
- Was the third victim also a Gigalomaniac? There isn't much known about him, except that he worked in Koshin (which seems to be the Nozomi counterpart?) and he went to a love hotel. On that note, was he actually dating Hinae or was her presence at the crime scene due to another motive? Maybe she was trying to seduce the victim for information?

- Why did Hinae assault the police officer? Shinjo thinks she was psychologically unstable, but her behavior later suggests that she wasn't traumatized at all (which is also suspicious). Perhaps she wanted him out of the way so that Taku could break in and the script could play out as intended without the cop ruining things.
-- I think she knew that somebody would break in, but didn't know it was Taku until she spoke to him at school. Like Rimi, she might be working for someone bigger who is watching Taku.
-- However, I do think her bloody eyes at the end might have been pure fear from the signature knock.

- I really want to know about Taku's and Nono's history together, particularly on what caused him to leave.

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Chapter 2 Reactions
- Young Serika: We haven't found any clues about Amy
- Hinae says she has no memories of the incident, which is interesting. I don't think she was lying this time.
- Hinae's brother died in the earthquake.
- Kei = Kunosato Mio. She said Arimura is the only potential target they know of, so Hinae is likely a Gigalomaniac. Mio wants to kill the culprit more than anyone else, but "Arimura and her ilk" (Gigalomaniacs?) are next.
- The Sumo Sticker blog claims that the creator of the stickers is in AH General Hospital, the same place that Taku and Serika snuck into as kids.
- The girl in the hospital sumo sticker room looked like Hinae...

---Chapter 2 Thoughts
- The Psych Ward door opened. Taku was likely guided by the same entity as in the love hotel room. He also felt like he was being watched. I feel like it might be Takumi from C;H that's guiding him.
-- In both the love hotel and the Psych Ward, there was a moment where he looked around and they showed Serika's body but her face was cut off at the top of the screen. I'm not sure what this could mean. He didn't seem to be focusing on the floor.
-- Taku saw the girl (Hinae?) drawing the sumo face in the room but then she disappeared. Could it have been a delusion projected into him by a third party (possibly the same entity that opened the psych ward door)? Was it depicting a scene from the past in this room? Or maybe she was actually there, but a delusion had erased her from Taku's (and Serika's, if she was being honest) vision.
-- The nurses said everything was normal when they came to check on the scream. Was it normal for the room to be empty? Or did they actually see the girl drawing the face with her blood? They probably wouldn't consider that to be normal in conjunction with the scream, even if they always saw the girl drawing.
-- The more I think about it, the less sense it makes for Hinae to be the one in the hospital room.

- I'm not sure who the old lady and young girl are. They seemed to be creating the stickers somehow, so maybe one of them is a Gigalomaniac? Probably the old lady. Maybe the old lady is one of the six C;H knights overusing her powers like Shogun.
-- They seem suspicious, but I have a feeling that they're not actually enemies to Taku. Still, I can't really deny the connection between the stickers and the crimes. Maybe it wasn't the killer's faction that set up the stickers, but the stickers were set up by a neutral third party to observe the crimes. [Noah-Sena] Guvf xvaqn erzvaqf zr bs gur Pbzzvggrr bs 300 fnlvat gurl rkvfg va n uvture qvzrafvba, ohg V fgvyy qba'g npghnyyl oryvrir gung pynvz.
-- The stickers were around since 2007, so the old lady and young girl were probably creating stickers since back then. Alternatively, maybe the original stickers arose for a different reason, and it was only recently that the old lady and young girl decided to utilize the sumo image for their own purposes.
-- I think it was when Taku and Serika were investigating the stickers that they came to the hospital in search of "Amy". Maybe the old lady / young girl is Amy? But it was Ed Lucas who confirmed that the "test images" were spreading rapidly, so maybe one of them is Ed Lucas instead? Or maybe the test images are something else entirely, unrelated to the stickers.

- Hinae is almost certainly a Gigalomaniac, and she knows it. Mio thinks Gigalomaniacs are being hunted as I thought, which is why she thinks Hinae might be the next target. Mio seems to hate Gigalomaniacs for some reason.

- I actually thought Watabe might be Mio. Mio said she would create alt accounts to manipulate the internet community, so it's possible that Watabe published the article specifically so that the newspaper club video gets more attention.
-- I'm probably overthinking this though, especially since Watabe apparently contacted the school to interview the newspaper club.
-- Ed Lucas knows about Watabe interviewing them. I doubt Watabe would reveal that he plans to have an interview (even if he intends to publicly disclose the interview contents afterwards), so this suggests that Ed Lucas has connections to the school board or the newspaper club. Serika is getting more suspicious.

- The one who attacked Nono likely has no relation to the actual incidents and is probably the blog poster. He needs to suffer though, for daring to stab the Best Character!

- Still don't have much ideas about the girl in red. The name she was trying to scratch out from the memorial was probably a name that the reader would recognize. Maybe it was Nishijou Takumi, referring to Shogun? [C;H common route]Be Unmhxv, Fhjn, be Abebfr, jubfr qrnguf jbhyq yvxryl or gerngrq nf orvat qhr gb gur rnegudhnxr?

- Yui and Yuto are adorable

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Chapter 3 Reactions
- lol, nvm about Ed Lucas being connected to the school board for finding out about the interview. Watabe outright broadcasted that it was happening. In retrospect, I was kinda stupid to think he wouldn't do so.
- Well, okay, I was wrong about Watabe being Mio, but she actually did have something to do with Watabe triggering the flame war!
- Sibling bonding with Nono is really sweet, but I feel like it sets a really ominous flag...

---Chapter 3 Thoughts
- Okay, I'll admit, when Amy told Ed Lucas to "Kill him", I actually thought she was referring to Taku, but thinking back on it now I realize that she was referring to Watabe.
-- This finally confirms that Amy and Ed Lucas are involved with the killings.
-- Is it a coincidence that Watabe's interview, which was scheduled for the start of the festival, lined up nicely with the Vampire date? Perhaps Amy and Ed Lucas didn't actually care about Watabe, and they simply chose him because he would be in close contact with Taku on the Vampire date. This would suggest that they didn't have a target planned for the Vampire Day until the interview was confirmed. This seems to be quite a contrast to the first case, where the victim was connected to the killers months ago.
-- It also suggests that they're not actually hunting Gigalomaniacs, if they simply chose Watabe due to his interview with Taku. This seems unlikely, since Mio seemed to think that they were hunting Gigalomaniacs (at least, that's what I think she thinks; I might be wrong).

