Alteration (
Summary[]
Part 1: The Allegory of the Plant in the Flower Pot[]
The Chapter begins with Yashiro Nene in her gardening outfit, holding a trowel in one hand, and a sprinkler in the other hand. She is staring at a small flower pot that hasn't been given a plant yet. As she stares at the pot, she begins to monologue:
| “ |
To be honest, my life has been filled with nothing but problems until now.
|
” |
— Yashiro Nene admitting to the reader that her life has been filled with problems
| ||
As it turned out, the flower pot is an allegorical form of symbolism of Yashiro's own problems, which first starts with the plant sprouting that represents her encounter with Hanako in the first chapter. Then as the plant grows, a caterpillar starts munching on it, which represents the twisting of the Seven Mysteries' rumors by the Broadcasting Club. Yashiro slaps the caterpillar out of the plant, only for everything to be blown apart in a devastating wind. This represents the realization that she has little time to live.
Then as the storm increases in power and terror, Yashiro hides in a box, which represents her being trapped in the Picture Perfect World of the Fourth Mystery. Next, we see Yashiro wandering in a desert with the hot sun burning down on her, which represents both the sacrifice of Akane Aoi by Shinigami-Sama that led to the Severance, and the attack on Kamome Gakuen by the multiple plant-like supernaturals caused by the Broadcasting Club. Then ultimately, the winds pick up again and drag her away to wherever it goes, which represent her final two problems: The dilemna whether to remove the Yorishiro or not, and the Academy's time being frozen.
After all that, the plant within the flower pot has only grown to a typical shrub despite Yashiro's efforts. And worse, it has never bloomed a single flower. Then as she pondered on how to make the plant grow, both the Clock Keepers Kako and Mirai appear, with Kako picking up the flower pot. As she is surprised by their appearance, Kako tells her that the roots of the plant have died, thereby no matter what she does, it will never bloom a single flower as a result of it.
Then Kako tells Yashiro to "try this", as Mirai gave her another pot with a plant that has bloomed flowers. He tells her that while the plant now presented to her came from the same seed, it grew up strong and healthy, without any disease, implying that the timeline has now been changed to remove the "root of the problem" that Kako mentioned to Aoi Akane about in the previous chapter.
As they parts ways with Yashiro, Mirai asks her if "the prettier version of something is always better, right?". And as the both of them depart, this leaves Yashiro dumbstruck, and then she soon realizes what Kako and Mirai had actually done. She gets up and screams at them to give back what was important to her.
Unfortunately for her, it was all a dream, and she (As her New Present-Self) is brought back to the now-altered present, with the School Festival about to begin.
Part 2: A New Present, A New School Festival[]
Her last actions ended up happening in the real world, as Akane Aoi asked her what's wrong, if she was sick, or if she was out of it. Yashiro answers her that she's fine and that she's sorry to bother her. Yashiro then tells Aoi that she has this weird dream (The allegory that happened earlier) that was bothering her since the morning. Aoi askes what kind of dream it was, to which she was about to answer, but then she ultimately forgot what it was. Aoi responds by calling her "Typical Nene-Chan".
Then as they strolled around the School Festival, Aoi remarks that while Yashiro is with her, her head is up in the clouds, and laments that she was looking forward to having Yashiro all to herself at the School Festival. This makes Yashiro shocked, and it made her heart beat, but then she apologizes for her actions, and tells her that they can go wherever they want to go, to which Aoi cheers happily.
Then they go throughout the different spots of the School Festival. Firstly, they both go to a 3D Trick Art Booth, where they have their pictures taken. Next they initially want to go to a Fortune-Telling booth, however the wait line seemed to be long. They suddenly set their eyes upon Class 3-B's Timeless Haunted House (An indicator that the present was changed, as Class 3-B initially had a Maid and Butler Cafe exhibit). They go inside the Haunted House, which leads to Yashiro getting spooked. But overall, they both had fun.
Next, the girls are out searching for more booths to go through (And seemingly pass by a grown-up and healthy Shijima Mei, who is passing by a guy with a sign to the aforementioned Fortune-Telling Parlor). They see an art exhibit and Aoi remarks that the artists are talented, to which Yashiro agrees.
Then as they continue their way through, they encounter Minamoto Kou, who is promoting his class' Takoyaki Stand. Yashiro sees him, and wonders who he was again. Kou then looks at her, and seemingly bows down in front of her, as if to confess, only to give her a "1 free Takoyaki" ticket. But before Yashiro could ask Kou, someone calls him, and he tells her that he has to go. The unnamed voice asks him if he's a flirt, to which he answers that he isn't. Afterwards, Aoi tells Yashiro that he is Minamoto Teru's brother. She then asks him if she knows him, to which Yashiro doesn't answer as she sees both Kou and Mitsuba Sousuke, who is alive and well, and a member of the Photography Club. Unfortunately, Yashiro answers that she doesn't know him.
Then they pass by posters for the Wizard of Oz Play. In there, Aoi remarks that Yashiro is so popular, and in addition to that, who would expect less, as she is also the Star of the Wizard of Oz Play. Yashiro ponders on the word but quickly realizes that she has to be there at the practice for the Wizard of Oz Play.
