A Second Goodbye To You. - Vol. 4 Ch. 16 - The pair's childhood.

[MangaDex]

 

[ErikTheRed]

Awfully convenient for the plot for her to see them at the park

 

[Forenza_Pari]

Looks like the apple doesn't fall from the tree, huh.

But in all seriousness, I found it odd that the mom was even in the park in the first place

 

[LittleFlower]

Awfully convenient for the plot for her to see them at the park

Well, I'd like to think that she was actually tailing Sora on the daily basis.

 

[Scallywag96]

So is the next chapter the last?

 

[Haze123553]

Damn this really falling off, pacing and story feels all over the place

 

[ItsColour]

So is the next chapter the last?

Nah, We'll just be caught up and have to wait on actual releases and not just on the scanlator

 

[Oeconomist]

Bingo! His ally probably doesn't know him yet — if he too were leaping then he'd probably have made contact — but he can be drawn into the fight even now.

 

[suaamakawa]

thank YOU for the fast releases anon!! glad to stay here as PR for the series. (I like this series a perfectly sane amount. like sora.)

honestly idk if this is the right place to put this, but these were my thoughts after reading around ch. 15-16, and we finally caught up, so... might as well.
huge text block ahead, spoilered for length but if you've read until this chapter then there's no spoilers for further events
it's not necessarily about the chapter itself, but a sort of reflection of everything that happened so far.

Spoiler: theories? speculation? no just brainrot

There are a few things that bother me.

First of all, what exactly is it that Shinohara knows? He realized that there's another secret Sora is hiding in that painting, aside from the fact that the apple is painted with blood. And just before he can let Hinata know what it is, Sora pushed him off the train platform. (“Don’t put unnecessary ideas in Hinata’s head, Shinohara-senpai”.)

I think, and I just think, it's the hidden symbolism in the painting.

Sora's painting depicts an angel and an apple. Shinohara mentioned before that the motif in Sora’s painting contains imagery from western religion. First of all, I’ll talk about the symbolism of the apple. I think this is what Shinohara realizes. The apple symbolizes the first sin, back in the Garden of Eden. Eve had fallen for the serpent’s temptation, and consumed this fruit deemed as the forbidden fruit. This fruit is often symbolized as an apple, and Sora plans to paint it with his own and Hinata’s blood. What does this convey? I think that Sora is symbolizing the fruit as the love between him and Hinata. It’s something “forbidden”, something that he can’t have. Maybe it’s because Hakuraku planted the idea in his head that he’s no longer “normal,” that he’s a “monster,” that he can’t be with Hinata… Or something else, who knows what goes on in Sora’s head.

Before I get to the angel symbolism, I’ll just quickly insert the other thing that caught my attention. It’s the fact that Hinata is aware that he’s special to Sora. This is before he learns about the truth behind Sora’s past. It depends on what Sora actually told him, but it’s before Hinata has reason to believe that he majorly influenced Sora’s life and decisions. But they’re childhood friends after all. And from what we see in Ch 16, Sora doesn’t hesitate in telling Hinata that he’s “his very own sun”. So what I think is that maybe Hinata has an inkling from Sora’s words and actions throughout the years, but isn’t exactly aware of the nature or extent of Sora’s feelings…

Now to the angel. The symbolism of an angel is a messenger of salvation. What’s more, I found this article from this site (https://i-am-nori.com/angel/#i-12).

Essentially, this article traces the history of what an “Angel” means and symbolizes in the art scene, and how many beliefs and opinions changed the view of what an angel is supposed to be over the centuries.
What caught my attention is how the last line is phrased in that summary (image). “Through the artist's free conception and passion to save people's hearts, angels are reincarnated many times.” Again, this refers to how the depiction of Angels changed because of artists’ beliefs over the times, but this seems… Very relevant here, don’t you think?

The angel depicted in the painting probably symbolizes Hinata. Sora sees Hinata as his sun, and the one person who brought happiness in his life. Sora wants Hinata’s help. Hinata goes back in time to save Sora. (And thus, is “reincarnated again and again”.)

Hinata theorizes in Ch 15 that he time leaps because of Sora’s cry for help. But if you go back to chapter 1, you can see that it’s Hinata who cries for Sora’s help while he’s at the brink of death. My theory is that their feelings “linked” through this thought, and that’s how Hinata was able to leap through time for the first time.


Actually, I’m also still doubtful of what actually happened in the original timeline. From the flashbacks and the explanations, you would simply think Sora himself went to his own funeral to steal back and finish his painting. And in reality, that’s what happened in the second timeline. But the second timeline is a result of Hinata’s time leaping, and some events changed because of his involvement.