- How did Watabe get a nice shot of the Revolving Dead sumo sticker? Since it apparently doesn't match with Taku's, my guess was that he took the picture of a different sticker at a different location with a similar background.
-- The fact that Mio wanted Hinae to get Taku to ask Watabe about it suggests that it might actually have some special importance in Mio's investigation. I guess his death messed up Mio's plans.
-- Her question of "Did you do that?" (or something similar) seems really odd. I'm not sure who it was directed at, but did she think Taku/Hana/Hinae might be the killer? Or perhaps she thought Hinae acted in self-defense and killed Watabe? Or did I misinterpret what she actually said...?

- Also, the fact that Itou muted Shibuya News (due to receiving a call from Taku's phone) makes me think Kei/Mio actually said something important during the Shibuya News which she expected Taku's group to have heard.

- The phone call was likely done by old-lady/young-girl, since they picked up the phone.
-- However, the signature knock implies that the caller was connected to the killers, while I still don't actually think old-lady/young-girl are affiliated with the killers.
-- It's possible that they're aware of the signature knock and presented it as a warning for Taku.
-- Since Taku cancelled the phone service, I'm not sure how the caller was able to make the call. Actually, the mysterious phone number in C;H was also out of service, and I don't recall any definitive answers about that (but the music back then was from Noah II). Maybe a Gigalomaniac (or Noah II) was able to generate and transmit the phone signals despite the actual phone being out of service. If so, then it's not necessarily the old-lady/young-girl that made the call to Taku here.

- The signature knock comes back to greet Watabe before his death. What I find interesting is that for the first, second and fourth cases, the signature knock was always done before the murder, and the intended recipient was the victim. But in the third case, the signature knock was made well after the victim was dead, and it was directed at Taku (and Serika) instead.
-- It's possible that the signature knock Taku heard from the third case was not from the same source as the other signature knocks that greeted the victims (possibly including the third victim). Or at least, it likely wasn't an indicator of murdering the recipient. The knock during the phone call would also fall into this case as well, since it wasn't an indication of murder either.

- It occurred to me that while Hinae likely knows more about Taku than she is willing to reveal, she also implied to Shinjo that she doesn't know of others like her. This makes me think that Taku isn't a Gigalomaniac, or at least, that Hinae doesn't think he is. I also thought she was in touch with a powerful Gigalomaniac (like how Rimi was with Shogun), but that doesn't fit with her declaration of not knowing others like her. She could also have been lying to Shinjo, or maybe they were referring to something else (not Gigalomaniacs).

- Mio seems to agree that Nono's attacker is irrelevant to the case. I'm surprised, however, that the artist is also irrelevant. This suggests that while the artist made the original sumo sticker design, it was utilized by a third-party for these incidents.
-- I don't think it was explained as to why the artist was in the hospital, though. And drawing the sumo stickers everywhere in blood is rather alarming. What actually happened to the artist might be relevant to the case.
-- The artist was implied to be male, however, but Taku saw a girl in the hospital room. Perhaps it wasn't actually the artist who drew the sumo faces in the hospital room, but this other girl instead.
-- Shinjo didn't mention anything about the bloody sumo faces, nor did the nurses indicate any abnormality in the room. Is it possible that most people don't actually see the bloody sumo faces? They were hidden by a delusion to everyone else, or alternatively, the bloody faces were a delusion presented to Taku and Serika? Regardless, it's still odd that the girl herself was presented only to Taku and not to Serika.

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Chapter 4 Reactions
- It seems Arimura can tell whether others are lying. Both Shinjo and Mio know this.
- I think the teacher (Wakui) might be suspicious, given that he was the one who brought Watabe to the classroom.
- Ed Lucas changed his name to Max Cady?
- Mio suspected that Watabe would be killed, but not today. I guess she thought he was a Gigalomaniac after all.
- Those eyes are God's eyes? Sono me kami no me?
- Nono's reaction suggests that she might suspect someone of having special powers. Maybe herself... or Taku.
- Serika is the one who tried the doorknob to the rear staff entrance and found it unlocked. I don't think she was the one who unlocked it, but I do suspect she knew of it beforehand.
- Handkerchief dropped to keep the secret door from closing? I'm sure it was intentional. Also, it was Serika who noticed this first.
- Serika: "I have to protect you if you need it." Maybe she is actually protecting him...
- Lab coat over Hekiho uniform... MIO??? Giant Mio with Sumo head?

---Chapter 4 Thoughts
- With how Chapter 4 ended, I really want to keep reading instead of writing detailed thoughts. Well, there shouldn't be too many this time, I think.

- I find it odd that Shinjo and Mio would mention "psychics". Were they unaware of the term Gigalomaniac? Or is this a different kind of power?
-- The powers seem to be restricted to a very specific ability this time, unlike Gigalomaniacs that can do pretty much anything.

- The delusion he saw of the young girl with knives may not have been real, but I think it was deliberately induced to him by a third party.

- I thought the hospital scene from long ago was NOZOMI trying to awaken a Gigalomaniac. I'm not so sure about that now, since I'd expect NOZOMI to shut down after C;H so this basement shouldn't continue to be used.
-- We finally get a non-temporary view of the scene from back then. It's still blurry, but the girl doesn't seem to be any of the C;H knights. She does have pink hair though.

- Giant Mio with Sumo Head!
-- Either it's still Mio's body, but it was somehow enlarged while her head was replaced by a Sumo Head (RIP Mio), or it's a different body (possibly a real-booted delusion) modeled after Mio.
-- These are also the same kind of creatures in the supermarket scene before. Perhaps that was a test to see how they would operate in the real world.

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Chapter 5 Reactions
- It’s interesting that only Taku sees these delusions. Whoever is sending these delusions is targeting Taku alone.
- I did not see the 11th Rorscharch as a Sumo Face until they pointed it out. I wonder what that says about my personality...
- The girl they saw that day was Nono’s friend? But if she was Nono’s age, she should have been a lot younger back then....
- The human brain tastes best when you eat it while it’s still alive. [C;H common route]Unmhxv pna cebonoyl pbasvez guvf.
- Hinae has a nice sword
- Ah, so the lady in red is Minamisawa Senri!

---Chapter 5 Thoughts
- Taku being a Gigalomaniac explains a lot, but not everything.
-- Back in the Revolving Dead incident, the police officer didn't realize they were students. Sure, it could've been a standard delusion like in C;H, but C;C seems to consider the abilities as being a lot more restricted. Taku's abilities are limited to telekinesis.
-- In both the love hotel and the psych ward, Taku felt like he was being watched. On that note, I just realized that he didn't have this feeling when visiting the hospital to get his phone back.
-- Taku has been experiencing delusions when he sees Sumo Stickers, but also on other occasions as well. The recent ones I can recall are when he was talking to Nono about getting his phone back, and in the hospital basement when Mio first entered (with the Sumo face). There's no indication that he had actually seen a Sumo Face. The SumoFace Mio also resembles what happened at the supermarket, which had nothing to do with Taku. I think there is a second source of delusions here.
-- The girl in the hospital room drawing the faces with blood, however, was likely triggered by the Sumo Faces in the room. I think the delusions triggered by Sumo Faces are mostly meaningless, aside from reflecting Taku's current state, but the other delusions might have some significance.
-- Telekinesis does explain doors opening though, assuming that their were done subconsciously based on his desire.