Then Yashiro monologues as she practices for the play inside The Sealed Auditorium and eventually leads the play to a resounding success:
| “ |
Once she said it, I knew it to be true. That they choose me, and I worked my butt off rehearsing too. I know all this, and yet, Why do I feel so uneasy? I'm nailing all of my lines, and delivering a sound performance, so why? It feels like I'm walking on clouds...am I still half-asleep? This song, these lyrics...I feel like I wanted somebody to see me sing.
|
” |
— Yashiro Nene reminiscing on how she enjoys her role as the Star of show, yet feeling that she lacks someone to clap for her
| ||
Then as she and her classmates bow down at the conclusion of their play, she suddenly sees a hallucination of Hanako clapping her admits the numerous spectators clapping for them. He is the one person that she remembers, and he is the most important person to her. And so she screams his name loudly:
| “ |
HA-HANAKO KUN!!! |
” |
— Yashiro Nene shouts Hanako's name while bowing at the conclusion of the School Play
| ||
This shocks everyone at the Sealed Auditorium, as both her co-performers and possibly the audience look right at her.
Part 3: The Clock Keepers' Butterfly Effect[]
Meanwhile at the Student Council office room, Minamoto Teru locks up the office, and Aoi Akane called him. But instead of saying anything, Teru punched Akane straight in the face, and he hit with such force that sent Akane flying towards a table, breaking it and letting the papers fly off in the process. Teru then approached him, and tells her that he didn't bring in Yashiro, as before that, he would decide whether Akane is a Supernatural or a Human Being. He then approaches Akane, holds him by his tie, and interrogates him as to what he had actually done. He then concludes by saying that Akane had let him down.
Akane tries to defend himself and he was about to scream his defense, but then he stopped, and then answered Teru that it was probably the "Butterfly Effect". He then describes it:
| “ |
The Butterfly Effect...you know what that is, don't you?. The theory that the tiniest flap of a butterfly's wings could cause a tornado to form miles away. Same thing goes for the past and the future. The tiniest change to the past, can cause a great ripple effect into the future.
|
” |
— Aoi Akane describing the Butterfly Effect to Minamoto Teru and how the actions of both Kako and Mirai led to a similar effect that changes the very chronological state of the future.
| ||
And after hearing all that, Teru asked for clarification, Akane answered him thus:
| “ |
Because the Past changed, we now inhabit a Brand-New Present. See? The First Day of the School Festival is drawing to a close. In this "Present", none of the students will turn into monsters, and time won't come to a standstill. The Incident that shook the school..."Never Happened". That was the Clock Keeper's Goal. |
” |
— Aoi Akane explaining to Minamoto Teru the reason why Kako and Mirai had to create the New Present.
| ||
Reacting with disbelief, Teru asks Akane if he should just throw away their old present just to live in the new one, then Akane explains that while some of the people retain the memories of the old world, it will all be erased and replaced by the new memories in three days' time. Akane continues that as per Kako's plan, everything has gone off without a hitch, and that some people would prefer this present over the original one. Akane also notes that Teru could be one those who will prefer the new present, as well as Yashiro herself.
Part 4: Reminiscing the Past[]
Meanwhile in the Faculty Room, Teacher Nagisa appears, felling good that his class did well at their Wizard of Oz play. Teacher Tschigomori asks him if his class did well, and Nagisa answers that they did well until the end. Tsuchigomori responds by muttering that it is already this late in the afternoon, as the Clock seems to say "4:30". Nagisa notices that Tsuchigomori is wearing a wristwatch that is broken and asks if it is indeed broken, to which Tsuchigomori says that it was broken a long time ago. Nagisa then asks if it's some kind of keepsake, to which Tsuchigomori answers that it's not really a keepsake.
However, Tsuchigomori mutters that an old college of his named Yugi Amane, gave it to him. And the scene pans to a picture of a grown-up Amane Yugi, surrounded by his students, one of them apparently being a young Nagisa. The Chapter then ends.
Characters in order of appearance[]
- Yashiro Nene (Original Timeline) (Dream only)
- Akane Aoi (Original Timeline) (Indirectly mentioned, Dream Only)
- Kako
- Mirai
- Yashiro Nene (New Present)
- Akane Aoi (New Present)
- Yokoo Minami (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original, Cameo)
- Minami's Friend (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original, Cameo)
- Shijima Mei (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original, Cameo)
- Minamoto Kou (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original)
- Mitsuba Sousuke (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original, Cameo)
- Hanako (Hallucination)
- Minamoto Teru (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original while retaining his memories)
- Aoi Akane (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original while retaining his memories)
- Nagisa (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original)
- Tsuchigomori (New Present) (First Appearance, replaced The Original)
- Yugi Amane (First Appearance, replaced The Original, Photograph only)
Trivia[]
- As a result of the changes Kako and Mirai did to the timeline, the present has now been changed:
- Instead of a Haunted House Exibit, Minamoto Kou's Class now does a Takoyaki Cafe
- Instead of a Maid and Butler Cafe, Class 3-B now does a Haunted House Exhibit
- While Class 1-A still does Wizard of Oz as their play, Yashiro Nene plays the lead role of Dorothy instead of Hanazashi.
- Deceased characters such as Mitsuba Sousuke, Shijima Mei and Yugi Amane are now alive and well.
- So far, Nene, Teru and Akane are the only characters to be aware of the previous present, although Akane notes that many others are aware as well, however that their memories will be overwritten by the new ones in three days' time.
- The Picture of Yugi Amane's class has him wearing an outfit similar to Researcher A's outfit but fitted for a full-grown adult.