Without Hinata, Tokiwa and Hase wouldn’t have been attacked. Hinata was blissfully unaware in the first timeline, so Hakuraku’s plan should have gone smoothly. Hinata wouldn’t have been stabbed by Sora, and Sora wouldn’t have had a change of mind that in turn made Hakuraku force Sora to kill him. So what was the reason that eight years passed with Hinata being safe and unharmed, and instead a funeral still takes place, with skeletal remains found in the wall of the art club room…? It wouldn’t make a lot of sense if it really were Sora’s remains in the art club room. (I am going to sound so dumb if it really turns out to be Sora). And if it were Hakuraku, what reason did Sora have in the first timeline to kill him? And why would he attack Shinohara and Hinata during his funeral, of all occasions? I actually doubt that Sora is the attacker in the original timeline. Shinohara aside, Sora doesn’t want Hinata to suffer when he dies. Dying by being whacked in the head sounds pretty damn painful.

(Note: Hinata leaped 3 times at this point, but there has only been two “timelines” that consistently play out the full events of Sora’s disappearance, Shinohara’s death, up to Hinata’s (almost) death.)

I think the key to the truth lies in November 10, the day Sora was supposed to go missing, and the fact that he planned to go to Hokkaido a day after that.

That, and I think there really is something more to Hakuraku’s “plan”. We know a little about the part of making “Sora and Hinata stay together forever”, but we don’t know much about the part of “silencing Sora’s parents”. We saw Sora kill his parents, but how exactly they got rid of the bodies wasn’t explicitly stated. Traces of blood were found in Sora’s parents’ home in Hokkaido, but their bodies were missing, and Kizuki noted that there were no coffins found.

(This is where I start to theorize more…)

At first glance, you’d think that Sora’s parents are inside those coffins in the house in Hokkaido. But if you think about it… I think that those coffins are empty. There’s a lot of blood splattered in the walls as a sort of “art”. This may be his parents’ blood… But I’m also not sure. I’m pretty sure that this room is set up as Sora’s “deathbed”, where he fulfills his “double suicide plan” of killing Hinata and then dying by his side. Considering how Sora’s parents are, by putting myself in Sora’s shoes I think they are more “suitable” to be in an unknown shed in some woods in Kamakura instead. So yes, I think that what Sora was doing in those woods was scattering his parent’s remains (?) mixed with animal remains in that shed to get rid of the evidence.

Back to November 10. Perhaps it’s the day that Sora planned carry out his “double suicide plan” in Hokkaido. But in the second timeline, Hinata intervened, and the events from there play out. But I believe that this was still months before November, and Sora ended up killing Hakuraku and going into hiding, on, or even before this date (presumably).

But the question is - where has Sora been all these years…?

That’s what has been consistent in both timelines. The second timeline is still understandable since we have reasons to believe why Sora had to wait 8 years. But say it’s the original timeline and Hinata didn’t know anything. What would have happened in Hokkaido on November 10, 2014? Was Sora’s “double suicide” plan for Hinata always meant to be long-term? What’s the reason for him to fake his death? He wants as many people as possible to see his painting, but how does he plan on doing that before he carries out his “double suicide plan”?

In the end, the mystery still traces back to Sora’s disappearance all those years ago.
I still have so many questions. Perhaps there’s still plot twists to come. Or maybe there’s something I’m really missing here and maybe a lot of things really flew over my head.

(Below are things I additionally thought about after writing this)
+ Now that I think about it, there’s a line that Sora told Hinata in the second timeline (Ch 6) that also caught my attention. When he fainted from seeing Hinata’s declaration (installation art) that “everything will be exposed”, when he gets carried by Hinata on the way home, he says to Hinata that “I have too many things I should apologize to you for…” but… What exactly is he sorry for?
++ In chapter 14, the narration mentioned that Kizuki's testimony for the police was dismissed as untrustworthy for mentions of supernatural phenomena. this struck me as weird, because this is before Hinata told Kizuki that he could time-leap and even then, it took him a bit of convincing before he believed Hinata. anon was confused if this was a mistake or an exaggerated statement. either way, this could either be nothing or a huge hint to potential future twists.
+++ When I shared this with anon, they said that there might not be "timelines" after all, and Hinata's just traveling in the same timeline back and forth. I think this makes sense too actually. 🤔 they also said that sora's actions may not be naturally coherent, which, understandable, and I might just be reading too much into everything.