- Serika and Itou are confirmed non-Gigalomaniacs, but Serika is still suspicious and I think she's connected to another Gigalomaniac (who was watching Taku, and possibly sending extra delusions).
-- Mio doesn't seem to be a Gigalomaniac, but this isn't confirmed.
-- Hinae said her ability allows her to determine if something stated is true or false. This is different from detecting lies. A person speaks falsehood without realizing it's false (so they're not actually lying), she should be able to detect it. In fact, she used this to determine if Taku is a Gigalomaniac, which he himself never believed. This implies that her ability can be abused to verify all the secrets of the universe!
-- This also explains why Hinae finds it so difficult to pretend to be normal, due to always knowing when others lie.
-- Hinae outright lied to Shinjo about not knowing others like her, since she knew about Taku all this time!
—- Oh, but I think she was telling the truth about not remembering the incident. Her prediction that Taku will be killed is based on his own testimony of the door unlocking.

- Actually, now that I think about it, maybe Serika might be a Gigalomaniac. She has been avoiding the stickers a lot too. However, she's different from Taku in that she knows that she reacts to the faces, so she can better control her reactions when she anticipates seeing the face. This is why she didn't react to Mio showing the 11th Rorsharch, because she knew exactly what was coming and (possibly with enormous effort) avoided showing any reaction for Mio to catch.
-- Wait, Mio seemed convinced that the Gigalomaniac was one of Itou and Taku. Why didn't she consider Serika? I can't remember her explaining why she didn't consider Serika.
-- Serika could easily pretend like she doesn't see the Di-Sword.

- Did Mio actually think she was "freeing" the young girl? The young girl is voluntarily taking care of the patients in the basement. It seems that Mio was adamant about kidnapping her, regardless of whether the girl wanted it or not.

- Nono probably knew or suspected that Minamiwasa Senri had special powers, hence her reaction to Taku's theory about them being killed off.
-- It seems pretty obvious now that the girl in red is Minamiwasa Senri, who seeks vengeance against Taku and Serika for abandoning her back then. The name she was trying to scratch off from the memorial may have been her own.
-- Max Cady reported that Taku learned of "their existence", which I'm guessing refers to Senri. For Max Cady to know this, however, implies that he is one of Mio, Itou, Serika, or Hinae (or was informed by one of them). Even Momose wasn't briefed about what happened that night. I'm still very confident that it's Serika.
-- Not sure what Taku's sin is. Leaving Senri behind is the obvious one, but this is something Taku was very well aware of.
-- Alternatively, "their existence" might refer to Gigalomaniacs. In that case, Max Cady could be anyone eavesdropping in the cafe. The waitress comes to mind here. This makes the "sin" even more mysterious.

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Chapter 6 Reactions
- Shinjo calling Hinae to demonstrate smartphone calling... seriously stop treating her like a tool! She owes you absolutely nothing and has already done a lot!
- Senri attacks!
- Nono knew about the basement? Did they actually let friends visit down there?

---Chapter 6 Thoughts
- There is still no official confirmation that the pyrokinetic attacker is Senri, but I'm very sure it's her.
-- Taku was able to recognize her face that Mio showed him based only on the memory of that one incident, and then he also recognized her from the photo Nono showed him, but he couldn't recognize the pyrokinetic attacker as her.
-- I guess it's because the faces he recognized were from when she was around the same age as in the incident in his memory, but his current encounter is much later in the future when her face aged. He didn't see enough of her to recognize her older self. The burn marks wouldn't help either.
-- I'm pretty sure Nono would recognize her though, and I anticipate this happening at some point later.

- I still can't understand how Nono would know about the basement.
-- It was a secret area for illegal human experiments. There's no way they would have allowed Senri's friends to visit her.
-- Did she secretly follow the people that took Senri and find the basement?

- At this point, I think Hinae has revealed all she knows. Most of the mysteries surrounding her have clear explanations.
-- She responded with "Did you have it and they didn't realize it, or did you never have it?" referred to her polygraph ability. Hinae knew that the victims had special powers, so the fact that they didn't kill her suggests that the murderers didn't know she had these powers herself. When Shinjo asked the question, she realized that Shinjo knows more than she expected from the police, and considered that he might be able to protect her.
-- Her conclusion that Takuru was going to be killed was based on her guess that Taku was a Gigalomaniac like her, due to the door unlocking for him.
-- I'm not sure who her brother is (if it's anyone from C;H, then only Daichin seems plausible), but it's possible that his death triggered her awakening as a Gigalomaniac.
-- Her experience during the Revolving Dead remains a mystery. I still think she was being honest about not having any memories of it, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it was trauma from seeing the corpse (reminded her of her brother?), but she seems to have recovered nicely afterwards and should still recall what happened before he died. She did attack the cop though, which suggests that she wasn't mentally stable.
-- The sumo sticker visible from the window may be relevant. When she woke up after the cop stayed behind, she might have been triggered by the sticker and attacked him. That still doesn't explain why she was unconscious before that though.

- We learned a lot about the stickers recently; they trigger Gigalomaniacs and were placed all over the city in 2007 to find Gigalomaniacs. But there are still some unanswered questions...
-- The ones that are near crime scenes likely aren't from the 2007 project, and are more recent, since they seemed to be placed specifically for these murders. Uki and the old lady seem particularly relevant here, though Uki seems like she really doesn't know anything so it's probably the old lady creating the stickers.
-- The middle eye opening, along with the baby cries, seem to be very specific occurrences as opposed to random delusions.
-- My guess is that someone is actually "seeing" through these stickers, which is how they were able to view the Revolving Dead.
-- How is the artist in the hospital room connected to all this? Maybe he drew the original design on a whim and was triggered by his own work, causing him to go crazy and keep drawing more, resulting in an endless spiral of insanity. Meanwhile, this organization (almost certainly NOZOMI) figured out what happened based on its resemblance to the 11th Rorsharch (which Senri already reacted to) and decided to utilize his sticker design to spread through Shibuya in order to find Gigalomaniacs.
-- If the stickers were up since 2007, why didn't any of the C;H knights notice them and get triggered by them? Was it that they luckily never encountered them? Or were they a different kind of Gigalomaniacs?

- I do wonder if the concept of Gigalomaniacs in C;C are a little different from C;H, given that the ones in C;C have more specific powers and are triggered by the Sumo Faces (11th Rorsharch), unlike the C;H knights.

