Usogui - Vol. 44 Ch. 476 - The Entrusted Handkerchiefs

[saxifraga]

@catx3
Now that you mentioned it, Ryuusei informing Baku about that call does seem weird, and knowing this series it's probably something significant, or else it wouldn't be focused on in two different chapters. Good catch. As to what it relates to however, I honestly haven't a clue. Though the obvious guess would be surpassing the leader match. Perhaps some type of ace in the hole scenario?

It's interesting that Yakou may be assisting Baku in some fashion. Does his loyalty to him supersede that of Kakerou? I mean, assuming their relationship is to that extent, it wouldn't be the first time we've seen a referee align themselves with a member beyond Kakerou's authority (Sadakuni & Mekama). And what better way to get at Souichi than to have a turncoat ally.

 

[troita]

@saxifraga
I think Yakou does want to help Baku as much as he can without breaking the rules. But if there comes a time to choose between Baku and Kakerou he would always choose Kakerou.

Maybe Ryusei is Ranko's son lol

E: Also, why would Nowa favour Midara over his own son-in-law?

 

[Veshv]

@belkrax
That was burned during Yakou's fight with Bai Long, so this handkerchief without the crossed out No. 2 is Yakou's new one.

Ryuusei's name is Ooyama Nobuo. Do we know anyone who could be related to him?

 

[marcyvq]

When did the story forget that yakou isn't baku's referee?

 

[Lithe]

Kakerou has 'standard games'.

I should have known. Makes the pass-over game that much more fascinating with its strangeness.

 

[Jonui]

@marcyvq I may be wrong because everything is terribly misleading regarding this topic, but as I understand it, Yakou became Baku's exclusive referee right when the match in the abandoned building took place. Until then, it was Kyara, but since he was not a referee anymore, it probably transfered to Yakou.
And the situation never changed since then, because it had no reason to. After all, Usogui never lost his Kakerou membership to anyone nor reset anything, unlike Yukiide who failed Surpassing The Leader...
'cause yeah, from kakerou's point of view, it was Yukiide who played against Souichi with this strange game about air vehicules. Not Baku. Thus, he always were a kakerou member, even during his match against Q-Tarou where he encountered Yakou. And it was presumably the first Kakerou match Baku played after Kyara left the organization.
Again, I might be wrong, but that's how I understand it for now.

 

[marcyvq]

The way I remember it is that it was kaji who won the membership at the abandoned building, and since yakou was presiding it means he became kaji's ref, somehow that's shifted over to baku over time and I'm not sure why since baku also had an exclusive ref at one point who wasn't kyara or yakou didn't he? :/

 

[Doomroar]

Oh i see, it is the good old, "go ahead take it... if you can!"

 

[BossCrab]

@catx3
Good analysis! I was wondering why they kept lingering on Baku dropping the handkerchief. Ryuusei's phone call is odd too, why do they keep bringing it up?

@troita
Thats a good point, where's Shion?

@saxifraga
I think the reason why this battle is important is because Yakou wants to ref a game that is completely fair and is a pure mindgame between the two. I don't think Yakou would overly favor either of them; he cared about Tatsuki just as much as he does about Baku. He would favor Baku in giving him the game he wants, but wouldnt intervene in the game.

I think its a dangerous situation because Kadokura has expressed both disdain for Baku (outright wanting him to be destroyed) and a lack of care for what the game will be.

Not that I think Kadokura would cheat Baku. But Old Kadokura was an extremely neutral referee who cared about making interesting games, Broken!Kadokura doesn't care as much and might pick a game Souichi is good at. Maybe if it was Kaji in StL he'd be a good ref for it.

 

[Kirakirakirakay]

@marcyvq I was always confused on why Yakou was Baku's exclusive referee was as well. I think it is because Yakou is the referee present when Baku received his current Kakerou membership in chapter 69 (https://mangadex.org/chapter/204603/5). It is stated on pages 13-14 of chapter 206 that someone's backup referee is the referee present when they receive their membership (https://mangadex.org/chapter/543875/13). And since Kyara is not a referee anymore, Baku's backup referee would be promoted to his exclusive referee, I assume?

Baku never had an exclusive referee that is not Kyara. Kyara was the first referee that Baku met, which means he will always be Baku's exclusive referee (https://mangadex.org/chapter/204593/10). So if Kyara was still a part of Kakerou, he would still be Baku's exclusive referee.

 

[Veshv]

@marcyvq
The story established that Yakou was Baku's referee using Kushinada, way back in ch. 72. The implication from there was that multiple people can have the same "exclusive" referee. This is also apparent in the actual exclusive referee conditions, where the first referee a person meets in a Kakerou match will become their exclusive referee.

As for Baku having an exclusive referee, it shifted over directly to Yakou once he re-obtained his membership, as before then it was Kyara.

 

[marcyvq]

@Kirakirakirakay
"Kyara was the first referee that Baku met, which means he will always be Baku's exclusive referee"
But isn't that the case for kaji too then? Is yakou kaji's ref like one should expect?

