u/JustY0urFan

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So I am having Emotions about this newest arc, especially the chapter that came out yesterday. Mostly because I really love Suo as a character and especially the trio dynamic he, Sakura, and Nirei have developed over the course of the series, and I'm really fired up to see how it all turns out after all this.

As a preface, I will say that I just watched the anime last week and then read the entire manga after that so I am quite new to the fandom. I am, however, absolutely entranced with the characters, plot, and emotional dynamics everyone has, so I thought I'd give my two cents about what's going on and engage in the lovely community of people who also love this series!

That being said: I have a Theory about how this arc is going to go. The whole reason I'm making this post is actually because I was really surprised when I saw some theories online about how Suo actually genuinely doesn't like Nirei or Sakura or any of the rest of Class 1-1, and how he's some sort of traitor or something, because it really didn't read like that at all to me. Even before I hit the chapter where Nirei said Suo looked like he was suffering during the fight between them, I had a suspicion there was something else going on.

So here we go! Buckle up, it's a long one.

Main theory: Suo is being forced to leave Furin. He's being threatened, or coerced, or whatever, and while I'm not sure why exactly the people who are threatening him are threatening him (though I have some ideas), I'm pretty sure that they're using the safety of his friends or Furin, or both to get him to do what they want. I had this theory even before yesterday's chapter came out because really, it's a very common literary device. I've read quite widely, and very often if there is a character who is part of the main group and has some sort of sudden "change of heart" or tries to leave while stating they've actually never liked anyone the whole time, there's usually some sort of threatening going on behind the scenes. This whole arc has just been setting off my self-sacrifice alarm bells haha. But I do have actual proof for this as well!

If we really analyze the fight scene between Suo and Nirei, it becomes very obvious that Suo was actively trying to piss somebody off; either Nirei, Sakura, the others, all of them, whatever. Suo didn't have to beat Nirei up, he could have just knocked him out and left, but he made Nirei suffer for a reason. My theory is that he wanted to make Nirei mad at him, or that he wanted to make Sakura mad at him once Sakura realized what Suo had done, so that no one would come after him. This is a classic self-sacrifice, don't-come-after-me-I'm-doing-this-to-protect-everyone move. Suo needs his friends to not come after him, because, in this theory, he's been threatened with the safety of his friends or Furin, and forced to leave them behind to keep them safe (or he just doesn't want them involved in whatever business this is that he thinks is "his" business). And his sacrifice would be all for naught if his friends came after him to rescue him, hence the brutal beatdown in the hopes that everybody would be too mad at him to come after him. Plus, with all the things he said, like "we aren't anything" and "you're such a crybaby" along with the way he laughed when Nirei asked "aren't we friends?" it's quite obvious he really was trying his hardest to make Nirei mad at him.

panels where suo is obviously trying to piss nirei off

And as for why he's not actually abandoning them and why he really doesn't want to leave/still cares for everyone, there's a couple things. First, and most obviously, Nirei's confession of how Suo looked like he was suffering during their fight. I mean, that's straight up and to the point, Nirei basically confirms it: Suo did not want to do this. And if he didn't want to do this, it falls that someone/something is forcing him to. Even the expression Suo is making in that panel is heartbreaking.

hhhh my fucking baby someone help him

And if we take into consideration another thing Nirei says, that Suo is usually extremely hard to read but when it really matters he's an open book, it makes sense that Suo would believe he could fool Nirei into thinking he didn't care. Suo is used to being hard to read, he knows he has this ability to be blank, he just didn't account for the fact that Nirei is very good at noticing things, especially when it comes to the people he loves. And perhaps he also didn't account for the fact that this whole thing would be much harder to do than he thought. He did finally knock Nirei out right after Nirei saw his face; maybe Suo realized he was starting to crack and wanted to end it before he got too emotional... just a thought haha.

Second reason for why Suo still very obviously cares for his friends is the way he handles Nirei once the fight is over. Right after he finally knocks Nirei out, he literally catches Nirei's body so Nirei doesn't fall face-first onto the ground. If you guys remember, this is almost a direct parallel to when Suo was training Nirei by the bridges and teaching him the pillbug move. He tripped Nirei up but then immediately caught him so he wouldn't hit the floor; he does the exact same thing here.

left: suo catching nirei right after knocking him out; right: suo catching nirei after tripping him during training

That doesn't really seem like something someone who didn't care for Nirei would do. If he really didn't care for Nirei it doesn't make sense he would catch him like that; there's no one else from Furin around to perform for. Then Suo literally carried Nirei over to where he can sit him up more comfortably; again, if he really didn't care about Nirei like he said he didn't, there would be no reason not to just leave his body on the ground and straight up leave. But he carries Nirei to a more comfortable place, and then he also almost gives Nirei his coat. It's hard to catch, but there's a few panels where the wind blows, as if reminding Suo that it's cold, and then he briefly slips his coat off as if he's going to give it to Nirei. Except, after pausing and thinking about it for a moment, he puts it back on.

panel 1: suo puts nirei down gently. panel 2: wind blows, it's cold. panel 3: suo takes his coat off as if to give it to nirei. panel 4: he pauses, considering *something*. panel 5: he puts the coat back on. why?

Now I'm not sure exactly why Suo didn't go through with it and give Nirei his coat, but I have an idea. It could be that this entire interaction is some sort of test for Suo. Suo, in trying to further protect his friends and Furin, is going along with whatever this group is asking of him and obeying them because if he doesn't... well, it'd probably be bad news for his friends. So if this whole fight is indeed a test, and Suo is trying to make it seem like he's committed to whatever bullshit cause this group has (alongside trying to piss his friends off so they won't follow him), it would make sense that someone from the group threatening Suo is watching in the shadows and Suo doesn't want to make it seem like he cares too much about Nirei, lest he either prove that he's not really committed to the group, or bring too much attention to Nirei. So he keeps the coat on, and moves on. This is just an idea though.

