[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Dengar

There's just one problem.

After Sakakibara transferred in, it turns out they were a desk short.

Of course. If (and only if) his transfer hasn't been planned beforehand, then obviously nobody prepared a desk for him. It's got nothing to do with the phenomenon.

And if the original class roster didn't include Kouichi, then there should have normally been only 28 desks prepared, since the extra person was only edited into the records in April. They should be two desks missing: one for the transfer student and one for the dead student. However, there were 29 of them from the beginning. That can only mean that a desk was prepared for Kouichi long advance, or that the extra person was never a student.

I don't know if I'm clear enough... basically, there are two cases scenario depending on when Kouichi was added on the roster:

- His transfer had been planned in advance -> There were 29 persons including him on the original roster, so a desk was prepared for him as well. The extra person used it and nobody ever noticed there was a desk missing for the future transfer student (until now, they apparently assumed it was a safe year with no extra student).
- His transfer was decided in April, after the school year had already started -> There were therefore only 28 persons on the original class roster if you take out Kouichi and the extra student, so 28 desks should have been prepared... yet there were 29. The only way to explain that is that all 29 students are real and were on the roster before the year started.

Originally Posted by Goggen

Okay, here's my crazy theory on how the end will play out based on what we know as of episode 10 with only two more to go. Note that this is 100% PURE SPECULATION as I have managed to stay completely spoiler free for this series and intend to keep it that way for the remaining two weeks. I'll spoilerize it anyway, just to be on the safe side.

Spoiler for SPECULATION:

After a series of gruesome events and a high body count due both to the calamity as well as people going crazy looking for the Another, Akazawa is revealed to be it (explaining why hers and Kouichi's memories of meeting before have been erased - he knew she was dead. Hey, they have to pay that off somehow, yes?). Eventually, she dies somehow (possibly she takes her own "life" to protect her classmates after discovering the truth) and the calamity is averted for the rest of the school year.

Except, there is one final victim - Kouichi, who dies (due to events already in motion, like, say, his lung illness or whatever - hey, they have to pay that off somehow, yes?) after accomplishing some important task or plot point. His friends mourn him, very sad.

Flash forward to present day (hey, they have to pay off the "1998" thing somehow, yes?) and we're introduced to this year's new class 9-3. We see images and possibly are told the names of a select few of the students, ending with... Kouichi Sakakibara. Dun dun dunnn.... End.

And if I'm wrong about the identity of the Another, then it really could be anyone. That is, anyone except Kouichi or Mei - if it turns out it's either of those two after all, then that will have been the biggest cheat ever.

(Attention book/manga/wikipedia readers: Please do not comment. I do not want to know if my theory is close, right on the money, or way off.)

I don't agree about the identity of Another, but I love your idea for the final scene. It would be terrific if it ended that way.