Nodoka just didn't seem to like Yumi for obvious reasons, but Nodoka hasn't bothered Yumi since, and if it was simply about preying on weaklings then Yumi isn't exactly any stronger, now.
Yumi didn't fight back against Sensei, because her body didn't seem to want to:
Now, when it comes to Io and Nodoka, it seems like a different story. Nodoka may have simply treated Io as a casualty in her war against reality, which is pretty shitty of her.
That is inaccurate to what I have said. I didn't say Nodoka has a kink for preying on weaklings, what I said is that she's smart enough to know not to prey on strong people.
It happens a lot in weird relationships where someone in like their mid twenties (like a teacher) dates a 15 year old and they stay together. The victim isn't actually a child anymore eventually, but mentally they still see them as "their little boy" or something, and the age gap staying the same helps them rationalize that. The 41 year old sees the 25 year old and still thinks what a cute boy.
Random thought, but from reading this, it makes me think that Nodoka is begging for beatings because she preys on people that can't very well throw punches. Yumi acts like a bully, sure - but in reality she's a malnourished teenager that can't even get away from Akira's grip. Like, I'm not even talking just about strength - she didn't even have the common reaction of trying to kick him. Getting slapped by people like Uta, that lost a strength competition against Yumi, isn't much either.
If Nodoka messed with someone that could actually kill her, like a Yumi that actually was what people claimed she was - she would be dead. What she did more than qualifies (in Yakuza sense) for getting a crowbar to the knees (at the very least) on a dark alley. I'd like for a dark route where Nodoka gets horribly beaten (maybe to death).
Then again, that Nodoka only goes after people that are weak (despite what they claim) fits with her mo. Maybe that's why she stopped with the Yuki thing, since sexually assaulting the daughter of someone that she knows nothing about, but that has potentially beaten real Yakuza would be dangerous and possibly a death flag.
Honestly as much as i love Nodoka i think calling her the biggest coward in the game is justified.She only attacks people that cant attack back,so im waiting for Yuki to learn about what happened either with Io or with Yumi and have her beat Nodoka up.Ofc our glorious white knight will come save her and some backstory will get revelead and what-not but the main point is this.
Just like Sensei said,the girls dont hold him accountable for his actions,i need for SOMEONE to hold Nodoka accountable for hers.Would be fun.
My guess is she viewed him as her twisted work of art, she groomed him for years until he was as fucked as she was, now he's doing the same to others. That would probably be satisfaction enough for her. Also we don't know she didn't have other boys on the side.
Our understanding of Sekai is incomplete, and largely viewed through the lens of trauma. When it comes to her, Akira is about as unreliable a narrator as you can get, and the only other real source of information we have about her is Wakana's understanding of her poetry -- poetry which was dark, disturbing, and controversial.
She may have simply been creating a living poem in her style, creating a monster simply to put the darkness out into the world as some kind of twisted legacy. Or maybe she fixated on him, specifically, because of what he represented. Or maybe there were other kids, but childhood victims of trauma tend to focus on their own experience, becoming blind to what is happening to others, and there ARE other victims.
Something to consider -- she didn't start walking around and talking to Akira until he started actually trying to be a better person, and I suspect she's manifesting as a trauma coping mechanism to help him convince himself that he's a better person. Because now his intrusive thoughts have the face and voice of his abuser, he can pass culpability off onto her. For all his talk of wanting to be a better person, he's still molesting pre-teens on the regular He's still a piece of shit. But now that's HER doing, not his (or at least, that's how he justifies it to himself).
We don't even really know the truth of her relationship to him. We know he loved her towards the end. We know that his construct tells him that she loved him, but for all we know whatever fixation she had on him could have passed to Ami after she was born, and perhaps a degree of his trauma is the abandonment he felt after that.
After reading through the ongoing conversation about Sekai, something's occurred to me.
We never experience her directly -- the way we have, say, Nikki, Noriko, and Maya in what seem to be actual flashbacks of past events. When she shows up, either she is a figment of his imagination/projection of his unconscious mind or she's a spirit/demon/ghost haunting him (depending on how you look at the events of the game).
Either way, that's not actually Sekai. The character we see is an expression of all of Akira's own incredibly complex, f)#)#ed up feelings about his brother's wife.