A lot of these thoughts are disjointed, since I just originally wrote this to get things off my head (sorry about that). Kudos if you read everything, and even if you just read the parts that struck your attention I'd like to hear what others think (perfectly sane about this manga)

 

[LittleSwanPG]

thank YOU for the fast releases anon!! glad to stay here as PR for the series. (I like this series a perfectly sane amount. like sora.)

honestly idk if this is the right place to put this, but these were my thoughts after reading around ch. 15-16, and we finally caught up, so... might as well.
huge text block ahead, spoilered for length but if you've read until this chapter then there's no spoilers for further events
it's not necessarily about the chapter itself, but a sort of reflection of everything that happened so far.

Spoiler: theories? speculation? no just brainrot

There are a few things that bother me.

First of all, what exactly is it that Shinohara knows? He realized that there's another secret Sora is hiding in that painting, aside from the fact that the apple is painted with blood. And just before he can let Hinata know what it is, Sora pushed him off the train platform. (“Don’t put unnecessary ideas in Hinata’s head, Shinohara-senpai”.)

I think, and I just think, it's the hidden symbolism in the painting.

Sora's painting depicts an angel and an apple. Shinohara mentioned before that the motif in Sora’s painting contains imagery from western religion. First of all, I’ll talk about the symbolism of the apple. I think this is what Shinohara realizes. The apple symbolizes the first sin, back in the Garden of Eden. Eve had fallen for the serpent’s temptation, and consumed this fruit deemed as the forbidden fruit. This fruit is often symbolized as an apple, and Sora plans to paint it with his own and Hinata’s blood. What does this convey? I think that Sora is symbolizing the fruit as the love between him and Hinata. It’s something “forbidden”, something that he can’t have. Maybe it’s because Hakuraku planted the idea in his head that he’s no longer “normal,” that he’s a “monster,” that he can’t be with Hinata… Or something else, who knows what goes on in Sora’s head.

Before I get to the angel symbolism, I’ll just quickly insert the other thing that caught my attention. It’s the fact that Hinata is aware that he’s special to Sora. This is before he learns about the truth behind Sora’s past. It depends on what Sora actually told him, but it’s before Hinata has reason to believe that he majorly influenced Sora’s life and decisions. But they’re childhood friends after all. And from what we see in Ch 16, Sora doesn’t hesitate in telling Hinata that he’s “his very own sun”. So what I think is that maybe Hinata has an inkling from Sora’s words and actions throughout the years, but isn’t exactly aware of the nature or extent of Sora’s feelings…

Now to the angel. The symbolism of an angel is a messenger of salvation. What’s more, I found this article from this site (https://i-am-nori.com/angel/#i-12).

Essentially, this article traces the history of what an “Angel” means and symbolizes in the art scene, and how many beliefs and opinions changed the view of what an angel is supposed to be over the centuries.
What caught my attention is how the last line is phrased in that summary (image). “Through the artist's free conception and passion to save people's hearts, angels are reincarnated many times.” Again, this refers to how the depiction of Angels changed because of artists’ beliefs over the times, but this seems… Very relevant here, don’t you think?

The angel depicted in the painting probably symbolizes Hinata. Sora sees Hinata as his sun, and the one person who brought happiness in his life. Sora wants Hinata’s help. Hinata goes back in time to save Sora. (And thus, is “reincarnated again and again”.)

Hinata theorizes in Ch 15 that he time leaps because of Sora’s cry for help. But if you go back to chapter 1, you can see that it’s Hinata who cries for Sora’s help while he’s at the brink of death. My theory is that their feelings “linked” through this thought, and that’s how Hinata was able to leap through time for the first time.


Actually, I’m also still doubtful of what actually happened in the original timeline. From the flashbacks and the explanations, you would simply think Sora himself went to his own funeral to steal back and finish his painting. And in reality, that’s what happened in the second timeline. But the second timeline is a result of Hinata’s time leaping, and some events changed because of his involvement.

Without Hinata, Tokiwa and Hase wouldn’t have been attacked. Hinata was blissfully unaware in the first timeline, so Hakuraku’s plan should have gone smoothly. Hinata wouldn’t have been stabbed by Sora, and Sora wouldn’t have had a change of mind that in turn made Hakuraku force Sora to kill him. So what was the reason that eight years passed with Hinata being safe and unharmed, and instead a funeral still takes place, with skeletal remains found in the wall of the art club room…? It wouldn’t make a lot of sense if it really were Sora’s remains in the art club room. (I am going to sound so dumb if it really turns out to be Sora). And if it were Hakuraku, what reason did Sora have in the first timeline to kill him? And why would he attack Shinohara and Hinata during his funeral, of all occasions? I actually doubt that Sora is the attacker in the original timeline. Shinohara aside, Sora doesn’t want Hinata to suffer when he dies. Dying by being whacked in the head sounds pretty damn painful.

