Q.1
When did Mei actually have his surgery?
In chapter 2, he showed Hikaru his naked body. Okuto was still hospitalized for a while after Mei met Hikaru, and Mei even showed Hikaru a photo of him in the hospital

So was the surgery before chapter 1, or after?

Q.2
Was the encounter in chapter 1 a coincidence or was it inevitable?

I’ve seen the idea that “Nasu only first came into contact with Mei sometime after chapter 1” brought up fairly often, but after chapter 181, we now know that they had been connected for a long time before that

And apparently Mei even looked up to Nasu as his partner, calling him “sama” / “lord”

So that night in the chess room, when Mei almost got killed by Hikaru, was he acting that way because Nasu had instructed him to?

Or was that night one variable that even Nasu didn’t know about?

Q.3
What was the point of Mei’s marriage scams and sex work?

If the surgery through Nasu had already been secured, why was Mei still doing marriage scams to pay for Okuto’s medical treatment?

Q.4
What exactly is Mei’s “limited time”?

We now know that anyone who receives a mechanical heart will have their life in the puppeteer’s hands for the rest of their life

But there’s nothing saying that it shortens their lifespan or anything like that

So why does Mei know that he “doesn’t have much time left” and that he “won’t be here by Christmas”?

So we know Nasu can stop Mei’s heart whenever he wants

But Mei already knows he doesn’t have much time left

He even knew he’d be dead before Christmas

So what if there was another deal between them after that? Like, Nasu gave him a deadline: "I’ll let you do these things, but I’m killing you in the end"

And what if the things he let him do were stuff like:

• Let Okuto be completely free
• Spend the matchmaking period playing pretend lovers with a guy who looks like his first love

What if “stalling” was referring to the matchmaking period?

Or was it the amount of time Mei’s heart had left?

I’ve seen a few people bringing up the “it’s a loop” theory after Chapter 177. Does that mean there’s actually some decent evidence for it after all?

Let me show you the scenario I just came up with
Read my absolutely brain-dead theory.

---

For this theory, let's assume the fake Hikaru is Hikaru's older brother.
He doesn't even have to be the older brother, honestly. Younger brother, whatever.
As long as he's been Hikaru's longtime rival in the family succession struggle, it would also fit the whole "breaking free from old values" theme of the series.

Childhood

At the Human Zoo, Hikaru and Mei meet and start getting all lovey-dovey over stuff like DIY-Candy.
Meanwhile, the brother tries to attack Mei out of his own lust for him and just to mess with Hikaru.
Hikaru shows up and beats the absolute shit out of his brother.
The injury Hikaru gets from the brother's counterattack is the scar under his right eye.
And after this whole incident, Mei falls in love with Hikaru.
That's right. His first love.

Resentment

After all that, the brother has had the person he loved (guy) taken from him, and he's also lost the family succession struggle, where strength determines who gets to inherit.
Consumed by resentment and jealousy, he swears revenge on Hikaru.
If Mei loves Hikaru, then he'll take Hikaru's name from him.
Until he inherits it.

Reunion

As the years pass, the brother keeps taking down Hikaru's clones, building up his strength until he eventually becomes stronger than Hikaru himself.
Then, after Hikaru and Mei unexpectedly cross paths again, Nasu lies to Mei:

The man standing next to you right now is a fake who's calling himself Hikaru Gero. The real Hikaru is asleep back home.

He tells Mei, "Make about six people who are important enough to become weaknesses for that guy. We'll take care of the rest. Do that, and I'll free your real first love for you." "Oh, and here's an artificial heart while I'm at it."

(From Nasu's perspective, it's also a pretty convenient excuse for getting his harem plan moving.)
(From Kirara's perspective, she'd be happy either way: in a brother vs. Hikaru fight, whoever wins comes out as the more talented, more perfect poison user.)

And as the story goes on, Mei gradually starts getting more and more flashes of "the Hikaru who's supposed to be the fake" looking like the person he remembers from back then.

The Final Arc

In the final arc, Mei denounces Hikaru in order to free "the Hikaru who's supposed to be the real one."
Then the "real" Hikaru who's been freed and the "fake" Hikaru end up fighting over Mei.
"The real" Hikaru is incredibly strong, while "the fake" Hikaru gets pushed further and further back.
During their fight, through the conversation between the two of them, Mei starts realizing just how deep the feelings "the fake" Hikaru has for him really are—and where his true first love actually led him.

And that scar is proof that he once protected Mei.

• The perfect Hikaru vs. the imperfect Hikaru
• The Hikaru with no scar on his face vs. the Hikaru with a scar on his face
• Hikaru as the embodiment of an ideal vs. the Hikaru who's been hurt, beaten to hell, and fought alongside Mei all this time, supporting each other and putting themselves through hell to find their one true partner

A beautiful contrast that brings back the dialogue from Chapter 1.

And once Mei realizes the truth, he kicks his brother square in the nuts and gerosaki endgame.

Sorry, JMYK. I leaked it.