u/murderbabyfuntime

While I initially assumed Hanako's plan in chapter 62 is to get Akane to swear obedience so he wouldn't cause issues with Aoi's sacrifice, I've seen arguments that Hanako's offer is actually for Akane to help with Nene's lifespan.

Hanako's behavior in this scene does him no favors if his plan is for Akane to help with Nene's lifespan. There's a good argument he could present to Akane about how Aoi would feel if her best friend died. It's also a fair deal, Hanako goes and helps out Akane's crush if Akane goes and helps out Hanako's crush. Being so vague about his intentions really hurts Hanako here if his plan is for Akane to help with Nene's lifespan.

On the other side, Hanako's decision to change his mind about helping Nene and Akane only makes sense if he's hoping to get Nene's favor by making it appear as though he cares to save her best friend. The issue is that Hanako plans on erasing Nene's memories of him during the severance (chapter 70). Why would getting Nene's favor matter if she's gonna lose her memories of him anyway? This means there's likely another reason Hanako wants a favor from Akane, which would be help with Nene's lifespan.

From this, my best guess is probably the option of help with Nene's lifespan as Hanako has a tendency to make himself sound more villainous than he actually is. Still, that doesn't answer why Hanako is so unnecessarily vague here. So here are my theories on why:

- Hanako is so scared of vulnerability that he's afraid to let Akane know that he wants to save the life of Akane's casual friend. This has some merit on the basis of Hanako's fear of vulnerability showing up when Nene's fate is originally revealed (chapter 27). However, Hanako is upfront to Shijima Mei about wanting to use her power to keeping Nene safe (chapter 51). So this possibility would've been likely if the elevator chapter had occurred earlier in the plot.

- Hanako believes Akane would refuse if Nene's lifespan were mentioned as the condition for the deal. This connects to my initial theory on why Hanako is vague since Akane would never go through Hanako's deal if it meant he didn't actually get a shot at helping Aoi. This issue with this theory is that Hanako doesn't even think Akane has it in him to hurt Nene as seen by Hanako initially assuming Akane's threat is empty in chapter 62.

- Hanako doesn't think about acting smart with his proposition because he misjudges Akane. He assumes Akane would go along with a clearly sketchy proposition instead of finding another route. This is likely because Akane has fallen for Hanako's other manipulation attempts. When Hanako gets Akane to kick him out of Nene's body, he figures out Akane's not a normal human (chapter 24-25). When Hanako drops a chandelier on Aoi, Akane falls for the bait and reveals himself as the present Clock Keeper (chapter 24). When Hanako pretends not to care about Nene dying, Akane believes him (chapter 27). This is the theory I agree with the most.

I use parentheses to fill in the gaps made by Teru’s overlapping text on Kou’s rant.

In chapter 87, Kou says regarding Teru’s treatment of supernaturals, “You act like they’re absolute evil and it’s a (m)istake (to) even (ta)lk to (t)hem, but—.”

Considering that any other verbs ending in lk wouldn’t make sense for the sentence, I can infer that Kou meant “talk.” This is important, because it shows how little Kou gets Teru’s philosophy. Teru doesn’t have a problem with talking to supernaturals, for fuck’s sake he talks to a supernatural (Hanako) right before the fight and a supernatural (Akane) right after the fight. Kou is simplifying Teru’s viewpoints into a straw man that’s easier to argue against. In chapter 97, when Teru explains his views on dealing with supernaturals to Kou, Kou doesn’t argue with his logic. Rather, Kou evades the question and asks about how hard it is on Teru. Kou’s wanted to be an exorcist all his life. Confronting the realities of Teru’s job and why Teru is the way he is towards supernaturals reveals that Kou isn’t cut out to be an exorcist. Making Teru’s views on supernaturals and interacting with them into a more extreme straw man allows for Kou to feel better about his dissonance with the realities of exorcising. Being an exorcist hasn’t turned Teru into the hero Kou used to see him as, it just made Teru into a cold asshole who is excessively cruel to supernaturals.

After reading through this, please share which metric you think fits better.

