#I wrote this before Vivia and Yakou's DLC came out

[mayashesfly]

Do you ever think about how Makoto still retains all of his memories clearly while Yuma has lost his memories twice?

One of the things that intrigues me before was Makoto's comment about a bath when Yuma first met him.

It's quite a strange thing to say to a stranger

If you didn't know about the fact that Makoto is Yuma's homunculi

He describes a bath as a fleeting dream. Something temporary and neverlasting.

And attributes a bath, a fleeting dream according to his words, as "Washing away your sweat and past" and "Being born anew"

Taking sweat literally, it's a given. As the purpose of a bath is to cleanse ourselves as well as wash away the sweat we accumulated over time.

But taking sweat a bit more metaphorically, we can say that sweat represents the hardships one has experienced. Taking a bath is also our way to give ourselves a break from a busy day and relieve ourselves from the hardships we had experience during the day.

However, the past thing is a bit more strange and less straightforward in its reasoning. While a bath can wash away our past physical filth, it can't actually wash away our actual past.

And while a bath is refreshing and makes us feel rejuvenated, it does not actually "born us anew". In a way, to say that a bath can wash away our sweat and past and born us anew is a lie. An illusion. A temporary placebo effect if you will.

A fleeting dream.

Just like Makoto had said.

Applying his words on himself, Makoto acknowledges that a bath which he attributes to "washing away your sweat and past" and "being born anew" is nothing but a fleeting dream. A temporary thing to relief himself.

The thing about Makoto is that he cannot wash away his past. He still remembers and knows that he is Number One's homunculi and nothing can change that. He also knows that he is the only perfect homunculi to ever be made in existence.

No matter how much he may try, he cannot change that. Nor forget it. As it is a part of his memory, inherited or not.

As for the born anew part, I want to talk about something else first before delving into that.

When Makoto first entered Kanai Ward, he created the rain machine to stop the Blank Week Mystery. At this point of time, he would've already known that he was Number One's homunculi and that the new residents of Kanai Ward are also homunculi.

Rain can also be taken as a sort of symbolic bath.

There are times that people do take a bath in the rain for fun. With their clothes on of course.

And Makoto did mention that he also sometimes takes a bath with his clothes on.

And also, Makoto doesn't even use an umbrella or even a raincoat to protect himself from the rain when he's outside.

(My guy you are going to get sick. Get a hat or something! Why are my favs like this??)

The rain washed away the literal blood, sweat and tears of the previous human residents of Kanai Ward. And washed away the past atrocities the new residents had done in their mindless rampage away from their mind.

This was the moment Makoto Kagutsuchi's past of being an escaped lab experiment of the UG had been washed away.

And the moment Makoto Kagutsuchi was born anew as Amatarasu Corporation's CEO and the defacto leader and protector of Kanai Ward.

But like how the rain didn't completely washed away the aftermath of the Blank Wrek Mystery, the rain didn't completely washed away Makoto's past and memories.

Makoto is still stained and soiled from the past, regardless of how many baths he may take, it will never wash away.

A bath is nothing but a fleeting dream after all.

It is used to merely soothe. Never to completely erase away.

Now onto Yuma!

Applying these words on Yuma, we get a different result.

An intriguing thing about Makoto's words is that he uses to pronoun "Your" and "You're" while talking to Yuma.

While we can say that he's just using the pronoun "your" and "you're" to refer to an ambiguous you.

It's much more interesting if he is actually directing these words at Yuma himself.

"Your sweat and past are washed away. You're born anew"

Looking at it in this way, it's seems more like Makoto acknowledging the fact that Yuma is his original and that Yuma has lost his memories.

Upon entering Kanai Ward, the cage of rain, Yuma's sweat and past has been washed away. And with his memories and experiences of hardships during his time as Number One disappearing, he had quite literally been born anew.

He's quite different from how Number One acts after all. He's more trusting, more naive. More innocent. Unlike Number One.

Shinigami even comments on this, even indirectly.

He doesn't remember his past or his time at the WDO or being Number One. He doesn't remember anything and he was convinced that his real name is Yuma Kokohead.

That's quite unlike Makoto.

His contract with Shinigami had been so effective at washing away his past that he practically acted like a completely different person. Completely different from the Number One others knew.

Unlike Makoto's crude rebirth, Yuma's was a complete one.

His past had been washed away effectively, leaving behind no stains or soil. While we do see that Yuma retains his strong sense of justice and detective skills among other things, his memories on the matter are blurry. He feels the vague sensation of familiarity but not the actual memory associated with that sensation. It's fascinating.

Unlike Makoto whose memories still cling onto him, Yuma's memories are like the murky water that was washed away. He can try to cling onto the water as much as he likes but it eventually seeps out and away with only the sensation of wetness being left.

Not that Yuma actively searches for his memories. Though we do see Yuma wondering about his knowledge and his past self at times, finding his memories isn't his main goal. Finding his purpose and reason to find the truth is his main goal.

And it's because of this that he grew more than Makoto ever did. He surpassed the restrictions the past has given him and was born anew.

It makes Yuma recovering his memories as Number One but also losing his memories as Yuma after breaking his contract with Shinigami rather intriguing, but also in a way, tragic.

He was born anew yet again. But we're uncertain if Yuma's growth transferred to the newly reborn Number One.

It's quite tragic that we don't know what happened with Yuma after losing and regaining his memories yet again. While Makoto still retains his memories and knowledge of Number One Yuma.

It's quite unfair, isn't it?