(Note: Hinata leaped 3 times at this point, but there has only been two “timelines” that consistently play out the full events of Sora’s disappearance, Shinohara’s death, up to Hinata’s (almost) death.)

I think the key to the truth lies in November 10, the day Sora was supposed to go missing, and the fact that he planned to go to Hokkaido a day after that.

That, and I think there really is something more to Hakuraku’s “plan”. We know a little about the part of making “Sora and Hinata stay together forever”, but we don’t know much about the part of “silencing Sora’s parents”. We saw Sora kill his parents, but how exactly they got rid of the bodies wasn’t explicitly stated. Traces of blood were found in Sora’s parents’ home in Hokkaido, but their bodies were missing, and Kizuki noted that there were no coffins found.

(This is where I start to theorize more…)

At first glance, you’d think that Sora’s parents are inside those coffins in the house in Hokkaido. But if you think about it… I think that those coffins are empty. There’s a lot of blood splattered in the walls as a sort of “art”. This may be his parents’ blood… But I’m also not sure. I’m pretty sure that this room is set up as Sora’s “deathbed”, where he fulfills his “double suicide plan” of killing Hinata and then dying by his side. Considering how Sora’s parents are, by putting myself in Sora’s shoes I think they are more “suitable” to be in an unknown shed in some woods in Kamakura instead. So yes, I think that what Sora was doing in those woods was scattering his parent’s remains (?) mixed with animal remains in that shed to get rid of the evidence.

Back to November 10. Perhaps it’s the day that Sora planned carry out his “double suicide plan” in Hokkaido. But in the second timeline, Hinata intervened, and the events from there play out. But I believe that this was still months before November, and Sora ended up killing Hakuraku and going into hiding, on, or even before this date (presumably).

But the question is - where has Sora been all these years…?

That’s what has been consistent in both timelines. The second timeline is still understandable since we have reasons to believe why Sora had to wait 8 years. But say it’s the original timeline and Hinata didn’t know anything. What would have happened in Hokkaido on November 10, 2014? Was Sora’s “double suicide” plan for Hinata always meant to be long-term? What’s the reason for him to fake his death? He wants as many people as possible to see his painting, but how does he plan on doing that before he carries out his “double suicide plan”?

In the end, the mystery still traces back to Sora’s disappearance all those years ago.
I still have so many questions. Perhaps there’s still plot twists to come. Or maybe there’s something I’m really missing here and maybe a lot of things really flew over my head.

(Below are things I additionally thought about after writing this)
+ Now that I think about it, there’s a line that Sora told Hinata in the second timeline (Ch 6) that also caught my attention. When he fainted from seeing Hinata’s declaration (installation art) that “everything will be exposed”, when he gets carried by Hinata on the way home, he says to Hinata that “I have too many things I should apologize to you for…” but… What exactly is he sorry for?
++ In chapter 14, the narration mentioned that Kizuki's testimony for the police was dismissed as untrustworthy for mentions of supernatural phenomena. this struck me as weird, because this is before Hinata told Kizuki that he could time-leap and even then, it took him a bit of convincing before he believed Hinata. anon was confused if this was a mistake or an exaggerated statement. either way, this could either be nothing or a huge hint to potential future twists.
+++ When I shared this with anon, they said that there might not be "timelines" after all, and Hinata's just traveling in the same timeline back and forth. I think this makes sense too actually. 🤔 they also said that sora's actions may not be naturally coherent, which, understandable, and I might just be reading too much into everything.

A lot of these thoughts are disjointed, since I just originally wrote this to get things off my head (sorry about that). Kudos if you read everything, and even if you just read the parts that struck your attention I'd like to hear what others think (perfectly sane about this manga)

Great theorising. I don't have many words to offer other than I'm also interested in what happened in the original timeline

 

[Elire]

thank you so much for all the amazing work on these especially fast chapter releases

 

[comeonnow0]

You know what I hope? I hope he saves the college student that committed suicide because of Hakuraku. I think that would be nice.

 

[JustAU-]

The way Hinata Drew Sora made me think of the kid or the art style from "100 scary (or ghost) stories" or something like that title