i've been imagining a different and more adult interptretation of the start of the story, with Kafka being more affected by failing Mina and himself, then meeting Takamichi instead of Reno,
minor spoilers for manga below
(the thoughts that inspired this)
and this is the direction i want this to go
i think it'd be an interesting dynamic putting two characters whose motives mirror the other, while both keeping their identities secret. to Kafka, Takamichi becomes a friend in his league, filling the void of pain of being left behind Mina, who has far more important things to do than call up an old friend
Nine on the other hand, is stuck between the goals of the collective kaiju inside, and his own desire to understand humanity. Kafka piques his interest, and Takamichi piques Kafka's. It makes Kafka begins to reevaluate what he wants in life, but in the meantime, this makes for a good distraction, with drinks on the weekend leading to late night rambling on the phone.
When Reno starts working at Monster Sweeper and lets Kafka knows the max recruitment age of the defense force was going to be 35, Kafka is about to give up. when a kaiju attacks and Kafka tries to sacrifice himself for Reno to get help, it's because it's his only way to feel worthy. if he cant join the defence force to help save Japan then he'll save one person who can. (of course Reno won't run and they get beat up together, Kafka gets parasitized and becomes Kaiju no. 8)
during the 3 months between chapter 1 and 2, Kafka withdraws from Takamichi and Nine wonders why, unable to understand why his drinking buddy doesn't show up at the bar anymore. perhaps the new Kaiju #8 is more interesting to him, or Kafka has gone back to his pipe dream of going into the defense force. Nine would usually move on from an interesting human, perhaps kill them to absorb their memories and identity, but he can't, he still wants to see what Kafka will do.
Nine was so close to understanding what love was.
Nine does eventually stalk Kafka into the defense force, unable to shake his obsession, unable to understand why he is so drawn to him.
But the collective urge to destroy is there. Nine joined Monster Sweeper for a reason, to get close to kaiju bodies and bring them back. When he discovers someones expertise handiwork with kaiju corpses he suspects Kafka has taught the defence force something, then Reno and Iharu show up, then the mysterious Kaiju #8 appears and wrecks Nine's shit. The same pull he felt for Kafka is there, but so much stronger.
Upon hearing Takamichi was Nine, Kafka internally freaks out, was he always Nine? He keeps this conflict of interest to himself, then "Takamichi" calls him again. Kafka does not reveal he knows Nine's lie, to also not reveal his own identity.
but before Nine hangs up, he says "I'll see you again soon, Eight"
