Kimi wa Yotsuba no Clover - Ch. 45 - Promise

[betetta]

I 'm fairly sure I have it figured out. I haven't read ahead, but the pieces fit together too well, so please don't read if you don't want to risk reading what's very likely a series of big spoilers. (Also, minor spoilage for Higurashi.)

Spoiler: seriously, don't read this if you'd rather wait and figure things out as they unfold. also, *please* spoiler-tag if you decide to respond to it.

Yotsuha does push herself too far and dies in one timeline… that she doesn't know about, because she didn't restart it. Notice how easily her older brother believes the premise of time travel? And how quickly he points out not to kill anyone for Uichi's sake, because Uichi would hate it?

He's speaking from experience. He blamed Uichi for her death, so he rewound (or whatever mechanism he used) back to farther than when she put the clover in the watch (chapter 41). He probably also caused their mother's death, but ain't no one gonna blame him for that. (He may have felt guilty because he's the one who went back in time to push their mother to go rescue Yotsuha.)

It might be a family ability, from their mother? Her reactions are often incomprehensible (e.g. how she treats Yotsuha, how she hears someone killed himself then says she guesses she doesn't need him anymore in chapter 40) — unless she's been trying to fix multiple time loops and her sanity broke under the strain.

I used to think this was straight-up "manic pixie dream girl tries to fix Higurashi"… but now I would bet the author first saw The Butterfly Effect and loved the idea of a family ability that breaks its users' sanity the more they use it (because accumulated trauma adds up fast).

I just hope her brother realized she's fighting him and is standing back to give her a chance to fix things, rather than that he's fighting her right up to the end like in Higurashi. But regardless, I get the feeling he loves her deeply… which is what twisted him far enough to do this, and why all his emotions and reactions to her are strangely blunted.

Mostly in line with my own theories for endgame as well, but it has some holes:

Spoiler: The holes

uichi dying or suffering it's what causes yotsuha to suffer and blame herself for his death, not caring for her own health and causing her possible death, which in turn would be the cause for the brother to become clover and go back in time, but without uichi suffering she simply goes back to him in December and his life hasn't gone to shit... So for revenge still being on the table there are two options: the brother is a serious brocon and jealousy is the motif of his awakening of those family powers, or uichi becomes some sort of an asshole to yotsuha, he forgot her, found himself a girlfriend, etc... Something that breaks her heart literally and bro takes revenge in her name, we need that first motivation for the bro to become clover or everything becomes circular, a loop

 

[arimareiji]

Mostly in line with my own theories for endgame as well, but it has some holes:

Spoiler: The holes

uichi dying or suffering it's what causes yotsuha to suffer and blame herself for his death, not caring for her own health and causing her possible death, which in turn would be the cause for the brother to become clover and go back in time, but without uichi suffering she simply goes back to him in December and his life hasn't gone to shit... So for revenge still being on the table there are two options: the brother is a serious brocon and jealousy is the motif of his awakening of those family powers, or uichi becomes some sort of an asshole to yotsuha, he forgot her, found himself a girlfriend, etc... Something that breaks her heart literally and bro takes revenge in her name, we need that first motivation for the bro to become clover or everything becomes circular, a loop

Thank you for a thoughtful response!

Spoiler: ongoing perhaps-spoilery conjecture

Honestly, it's beyond me to guess at this point. Aside from "he blames Uichi for her death, whether justifiably or unjustifiably", I don't really have anything for "Why?" yet.

One dangling thread keeps catching my eye: Their mom snaps and starts being Mommy Dearest to Yotsuha, after hearing that someone killed themselves. Perhaps it's their dad, who fled in order to escape her but his accumulated trauma caught up with him? So now she needs a new victim to torment? Or perhaps the brother killed him for something he did to Yotsuha? I've started wondering if Uichi is just the most recent target, in a list of people the brother has killed to try to save her… perhaps some shinigami is hell-bent on making sure she dies at a certain age by any means possible. I could see it getting pretty wild in terms of following various loops backwards.

