Again and Again (何度も何度も Nandomonandomo?) is the one hundred and twenty-sixth chapter of Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun by AidaIro.
It covers Yashiro Nene's use of the Mystical Hourglass, and her failures at stopping her friend's deaths at the hands of Yugi Amane and the Red House no matter how many times she returned to the past. As such, the title refers to her countless fruitless attempts at stopping their deaths, which leads to her despair.
Summary[]
Part 1: The Theft Of The Mystical Hourglass[]
The chapter begins where the previous chapter left off, with Kako calling Yashiro Nene a fool for stealing the Mystical Hourglass away from him, all the while the Clockwork Cat looks. In that moment, Nene thought to herself:
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I-I think...I just have to flip over the hourglass...and then I can turn back time!
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— Yashiro Nene trying to figure out how to use the Mystical Hourglass.
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But when she tried it, it seemed to not work, as the sand did not fall down. And soon, Kako took it back from her. He told Nene that he won't allow her to use the Hourglass' power and threatened to turn her to dust if she cannot be reasoned with, pointing at her with his staff. But before Kako can do that, the Cat suddenly lunges and pushes Nene away from where she might be shot by Kako.
After the Cat finished pinning Nene down, Kako asked why did it interfere, noting that Nene is a complete stranger to it. The Cat answered that while it's true, it notes that she wanted to help her friends, and that it knows what it feels like (Given that it was a human previously).
All of a sudden, the sand in the Mystical Hourglass started falling, and Nene quickly takes note of it. However, just as quickly as the sand falls, the consequences of it starts to become evident, as her whole body begins to dissolve into sand. As she realizes her predicament, the Mystical Hourglass sucks her in all of a sudden, making Nene fear for her life as she spirals (literally) into the Hourglass.
This incident frightens the Cat and makes its hairs stand on end, who fearfully questions that she disappeared, while Kako remarks that she's truly a handful
Part 2: Nene Inside the Mystical Hourglass[]
Meanwhile, Nene ends up somewhere, and when she looks up, she notices that she seems to be in a desert. All of a sudden, the ground seems to move and she begins to slip. She attempts to climb up but then suddenly hits something transparent. She questions on what that "transparent wall" is, until she realizes that she's actually inside the Mystical Hourglass.
Suddenly, she hears voices calling out to her. She takes note and listens to them. The voices welcome her and asks her to come join them. Then the voices chime out that they are the "Flow, Power, Time and Sand", thus the voices were actually coming from the larger sand particles. The particles tell her that they will send her back through time again and again. They promised her that she will be free to do anything that she wishes, but then warning her that once they send her back to a moment, they can't send her right there again, thus Nene has only one shot to save her friends.
Afterwards, the sands pull her down as they wish her a nice trip and promised her that she can come back as many times as she wants, again and again.
Part 3: The First Attempt: The Diner[]
The next thing Nene sees is that she back with both Minamoto Teru and Aoi Akane debriefing at Demmy's (All the way back to Chapter 117, which is nine chapters ago). As before, Akane begins by stating that the goal of the debrief is to discuss on each other's findings, including what kind of world the New Present is, what differences does it have from the Original Timeline, and any related stuff. From there, Nene realizes that she is brought back to the Second Day of the School Festival, and that they are at Demmy's diner.
She then calls both Teru and Akane, who respond, and then all of a sudden, she begins to cry. Both Teru and Akane ask her what's wrong, and she was about to say that she came from the future but unfortunately, no words came out, only her thought of saying those words were shown. At this, she realized that one consequence of going back to the past is that she cannot say anything about the future. As a result, Nene remains silent, and merely shows the Mystical Hourglass to the both of them, amusing them in the process.
Teru asks Nene if she's hungry, to which she said yes, and Akane retorts that "that's" the reason she was crying, to which she tries to say that it wasn't. And soon after that, the food comes in and in that moment, Nene realizes that she indeed went back in time, and as she enjoys the food, she notes that while she cannot undo what the Clock Keepers did. All that she has to do is wait for Akane Aoi to get to the diner and then...
But before her thoughts finish, she was suddenly thrust back into the inside of the Mystical Hourglass. Inside, the sands chastise her for failing to change anything in the past, and then warned her that she cannot stay in the past forever if there is a future for her to wish on. Then they tell her that she must make a change before the sand's time runs out.
Then as they thrust her out in the past once again, they reassured her that she can always try again and again, while wishing her good luck.
Part 4: The Second Attempt: The Red House[]
Once again, Nene was returned to the past, this time with the rest of Teru's Team standing in front of the Red House (This takes place in Chapter 119, exactly seven chapters ago)
She comes back to the moment where Teru was introducing the Red House to the rest of his team, this time with Aoi included. As Akane makes his observation of the Red House, Nene realizes that she's back again, but this time at a different moment of the past. Then she remembered the warning of the sands that told her that once they bring her back to a moment in her past, she cannot send them there again and realizes that it means that they won't send her to the same moment twice. Then she concluded that if what the voices tell her is true, then she only has until the sand runs out to change everyone's fates, and so she acts
As Teru, Akane and Aoi were about to enter the Red House, Nene suddenly got in front of them and cried out "NO!" As the other members wonder on what she's doing, Nene tells them that on second thought, they cannot go in there. She further explains that she's been through some stuff in the Red House, and that while she can't explain it now...she suddenly changed attitudes and dared the others to beat her if they want to enter the Red House.
It seemed like the others were confused by what she said, but then they were convinced and they refused to go on, relieving Nene. She also was happy when Teru called Kou and told him to come home right now. With that, Nene thought that it was the end of it, until...
All of a sudden, Nene ends up in her own bedroom, noting that she isn't in the Clock Keepers' Boundary, having expected the future to be changed. She wondered if her actions created a new present. All of a sudden, she gets a call from Aoi, who tells her that they're in big trouble. She tells Nene that Kou didn't make it, so Teru went out to find him and before she knew it, she was back in the Mystical Hourglass once again
In there, the sands welcome her back and asked her if she obtained the future she wanted. She thought that Teru had told both Kou and Mitsuba not to enter the Red House, not realizing that they had actually entered the Red House prior to the Team's supposed visit. As a result, she realized that she also had to deal with both Kou and Mitsuba as well. As the sands enclose her again, the voices within bid her good luck.
Part 5: The Third Attempt (And More): The School Festival[]
Nene is then transported further back to the past, this time at the First Day of the School Festival (All the way back to Chapter 112, which is fourteen chapters ago). In there, she sees both Kou and Mitsuba and then rushes right out at Kou. Nothing seems to be said in the speech bubbles, but it's evident that she was begging him not to go to the Red House, which only resulted in both Kou and Mitsuba being confused.
The next thing we see is Nene once again back in her room, determined to try again and again, until it is for sure
Soon enough, Nene was going back to the past again and again and again, beginning to suffer the same fate the Mystical Hourglass' other victims suffered from. She begins to get mad as she says:
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It's No use! No matter how many times I go back to stop them, Kou-Kun and Mitsuba-Kun always go to the Red House. And then everyone else will... What should I do? What is causing this!? Oh yeah. He said they met Tsukasa-Kun the day before! Which means...
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— Yashiro Nene's frustrations on her inability to change her friend's fate despite using the Mystical Hourglass, and then realizing who may be the cause of her friend's deaths.
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With that resolve in mind, she decided to return to the past one more time, this time to the night of the First Day of the
School Festival, where both Kou and Mitsuba encounter "Tsukasa-Kun" (This was the events of Chapters 115 and 116, ehich cover Kou and Mitsuba's encounter with "Tsukasa Kun".
Part 6: The Fourth Attempt: Tsukasa-Kun And Yugi Amane[]
Reappearing back in the past on the First Night of the School Festival, she chances upon both Kou and Mitsuba and resorting to force, manages to force the both of them to return home. She seemed happy that her future will go well since she forced them to return. But all of a sudden, a small pair of feet appears right behind her. And before we know it, she disappears, with only her dropped phone on the floor, which shows her mother calling.
When she came to, Nene wonders where she is, and then she soon realizes that she's at the Red House. Furthermore, she sees a crying Aoi beside her, who is pleading to her to snap out of it. She gets up and hugs Aoi, but then she suddenly falls to the floor, and when she does, she sees that she has a bloody knife in her hands, which are also filled with blood. She then sees that Aoi collapsed on the floor with a large gaping stomach stab wound. And then when she looks around, she sees that she has killed everyone of her friends, including Teru, Akane, Kou and Mitsuba.
Then, as she calls out their names to try and wake them up, a pair of arms suddenly grabs her from the well. And from them, a familar voice tells her that "See, I knew you can do it". Then she realizes who was speaking: It was none other than Yugi Amane, now the Curse of the Red House, who then compliments her as a "good girl". Then the tentacles begin to spread about and seemingly bring the dead bodies into the well, and as she look about, all she can do is scream a blood-curdled "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
With that scream, the Hourglass flips once again, and she ends up in the past once again.
Part 7: The Final Unintentional Attempt: Despair[]
She ends up back in the past, this time, to the very moment she realizes that her timeline has been replaced by the New Present, at the very start of the School Festival (Which would have been at the end of [[Chapter 111] and the beginning of Chapter 112).
Seeing everything happening around her, she realizes that no matter what she did, her expected future did not happen, now clearly experiencing for herself the very curse that the Mystical Hourglass brings to those who use it. And with that amount of despair now in her very being, she breaks down on the floor, causing everyone to look at her.