Now, a third reason to why Suo still cares about his friends. This one is a little bit of a stretch; it's much more subtle and metaphorical and I could totally be bullshitting this, but if you guys remember, right before Suo disappeared we have a whole sequence of everyone walking back to their houses, ending with Nirei and Suo parting ways. Now this whole sequence is just jam packed with significance that I will not be getting into now becauase this theory is already long enough, but at the very end of this, we get exactly four panels of Suo looking up at the moon after parting with Nirei. He looks up, sees it, and says "how beautiful."

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Now, as I'm sure many of you are aware, in Japanese literature and pop culture (but not necessarily in real life), the phrase "the moon is beautiful, isn't it?" is often spoken when the person saying it means to say "I love you." The fact that Nii-sensei put the effort into drawing these panels and specifically having Suo say the moon is beautiful right after being with his friends really just shows he wanted these panels in here. And any good writer knows that every scene should matter, doubly so when the scenes are drawn. Thus, my point here is that these panels are meant to signify Suo stating that he still loves his friends, regardless of what is about to happen next. It's a stretch, I know, but I think it would be really neat if that was the intention; it adds so much depth to the scene.

(Btw, we can argue about the validity of the phrase "the moon is beautiful" if y'all want, but I did do my research about the origins of the phrase and while it's not used in real life in Japan, it's very common nowadays in online spaces and Japanese manga/literature, so I'm comfortable in making the claim that this is what this means).

Now! A final thought on just why exactly Suo still cares about his friends and is doing this because he doesn't have a choice: he lets Nirei punch him. This one is kind of obvious, but we all know Nirei isn't the greatest fighter. Suo is the one who trained Nirei, we know Suo could have dodged that punch. My conclusion from this is that Suo let Nirei punch him because Suo feels like he deserves it. Imagine it: you're being forced to abandon the people you love and in order to make sure they don't follow you to try and save you from whatever it is that's making you leave, you have to brutally beat one of said people that you love to try and make them hate you, and you have to watch them beg and struggle and plead for you to stay even as you keep making them bleed. I mean, come on. The self-hatred any person would feel from that, let alone Suo who we know is kind, who we know loves Nirei and his friends, who we know (if this theory is true) is self-sacrifical, is insane. Of course Suo would let Nirei hit him. He deserves it after all. He's hurting them. He's leaving them. He wasn't strong enough to stay.

Phew. That was a lot. Good thing I ain't done yet!

Let's talk about why Suo is being forced to join this group and just who they might be. Because I have a couple ideas.

Idea #1: this group is Suo's family. This one is obvious and probably something others have talked about, but now that we finally have a name from the most recent chapter, "The Red Chanpuru" (which by the way, wtf Nii-sensei YOUR CLIFFHANGERS ARE KILLING ME), it's really easy to imagine this as another gang/yakuza/whatever, and since we know literally nothing about Suo's background it makes a lot of sense that he would be involved in this because of his family. There are other reasons he could be getting dragged into this, but none are exactly as clearcut as this one.

Now, of course, if it is the case that this whole group is related to his family matters, the theory about the group using Furin/his friends to threaten Suo into joining them weakens a little bit; there's less reason to use them to keep Suo leashed instead of just using filial loyalty or simply forcing him to stay just because he's part of the family. Of course, they could still be using Furin to keep Suo in their control just in case he causes trouble, seeing as if this is his family it's very likely Suo's been going to Furin without their consent, or at least without their pleasure. Does this make sense? Am I making sense? TL;DR: "The Red Chanpuru" are Suo's family, he's finally being pulled into this and being forced to cut ties with Furin, and while it makes the theory of the gang using Furin as a threat to keep Suo under control a bit weaker, it could still be true because Suo maybe hasn't been cooperating with them until they pulled out these threats. This would also still line up with the idea about Suo trying to make Nirei and the others hate him by beating up Nirei, because he's trying his best to keep the people he loves out of this mess which he would probably consider "his" mess if it's his family.

Now idea #2 for why Suo's being forced to join up/who they are: it could be that Suo is just being used. This group was scouting out Furin, wanted a pawn, and chose Suo maybe because he was close with the higher powers without being directly directly involved with them like Sakura. Much easier to take a vice-grade captain than the grade-captain, ya know? So they corner Suo after he splits with Nirei that night, tell him if he doesn't come with them they'll do XYZ to Furin and his friends. And obviously, this group is a serious deal because otherwise Suo would never actually go with them, so he must believe they could cause some serious damage. As for why the group wants a Furin pawn: could be that they're planning on eradicating the school and need someone to spill the beans/be their inside information, or even be used against Furin in the future. I'll admit, this theory is a lot weaker both thematically and logically than the family one, so I'm much more confident in my first theory about this, how this is probably related to Suo's family, but I thought it'd be fun to explore another angle, just for shits and giggles. This theory also aligns more closely with my thoughts about how Suo is being threatened with Furin's safety in order to force him to leave.

Okay, I'm finally done. That got waaaaay longer than I first intended, but I couldn't help myself. Once I started really thinking and going back through the manga, details just kept jumping out at me lol.

I'm sure others have had very similar ideas for much longer than me since I'm so new to the fandom, but I like making these theories even if they're maybe repeats. Feel free to jump in with your own thoughts in the comments, I love talking about stuff like this, especially with people who love this series as much as I do!