[Dr. Casey]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

A speculation I have pertaining to Tsuruko...

Spoiler for Major Tsuruko speculation:

I wonder if Tsuruko (kid) ended up getting into a scuffle with Menma? A scuffle that ultimately resulted in Menma falling off of that cliff and dying?

I don't think Tsuruko, or anybody else, deliberately pushed Menma off of the cliff - I think that's a bit darker than what Okada would aim for here - but I have to wonder if kid Tsuruko was jealous of Yukiatsu's feelings for Menma, and ended up getting into an ultimately disastrous fight with Menma over it.

That could help explain some of Tsuruko's actions and statements.

She might be wearing that old hairpin as a way to atone for how her actions helped caused Menma's death. Her suggestion that Menma's ghost might actually be there to attack them makes a bit more sense if Tsuruko feels that there's a good reason that Menma would want to attack her.

Just an idea I had that I felt might be worth sharing.

Interesting... if something like that did indeed happen, I'd be curious to see what the fandom's reaction will be. Will people sympathize with Tsuruko, or will she be reviled and thought of as a total bitch (Not saying that thinking that way would be rational, but that kind of plot development could definitely spark a not-completely-rational backlash against her nonetheless like with Sekai from School Days, Mitsuki from Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, etc)? That kind of twist would probably turn her into one of the show's more iconic characters, at any rate.