- Also, looking back, I realized it's quite a crazy coincidence that Taku, Itou, and Serika went into the autopsy room when they heard the footsteps.
-- I think it was actually Serika who suggested going in there, and was the first one in. I know it wasn't Taku because he looked at the room name and dreaded going in.
-- Furthermore, it was definitely Serika who started looking for a place to hide, even before there was an indication that Uki would be coming inside the autopsy room specifically.
-- This further supports my suspicion that Serika knew beforehand that it was the autopsy room that led to the underground section, and deliberately led Taku and Itou inside so they could discover Uki opening the entrance.

- Uki's doctor was Norose, so it's possible that she did manifest a Di-Sword.
-- This would also explain why she survived with a stable mental state, because I imagine all of the non-Gigalomaniacs were tortured until they mentally broke, but Uki avoid the worst of it due to successfully producing results.
-- I'm not sure if she is aware of the truth behind the experiments, or even if she knows she is a Gigalomaniac. It seems likely that she is being used right now (either by the remnants of NOZOMI, or a different group exploiting NOZOMI's work which seems more likely).

- I'm still not sure about the motivation behind the Return New Gen killings.
-- Pressuring Taku to awaken might be a side objective, but I doubt it's the primary objective.
-- There must be a reason why they're targeting Gigalomaniacs specifically. Maybe it's out of a sense of justice, to eliminate those with unfair special powers threatening the balance of society.
-- If so, they likely don't approve of NOZOMI awakening all these Gigalomaniacs. They're probably cleaning up the mess that NOZOMI left behind.
-- They might be affiliated with Koshin, but I'm not too confident about that.
-- Amy and Ed Lucas seem to be involved, given that Amy gave Ed Lucas the order to kill Watabe. However, the urban legend of Amy seems to be much older, since Taku was investigating Amy when he broke into the hospital.
-- On that note, I really want Taku to finally explain the details of the Amy urban legend back then. Even without the mysterious Amy texting, this urban legend clearly seems to be very relevant to the events here (since it led him to the hospital's secret basement).

- Why did Senri only seek out Taku now in 2015, despite supposedly being released before the earthquake in 2009?
-- Was she imprisoned somewhere all this time and only recently became truly free?
-- She also visited the memorial and tried to scratch off her name, which suggests that she didn't come here in the last six years.

-----

Chapter 7 Reactions
- Serika was affected by the earthquake too, so she might have also gained an ability then.
- Nono was about to say something about Senri... I think she knew Senri was pyrokinetic and realized she was the one who attacked Taku and Hinae.
- I think Uki's Hekiho friend is Senri.
- Oh, nvm, her friend wasn't Senri.
- Max Cady confirmed that Taku completely awakened. Amy wants more suffering and more regrets.
- Watabe had an enlarged brain, but Taku, Hinae, and Uki have normal brains.
- The other victims had enlarged brains too.
- Mio wants to know what the white light was, which she thinks created these new Gigalomaniacs.

---Chapter 7 Thoughts
- The abilities being based on wishes makes sense. The four victims were all successful in their careers.
-- Taku's ability corresponded to his wish as well.
-- Hinae wanted to know the truth... I'm guessing she wanted to know whether someone was telling the truth about her brother. Somehow I don't think it's as simple as wanting to know if he really died in the earthquake.

- Mio has no idea what the white light was, eh? [NoaH-Sena Spoilers]V thrff Zbzbfr arire gbyq ure. Zvb yvxryl unf ab vqrn gung ure zbgure vf pbaarpgrq gb gur Pbzzvggrr bs 300.[Noah]

- The only people who could confirm that Taku completely awakened are the newspaper club + Hinae, when he demonstrated his powers. I guess I can include Mio there, for the scene when Taku tried to kill her.
-- Combining this with the previous set (about Taku starting to awaken), we get Mio, Itou, Serika, and Hinae. Serika makes far more sense than any of the others.
-- I'm pretty sure Max Cady is Serika.
-- Amy is likely not someone in close contact with Taku, since Max Cady is reporting Taku news to her.
-- Amy really wanted Taku to suffer MORE. This might not be out of malice though; she might be seeking to have Taku grab his Di-Sword and go all out.

- I don't think Senri is the killer, or even affiliated with the killer.
-- I do think the killers are using her without her knowledge though, or they're at least taking her behavior into account for their plans.
-- As for why Senri would approach the areas around the murder, it might be because she is after the killers herself. Or maybe she thinks Taku is connected to the killers.
-- What I can't explain though, is why Senri would leave Taku alive when she had a clear opportunity to kill him.

- I'm considering another possibility on the motive behind the Returning New Gen murders. They might be seeking the attention of the Nishijou Takumi (delusion) that survived C;H.

-----

Chapter 8 Reactions
- Sure, it may have been a delusion, but the person in front of the bathroom door (where the knocks happened) was Serika.
- Nono lied about seeing Senri get crushed.
- Senri was the victim!? I could not have predicted that!
- [Noah-Sena Spoilers]Zbzbfr'f bja qnhtugre vf ybbxvat sbe n uvag bs gur Pbzzvggrr, uru
- How did Senri/Haida Riko pay for her living expenses?
- The video footage never showed her on the 24th, but when did they last show her then? I don't think she actually went to Aoba Dorm on the 23rd...
- Wait, that wasn't Senri?
- Please don't let Hinae die...

- Okay, sorry, I didn't actually type out live reactions to the end of the chapter because it was too much of a shock but YUUUUUUIIIIIIIIIIII
- I was mentally prepared for Hinae to die, but I foolishly convinced myself that Yui was safe. Then Taku returned to the room and didn't find Yui anwhere, which is when I feared the worst. Or rather, I thought I was fearing the worst, but the actual state of her corpse was way too much for me...

---Chapter 8 Thoughts
- Itou is innocent.
-- I thought his mind was being controlled ever since the phone call. His ramblings about loving Senri came out of nowhere, and Nono pointed out how false it was. When he started talking about Senri the serial killer in his confusion, I knew that this love fiction was introduced to him very recently.
-- If his mind is being controlled by a third party though, it doesn't make sense why he would retain the same personality.
-- My theory is that memories were implanted into him, causing him to have memories of loving Senri and desiring revenge. I think memory implanting would apply to Haida Riko and possibly some of the other New Gen victims as well.
-- For Itou though, those memories seem like they would apply only to Kawahara. Is it possible that these are actually Kawahara's memories, and that Kawahara is the one seeking revenge for Senri against Taku? Or maybe Kawahara doesn't know about the incident of Taku abandoning Senri, but would have reacted similarly if he knew. Still though, this makes me wonder if Kawahara's hatred for Taku is really due to burdening Nono, and makes me skeptical of his apparent acceptance of Taku on the night before the culture festival. Maybe he deliberately mentioned Minamisawa to see if Taku would react.