Power:

Highest tier of power:

The pit gods. They have the ultimate ability: granting wishes. And that’s not all. There’s absorption and the severance and all the cool shit done with the house and time travel.

Second highest tier of power (in no specific order):

Shijima Mei. She can clone herself, create anything, and trap people into very difficult-to-escape worlds.

Kako. He can go back in time with either big clock and alter the world and fate. He has less limitations on his time powers compared to Akane and Mirai. He has more implications of extra powers besides them too.

Third highest tier of power (in no specific order):

Mirai. Her time abilities are more limited than Kako’s, though she still has the same main timeline altering ability that Kako has.

Akane. His time abilities are more limited than Kako’s, though he still has the same main timeline altering ability that Kako has.

Hakubo. He can cause the severance. He has other abilities too, which help push him up here, though the severance is the main one. It’s an insane feat to split the supernatural world off from the human one.

Fourth highest tier of power (in no specific order):

Hanako. I am counting him sealed only because the abilities of his unsealed self are unknown. While he lacks crazy feats (wish granting, creating worlds, changing the world in a massive way), he makes up for it in how many abilities he has.

Natsuhiko. Immortal + blood deadly to the vast majority of supernaturals.

Fifth highest tier of power (in no specific order):

Tsuchigomori. He has the ability to do one crazy feat of changing fate. The issue is he’ll die if he does it so he’s here.

Yako. School mystery.

Mitsuba. School mystery.

Original No. 3. School mystery.

Tsukasa. While he doesn’t have a boundary like school mysteries do, he does have Hanako’s very varied power set so he’s here.

Sixth highest tier of power (in no specific order):

Teru. He’s a good fighter, but this is about power, not fighting ability. When it comes to power, he can make big blasts of lighting and do the spell on Akane’s glasses. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still strong, but it’s relatively weak compared to above in terms of power alone.

Kou. Can do big blasts of lightning, which is cool and all, but still on a lower tier than the ones listed above.

Fighting ability:

Highest tier (in no specific order):

Teru. Most of the school mysteries are terrified of him. He beats Hanako without much trouble.

Tsukasa. Keeps beating school mysteries in their own boundaries.

Hakubo. Only lost a fight because the other guy was so much weaker that he let his guard down. Random fodder supernaturals are actually scared of him.

Pit gods: They do a good enough job of fighting with their tentacles. They defeat Teru inside of their own domain in every timeline Teru fights them in. Unlike the other loss in supernatural’s domain that Teru has, this one seems to be more related to fighting ability being responsible for the win either in part or in full.

Second highest tier (in no specific order):

Hanako. Every time he goes up against Kou, he embarrasses him. Good at defeating fodder supernaturals.

Mitsuba. He managed to kill twenty small fodder in less than five minutes.

Akane. Good at defeating fodder supernaturals.

Yako. Put up a pretty good fight against Hanako inside her boundary.

Mirai. She hasn’t fought, though she has fighting-adjacent scenes where she does a decent job due to her speed.

Shijima Mei. Good at embarrassing Kou.

Third highest tier (in no specific order):

Tsuchigomori. He killed a fodder but is also said to be bad at fighting.

Kou. Do I really need to explain?

Fourth highest tier (in no specific order):

Kako. He doesn’t even fight.

Original No. 3. Went down incredibly quickly.

Excluding fighting capabilities and number. Just the powerset alone, which is the strongest and which is the weakest?

This is a stretch, but I just realized a possible connection between Tsukasa being erased (chapter 113) after Amane goes back in time to change the future (chapter 128) and Tsuchigomori being erased if he changes the future (chapter 13). It all connects to what Kako says in chapter 125 about ruin coming to those who mess with time. Kako doesn't specify the hourglass here. He treats messing with time as a bad decision in of itself. This ruin Kako speaks of can also be seen with how Nene's attempt to use Akane's watch causes it to break. It would be one thing if she just couldn't use it, but it literally breaks, showing the ruinous nature of her attempts.

My point is that maybe erasure of Tsukasa happens for the same reason it would with Tsuchigomori. The price of an important existence for the alteration to the timeline.

