I don't mind the direction they took shu's CL route but I do kind of mourn the loss of the "shu tries to get yuma's memory back" scene we never got. it would've been a really tough thing for him to do, but imagine how sweet it would be.
Yuma's sense of self is kinda on shaky ground, right? I'd say he's still recovering from his last "you aren't the person you thought you were" revelation, so if Shu's going to let him know that his entire memory and concept of the world around him is a lie, then he's going to have to be so gentle with him. He can't just invoke guilt and trauma like he did with Reiji. Besides, he doesn't want to linger on negative memories with Yuma anyway. Yuma hates it when he does that.
So he could try to remind him of good times they've had together instead. This is a change of pace for Shu. All of the happy moments they've shared have been punctuated by tragedy, and Shu is so used to fixating on that tragedy. This would be the first time we'd see him sit down with Yuma and talk about the happiness instead. And, even though Shu is talking to a brainwashed Yuma, this would be the closest Yuma's ever gotten to really understanding what a positive effect he's had on Shu. Because Shu has told the audience stuff like "Edgar taught me how to love life" but he's never told that to Yuma before. Recounting it like this could help both of them out! Yuma might get closer to getting his memory back, and just saying stuff like "there were hard times but I had a lot of fun with you" out loud could help change Shu's outlook. we r healing, baby!!
And of course, the thing that I believe that Yuma will appreciate the most is that if Shu did this, he'd be showing Yuma a great deal of trust. Shu has a LONG history of keeping things hidden from Yuma (he didn't even tell yuma that they were childhood friends! yuma had to remember that himself!!) and it wasn't till the end of Dark Fate that Yuma finally convinced him to tell the truth. Shu's scared, and he feels like he's protecting Yuma by keeping the truth from him. But that's not what Yuma wants or what he deserves. Yuma deserves to know the truth about where he came from, his relationship with Shu, how his village burned, etc. So now that Yuma has lost his memory again, if Shu has learned his lesson and listened to Yuma's feelings properly, he should know that Yuma deserves to know who he really is. Even if it's scary, he has to be brave and tell Yuma the truth.
It would be a real indicator of Shu's character development if he did that! But he doesn't. We can see that Yuma gets frustrated when he doesn't, too. In the Labyrinth End, Yuma believes that it's all his fault—he thinks he was left out of the plan because he wasn't trustworthy enough; that's why Shu kept him in the dark. If Shu could've trusted him more and told him that his memories were false, then Yuma would feel so much prouder later :') Because it's like he and Shu overcame a major hurdle together, not just in the plot but in their relationship.
When Shu explains in canon why he doesn't try to get Yuma's memory back, he kinda brushes it off by saying that "it'll make things too complicated." I don't think he's being honest at all. I think being truthful with Yuma is still so frightening to him, and perhaps it wasn't a step he was ready to take. That's fine. Character development relapses happen in Dialovers all the time, and it's part of what makes the characters and their relationships feel so real.
...but imagine how nice it would've been :')