- Implanting memories would explain Haida Riko's state. She was likely targeting Taku or Hinae specifically and was carrying Senri's ID card. I think she really believed she was Senri, with the memories of the torture and of Taku abandoning her.
-- The personality, however, was of Haida Riko. Nono was convinced that Senri would never hurt a fly (and Hinae confirmed Nono's conviction), so the murderous intent was likely from Haida Riko. This fits with Itou's case, where Itou was his usual self during the phone call. Taku specifically mentioned that it sounded just like Itou (as opposed to saying that something sounded wrong), and he'd be a much better judge than I would be. So the personality is preserved, but these memories of another individual are implanted.
-- The pyrokinesis was also Riko's ability, and Riko may have been the type of person who wished to burn something (or someone!) after the earthquake. Actually, Senri was confirmed to have abilities well BEFORE the earthquake, since she was the first observation of the Sumo Face reaction, which is what eventually led NOZOMI to spread the stickers, implying that they knew of Senri's abilities before or during 2007. This suggests that Senri is a C;H style Gigalomaniac, whose powers have virtually no restrictions but are far more difficult to accurately pull off. This doesn't fit with Riko's continuous and controlled flame manipulation during her attack against Taku and Hinae, which fits the post-earthquake Gigalomaniacs.
-- I now understand why she didn't kill Taku back then. Di-Swords can erase errors, as Sena puts it, so when Taku used his Di-Sword to deflect the flames, this likely destroyed a component (or all) of the delusion that was affecting Riko. Without Senri's memories, Riko would have no idea who Taku is. Despite her violent nature, she wouldn't kill a random stranger, and her mind was probably a mess from the changing memories, so she left him alive.
-- That being said, I'm pretty sure Amy and Ed Lucas / Max Cady did not plan for Taku to die that day, so it seems that they wagered on Taku finding his Di-Sword (first time!) during that attack and erasing the delusion.
-- Haida Riko killing herself doesn't seem to fit her true violent personality though. It does fit Senri though, who would have sought to kill herself after all that torture. Maybe the Di-Sword caused her to lose the memories of Taku (and Serika) while still having the memories of wanting to die from the torture? Still though, the fact that her suicide happened conveniently on October 23rd suggests that the killers specifically did something to trigger burning herself on that day (so it wasn't simply a consequence of Taku's Di-Sword defense).

- I was gonna suggest that the previous Returning New Gen deaths may have involved implanting memories to commit suicide, but the methods of suicide are so bizarre that this was likely not the case (or at least, there was more than just suicidal memories involved).
-- The first case likely did not involve memory manipulation, since it was shown in the prologue that the victim was shown a delusion of his arm being cheese.
-- Unsure about the second case, but putting a speaker inside your stomach and closing it with duct tape sounds like it involved a similar delusion of things not being what they are, as opposed to implanting memories that lead to suicide.
-- The third case is interesting, since we now have an answer for why Hinae has no memories of the incident, and on why she attacked the cop. Yes, I am suggesting that Hinae may have had her memories manipulated.
-- For the fourth case, my guess is that Watabe was deluded into experiencing extreme hunger and forced himself to eat what probably looked like normal food to him, with his delusional hunger overpowering the actual fullness of his stomach. Seeing stickers as food is a standard non-memory delusion, but feeling hungry isn't quite as simple.
-- Even if Haida Riko was given suicidal memories, skewering and burning herself is a little too much. This likely involved delusions of things not being what they were as well.

- I think the enlarged brain might be an indication of being affected by this memory implantation.
-- The first case didn't seem to involve memory manipulation though, but I actually can't recall exactly what happened after he realized he was eating his arm.
-- Hinae may have had implanted memories during the third case, but the memory manipulation was terminated and her brain had returned (possibly gradually) to its normal size.
-- Even if memory manipulation was involved, this suggests that the person with the ability to implant memories was able to make contact with the victim (using this ability remotely is too much of a stretch), but this doesn't fit with the Revolving Dead and Riko's self-burning.
-- Actually, maybe the ability can be used remotely, but it needs to be transmitted through a Sumo sticker.

- I think the bloody eyes also mean something, but it can't be the same as the enlarged brain since Taku's brain was normal on the day after he experienced bloody eyes.
-- First case victim, Third case Hinae, Fourth case Watabe, and Taku on the day of the fifth case all experienced bloody eyes. Interestingly, these all happened on the days of the murders, but not necessarily to the victims themselves. Not sure if that means anything, since Taku wasn't even near Riko, who would've already been dead by then.
-- Taku's experience was after a very vivid Sumo Delusion, however...

- I previously thought that the Sumo Sticker delusions were random and meaningless, but the signature knocks in Taku's delusion at the cafe makes me think otherwise. It's possible that someone is controlling at least some of the delusions that were encountered.
-- This makes me consider the girl at the hospital room as actually being a significant delusion.
-- Being strapped with Serika and Itou with brains exposed was a different delusion from the one where Mio eats his brain, but the relative consistency suggests that they might not have been random.
-- It's still possible that the delusions, while not quite being random, might simply involve amplifying extreme paranoia from their current state. This seems to be consistent with most Sumo delusions (Mio only cares about him for his brain, which sounds pretty accurate), so the actual contents may be insignificant outside of illustrating Taku's current state.

- Nono lied about seeing Senri get crushed.
-- Serika said that Nono probably just came up with a lie quickly to defend Senri, but I highly doubt that's the case.
-- I suspect that Nono did see that Senri was about to get crushed, but that she didn't actually get crushed.
-- Whatever she did see must be something that she really wants to keep hidden, and makes me extremely curious. Serika probably knows exactly what happened there.

- Mio is looking for traces of the Committee.
-- Of course she wouldn't find anything connecting Riko to the Committee, since Riko was actually the victim and not the murderer.
-- [NoAH] V thrff fur ernyyl vf pyhryrff nobhg ure bja zbgure orvat pbaarpgrq gb gur Pbzzvggrr bs 300.