Or perhaps Higurashi just made too big of an impression? 😅

 

[Mysticalism]

Maybe the real Clover is the friends we made along the way.

 

[wiz_gmc]

people are saying the hacker girl is sus over nothing, not saying she isn't the mastermind but the only evidence she is is that she exists.

Existing inside of a weekly drama story and not being a main character is all the evidence I need of wrongdoing.

 

[wiz_gmc]

Absolutely blows my mind that so many people still think Fuu is Clover as if she isn't just almost as devastated as Yotsuha is at Uichi's funeral in Chapter 43.

I only counted 6 tears (admittedly more than any of his family members shed) and there's no evidence when she turned her back and started shaking that it wasn't because she was overcome by elation and her total victory.

 

[Superpeanut]

Remember that this is a revenge story, for someone to try and kill uichi as a revenge you need either:

- something uichi to be blamed as a kid

- something uichi to be blamed as a teen or adult + a time traveler

The first option fits hacker girl (jealousy) except for three things, first she was the one who gave yotsuha the info about the sister talking to clover, also yotsuha went away on her own, there's no reason to be jealous of uichi if he's not by her side, and third, she has no reason to call herself clover, as a bonus... If she was jealous and psychopathic about it, she wouldn't have used yae sin he would technically be another contender for yotsuha.

Now the time traveler theory makes much more sense since yotsuha either stays with uichi or dies trying to save him, that's actually revenge worthy, and now the suspects can be many, including hacker girl again but older, the brother, or a new player since in the case ofnyotsuha dying, any of them could've found the original clover and took it as their symbol

The longer this goes, the more I suspect the Mastermind. We might even have a situation where it IS the hacker girl, but older or something. Here’s an example:

FMC saves MC, dies for it. Hacker is from a timeline where that has already happened. And she blames the MC for it. If he’s gone, FMC won’t die, needs revenge, that sort of thing. Hacker could be traveling from a farther future than FMC is.

If that’s the case, that could also explain the clover symbol being used from the Hacker as well. She did NOT have a reason to use it until FMC dies, then Hacker takes the symbol as her own (like a “I’ll carry your memory with me” sort of thing). Maybe she even gets the watch from FMC at one point, and rewinds time. But only once or something. And maybe didn’t even realize the watch was the trick UNTIL the FMC was seen with it by the Sister.

That’s my tinfoil theory.

 

[betetta]

The longer this goes, the more I suspect the Mastermind. We might even have a situation where it IS the hacker girl, but older or something. Here’s an example:

FMC saves MC, dies for it. Hacker is from a timeline where that has already happened. And she blames the MC for it. If he’s gone, FMC won’t die, needs revenge, that sort of thing. Hacker could be traveling from a farther future than FMC is.

If that’s the case, that could also explain the clover symbol being used from the Hacker as well. She did NOT have a reason to use it until FMC dies, then Hacker takes the symbol as her own (like a “I’ll carry your memory with me” sort of thing). Maybe she even gets the watch from FMC at one point, and rewinds time. But only once or something. And maybe didn’t even realize the watch was the trick UNTIL the FMC was seen with it by the Sister.

That’s my tinfoil theory.

Mostly works too, but those who time travel in this series do it in their own bodies, there's no witnessing yourself on third person. And let's not forget hacker girl gave yotsuha information about clover and uichi's sister, that was actually a prime opportunity to divert her attention from herself if she was clover, but she gave her good Intel instead.