@Veshv
"The implication from there was that multiple people can have the same "exclusive" referee. "
Alright but that's a bit weird since there's twice as many referees as members iiuc


If your ref isn't available, or even dies, you get another one anyway so what is the word exclusive supposed to mean?
It's not like it's actually a big deal, and it'd probably make more sense on a reread, but it's been bugging me for awhile.

 

[catx3]

@Veshv
Yakou-Baku

Spoiler

Good catch! I was confused as to why that was shown since his handkerchief was supposed to be burned.

But now that you mention it, I think it's possible that instead of that handkerchief being a re-embroidered version, it's actually the original one. Something like Baku picked it up before it fully burnt, and then he returned it to Yakou at that moment. I don't think it was shown to be completely burned, the panel only showed Baku looking at it. ( https://mangadex.org/chapter/816013/14 )

I tried looking for panels with him holding it in his hand in the scenes afterwards, but unfortunately couldn't find any. Would've been crazy to find such a small detail. Although the scenes immediately after have Baku's hands obscured.

Also about Ryuusei's name, unfortunately doesn't ring any bells for me. It would definitely be like the author to use his name as a hint though.

@Saxifraga
About Exclusive Referee Loyalty

Spoiler

This reminds me of something I've been thinking about - the purpose of having a #0 exclusive referee to surpass the leader. I think the point is by achieving that, you prove that you're capable of being Kakerou's leader. Essentially, you need to get your exclusive referee, who is the closest Kakerou contact you have, to become loyal to you, and to make him fight for you to become the most respectable/strongest referee (#0), to be eligible for surpassing the leader. Then if you win StL, Kakerou as a whole will actually be willing to submit to you, since you've already "convinced" someone that they respect a lot.

Another way of looking at it is, since Yakou favors Baku more than Souichi, it means he'd prefer Baku as a leader over him. So Yakou being a weird mix of neutral-allied to Baku is actually the goal of this rule, and it proves that he's capable of being Kakerou's leader. If you can't get your own referee to become your ally over Kakerou's leader, than you wouldn't be able to convince the organization of Kakerou to submit to you as their leader either.

@troita
Ryuusei's Mom

Spoiler

Ranko being the mom would be wild. Unfortunately, it's probably not her, based on the picture of the woman shown here ( https://mangadex.org/chapter/757949/8 ). The details about Ryuusei being spoiled and praised for eating actually reminds me of Minowa's mom lol, but that's definitely too random to be it.

@marcyvq
Meaning of exclusive referees

Spoiler

It comes from the terrorist arc ( https://mangadex.org/chapter/204597/6 ). In short, it's a referee exclusive to one member while in a gamble between multiple Kakerou members. The purpose being that each exclusive referee is responsible for handling the negotiations for one player. Presumably, it's to make sure that the referee who is most "used to" that member represents him in the gamble, so that the gamble will go as smoothly possible.

So having an exclusive referee does not mean anything if it's not a gamble between two Kakerou members. So for the meaning of the term:
it's not like it's "a referee always exclusive to Baku, for any gamble",
but rather it's "the referee who is first priority in becoming exclusive to Baku in a match between Kakerou members".

Determining exclusive referees

Spoiler

It's explained by Kushinada and Baku starting from here ( https://mangadex.org/chapter/204610/5 ).

Baku says "exclusive referees are the first ones that a member gets acquainted with."
Kushinada then mentions "the conditions of a previous membership were reset".

So all the previous referee encounters Baku had before the Abandoned Building gamble are not in consideration anymore, and thus he doesn't have any of them as his possible exclusive referees. (Assuming that Baku didn't play any gambles in between the first StL and the abandoned building.) So this is why Yakou is Baku's exclusive referee, since he met him "first", after Baku's past membership was reset. It doesn't matter if Baku wasn't a member at the time either, all that matters is "being the first one to get acquainted with them", and that he becomes a member eventually (since exclusive referees only exist for Kakerou members).

Kushinada also mentions that Nowa/Kushinada will become Baku's exclusive referee, if Yakou is busy. So putting this all together, this means that for determining exclusive referees, they go by:
"order of meeting that member, doesn't matter if the meeting happened while they weren't a member, and any past history of a previous Kakerou membership is reset."

So yeah, Yakou is also Kaji's exclusive referee. Or to be precise, he's "first-in-line" in becoming his exclusive referee. If Kaji and Baku had a gamble, they would probably get one of the 'next-in-line' referees, so Nowa/Kadokura, to be one of their exclusives for that match.

 

[marcyvq]

@catx3
"In short, it's a referee exclusive to one member while in a gamble between multiple Kakerou members. ..."
You've explained that all pretty well and I understand now, thank you, in particular this quoted part you lead with; that the word 'exclusivity' is specifically about assignment of refs in member vs member matches.
Which also explains why yakou had no part in the air poker game.

 

[Heap]

wahahaha mind games, but petty ones

 

[Jesus]

ohhoooooo the old vs the young i see

 

[Sparda41]

Can someone please bury Kyara, this is undignified and inhumane