We have to assume (because the game gives us no reason not to) that she actually seduced him as a boy -- but even that could be a fantasy. We're so far inside of Akira's head, it's impossible to know. Any guesses we make could just be... pareidolia.
ETA: Though... she did write some creepy-ass poetry, which Wakana, Otoha, and (apparently) Ami have all read. It's not just in Akira's head. So there's that.
That is inaccurate to what I have said. I didn't say Nodoka has a kink for preying on weaklings, what I said is that she's smart enough to know not to prey on strong people.
Nodoka isn't suicidal, she preyed on Yumi because after analysing her, she came to the conclusion that, at most, Yumi would hit her in a public setting and she wouldn't be in real danger - in fact, she was counting on Yumi being dumb enough to act without thinking and thus sink her reputation completely, while at the same time being naive/embarassed enough not to divulge what Nodoka had done. This play worked out perfectly, to say Nodoka was a victim there is innocent (not what you said, but I'm pointing this out). It was all planned (including Akira's inaction). And if not for supernatural guidance, her plan would probably have put Yumi out of school for good (that's how well thought out it was).
Additionally, I'm not saying Yumi is a saint. What I'm saying is that Yumi is a teenager with Yakuza delusions. She clearly doesn't know how to fight, she doesn't have real physical strength (Tsuneyo is the one that does), and is even worse mentally/emotionally - what she has is an attitude. While she's a criminal technically, even Akira pokes fun at her for her great heists being stealing candy from children and stealing from pachinko machines - truly a "dangerous criminal" there.
Yumi's at most a weak petty thief, if she was what people think/say she is (deranged, brutal, yakuza princess), Nodoka would have been shanked. Or more likely, she would have been beaten on her way to school with a metal pipe. In fact, if Yumi was actually dangerous, Nodoka would never have pulled the stunt she did because her reading of Yumi would be different.
At the end of the day, Nodoka was much more powerful than Yumi at the time (because it's not just about physical strength), it's not even a competition. I dispute that she was assaulted as well (in terms of initiating it), because if you taunt someone and they attack you, they attacked because you taunted them. Yumi was played. Now I don't know exactly how Nodoka stands to be honest (since at the time a great portion of her power came from acting innocent and people have been catching on to her) - I'll say that after the Chika denial arc, the other thing that pisses me off is Nodoka's actions going without any actual repercussions that equate to the things she did.
Edit: And regarding "This town had two halves", that's just wrong. She can't get away because of physical strength:
I mean, I definitely wouldn't consider Nodoka dumb, but taking into account that her initial plan could fail with her saying she didn't understand Yumi as well as she thought:
Even when Sensei mentions Yumi could rip off his dick, her hands are actually free, and if she's actually wanting to do that, then I'd think scratching him or gouging out an eye, kneeing him, etc, wouldn't be much of a difference. (Edit: or, you know, just punching him.)
I suppose another way to put it is that her heart wasn't in it from the start. Or at least, that seems to be what's implied.
Not like Nodoka would have known about any of this, or much about Yumi, beyond her bullying Futaba, in the first place.
I mean, I definitely wouldn't consider Nodoka dumb, but taking into account that her initial plan could fail with her saying she didn't understand Yumi as well as she thought:
Even when Sensei mentions Yumi could rip off his dick, her hands are actually free, and if she's actually wanting to do that, then I'd think scratching him or gouging out an eye, kneeing him, etc, wouldn't be much of a difference. (Edit: or, you know, just punching him.)
I suppose another way to put it is that her heart wasn't in it from the start. Or at least, that seems to be what's implied.
On that last part about Yumi, I agree. I feel like the situation was one where things she might have wanted to happen did, but in a completely shocking and the worst manner possible. So she didn't know how to react or even process it. Akira "apologising" right after makes it even harder on her (in terms of interpreting it).
This is kind of stated as she says that she has no idea how to take it or him. Maybe we'll have her version of their relationship during this update.
Given that Spring is a continuous happy event, I wonder if the happy event this time will be from Wires trying to take back control. Or maybe from USER4?
Selebus puts out monthly updates for LiL and it's barely at the midway point of completion, while at the same time he's at 80% of another game no one has ever seen.
I finished Chapter 2 in my second playthrough, so it's time for me to share my minor observations and jokes. If you missed my Chapter 1 posts, they're here and here.
In no particular order other than when I found the screenshots on my computer:
