Kimi wa Yotsuba no Clover - Ch. 24 - Sweet refuge

[Lancynical]

I don't think it is too far fetched to say that it is future Yotsuba who did all of this.

I'm gonna go crazy here but let me cook: A four-leaf clover usually means luck, but if you think about what the number 4 is in Japanese (it has two pronunciations: yon and shi, the shi pronunciation has a similar pronunciation to death which is shinu, shinda, etc.), this clover is just a mere curse for this guy. The moment he was entangled with her, his life had ended.

I really do wish the author just explained why she felt guilty towards him. It feels terribly written when you leave that reason in future chapters rather than fleshing out the story but I guess that's what the audiences want.

 

[Shitty]

It's obviously Yotsuha. It's been obvious for 10 chapters now. Nothing in this manga so far has been unexpected so I don't expect an asspull for the final reveal.

Always that one guy in every manga that goes "yeah I saw this coming everything has been withing my expectations, this manga doesn't surprise me!"

 

[Greivinator]

To throw in my own tin foil hat theory that if I just waited patiently for, it would probably be explained is this:

Part of me thinks that the reason she believes she “killed” him as well is because when he was at rock bottom and out of desperation, he reached out to her and she either ignored him, or something that brought about some form of rejection. The only reason the man was hanging on was because of his hopes for the future to make her happy. Any form of rejection or negative response she gave him would probably be the end for him. Hence the feeling of being one of his problems, or maybe the obligations that are tying him down are what made him unhappy she feels.
Either way, most of the time with any story that deals with a master manipulator or some grand design, you’re usually introduced to the character who is actually the one responsible in the beginning. So whoever it is, we’ve already met them.
So I’d say no to sister, mother, himself, or her. Someone else from the beginning we have met would be my guess, but I can’t narrow that choice down. If anyone’s curious as to why I’ve eliminated them, I’d be happy to answer!
Also, this is just my hypothesis as someone who loves writing and has studied it for years. It’s not always right or foolproof.

 

[Greivinator]

I don't think it is too far fetched to say that it is future Yotsuba who did all of this.

I'm gonna go crazy here but let me cook: A four-leaf clover usually means luck, but if you think about what the number 4 is in Japanese (it has two pronunciations: yon and shi, the shi pronunciation has a similar pronunciation to death which is shinu, shinda, etc.), this clover is just a mere curse for this guy. The moment he was entangled with her, his life had ended.

I really do wish the author just explained why she felt guilty towards him. It feels terribly written when you leave that reason in future chapters rather than fleshing out the story but I guess that's what the audiences want.

If there’s good writing, usually you can infer things like that. I agree, that it’s artificial tension just to continue dragging interest. The only reason I can think of, and it’s just conjecture, is that she gave him some form of rejection. His only hope to life was her. Any form of rejection or negativity from her probably would be enough to make him do what he did. Hence, being the final straw, she probably attributes a large blame to herself. That’s just my guess.

 

[friki987]

So, the Mastermind is neither the sister, nor the mom, not Yamato, not the hacker....
it must be CERN.

 

[garudien]

Part of me thinks that the reason she believes she “killed” him as well is because when he was at rock bottom and out of desperation

I mean... She believes she killed him because she wasn't there. Everyone she blames for Uichi's death doesn't have a direct causal line to his suicide. Most of his classmates are his murderers because they just chose not to do anything. In the same way, she blames herself for not being there for him. Based on the way he acted before in his mental state, they didn't really talk while she was gone. His only impression of her remained the one he had of her was who she was when she left. This is further evidenced by the fact that she alerted him that she's coming back through a letter, not text or email or anything. Given her financial circumstances, she likely just didn't have a phone or a computer at the time to contact him through and even if she got one later, no way to exchange details.
She was the one person he really needed and she was just gone. Completely and fully gone.

 

[garudien]

I typed out an essay on who I thought the mastermind was if they were a time traveler, but I hit a crucial flaw that I think probably clears Yotsuha, Uichi, and even Yae:

Time travel doesn't work that way in this series. From what we've seen, the only known way to time travel is through replacing the past self with the future self. Meaning it's pointless for Future Uichi to ruin his own life. If he wanted his past self to kill himself, he just has to do it. Yotsuha can't be it because there's no functional way for 2 Yotsuha to exist simultaenously. They'd just keep overwriting each other, including their existence. For that same reason, Yae can't be sending his past self messages, he'd just be his future self already. Anyone else directly messaged by the master mind hence forth also can't be them, I'd think.

As weird as it would be for the master mind to be someone we haven't met yet, it would just as weird for the master mind to be operating on some alternate, stronger method of time travel we don't have hints towards 3 volumes in.

 

[AuraPhoenix1500]

Alternatively, what if it's not the person themselves who's traveling back in time—just the messages, or that they can only interact through the technology?

It's not a perfect idea, but it does explain how they seem to know stuff they shouldn't like Yotsuha does, while also explaining why Yotsuha's able to "beat" their plans—she's right there and able to act, while the mastermind is only able to affect things from a distance.

Anyway, the fact that Uichi gave Yotsuha the clover makes me think that the mastermind is a future version of him—but a version of him from a future where Yotsuha's endless quest to save him ended up ruining her life/had led to her death, and once he found out about it, tried using that watch to send messages back in time to manipulate people to cause his own death—maybe because the watch just doesn't work for him, but it does on technology.

Anyway, this is all just theory at this point, and I won't be mad if it is someone else—but I feel like, narratively, there's a good chance that the mastermind is doing this for Yotsuha in the same way Yotsuha's doing all of this for Uichi—they're both linked by the symbol of a clover, and that adds another layer to make them foils for each other.

 

[dgajamebjejda]

that twist on the "drenched clothes" trope at page 24/25 was so cute!!!!

 

[GodsWeakestSoldier]

The sister is cute