@Oeconomist
True, both Flare's death flashback and the grim mood of these pages could be a red herring.
For example, people can form false memories quite easily, and that process can even be manipulated by others, intentionally or not. There was a "repressed memory" fad in psychotherapy, and it later turned out that a lot of those were false memories inadvertently created by the therapist's suggestions during therapy.
In Flare's case, those beings have already been shown to manipulate minds and reality, and the one in her sister's body seems to be more intelligent than others. (or at least having better understanding of humans)
However, we've also already seen several hints that things aren't gonna turn out well for the duo.
1)
"That profile still comes to mind from time to time" in chapter 16 suggest that by the end of the story Aimi and Flare are separated in one way or another - likely either stuck in different worlds without any contact, or with one of them dead.
2) The canonical introduction of the afterlife seems like a big Chekhov's gun to me. The whole "we're fine even after we die" shifts the stakes away from "regular" death being the worst outcome for a character.
So far both that and Flare's death reveal are in line with the story's priority switching from helping Flare return to Earth to ensuring that her spirit properly passes over to the afterlife.
Personally, I'd like not only for Flare to have a happy outcome, but for her senpai to have one as well.
Yeah, I feel that way too. That's probably because I can relate a lot to her curiosity and fascination with the unknown. If I were in a horror story, I'd probably be the first to die for that very reason...