I just really want to answer questions. Also my answers are all under the assumption of consistent characterization.

This isn’t an ad or anything, you can check my posting history and see that I’m real. I used to struggle, and still somewhat do, with the taste of toothpaste. I couldn’t stand any of it until Sensodyne came along and allowed me to brush my teeth without massive problems.

Terukane is my favorite Tbhk pairing. I think their dynamic is entertaining. I like how they're both smart. I like how Akane cares about Teru and respects him while hating his guts at the same time. I like how Teru cares about and respects Akane despite severely bullying him. I like how their relationship provides a interesting comparison point for Kou's friendships with supernaturals. I find Akane attractive. I love the fact that both will prioritize their morally gray part-time job over their friendship, but also are surprised when the other one also prioritizes their own morally gray part-time job over the friendship. Still, I can't see them romantically in the way a lot of the people who enjoy their dynamic heavily see them. I can't imagine them being in a romantic relationship. This isn't anything against non-canon ships nor gay ships btw. My favorite ship is Shijimei. This also isn't against shipping Teru and Akane.

The Clock Keepers’ rumor specifies the big clock controlling the school’s time (chapter 23). However, the big clock can travel people to places in time outside of the school, such as near the red house (chapter 127). While this is the biggest piece of evidence that the entire specific to the school thing is bs, there are other pieces of evidence as well:

- The big clock’s power is heavily implied to come from the hourglass, which has no location restrictions (chapter 125).
- Akane is genuinely surprised when his watch doesn’t work in the red house, meaning he believes it would work outside the school (chapter 121).

I believe Aidairo wrote it as exclusive to the school when writing the first Clock Keepers arc, then wanted to do a time travel arc, and realized that the original rumor would have to be a lie for that to work. I think they do it well as there seems to be a lack of knowledge among characters regarding the time travel function, making it less of a retcon and more of a mystery. Teru, despite his heavy knowledge on supernatural matters, is surprised about the timeline change (chapter 112). Hanako can’t remember why he wanted to get the clock to move (chapter 101), which is revealed later to be because he wants to alter the timeline to save four-year-old Tsukasa (chapter 129).

I realized with my latest poll that I've made a lot of these (I enjoy discussing the seven mysteries) so I want to collect the results of them:

Hakubo wins evilest school mystery (I voted Hakubo)

Tsuchigomori wins most moral school mystery (I voted Shijima Mei)

Clock Keepers win strongest school mystery (I voted Clock Keepers)

Shijima Mei's boundary is the most well liked (My favorite is the Clock Keepers' boundary)

Mitsuba wins most insufferable school mystery (I see Mitsuba as the most insufferable too)

Aoikane wins healthiest canon/implied school mystery x human pairing (I voted Hananene)

Excluding Hanako because he’s clearly the most relevant mystery by a long shot. The second most relevant is much harder to deduce.

View Poll

Ashk chapter 1: Most likely a couple days after chapter 10 because that’s conveyed by Hanako in the chapter.

Ashk chapter 2: After chapter 14 because of Tsuchigomori. Before chapter 23 because Nene doesn’t realize the Mokke are evil. Before Ashk chapter 3 because Nene doesn’t realize the Mokke are evil.

Ashk chapter 3: After chapter 14 because Tsuchigomori. Before chapter 23 because Nene doesn’t realize the Mokke are evil.

Ashk chapter 4: After chapter 2 because Mokke. Before chapter 8 because Aoi says she had no idea that Akane would be into Lemon.

Ashk chapter 5: After chapter 3 because Kou. Before chapter 30 because no Mitsuba.

