There is also evidence that there could be two Amis because there were two Futabas, and this seems to be somewhat regular. Second thing is that they are wearing different outfits after all. The Ami that killed New Maya wasn't wearing the same outfit as Cover Ami.
Remember in 0.52 Futaba got really angry out of nowhere, like it was out of character for her while Rin went with her to cheer her up like she would normally do? Maybe whatever was happening to her manifested as her doubling / splitting during the reset.
The Bootstrap Paradox idea lines up too well not to be true. The scarf is the starting gun, and we'll be seeing more objects in the future. Maybe the endgame to fixing the world is getting Maya to realize/admit the wish nature of herself and the world to Akira, and Himawari saw that it could only happen by getting Maya to open back up.
I think Maya is so reluctant and self hating because she knows THE Akira isnt supposed to be here in her world, which is why she says she has the "worst luck in the world". Maybe that theory of choosing Maya or Himawari at the end is right? She withholds secrets because she can imagine what the endgame is, a choice between her being wiped from existence and THE Akira going away.
So Maya drags is out, and tries to repress it all. This directly leads to her rooftop ending.
(Side note, what if the students we see in all the TSS scenes act as the "main hub" for the "solar panels" that are the main world bodies? Like how real Himawari absorbed the memories of her Solar Panel version from Aomori? Could explain how tortured Maya looked, and skinny Futuba from hers. The TSS versions "absorb" all the memories/physical changes from all the resets. Save the whole dying/dismemberment aspect)
I also think that Sekai's body beneath the everblooming Sakura is the key to Ami's staying power. Sekai seems likely to be the "god" that Ami has a contract with. Maybe "God of broken love" or something along those lines. Since Ami is shown to have technically perfect memory of all the resets, maybe Himawari wants Ami to explain the first version before a reset or some other mystery?
I think that Himawari's talk with Tsubasa was a lampshade of sorts. When Tsubasa says shes known about Akira since before Touka was born, that he's long lost family member, and that he's key to the space war, that is an attempt to hide in plain sight. All of these things, I think, will be shown to be true.
Sekai's being actually buried beneath the Sakura would only make sense if she had a deep connection to the Tsukiokas. (Maybe her body's discovery is the scandal referred to 53?) Sekai's relationship with Nozomu then wouldve been known to Tsubasa. From there its not a big stretch to learn of Akira. This could fulfill the family/knowledge lampshade.
Him being key to the space war is could literally be that Maya's wish made him one of the only males around Kumon-mi. Once Akira's stuff is all dealt with, space war ends.
So with what we know now, what happened at the end of chapter 3 with Maya? Was Himawari invisible and watching them bang and then reset Maya during it? Did Maya pop because the "world" then put her somewhere else? Is it Hinawari we have to blame or did Perry order it so she had no choice? We've talked about prime being trapped somewhere but is Nu Maya just prime with a memory wipe? And does any of this explain the reset puzzles? Remember Himawari dancing during that one puzzle?
Kumon-Mi is a fishbowl, and there are lots of entities tapping on the glass. Himawari is definitely exerting influence where she can, but she's far from the only one doing it. She's not even the only custodian (all those Angels? Probably other custodians).
I mean, I didn't think it was a particularly great update, and I didn't care that it didn't have much sex? I didn't have any strong feelings about Himawari before, and now I feel like she's asexual-Nodoka since Sel is terrible at writing smart characters. Ayane was consistent, but she's not a particularly interesting character to me. Sensei continues to just be whatever the story requires him to be at any given time rather than an actual character (apparently all it takes to stop being a predator is to knock up a teenager and run off with her!), and since he intensely does not deserve a happy ending, I wasn't going to be getting emotional about him getting one. Ami continues to suck, it's the same character that went catatonic from accidentally cutting Sensei who can now just be totally blunt and open about how she'll kill him apparently.
I didn't hate it as much as that probably makes it sound, but yeah I dunno, it was pretty much more of the chapter 3-4 slop to me.
I'm a bit more worried that while this update was well written and heartwarming, I don't know if the theory/lore part of it will be able to stand up still. Feels like posters in this thread are already poking holes in explanations given by Himawari, and that while it seemed clear while I was reading it, it doesn't specifically do that under scrutiny
I feel like it's more that the plot of LiL is quite simple and everything complicated is just noise. Like, most of of the gods are literally spam mail.
I'm a bit more worried that while this update was well written and heartwarming, I don't know if the theory/lore part of it will be able to stand up still. Feels like posters in this thread are already poking holes in explanations given by Himawari, and that while it seemed clear while I was reading it, it doesn't specifically do that under scrutiny
Imo that's what a good story does. It doesn't HAVE to have every single little detail and plotline tied up in a nice little bow and have an explanation for everything...
It just needs to make you feel things and make you think about the what-ifs and inspire theories, no matter how wild or speculative.
