[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by kwanyeung

Spoiler for Shun:

Shun is alive or not?

For Shun, some people are saying Saki is just having an unstable mind and Shun is just an illusion because from the end of the novel, Saki mentioned that she havent seen Shun in her mind after she turned 35. Still, nobody ever found Shun's corpse so it is an open end question of whether Shun is alive or not.

Spoiler for Shun:

I don't think that's an open question. He's dead. One, he needs to be dead for plot purposes: it would seriously cheapen everything if he was alive after all that drama. Two, gouma aren't allowed to exist, Shun understood this better than anyone else. His condition was incurable and uncontrollable, and presented a deadly danger to everyone and everything around him. (It also put a huge, unbearable strain on his psyche.) Three, if he's not dead then where is he? The story spans 10+ years after his death, what with his condition there's no way he wouldn't have been discovered. Four, if he was alive how would you explain his own explanation for showing up in Saki's mind? Even if we argue that it wasn't really Shun but Saki going a bit crazy, we were presented with an explanation of why Shun and how, and it made sense. And besides, if he was alive there would've been no need for all that.

Also, Saki says that Shun never "showed up" again in her mind after the akki incident. ("十年前の事件以来、瞬は、一度も現れていない。")

In short, Shun is dead, let the poor boy rest in peace.

Originally Posted by kwanyeung

Spoiler for Maria & Mamoru:

The novel also didnt explain how Maria and Mamoru exactly died, I would guess that Maria is very weak after pregnant so she died when she gave birth. As for Mamoru, his body should be very weak after escaping for such a long time and eventually he died.

Spoiler for Maria & Mamoru:

That's one option, but I think it's more likely that the bakenezumi killed them after their son was born. (Power or not, Maria must've been weak after giving birth, and Mamoru is well, Mamoru.)

Originally Posted by kwanyeung

Spoiler for Satoru:

Satoru's love relationship:

I still believe that Satoru only loves Shun, yes people are saying after he turned 26 he has some feelings towards Saki but IMO those are not love. They go for each other because they both love Shun and use each other as substitute. and then just let things naturally flows into a married couple. (but im biased towards yaoi)

Spoiler for Satoru:

Now I totally disagree with this. For one, he and Saki clearly love each other, both as friends and later on as a couple. Maybe, if things happened in a different way, they wouldn't have considered each other as a romantic partner. (Maybe.) But things being as they are, they have a very strong bond and an understanding that's deeper than they have with anyone else. It's not a burning, passionate romance, but something that grew out of friendship, trust and a deep, mutual understanding.

And yes, they're both hung up over Shun for an appallingly long time, and there's the "making love to a ghost" scene (god, that hurt so much...) because they were never given closure with Shun. They were never given the chance to accept his death, mourn him and move on. All they know is that there was someone they loved but they don't know what he was called or even what he looked like, and this screws with their mind and their feelings big time. They have a revealing conversation during Saki's little breakdown, when Saki tells Satoru that she does love him, but there's also this faceless, unknown boy whom she knows she had loved from the bottom of her heart, and she can't move on until she remembers him and sorts out her feelings for him. And Satoru answers that he's in the exact same boat.* So when their memories of Shun return they can finally lay him to rest, in a manner of speaking, and move on with their lives and their feelings.

Even after she remembered Shun Saki never once mentions that she wishes she would be with him, nor that she wishes that Shun would "appear" for her as he did during the akki incident so they could be together that way. She's happy and content with Satoru, and while we rarely learn anything about how things are on Satoru's side, he also seems to be happy and content with Saki. Shun was their first love, but you don't always end up with your first love for the rest of your life. (Especially if he dies when he's like 14...)

*if someone wants to read it:

Spoiler for the relevant bit:

「それだけじゃないわ。わたしたちの大切な仲間だった、顔のない少年に対してしたことも」
胸が詰まって、わたしは、言葉を切らずにはいられなかった。
「わたしは、彼が好きだった。心の底から、愛してたわ。だから、彼の名前も思い出せないまま、死ぬのは厭な の。…あなたのことも、大好きよ。覚。でも、わたしは、まだ、彼について、気持ちの整理ができないの。それ ができないうちは、一歩も前に進めない。だから…」
覚は、わたしを見た。
「僕も、同じ気持ちだよ。早季。いい大人になって、こんなことを言うのは恥ずかしいんだけど、記憶を奪われ たせいで、僕もまだ、彼への気持ちは踏ん切りが付かないんだ。」
「覚…」
「だから、ここでは死ねない。(…)」