Even though Aoi didn’t care for scary stories, she cared about Nene-chan and Nene-chan loved scary stories. Aoi had just finished telling her friend Nene-chan the newest version of a scary story about a fourth step of a staircase to the art room that drags people into the underworld and tears them to shreds when she was called over by her teacher, Nagisa-sensei, for a guidance counseling session. Aoi didn’t like the way Nagisa-sensei went about reminding her of their scheduled meeting. He talked to her the same way every guy did, in that flirtatious sing-song voice that made Aoi want to puke. However, Aoi didn’t show her disgust. She put on a smile and ran over to Nagisa-Sensei, promising Nene-chan more spooky rumors. After school, Aoi planned to talk to her grandpa on LINE and ask him for stories of ghosts and monsters. She’d pretend to be oh so interested in his tales even though she was only doing this for Nene-chan. It would be just like how when talking to her grandpa, Aoi pretended that she didn’t despise his son and his son’s second family. Aoi and her mom should’ve been enough for her dad, but there’s just something about Aoi that forces people to reject her. Aoi knew this all too well. She knew that if her mom never had her, her dad would still be around. Aoi wished her mom would admit that was the case instead of blaming marrying for love. Aoi’s train of thought was suddenly stopped by something, though nobody knew what, when she was frozen for fifteen minutes and left completely immobile and unthinking like a doll.
“You’re spacing out,” Nagisa-sensei said right after Aoi became conscious again.
“Sometimes I do that for ten to fifteen minutes. It’s nothing to worry about.” Aoi gave Nagisa-sensei a big smile, even though she actually did worry about why she spaced out so much at the end of each day. In 8th grade, she even took seizure medication daily to deal with it, but the episodes didn’t go away. In 9th grade, it was theorized to be catatonia so Aoi took Benzodiazepines. Those didn’t work either. Aoi’s grandpa claimed it was a supernatural forcibly pausing Aoi and amulets, charms, and salt were needed to get rid of the episodes. Aoi didn’t take her grandpa’s suggestions. Even if supernaturals were somehow real and some creepy monster really was freezing Aoi, she would prefer to have her episodes then embarrass herself by throwing salt around and wearing silly amulets. Similarly, Aoi didn’t want to make a scene and embarrass herself just because she didn’t want to be around Nagisa-sensei so she used an excuse.
“I need to go to the bathroom.” She headed out to the bathroom, then stopped right before opening the door. She can’t go to the bathroom because Nene-chan’s in there yet again, probably to get away from her. And so, Aoi resignedly walked to the art room only to fall through the four step of the staircase.

Aoi fell into a shallow pool of water a couple inches deep. When she got up, she saw a shrine or rather, what looked like a shrine at first glance but wasn’t exactly one. Rather, it was a shrine shaped mess of stairs, railings, and windows. Aoi felt so dizzy looking at all of it that she almost tripped over her own feet. She took a few steps back to keep herself grounded and bumped her head. Behind Aoi was a massive wall of stairs stacked on top of one another diagonally. There was just enough space in between the stairs for Aoi to climb up. Aoi thought that if she climbed high enough, she would get back to the stair she fell from and return to the school she knew. However, Aoi never even got close to where she fell from because she fell down while climbing onto the fourteenth row of stairs.

While attempting and failing to climb the wall for the second time, Aoi had second thoughts about escaping. Just because the rumor about the staircase claimed it was deadly didn’t necessarily mean the staircase was deadly. The rumor may have just been mistaken. For example, Aoi was supposed to be ripped to shreds already but she was very much still intact. Considering that, Aoi decided to put the idea of escape at the back of her mind. Whatever this place was, it was certainly an improvement over Aoi’s current life. There were no creepy guys making passes at her, gossipy girls trash talking her, or lying family members in this stair-filled shrine. Aoi finally got her wish to be away from it all. She walked on the bridge opposite to the wall, then continued up the staircase ahead while taking in the surreal environment. On a closer look, Aoi saw more than just stairs, railings, and windows. Below, both sides of the staircase were filled with a ton of random furniture, often sat upon by dolls whose faces were concealed by a sheet of paper with the number two written on it. Above Aoi, red lanterns and massive ofuda floated like balloons. It was all so serene until the sound of a telephone interrupted the silence. Aoi picked up the phone.
“Is there someone else here?”
“Yes. It’s Misaki. I used to teach students at the schoolhouse at the top of the stairs until one fateful day when I was torn to pieces.” Aoi’s face filled with sweat. The tearing people to pieces thing wasn’t just something kids made up. The Misaki stairs had relevance to people being torn up. Despite her fear, Aoi continued listening. “I can’t put myself back together without your help. I need you to look for my body, starting with my right arm. Please be quick. Class starts soon.” The phone went silent.

