#I COULD NEVER MISS OUT ON OUTO CATS

[completeoveranalysis]

[11]

Oh now THIS is gorgeous

Kurogane alone in darkness, framed in trappings of his own room in the world he fought so hard to return too, moon shining brightly overhead, and all he can do is sit awake and think about Sakura in Acid Tokyo specifically. Just incredible all around.

OOOH IT GETS BETTER

The memories split into shards of glass, like they’ve done quite a few times throughout the series. Kurogane remembers a lot of her earlier moments, like Piffle, and Outo, and Jade. But then the lower the page gets the more we transition into Fai doing the same thing, but standing alone above the water, looking down at it in silence. We can see the moon reflected back at him, and we can also see his own reflection looking back. And GOD what a gut punch that could be on its own - a mirror of himself, just like the twin he’s finally put to rest, just like the Sakura he fought so hard to save but failed. And we can see the memories he recalls too - but he’s thinking of times further into their journey, specifically Acid Tokyo and Infinity, and the moments he shared with her where they were their closest. Sakura’s determination, Fai swearing his loyalty to her, and Sakura’s final words of comfort to him as she died the first time due to his curse.

Eventually he DOES look up at the sky - perhaps done dwelling on the moments that hurt him the most, or perhaps galvanised in his own determination to save her even more than before. 

Meanwhile the shards of memory all turn to ones between Sakura and Syaoran, which makes me think Lava Lamp must be on the next page - even though, like, these moments weren’t specifically with HIM in them, I suppose he did second hand live them all the same. Outo and Hanshin and Piffle - oh and Infinity! That one WAS him. 

Lava Lamp’s head must be a mess after all this. 

OOP YEAH THERE HE IS, ALONE ON THE ROOF. WITH HIS BACK TO THE MOON ENTIRELY. And this page is entirely memories of moments between Sakura and Syaoran (Outo, Koryo, Hanshin, Jade, Shara, etc) - specifically not Lava Lamp, though he definitely appears to have felt the moments in the same way. Even though THIS Sakura has turned him down, and left him for the other Sakura. The other Sakura who, specifically, lived through NONE of these moments, and won’t remember any of them at all, and he knows this now, so he must be thinking uniquely of Clone Sakura in this moment. 

Clone Sakura who quite deliberately is not Real Sakura, but based on these memories I’d LOVE to untangle Lava Lamp’s thoughts about who he has feelings for, and how much of them are based on something they didn’t do and moments neither of them shared.

See also: Evil Wolverine is now also claiming that Real Sakura was accidentally incinerated in chapter 1 and doesn't even exist anymore BUT SURELY NOT, RIGHT??? SURELY SOMEONE WOULD HAVE HAD A VISION OF THAT????????

I'm conflicted so I'm pretending he didn't say anything

OOP AND THEN WE CIRCLE ALL THE WAY BACK TO CLOW, AND THE BEGINNING OF THEIR STORY - OR

SPECIFICALLY

REAL SAKURA’S MOMENTS WITH CLONE SYAORAN, WHILE REAL SYAORAN WATCHED, WHICH CLONE SAKURA DOESN’T REMEMBER, AND MAY NEVER REMEMBER, AND MAY OR MAY NOT BE SOUL DEAD, AND REAL SAKURA MAY OR MAY NOT BE DOUBLE DEAD, BUT....?

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: COMPLICATED