Usogui - Vol. 25 Ch. 271 - Encircle The Bee

[MangaDex]

 

[dummyaccount12345]

Thanks for the translation! (As well as for those STELLAR credit pages!)

Also. HOLY SH!T. The foreshadowing is on another level.

 

[belkrax]

The pieces started falling in once we got that it was a memory thing, i do remember he made a lot of side comments about forgetting things and memory. Its nice how he talks to the guy in a way that doesnt reveal anything to get info.

 

[299792458]

Hahahahahahaha. Man, I love being wrong! That's one of the nice things about this manga, it makes me be wrong so often. Makes lots of sense, memory loss doesn't need to be due to a split personality, we were just confused (or intentionally deceived) by Leader's behavior after the memory loss (trying to run away, deceiving the referees close to him using pieces of information that have been thrown around, etc), which could have been explained by an alternate personality, but also, as it seems, by having clear instructions on what to do when he loses his memory and being incredibly intelligent. It's so fucking cool how he responds in neutral ways that make other people inadvertently reveal more information despite having no clue what they're talking about and how he uses all the clues around him to piece everything together. Fucking awesome. Love it. Nice credit page, too, you guys are amazing <3. P.S.: That guy talking about the Bee transformation was right... He must have been a raw reader!
Edit: Btw, Page 14, second panel, "expect" instead of "except".

 

[tack215]

@299792458 If you liked Souichi, then you're in for a treat because the next arc will follow Souichi and show us how OP he is.

 

[Fenixr]

I love those credit pages full of backreferences

 

[299792458]

@tack215 Yeah, I'm really excited. He seems like a monster in terms of raw intelligence and cunning; I mean, look at what he's doing in the first page. Drawing with his right hand, while building stuff with blocks with his left hand, while reciting entire books including publisher and editor plus date of release at the same time, at an incredibly young age! Not to mention everything else that's been established about him. One of my favorite characters of this manga, glad we finally got here. I think he might be more intelligent than Baku when it comes to raw processing ability, imo, but idk for sure yet. Also, I've taken a glance at some raws I could find and

Spoiler

we're getting close to some Leader and Baku backstory, which I'm super excited for, especially the surpassing the Leader game and the build up to it. It also seems that Baku wasn't lying when he was reciting his memory of that day to Yuuki in the Labyrinth game, since I think I saw some Pooyan being played? I love Baku and Leader so that's going to be amazing. I also saw Leader fighting a bit way later on, so he must be quite strong?

Super excited!

 

[Veshv]

Both of the exchanges shown on the foreshadowing pages, Yakou talking to Leader, and Baku talking to Souichi during hangman, lead me to think that Baku might actually know about this condition of his, not that it's that big of a deal from what we can see so far.

Also, it's interesting that Yakou Jouichi (or Yakou B, according to Kaji) was an attendant for the leader. That means it doesn't have to be a referee of Kakerou that acts as his attendant. I get the feeling that Touya is realizing how much of Souichi's memory is gone because Eba is actually already dead, and so Souichi not realizing this part might mean he's lost an extreme amount of his own memory.

 

[Kenju]

I do appreciate all these bonus pages to help sort all the information I might've lost track of, thanks!

 

[rennov]

Team Duwang is too OP... Please don't nerf.

 

[catx3]

@299792458

It's interesting how an alternate personality has similar symptoms to memory loss. This is definitely a nicer twist though, since the alternate personality theory didn't have much foreshadowing.

@Veshv

In the previous chapter (https://mangadex.org/chapter/637123/1), Baku made a somewhat surprised facing listening to Nowa. If he knows about the memory condition already, then he should be able to tell what's happened to Leader now. Not sure what he'll do with that info though.

About Eba, instead of being dead, I wonder if Eba is alive but perhaps defected from Kakerou to an opposing organization? Since the judge was talking about "which side" he's heading towards. Nowa & the judge seemed overly concerned with making sure Souichi doesn't leave, and it didn't feel like it was just because he isn't being guarded. Or maybe it's because his memory is easily manipulate-able in his current state, so they don't want anyone malicious brainwashing him potentially? Lots of different possibilities.

---

Kind of random, but if Souichi goes missing and Tatsuki dies, then what'll happen to Kakerou's leadership? Would they find someone else from the Kiruma family? Or would it perhaps go to Baku, who was in line for surpassing the leader, kind of like an interim champion? Would be funny if he just became the leader just like that. Also Kaji technically has the #0 referee too, wonder if that will ever come into play.

 

[Veshv]

@catx3

Is Baku able to hear what Nowa is saying in that page? I do agree if he is able to listen to what Nowa is saying, he might already know what's happening to Leader.

Since Eba talked about reimplanting memories, I think you're right on the money with the brainwashing angle. In fact, the government may already attempt to actually do something like that given this person from the Ministry of Defense showing up at such a moment.

As for leadership, if more people have the #0 referee than Baku/Kaji, there could be a mass gamble between them all, with the winner getting everything.

 

[Elhao]

Kudos to Team Duwang for putting everything together. Makes me realize how much I forgot.

 

[Valkit]

thank you so much for the bonus pages

 

[catx3]

This is the last chapter of this batch!

---

@Veshv

Now that you mention it, Baku probably can't hear Nowa talking on the phone. But he can see Tatsuki being resuscitated/put on a stretcher, which is abnormal since the loser/lower-ranked should die. So perhaps he can guess that something has happened to Leader, since they're breaking the ranking battle rules?

I like the mass gamble idea. We've only ever seen team v team gambles, a free-for-all style with multiple factions would be crazy.

 

[saxifraga]

I do love the subtle foreshadowing via casual speak. Didn't think much of Souichi's forgetfulness aside from it being just a small personality quirk, as if he was so apathetic about things he couldn't be bothered to remember them. But now realizing it's more serious than that, things are starting to make more sense with his character.

I'm stoked to see more of Souichi. Him and his whole lineage are so captivating to me.

 

[catx3]

@saxifraga

I had the same thought about him just being apathetic or perhaps even rude. Now that I think about it, it was probably an intentional strategy to camouflage to his memory loss. If someone asks him something about the past and he acts like that all the time, he could always use it as a way to dodge questions he doesn't know the answers to.

--

Another random thought, perhaps his memory loss condition is trauma related? Specifically related to his mother, because we learned Tatsuki is his dad, but Tatsuki himself said he doesn't have a wife. So either dead, missing, or divorced.

 

[the9813]

When was it specifically mentioned that tatsuki was his father?

 

[Veshv]

@the9813

It wasn't directly said, but in chapter 269 Tatsuki is remembering something Souichi said to him, which we took to mean that Tatsuki is the father of Souichi.

 

[Ominous]

All that work Duwang has done takes things to another level. The foreshadowing from the early volumes to now. Whew.