A hissing noise sprung from the falling of sand as a massive hourglass not far from Aoi turned itself around all on its own. Aoi didn’t know what was going on, nor did she have enough time to find out considering the quickly falling sand. Aoi first searched the nearest thing to her, some cabinets lying on the ground, but all she found were a couple really old books filled with so much dust that she had a coughing fit. The second closest searchable object was a dresser which held a pretty kimono with a lovely floral pattern and a small painting of a lovely lady, but no arms. Aoi searched, this one thought kept popping up: What would happen if she died like the rumor claimed? Would anyone cry? She hoped they would. She hoped they would cry rivers of tears and make hour-long speeches at her funeral. At the same time, Aoi hated that she hoped they would care so heavily about her. It made her feel so selfish for wanting all that undeserved attention especially since the attention wouldn’t even be for her. It would be for the fake Aoi everyone around her had created for themselves. The funeral speeches would be about her kindness and loveableness. There would be murmurs about her sluttiness and bitchiness. Nobody would talk about Aoi, the real one, after she was dead.

Aoi checked the hourglass. It was going to run out soon, yet she still hadn’t found what she was looking for. In fear of what would happen if the time ran out, Aoi grabbed the painting and placed it inside a mini shrine designated for an arm. To her surprise, it worked and the doors in front of her opened up. Maybe this Misaki lady was the same as Aoi and just misunderstood. If Misaki was truly so horrible as to tear people to shreds, she wouldn’t have let Aoi go after she failed by putting the painting in the space for an arm. Aoi misjudged Misaki just like kids at school misjudged Aoi and now that poor lady will have a painting for an arm. Aoi looked down at the ground for a couple seconds, then picked her head back up when she heard ringing coming from a telephone in the recently opened area.
“I need my left arm. Could you find it for me? Please be quick. Class starts soon.” Aoi searched for an arm in the surrounding space. She opened a crate and found a disembodied woman’s arm clutching a romance manga. When Aoi took the arm from the crate, it still held onto the romance manga. Aoi was surprised by its grip and also how recent the manga was compared to the vintage aesthetics of everything else. Aoi had seen Nene-chan reading that manga just a few weeks prior. Nene-chan was so into romance that she seemed to build her entire life around it. A lot of conversations Aoi and Nene-chan had were about Nene-chan’s adventures in romance with some of the scummiest men imaginable. Even though Aoi could tell Nene-chan was getting played, she still felt happy for her every time she got a new messy love interest because hearing about Nene-chan’s crushes made Aoi feel less alone and embarrassed about her own crush. If Nene-chan’s proudly into a guy who is clearly using her, being into Akane-kun isn’t so shameful. Aoi placed the arm in the mini shrine and continued on to the next section. The new area, just like the other two, had an hourglass. Aoi wondered what would happen once the hourglass ran out.

The phone rang in the new area. Aoi picked it up and spoke.
“What happens if the timer runs out?”
“Please look for my right leg.”
“Yes but-”
“Please be quick. Class starts soon.” The phone went silent and the massive hourglass tipped over. So much for trying to figure out what was going on. Questioning Misaki was as useless as questioning Akane-kun about the secret he was clearly hiding. Aoi first checked a couple of baskets, but found nothing. Then, she looked up to get a better look and saw a doll holding a rough, dirty clay leg. Aoi grabbed it just in case she would be unable to find the actual leg. While searching, Aoi came across a pair of glasses that looked pretty similar to the ones Akane-kun wore, and just like the ones Akane-kun wore, they were just for aesthetic purposes. Aoi never understood why Akane-kun wore glasses when he didn’t need to. She had never said anything about guys with glasses being hot. In fact, Aoi felt glasses were a bit ugly on most men. They were cute on Akane-kun though she’d never told him that and didn’t plan on doing so if she managed to get out of there. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction, because she knows better than to show affection back to a guy who isn’t into her. Akane-kun’s into another girl he calls Ao-chan. That girl is perfectly beautiful, kind, humble, smart, modest, graceful, and isn’t at all bothered by secrets. Aoi found Akane-kun’s dedication admirable, but felt that he should have chosen to obsess over someone who was as amazing as he claimed she was. Akane-kun deserved better than her. Aoi knew that yet refused to let go. She didn’t want him to stop being into her. She knew it was wrong to be like that. She knew so much better, but she didn’t want to be as mature as she could be because that would mean saying goodbye to Akane-kun for real. Aoi continued searching, but she failed to find any legs outside of the clay one. She was about to check a large box off to the side when the sound of giggling permeated the silence.

