chapter 323
yurako was almost onto something, a+ for effort, but she wouldn’t have been able to kill byoki anyway since his body isn’t complete. he can’t die without his body.
also byoki doesn’t give a fuckkk what happens to mao. if anything, byoki actively wants mao to die. he makes it sound like mao can simply tap out at any point, which, while technically true, would be convenient for byoki and byoki only.
we gotta remember that as soon as byoki’s body leaves mao he’s going STRAIGHT for nanoka. so whenever they do get to that point they have to plan it in such a way that byoki leaves mao’s body and is killed before he can reach nanoka.
this chapter reminds us that nanoka is being watched, always. he always knows where she is, and when she’s in danger/at any risk of being unable to become his vessel. mao too, for that matter. this includes every single blood transfusion between mao and nanoka as well. he is constantly aware of their movements, watching and waiting for his chance. literally all he cares about is his own agenda and survival.
50/50 chance that mao dies immediately after releasing byoki’s body… yeah that makes sense. i also think there’s a 50/50 chance byoki actually knows exactly what would happen, but he’d rather they fuck around and find out themselves bc it doesn’t change the fact that he’ll get to jump into nanoka’s body right after, and mao will no longer have superhuman abilities on his side. he also may not be able to use hagunsei at that point. but he WILL be able to use the spear of taima! and that means we have to have faith in daigo…. oof
as for the business with sana’s heart… hmmm. we’ve seen it’s ability to purify yurako enough to heal her outer appearance, and i’m sure it also purifies her own heart somewhat. it could be attempting to purify byoki. or maybe our girl is about to show up and stop the whole fuckin show IDEK ANYMORE
mao, pls show up 🥺
p.s. i mentioned in a reddit comment last week how it’s mildly infuriating for nanoka to not have a distress beacon to send to mao in situations like these. i’m still mad about that - if not more so - after this chapter
p.p.s. i predict there will come a point at the very end where nanoka IS briefly possessed by byoki before everything works out. i feel the taizanfukun will also play a big part in saving someone at the end, but who knows. 🤷♀️