So I liked chapter 2 a whole lot more then chapter 1
Takeshi - I liked Takeshi way more then I liked last chapters Marie. He seemed more purposeful with his actions, willing to do what he needed to do.
Higanbana - This was a good chapter for Higanbana, she got a lot more character development. It was just a feeling to me in the first chapter that I really couldn’t put my finger on but now I know for sure she is a trickster. TBH being the person who suggested the duel for Mesomeso-san really should have tipped me off, especially after she said that she was going to support Marie.
Marie/Mesomeso-san - Welp she certainty changed. At the end of chapter 1 she seemed like such a timid character who would not be able to defend herself let alone others. Now she has actually gained confidence and was able to repel Higanbana.
Headmaster - OHHH yay another Youkai. Headmaster I feel like a lot of people would not like him, however I find him actually quite kind. Yes while he does indeed eat people he almost does it in the kindest way he can. He takes away the memories of everyone who knew that person that he has eaten and allows them to move on as if nothing happened.
Alright so Chapter 2 I liked a whole lot more, mostly because it truly felt like a school mystery unlike the last one. Because we were viewing all the events of Mesumesu-san through the two who were creating it. We were following a character who was discovering all of this at the same time we were instead of being pushed into the action like last chapter.
I liked the way the camera was used in this chapter. Never showing anything out of the ordinary to the point where Takeshi actually thought it was a normal camera until he finally took the class picture. While I was reading I was kind of annoyed that he never found anything else in these pictures until I realized that Youkai are beings of the night. Seeing as night is usually the time when photographers are not taking pictures it does make sense that they were never any other spirits or beings caught in the photos.
Now with all that I did not like his philosophy behind taking pictures. I subscribe to the philosophy of a picture is the closest humans can come to showing the truth. A slight difference between Takeshi and I but to me it was quite irritating. The thing that really separates these two lines of thought is that it lacks context. Yes a picture shows things as they were in a moment of time, but it still lacks what happened to create the scene. More or less, imagine you are in an empty room, at that moment the truth of the room is that it an empty room with nothing interesting going on. However the room could have been used as a wedding hall so some people would remember it as a happy room full of life and joy. Or it could have been a morgue, lifeless and mellow. This would create a few different truths for anyone who enters this room. Even without that any person can place their own feelings on what is happening by how they frame any given picture they take which can further dispel the truth from the photo.
But enough of that, coming up is The Princess’ Lie, I’m personally not sure if this is because of translators but I feel like this could have two meanings. One this could be a lie from a female in the school who people find more important than others or it is simply a important lie. Don’t know what that could mean.
Either way I have a thought on what the story behind Higanbana, I think whichever nurse who brought her into the school would say to children who hurt themselves that Higanbana had done it while playing with them. My reasoning for this is because of the various ways her “powers” are used. She was able to bend metal rods and break a window and send the shards directly at Takeshi was. When the children asked why the nurse would keep such a doll s/he created a story about how no one could take Higanbana away from that place. When the Nurse was leaving the school at some point, maybe retiring or s/he was fired, she took the doll out of the Infirmary and activated the curse on the doll. Then the Headmaster hid her death.
I’m pretty sure I can be confident in the fact that Higanbana and Marie will continue to evolve their relationship, whether Marie will become more corrupted or Higanbana will become more “human” I don’t know.
Either way Higanbana has been pretty entertaining so far, given me something to think about for awhile now 