Aoi looked around to see what the cause of all the commotion was, but she couldn’t find it. The only notable change was with the hourglass. The sand in it had fallen to the bottom. Aoi had failed. As giggling grew louder something grasped Aoi’s leg. Aoi looked down and saw a doll hugging her leg. She tried to get it off of her, but that proved difficult when more and more dolls kept coming while screaming, “No more time!” over and over again. Aoi squirmed out of the dolls and ran over to the mini shrine designated for the right leg, all while hearing the stampede of the dolls behind her and a faint metal sound. Aoi barely managed to toss the clay leg inside the space designated for a right leg. Fortunately, all the chaos stopped once she did.

Aoi walked up the stairs to the next area. When the phone in the new area rang, Aoi didn’t pick it up. Instead, she worked on a new way to the next area that didn’t involve the lady at the other end of the line. Aoi stacked as many boxes as she could find on top of each other to create a makeshift stairway to the next area. Then, Aoi climbed up the boxes, and dropped down into the next area with a thud. When she got up, she saw every doll in the new area turned to face her.
“You weren’t supposed to do that!” It was the same cacophony of voices Aoi had heard scream about the time being up. Aoi’s heart skipped a beat.

The dolls rushed toward Aoi so fast that the paper covering their faces came off, revealing the horror of the dolls’ true faces. Each doll’s skin was cracked in some way or another. Their lips were non-existent. The worst of all were the eyes. Where two eyes would normally be, each doll had two bleeding dark red pits instead. The dolls grabbed onto Aoi like before. Aoi tried to squirm out like before. It didn’t work. There were too many dolls and their grip on Aoi was too strong. Aoi was stuck in place, perfect prey for what was coming toward her, a massive pair of scissors. Aoi ducked down, but the scissors went down with her. Aoi felt a sharp pain as the scissors sliced her right arm and then nothing. She had lost feeling in her right arm, though it wasn’t exactly her right arm anymore. It was the right arm of a doll. Aoi shrieked in horror. The extra boost of adrenaline helped Aoi finally jump out of the dolls’ hold. Unfortunately, Aoi tripped over the dolls on her landing and ended up stuck flat on her back while the dolls held her down. The scissors darted toward Aoi’s left arm. Aoi closed her eyes and shouted for someone to come help her, but nobody came. By the time the scissors cut into her legs, Aoi was a sweaty mess. She shouted for help again as the scissors sliced her torso. Just like before, it was ineffective. Yet, Aoi continued shouting anyway until the scissors eventually cut her face, marking the completion of Aoi’s transformation into just another one of Misaki’s doll servants. The other dolls plastered a piece of paper on Aoi’s face, then wrote the number two on it with crayon. Aoi had no clue any of this was going on. After the scissors cut her face, everything went dark. She couldn’t see, nor feel, nor move, nor speak. She wanted so badly to just go back to her regular life. She wanted her grandpa. She wanted her mom and her scumbag dad. She wanted Nene-chan, Akane-kun, and even Yamabuki-kun. All of them, even her dad, were better than the monster that placed her in this hell. While Aoi was thinking all of this, her body was moving without her knowledge. Aoi’s body walked up the stairs to the schoolhouse, clunkily at first, but slowly with more and more rhythm to it. When Aoi reached the top, a large woman dropped her on top of a pile of dolls and sighed.
“Another failure.”