As she laid there crying out in her despair, a voice tells her "Yashiro-San", are you alright? She turned to look up, as the voice is familiar to her, and then she sees Akane, now in his Clock Keeper form (Whether this is the New Present Akane, the Original Timeline Akane or yet another iteration of Akane remains unknown). Nene, still with tears in her eyes, mutters out "Akane-Kun?", and the Chapter ends on a bittersweet note.
Events[]
- Yashiro Nene is sucked into the Mystical Hourglass
- Nene is given the chance to change her past by the Mystical Clock
- First Attempt:
- Nene reappears at the moment when Teru's Team is doing the debriefing
- Nene fails to make a change in there, so she is returned to the Mystical Hourglass
- Second Attempt:
- Nene reappears at the moment when Teru's Team is in front of the Red House
- Nene manages to stop the Team from entering the Red House, and Minamoto Teru calls Minamoto Kou to come home
- Nene hears from Aoi that Kou didn't return, and Teru went missing while trying to look for him, undoing her efforts
- Third Attempt:
- Nene reappears at the moment when she first meets Kou and Mitsuba Sousuke in the New Present, but fails to stop them
- After countless attempts, Nene gets frustrated by her failure to stop Kou and Mitsuba from entering the Red House
- Nene realizes that "Tsukasa-Kun" may be behind it.
- Fourth Attempt:
- Nene reappears at the moment when both Kou and Mitsuba go to Kamome Gakuen in order to save a Kouhai of theirs.
- Nene manages to prevent Kou and Mitsuba from entering the school, seemingly changing the past
- Nene is kidnapped and possessed by Tsukasa-Kun
- Nene, possessed, kills everyone she loves inside the Red House
- Upon coming to her senses, Nene sees all the people she killed, and Yugi Amane complementing her for doing all that, leading her to scream a loud "NO"
- Final Unintended Attempt
- Nene reappears at the moment when she realized that she was in the New Present
- Nene breaks down from all her failed attempts to save her friends from dying to the Red House despite going back to the past many times
- Nene encounters an alternate Aoi Akane, now in his Clock Keeper form.
Characters in order of appearance[]
- Kako
- Yashiro Nene
- Mirai (Cameo)
- Clockwork Cat
- Voices from within the sands of the Mystical Hourglass
- Minamoto Teru (Past Instances, Died in one instance)
- Aoi Akane (New Present) (Past Instances)
- Akane Aoi (Mentioned, Past Instances, Died in one instance)
- Minamoto Kou (Mentioned, Past Instances, Died in one instance)
- Black Canyon (Cameo)
- Mitsuba Sousuke (Mentioned, Past Instances, Died in one instance)
- "Yugi Tsukasa" (Mentioned, Past Instance)
- Yashiro Nene's Mother (Call Notification only)
- Yugi Amane (New Present) (Past Instance)
- Aoi Akane (New Present)/Altered (Cameo, appears towards the end)
Trivia[]
- This Chapter revisits many of the events in the previous chapters of the Alteration Arc, particularly events of major importance, as well as those that Yashiro Nene can potentially alter so that it leads to her preferred future.
- The first attempt took her back to the events of Chapter 116, during the debrief meeting of Teru's Team. She tries to tell them what happened but is prevented from divulging the future through unknown forces, thus she is ultimately unable to change anything in that moment
- The second attempt took her back to the events of Chapter 119, when the team was about to enter the Red House. While she was successful in stopping them from entering, and even having Minamoto Teru call Minamoto Kou up. Unfortunately, as Kou and Mitsuba Sousuke had gone to the Red House earlier, he was missing and Teru went out looking for him, only to disappear himself, rendering her efforts unsuccessful.
- The third attempt took her back to the moments of Chapter 112, where she tries to stop Kou and Mitsuba from entering the Red House but unfortunately they didn't listen. Many more attempts following that were just as unsuccessful.
- The fourth known attempt was a particularly gruesome one, as Nene went back to the events of Chapter 114 when both Kou and Mitsuba went back to Kamome Gakuen to search for their missing kouhai. She managed to stop them from searching but was instead captured and possessed by Yugi Tsukasa, who then took her to the Red House, where she eventually killed all her friends under the guidance of Yugi Amane. At that moment, she came back to her senses and realizes the carnage she had caused, and as Amane complemented her on such a "good" job, she cried out, which also transported her out of that time.
- In a rather sad and ironic circumstance, this marks the first time in the series that Nene has ever killed anyone, and possibly the first time that human-on-human killing has occurred in the manga (Not including flashbacks, rumors or past events from before the series' timeline, which would include Amane's murder of Tsukasa), with the rest of the killings being either supernatural-on-supernatural (Like Hanako's mercy killing of the Original Mitsuba), human-on-supernatural (Like Teru's exorcisms) or supernatural-on-human (Like Shinigami-Sama's taking of Akane Aoi, which thus meant her death).