Well I was more thinking as to what actually happened on that day. Did Satoshi buy the stuffed animal? Was it already gone? What happened then, was he abducted on the way home? Or did he never make it to the toy store in the first place and he actually went missing earlier?
Either way, here are some more notes~
[details=Chapter 9 Notes]-Helloooo déjà vu.
-Haha, the differences in how Satoshi and Keiichi handle the situation is just hilarious.
-Jesus fucking christ Keiichi.
-Good old Ryukishi narration. I guess you could read this in a sort of longing tone, but to me this really reads as Shion having to remind herself that Satoshi would’ve done things sooo much better than Keiichi because she doesn’t want to accept that she could actually move on and find someone new to take a liking to.
-That being said, Shion thinking back to Satoshi and how his existence is being forgotten is pretty saddening, ngl.
-It’s so easy to imagine how the tug-of-war scene came to be, isn’t it. If Watanagashi had gone slightly differently that totally would’ve been how it went down =P
-Though then Shion mentally berating herself for ‘forgetting about Satoshi’ and totally convincing herself that Keiichi stroking her head didn’t make her happy at all is just tragic…
-And then there’s the extra footstep. And Shion doesn’t even rationally interpret it as her going through the same experience as Rena and Satoshi, she just emotionally accepts that it’s Satoshi’s footstep immediately.
-She continues talking to him the whole evening.
-And as Satoshi follows her daily life, it starts brightening again.
-This is so weird to read, heh.
-Man the storehouse scene reads a lot differently from Shion’s perspective, now doesn’t it?
-Tomitake to the rescue~
-“Notebook Page 172” Yay more talk about ancient ritualistic customs.
-“Notebook Page 173” And more.
-“Notebook Page 179” Heh, now that’s a fun theory, isn’t it.[/details]
[details=Chapter 10 Notes]-Ah yes, that night when everything starts going haywire in every single goddamn arc.
-Oh hey Shion finally makes the connection between the footsteps she’s experiencing and the ones Rena was talking about.
-And then as Mion intimidates Shion, she finally takes it too far and Shion snaps.
-Shion ‘waking up’ kind of reminds me of Keiichi’s experience in Tatarigoroshi. All that’s missing is Dancers7.
-Unbelievably unfortunate how Shion inadvertedly killed Oryou with that stun gun so quickly, isn’t it?
-Shion is so dominating in the interactions with Mion, but even she falters when it comes to the curse.
-“While there were only ones and zeroes in the world, she believed there were numbers with decimal points.” Now that’s poetic. I do like how the likeness of Shion and Oryou is emphasized here though.
-I really do wonder how this story would continue if Shion actually got to interrogate Oryou…
-Seeing the utter explosion of Shion’s violent emotions at the family that neglected and mistreated her all those years is pretty heavy though. Even Mion is not exempt from it.
-“Notebook Page 183” Sometimes I can’t help but wonder when Shion took the time to take these notes…
-“Notebook Page 185” The relationship between the Sonozaki sisters and their dad is never really given much attention as far as I recall. Makes me wonder how easily Shion fell into her obvious bias of wanting him to be innocent even though she so readily condemns the people she doesn’t like, like Oryou.[/details]
[details=Chapter 11 Notes]
-Even having disposed of Oryou and locked up Mion, Shion is still afraid of the retribution she’ll face for sneaking into the storehouse. Though I guess it’s more her being scared at the fact that everyone just ‘accepts’ that horrible things happen to people for ignorant shows of disrespect.
-Now I can finally point out how “Mion” teasing Keiichi in their meeting was such an obvious Shion tell, especially with how Keiichi himself points out that that was totally out of character for her =P
-Keiichi really is a terrible actor and liar though, Shion’s definitely not wrong there. That instant comparison to Satoshi though.
-Scheming Shion is a delightful sight though, in a way. Even knowing how it ends, there’s a feeling of excitement to any good thrilling story.
-Hmm, I haven’t heard Shion mention God in quite a while now that I think about it. I wonder if she prefers just attributing anything she could consider an ‘enemy’ to a human, such as the curse. Though I guess Oyashiro-sama works too.
-Goddamnit Ooishi. YOU RUINED EVERYTHING.
-That council meeting really is chilling though, isn’t it. Everyone casually accepting that death is perfectly reasonable retribution for entering the freaking storehouse.
-Man Kimiyoshi was doing so well, but then he had to go and say that the Houjous deserve to be cursed. You could hardly have made a worse mistake, dude.
-And then Shion goes berserk on him.
-Shion comes up with the same idea for a curse that was brought up in Himatsubushi and the podcast, IIRC. It’s a clever system, getting around laws and basically making it impossible to charge the leader with anything.
-Ah man I almost forgot this was the same phone call where Keiichi starts ranting like a madman. Of course Shion is a lot more shrewd than he realizes.
-Seems like such an obvious conclusion in hindsight than Satoshi is probably at the bottom of that well, doesn’t it?
-This scene where she talks to Satoshi is genuinely moving… I didn’t remember it being so poignant.
-And then when she blows up at Mion… man this arc is just so good.
-There’s the ‘give me my name back’. I remember this being so weird in the anime because they completely and utterly omit the part about them having been switched. Not even joking. Even though it tells you so much about their relationship.
-“Notebook Page 188” Man Shion really is fully committed to this, isn’t she…[/details]