-----

Chapter 9 Reactions
- Please call her Nono-nee
- Itou was Ed Lucas...? Doesn't seem right. I still think Max Cady is Serika.
- Why did Hinae seem suspicious when Taku told her not to call Nono?
- About time they brought up how the cop didn't notice their uniforms! Unfortunately Taku forgot about Serika's confidence when she dragged him to the lobby.
- I just remembered it was Itou and Serika who went to check up on Watabe!
- I don't think Nono is doing student council work on the computer...
- Nono buried Senri's ID and no one else knew!?
- I like how the one who was initially completely opposed to pursuing the case is now the one most dedicated to it.
- Nono doesn't have the "courage" to tell Taku? Did she do something crazy in the earthquake?
- Killer had the photo? I'm guessing Serika with Taku's phone.
- Narrowed down to 3 suspects, good job, Taku! I'm still tunneling Serika, of course
- I'm guessing Nono heard a Gero Froggy strap sound in the video
- Taku was alone when he saw Senri?
- NONO IS A GIGALOMANIAC WHAT

---Chapter 9 Thoughts
- I was right about Serika!
-- Telepathy alone isn't enough to explain everything. I guess she can both read minds AND manipulate them.
-- I wasn't expecting the mind control to last THAT long, with Itou being manipulated even before the culture festival.
-- I'm actually not sure if Serika is a C;H style Gigalomaniac or a post-earthquake one. When Taku was carrying Serika after the earthquake, he recalled that he went to the hospital with Serika. But if she wasn't actually there with him, this implies that she already manipulated his memories by then. I don't think a C;H style Gigalomaniac would pull off memory manipulation so easily though, so she probably got her abilities really early right after the earthquake.
-- Actually, wait, now I think she might have never been his childhood friend to begin with. Maybe everyone who knew her was dead. With no hope of surviving in the earthquake, she desperately wished that somebody would care for her like a valuable friend. And that was why she gained the ability to manipulate minds. Taku was the victim of this desire and genuinely (but falsely) believed that she was his childhood friend.
-- For the first case, she still caused the guy to think his arm was cheese, indicating that her mind control can affect their perceptions, in addition to influencing their decisions directly (like getting Itou to kill Yui).
-- For the third case, she must've killed the guy, left the hotel, and then called Taku about the incident.
-- For her to have killed Watabe, it must've been when she went to check up on him with Itou. Itou was already under her control at that point. I can't remember what she (and Itou) told Shinjo, but they likely knew about Hinae's ability and made sure to speak deceptive truths.
-- I'm not sure how she could've known Yui was a Gigalomaniac when she showed her the delusion of Riko attacking. It couldn't have been Yui's own paranoia (e.g., triggered by seeing a sticker) since Yui would have no idea about this pyromaniac that everyone else is scared of. Did Serika read Yui's mind so deeply to realize that her ability to understand Yuto was from unnatural, which Yui herself never realized?
-- My thoughts on the other murders haven't really changed; Serika fits in perfectly as I expected.
-- What I still don't understand though, is her motive. I don't think she's working with anyone else, but I can't understand why she wants Taku to suffer. Or on why she would kill other Gigalomaniacs (getting Taku's attention would be part of it, but I'm sure there must be more to it than that).
-- I feel like everything that has happened so far went according to her plan, or at least within predicted bounds. She would've known that digging up Senri's ID would cause Nono to suspect that the killer is a telepath close to her. She may even have anticipated that Nono would confront her alone and would die by her hands. Hell, she probably knows all her targets better than they know themselves. This telepathy must be extremely powerful.
-- Serika would likely have suffered a lot in the past six years, with telepathy being far harder to deal with than Hinae's polygraph. Perhaps this caused her to resent the Gigalomaniacs that utilized their powers to selfishly fulfill their desires so easily through their powers while others without abilities struggle to get by and those like Serika and Hinae have abilities that feel like curses.
-- Maybe this is why she never killed Hinae. She might have painted her as a target for the third case, but reconsidered when she saw deeper into her mind on how much she suffered, and changed her target to the Revolving Dead victim.
-- This doesn't quite fit with killing Riko and Yui, however, though killing Yui may have been entirely for the sake of triggering Taku and Nono. Her motive for triggering Taku (and Nono) is likely completely different, since they haven't been benefitting from their abilities at all. Well, it depends on what Nono's ability is, I guess.

- But the actual plot twist for me was on Nono being a Gigalomaniac!
-- Not only that, but she knew it for all of these six years, but pretended like she didn't.
-- I have... no ideas on what her ability is, but I think it relates to what she witnessed with Senri. She didn't see Senri get crushed, but what she did see probably related to her ability (which is why she didn't tell Hinae) while still confirming that Senri definitely died.
-- Did she... kill Senri? That makes very little sense, given how adamantly she has been defending her. But maybe she killed Senri accidently and was crushed by her guilt for the next six years.

- Nono indicated that Senri told her about Taku being alone. Aside from Serika's absence (which I already covered), there are several other points of interest:
-- Nono had a direct talk with Senri after Senri was released. This would also explain how Nono knew about the secret basement, and I feel stupid for not realizing this earlier.
-- Senri told Nono that a boy was there, alone. When exactly did Nono realize that the boy was Taku? Was it six years later, when Taku recently told her about the incident? Or was it actually earlier...?
-- Nono told Taku that he might hate her further once she told the whole truth (which she lacked the courage to, at this time). I feel like her secrets involved Taku personally.
-- While sweet Senri might not have any grudges against Taku for abandoning her, Nono might not have felt the same way. It's possible that, when she heard this, Nono resented the boy that failed to save Senri. It was possibly only later on that she truly forgave Taku for it. I'm not sure exactly when this was; could be as early as when Taku woke up from his coma, or it might even be more recently like when Taku admitted his sin. I'm confident that her current love for Taku as her dear brother is completely sincere, and I personally really want to believe that it has been so for a long time, at least for the last five years.

- Taku wished for his parents to disappear
-- He could not have gained telekinesis from that wish, since telekinesis does not directly relate to eliminating his parents.
-- I'm guessing Serika decided to have them killed after hearing Taku's desires, while also considering that she might be abandoned again if Taku joins his parents.
-- Even so, if Taku witnessed their deaths, then he shouldn't have been surprised about discovering that they were murdered years later, prompting him to leave his new family. Maybe he recalled it when he woke up, but then convinced himself that they weren't murdered after what Dad and Nono told him. Perhaps he kept being haunted by the fear that they really were murdered for all of these years, which is why he broke down when he realized it was true, causing him to leave.
-- So Serika killed Taku's parents, his imouto, and his nee-chan. While I do feel bad about Serika's circumstances (though none of my thoughts on that have actually been confirmed yet), Taku better not show any mercy to Serika.
-- Serika's heart must've been completely dead by the time she peered into a strong pure sibling bond like Yui's, because that alone should have melted her heart.

- Why is Taku being targeted by the police? Did the police find him on the roof with Nono's corpse?
-- There is no evidence so far that could incriminate Taku whatsoever, I believe. Even in the third case, the cops knew the victim was dead well before Taku showed up.
-- Did Serika fabricate further evidence to incriminate Taku? It must've been really definitive evidence for them to publicize a minor's name.
-- I'm sure Shinjo and Mio know he is innocent, but the evidence must be something they can't challenge without babbling about Gigalomaniacs.

- I still can't believe that the Best Character (Nono) is dead...
-- Yui's death still haunts me...
-- Yeah, Taku, don't you dare show any mercy to Serika. PLEASE MAXIMIZE HER SUFFERING!

