After revisiting Ch1 and Ch2, I can't believe how many hints and details regarding Yumi I've missed! I can't help but wonder what exactly her role or purpose is in the storyline/this screwed-up world, rather than just being a delinquent character or the "token tsundere"
(this probably has been brought up a million times now since I am so late to the party lol).
She not only is
frequently around Sensei when he enters his trance/zone out/possessed state, but also
is aware of it. This isn't a trait shared among other girls besides maybe lore-heavy girls like Maya, Ami, or Yasu).
- In Not even me, Sensei experiences some of the first having weird visions and losing control over his body experiences and finds himself in front of an alley with static light at the end (presumably where old district is). After encountering Yumi, the event ends with "
But because she was able to prevent me from walking toward the light" with a creepy as fuck smiley face.
- In I see you, Sensei starts having weird visions when trying to remember what happened during This Town Has Two Halves. He starts seeing
amiokay and hearing her saying "tell me you see me", and also hears the same sentence from Yumi when the visions end.
- In Where the sidewalk ends, Sensei notices that Yumi seems to be around quite frequently when he has his "momentary lapses of judgement".
- In They're just lights, Yumi comments on "
it's like the fucking city itself keeps trying to force us together and not realizing that I hate your fucking guts". She then proceeds to ask him question about "has he has lost some of his memory" and triggers multiple errors and a reroute that takes Sensei to the bar "suddenly".
- In Abyss, Sensei originally is hesitant about meeting Yumi at night, but suddenly loses control of his words and body, and meets her anyway. His mind is then suddenly hijacked by
during mid-conversation with Yumi.
knows Yumi by a different name.
- In Neon heart, Sensei briefly goes into "momentary lapses of judgement" state and fears that he will repeat a bad decision, but nothing happens at the end of the day.
- In Pluto Was Never Really a Planet, Sensei is once again seeing things when Yumi is around. There is a system message saying
"IT APPEARS THAT MORE THAN ONE USER MAY BE LOGGED IN AT THE SAME TIME". In his chaotic state, Sensei seems to briefly talk to a version of Yumi (or an imaginary Yumi?) who's ok with making out with him.
My current
far-fetched guess to why Yumi has such heavy involvement in the freaky side of this game is that at the start of the game, she not only is an outlying student of the school system, but also
an outlying girl to "this world's basic rule": to easily fall for the protagonist by a porn game design (Yumi is the only girl out of the 10 starting girls that has a tense relationship with Sensei and bears zero or even negative affection before and when Ch1 starts).
The God (or HOPE, or one of the USER, or whatever higher power. This game has too many freaky gods lol) perhaps first realizes this during Not even me when she inadvertently interrupts a God-possessed Sensei from going towards the light (I always thought this implies Sensei being malfunctioning or completely lost control of his body to a certain USER).
To make Yumi an actual MAIN GIRL in this porn game, God controls Sensei and forces unconsent kiss onto Yumi when they are in the old district during This town has two halves. I thought this move marks the method of the God to spread its influence to Yumi simply because how she reacts to this event afterwards. Before this event she clearly doesn't like Sensei a single bit, and I can't fathom why after experiencing such a literal sexual assault, a character like Yumi did not just try to avoid Sensei at all costs
or plan to physically attack him (like she does to Nodoka in the latest update). Like, in this game's language, triggering This town has two halves should've caused the player to "miss every single future Yumi event", but that definitely isn't the case; instead, she shows some character development during later interactions with Sensei and under rare occasions, even has moments with him that I wholeheartedly deem wholesome (she's so adorable when trying to apply job online
).
Perhaps all these later events are made possible because her mind is now under the influence of God and has succumbed to the
affection system because of the kiss that day? And apparently, God's efforts aren't finished then and there. In They're just lights, Yumi comments on her constant encounter with Sensei "
it's like the fucking city itself keeps trying to force us together and not realizing that I hate your fucking guts", and proceeds to deny it's because of God of Fate because they don't exist (To me, this is at-your-face telling me that this is all God's work, making it extremely easy for Sensei to "track Yumi" in the city to raise her affection).
As if all these aren't enough! Poor Yumi finally has a replay scene, a rightfully so content in a porn game, after going through Nodoka's scheme. Since this is after whatever Nodoka has discovered during Beyond the reach of god, I can't help but wonder if this is another move from the high power to pull Yumi further down, using a basically a female yet a more willing version of Sensei to do what needs to be done (though this could just be a spontaneous act of revenge for Futaba, and the event is literally called Beyond the reach of god, so maybe no god is involved. However, there is probably no doubt that Nodoka is indeed exposed to something)
Currently, the most mysterious clue hinting Yumi's role is during Abyss, where
reveals that it knows Yumi by a different name, and I don't think this is elaborated ever since (if there is please educate me!
). My guess is that the Yumi
knows is the affectionate one we briefly witness during In Pluto Was Never Really a Planet, when apparently more the one USER is trying to assume control of Sensei. Perhaps
does assume control very briefly before seeing the message "you have strayed too far" accompanied with a ): and returning control back to Sensei (this part is easily too much of a stretch though).
To Sensei, however, that forced kiss with Yumi might be the starting point where he realizes the very real consequences from girls that live in a porn game world but have real life feelings, as well as the malice hidden inside this broken world. This perhaps allows him to have any sort of positive character development in the future, no matter how negligible it might be. His fear of "making wrong decisions" when he is near Yumi is apparent to Tsuneyo, and he shows that fear again during Neon heart. In Noriko's event Kind of yes Kind of no, Sensei doesn't just come onto a nearly naked Noriko but repeatedly ask for a definitively consent answer before making a move, all because of an unconsent kiss that still haunts him. Though he's far from even becoming a marginally ok person, I think Sensei at least has improved from when he first arrived and only concerned about penis activity with whoever, at whenever and wherever possible.
With all the easily overthrown theories aside, Yumi has such an unique position among other girls that I am so excited every time I trigger her event but also screaming NONONONO please don't let shit happen to her
but also kinda want to know how things can spirally go sideways XD.