The only workaround I see for that to still work was that future hacker girl had a different way to time travel that let her act individually from her past self, something like sending messages to the past from the future, but that's another can of worms since she would have to still be aware of the changing timeline like yotsuha despite being in the future and most likely being affected by changes in the timeline

 

[ChaosMAX1268]

Now we are reminded about Yae's batting hobby, kinda do feel bad for his mom. From what we seen in flashbacks she has done NOTHING to instill this evil in Yae and all her effort in raising the boy goes to waste as he destroys his own future in multiple ways in different timelines (even in the bad future it is clear Yotsuba would have never returned his feelings or even live much longer without Uichi), always sabotaging his life despite what she tried to teach the boy. #fuckyae

Also now I also kinda want to point out the irony, that for someone who complains about being poor and trying to justify his evil that way, he did nothing to help support his mother as a teenager due to his own selfishness and stubborn belief that getting Yotsuba would just make his life turn 180...
EDIT: To clarify what I mean (thought it may be obvious) Yae could have spent his time on doing a part time job to give extra funds for himself and his mom but no he just dedicated his time to become the perfect student and killing Uichi through bullying rather than put any effort to fix his problems because he saw Yotsuba as the fix and thinks that is the only thing he should be working on. It is implied he is only a model student for his scheme and wouldn't have bothered with the effort if it was not necessary, highlighting how little he seemed to care about his actually poorness until Yotsuba's rejection made him realize how little he has anymore.

 

[cocosusprime]

I'm kinda running out of fuccs for this comic. Kinda wastes time on unnecessary stuff...

 

[Devil2475]

Her brother might be a good guy, but who am I to say anything about it? Imagine the mastermind turns out to be the hacker friend.
Thanks for the translation.

 

[samguy]

View attachment 28730
Good to see her actually considering this option

You think one of the loops she just lost it for a moment and killed Yae?

 

[arimareiji]

Also now I also kinda want to point out the irony, that for someone who complains about being poor and trying to justify his evil that way, he did nothing to help support his mother as a teenager due to his own selfishness and stubborn belief that getting Yotsuba would just make his life turn 180...

Calling Yae "the stuff you wipe off your 🍑 three hours after winning a ghost-pepper-eating competition", is an insult to the stuff you wipe off your 🍑 three hours after winning a ghost-pepper-eating competition.

Even if it has no other redeeming attributes, at least it could possibly help plants grow.

Spoiler: a GIF to belabor the point of why you don't want to win a ghost-pepper-eating competition

 

[android023]

Thank you for the translation.
Read all the available chapters in one go.

 

[Burin]

View attachment 28730
Good to see her actually considering this option

Best girl

 

[mez0ru]

It doesn't make sense if the mastermind is making revenge against mc. If he just wants the mc to be dead, then he doesn't have to rewind time to kill him, unless he actually wants the fmc to give up or something. It just feels weird at this point, since both rewind time, unless they are forced to be in the same timeline it would not make sense, but it doesn't because she would also know when he rewinds time.

 

[EulBassist]

Thank you Dortex for helping out with this manga all the time.

Also, thanks to the whole team for all the chapters until now!

 

[Achaius]

Only thing I'm sure of is that Big Bro is also a time traveler and asked to stear clear of murder because:
1. It becomes your only option fast
2. It erodes your sanity
3. It doesn't achieve any goal as Uichi goes mad
4. It sets her up as a prime suspect

I mean, the mother is quite an example of what happens when you have the perfect tool to murder and get away with it, and are willing to use it accordingly.

Now, I'm afraid that the story goes nonsensical soon. Time travel shenanigans become convoluted fast.

 

[Jorgk]

Wsp

 

[mr2005vc]

Wsp

Hi Jorkg

 

[Wanderer00]

Actual Psychopaths who want nothing but to see other people suffer are, unfortunately, real. They don't need a motive other than "Because I wanted to", because to that kind of twisted mind that's good enough. They do not have a sense of empathy or an understanding of emotions, there is only "I want to do this thing". I say 'psychopath' and not 'sociopath' because they are not the same thing; Sociopaths are emotionally strange, but they -do- have emotions. They just don't care about other people's emotions. Sociopaths would be Freddy or Hannibal Lecter, Psychopath would be Michael Myers or Jason (though Jason a bit less so; he does care about his mother).

And Palpatine i think, he fits it to a T