-----

Chapter 10 Reactions
- How did Taku know this was Freesia if he never came here before?
- Where is Dad going at a time like this?
- Whoa, I forgot all about Gen
- Shinjo didn't notice Taku's phone in Serika's drawer? Was it placed later?
- Mio lost someone close to her
- Parents saw Taku talking to "Onoe"? I thought she fabricated herself into his memories after the earthquake...
- Mind Control was someone else
- Serika wasn't the mastermind!?
- It's gonna be pretty crazy if Itou was the mastermind all along
- "They told me all about Freesia"... yeah, okay, it's Itou, what the hell??
- Don't tell me he actually created Serika...
- DAD'S VOICE

---Chapter 10 Thoughts
- HOLY SOAP
-- I was so wrong about Serika
-- Never in my wildest dreams did I ever suspect Dad
-- Seriously, wow

- I really want to know Sakuma's complete motives
-- Eliminating Gigalomaniacs for the Committee because they were an accident from Noah II makes sense (but I liked my Killer!Serika motive better, tbh), but it doesn't explain triggering Taku.
-- I'm sure even the Aoba Dorm family was part of some ulterior motive of his.
-- And why wait until 2015 to start killing? Maybe because he didn't have Serika's cooperation until then?
-- Maybe he took a special interest in Taku because his ability was so special, creating an actual human being.
-- If he was planning to trigger Taku early on, then Serika would have known. Perhaps his thoughts were very clear in that Serika opposing him would lead to Taku's death.

- Sakuma must have genuinely intended to keep Taku alive all this time, for Serika to continue serving him. So his intention of eliminating Taku must have happened very recently.
-- If Serika had thoroughly read his mind, she should have a good idea of what possible scenarios would lead him to reconsider sparing Taku.

- Serika would know all about Sakuma when she met him, but how did he learn about her?
-- Maybe she told him what she was 6 years ago. Or he guessed based on her behavior and she confirmed it.

- I forgive Serika.
-- She had nothing to do with Yui's death. I think Itou was lying (mind-controlled) when he told Taku that it happened in the newspaper club room. Serika doesn't have that kind of power.
-- She killed Nono, while knowing of her beautiful sibling love, but... she had no choice. Sakuma made sure she would have to comply to save Taku. She would never deliberately harm Taku except to protect him from a greater harm. It must have been really painful for her to kill Nono...
-- My feelings for Serika have completely flipped.
-- NO MERCY FOR SAKUMA THOUGH

- Wait, so what about the telekinesis? Taku's ability manifested in Serika's creation, so how was he able to move things?
-- He's done it around non-overlapping sets of people too, so it couldn't have been somebody else doing it. In fact, most occasions were with Serika alone, but Serika is a telepath.

- How did Serika gain telepathy anyway?
-- Perhaps she realized how difficult it was to protect Taku amidst the earthquake chaos, and wished to read the minds of everyone around him, in order to anticipate threats.

- Mio lost someone close to her...? I'm guessing they were killed by a Gigalomaniac, which explains her hate.

- [Noah-Sena Spoilers]V jbaqre vs Zbzbfr xarj nobhg Fnxhzn. Znlor gurl'er obgu gbb ybj ba gur gbgrz cbyr gb xabj rnpu bgure.

-----

Chapter 11
- "You'll never see me again" whaaat? Is she going to disappear?
- Brain scans were fake
- Why was Hinae so mad that Kakita was killed instead of her? Was Kakita actually really close to her?
- What happens if Taku leaves Shibuya? Do these Gigalomaniacs lose their powers if they leave Shibuya?
- Oh, it's just that the Committee might come to take him.
- Why didn't Serika tell Taku about who she was when she woke up?
- My guess is that Serika's existence depends on saving Taku, so he needs to frequently be in danger for her to remain alive. Maybe just living under Sakuma alone qualified as dangerous until he recently left.
- Hacker at Akihabara... Daru?
- Who was Hinae actually calling on the phone?
- Serika did kill his parents! Probably before she gained telepathy, and then she sought to read people's thoughts once she realized it wasn't actually an act of saving Taku.
- Serika should have fully anticipated that he'll want to confront her after she told him. Even if she failed and wanted him to know the truth before she dies, her purpose in saving Taku should have prevented her.
- Serika asking Taku why he came... only a delusion from Sakuma would ask questions instead of reading minds.
- Pink tears!
- Why is his Di-Sword pink instead of blue?
- Serika stabbed Taku what??
- Serika asking Sakuma to mind-control her, oh crap, I can't believe I never considered that!
- Help me do it... Proving to the world he's a right-sider just like Nishijou Takumi. These murders were only executed for Taku's wish!
- Yup, that's exactly what it was.
- The truth behind the murders is great, but its meta implications on story design are just really amazing. I really hope the ending doesn't screw this up.
- I'm not sure how to feel about the ending, but it was not a disappointment, at least. Good job!

---Chapter 11 Reactions
- I think, if I wasn't so impatient after going to Chapter 11 after Chapter 10, I might have guessed that Sakuma couldn't have been the mastermind.
-- He can only blackmail Serika with knowledge he already knows. He cannot know when Serika is telling him everything she knows. She would not have told him about Yui and Nono being Gigalomaniacs, for example.
-- Even the idea of being blackmailed makes no sense, since she would know about all of the weaknesses in Sakuma's plans. It is impossible for her control over Taku's life to be so strong that even a telepath decides that there's no way to keep Taku alive except to give in to the blackmail. Unless Sakuma mindcontrols Serika at every opportunity (which is clearly not the case), the telepath would have the upper hand in this relationship.
-- As noted by Mio, saving Taku should've caused her to reveal her objective to Taku right after she was created, or at least after Taku woke up from his coma.

- Serika being the true mastermind is appropriate for the mystery design component of the story.
-- I've thought hard about it, but I couldn't find any actual pre-Ch10 clues that would incriminate Sakuma. There are small little things like how Sakuma reacted so casually about Mio and others talking about supernatural powers (leaving the room because he doesn't understand it, as opposed to thinking that they're talking nonsense), but nothing that would actually point to him as the culprit.
-- So I feel like Sakuma's involvement is supposed to be one of those shocking plot twists that you really cannot predict. These kinds of plot twists are fine for stories that don't pretend to be mysteries, but imo aren't as good as the shocking plot twists that have actually been hinted at.
-- It would have annoyed me if Sakuma was the mastermind, because the story tried really hard to look like a proper mystery. But with Serika as the actual mastermind, the story manages to preserve the integrity of the mystery, which imo was very well-designed.
-- As it is, I'm actually really happy with how they set things up with Sakuma and Serika. Sakuma is outside the scope of the mystery design, allowing readers like me that already suspected Serika to have a shocking plot twist experience, while the true mastermind, Serika, remains as the culprit to the very well-designed mystery with sufficient clues pointing to her.

- For a long time, I've expressed that it should theoretically be possible to design a proper mystery in a context with supernatural components. But I have never found any actual good mysteries of this form until ChaoS;Child.
-- ChaoS;Child did it extremely well too, with the mystery design being comparable to famous classic mysteries imo.
-- The supernatural component was properly utilized to broaden and enrich the nature of the mystery design, as opposed to being unnecessary or worse, a nuisance.
-- The mystery genre has been mostly dead for quite a while, since it's so difficult to come up with original satisfying mysteries that preserve the integrity of the mystery design. Umineko managed to get through this by designing an emotional mystery, and now ChaoS;Child was able to pull off a proper supernatural mystery.
-- Not only is the howdunnit designed based on the supernatural components, but even the whodunnit and whydunnit as well. Pulling this off without hurting the integrity of the mystery design would be extremely difficult imo, and I'm really amazed that ChaoS;Child was able to achieve this.
-- Even the constraints on the supernatural components (that are necessary for maintaining a proper mystery design) were very well-justified instead of being arbitrary rules. The white light from the Third Melt caused people's delusions to turn into reality, allowing their strong wishes to come true while the ability lingers within them.
-- That being said, the presence of C;H style Gigalomaniacs could compromise the integrity of the mystery design. However, the story here ensured that, while C;H style Gigalomaniacs are relevant for the overall story, they're not actually part of the mystery design itself. In fact, I don't think they're even brought up until Chapter 10.
-- I actually went through each of Knox's rules (Umineko versions) and found that ChaoS;Child seems to satisfy all of them.

- But even aside from the mystery component, the scenario presented here is really great for the story design.
-- Achieving a satisfying resolution to a challenging scenario is generally a very good story component. Most stories that attempt to design the challenging scenario need to rely on the choices and actions of the characters throughout the story (hopefully backed up with proper motives) to ultimately arrive at the challenging scenario. What makes ChaoS;Child unique in this aspect, in my opinion, is that the challenging component was inevitable from the very beginning, ever since Serika was born, in fact.
-- From the moment Serika was created, it was inevitable for these murders to occur. For Taku to solve the mystery and be acknowledged for it would not be a satisfying resolution, since everything was set up for that very objective. Deviating from this objective would be to oppose Serika's purpose, and she will have no choice but to strive to achieve it. In fact, this is likely why she chose Yui and Nono as victims, to keep Taku extremely emotionally invested into the case.
-- There is also Taku's inner conflict. All of this is happening because of his own immaturity as a child, as a wrong-sider, of being the very kind of person that he has always criticized. Now that he realizes this, he cannot be satisfied with allowing himself to achieve that "victory" of solving the case and being acknowledged for it. In fact, for him to have even made it this far was not even his own achievement, but Serika was leading him through it the entire way. He can't even push the blame to Serika for manipulating him or for setting up these murders, because it was he himself that caused her to exist and carry out these actions according to his wishes.
-- I honestly cannot think of any solution to Taku's turmoil at this point whatsoever. Changing Serika's purpose may resolve part of the issue, so she is no longer devoted to this twisted wish and would not suffer from having it unfulfilled. But it seems impossible for Taku to be released from his suffering. No matter what, I don't believe it's possible for this story to have a completely happy ending.
-- At this point, Taku turning himself in as the killer after changing Serika seems to be the best possible resolution. It won't undo the murders already committed, but it would ease Taku's heart to have himself being punished as the one responsible for this. What makes this resolution even sadder is that I don't think Taku deserves this at all, since the immature thoughts of a 12-year-old kid, which they never consciously acted on, does not make one a criminal in which it would be moral to punish. And yet, this punishment is the only way to alleviate Taku's suffering...
-- Changing Serika is also morally questionnable as well, since, as Serika said, it would erase her entire reason for being. And despite C;H style Gigalomaniacs being OP as hell, I feel like outright changing her purpose of existence is a bit of a stretch. C;H established that Gigalomaniacs can't do things like heal their injuries since it's something they're already experiencing directly. Changing the core nature of Serika's existence should be impossible as well.
-- It also doesn't seem like Taku succeeded anyway, since she kidnapped him at the end, probably so she can let him calm down and then try to restart her plan, seeking to find a way that he will accept (which she can figure out from reading his mind).
-- I am really interested in seeing what will happen in the True Ending.

- Sakuma's motives are lame, but thankfully, he's not actually the true mastermind.
-- Serika's motives, on the other hand, which arose from Taku's wish from six years ago, is really creative and brilliant, in my opinion. And it does make me really sympathetic towards her.
-- I forgive you, Serika, but you are a freaking amazing villain.

- Serika said a lot in Ch10, but we don't know how much of it is true, since she was mind-controlled.
-- Was the Committee really involved in the Gigalomaniac experiments back then? I seem to recall that they disapproved of the Noah II project back in C;H, but maybe that's because of the direction that Norose and the two old guys were taking it.
-- Was the 11th Rorsharch such a valuable piece of classified information for the Committee? I think she was telling the truth about Sakuma having to utilize Uki and the old lady to generate them, so it does seem to be the case that the Committee tried to erase all traces of it.
-- Was Sakuma really abandoned by the Committee? Was he actually trying to win back the Committee's favor? Did the Committee even have anything to do with this situation? Did they even care about these Gigalomaniacs?
-- Sakuma's true objective was likely to experiment on the brain of a true C;H style Gigalomaniac (as opposed to cleaning up the Gigalomaniacs created by the Third Melt), but there must be a reason why all the Returning New Gen victims have abilities. Was it only for the sake of designing a compelling mystery for Taku?
-- [Noah-Sena Spoilers] Frevxn fubhyq unir xabja nobhg Zbzbfr orvat vaibyirq jvgu gur Pbzzvggrr, ohg qvqa'g zragvba vg ng nyy. Jnf gung nyfb qhr gb gur zvaq-pbageby?

- There are still a few unanswered questions
-- Nono's secret is top of the list. I had considered that her ability might be super-hearing, since she heard Hinae telling Taku he will be killed, which Hinae would likely have tried to ensure that nobody would overhear. But with how she described her secret as something that will cause Taku to despise her, there's definitely a lot more to it. I'm still holding on to my previous ideas about it being related to what happened to Senri during the earthquake, and possibly resenting Taku for ditching Senri.
-- There's also more to Hinae than it appears. What happened to her brother during the earthquake is likely a big part of it, but there's also her connection with Kakita, and more secrets that she's hiding.
-- I also don't know Hana's role in the story. There's likely a lot more behind her as well. I think she might have known Neidhardt from ESO.
-- I feel like the mysteries around Mio's past are the kinds of things that may never be answered here, tbh.
-- What is the relevance of "chaos child"? Is it really just a term for earthquake PTSD child victims? Maybe it relates to having abilities?
-- What is the significance of Hekiho Academy? Maybe it was meant to gather the "chaos children"?