Talk:Takako Sugiura/@comment-397235-20141205123207/@comment-397235-20141206061934

The blood on Takako's face is hers because it's behind her glasses, which means someone hit her on the top of the head. However, the only person she 100% has to have fought with is Keiko, who wouldn't have stopped at just stunning her, but would've killed her. If she fought with Tomohiko, he wouldn't have been merciful either; after all, she might be the Extra.

I tend to lean more toward it being him, though, because it explains how she got the tape: they fought, Tomohiko's injuries due to falling out the window and his general disorientation give her an advantage, she beats the ever loving hell out of him but doesn't kill him (because, after all, he isn't the Dead one), see he has the tape, and decides, in her delirious state, to take it with her. Having now survived two attempted murders, the second by someone she's known for at least a year and on some level probably trusted, she slides deeper into shock and further off the rails.

That also explains her relief when she finds Izumi; everything's going to hell, the last two people she's seen have both tried to end her, but she 100% trusts Izumi and knows she's not a threat...and oh look, there's the Extra.

Look at the gore on both of them. The blood on Takako's head is her own (most of it's dry, it's behind her glasses, and some of it is actually under her hair); she does, however, seem to be bleeding internally as well, since there's a large blood splatter just before she's buried following the ceiling's collapse. This would also explain her wheezing, but for the fact she's exhibited other traits of asthma before this, such as constantly clutching her chest when she gets upset. However, she has no obvious tears in her clothing, so whatever wounds she's received were probably not inflicted in either assumed fight.

Oddly enough, despite having been pushed out a building, Tomohiko doesn't seem to have suffered severe, visible injuries. The blood on his face is more characteristic of splattering, suggesting it may have been caused when he pulled the knife out of Kyouko or Aki (the latter of whom, if I remember correctly, splatters blood on his glasses). The rest probably comes from his other victims. The blood on the side of his head, however, also seems to be his, again, because it's under his hair.

There are two large patches of blood on Tomohiko that which I think are important: one on his right wrist, and a larger stain on that shoulder. Tomohiko is right handed. It almost looks like someone with bloody hands themselves tried to restrain his wrist, or grabbed his shoulder. And Takako has a large, bloody bandage on her left hand...

There's blood on Takako's left cheek and just below it on the collar of her shirt. The one on her cheek almost looks like a thumbprint, almost as if someone had grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the ground. This is more or less how Tomohiko tried to kill Kouichi, and the fingers on his right hand are bloody.

Like Yumi, Takako has blood on her legs. Eschewing jokes about it being that time of the month (which would explain why two of the quietest characters in the series become loud and homicidal), there are clear streaks in Takako's bloodstains, suggesting they're actually wounds she suffered. It's possible these were a present from Keiko, but her weapon is sharp at the end and good for stabbing; Tomohiko, with the chef's knife, has the cutting tool.

The only other odd bloodstain on Takako is the only one not on her front; an odd, large, and still wet-looking stain on her side, at the hem of her vest. I'll get to that in a minute.

Here's what I think happened:

We don't really know how long Tomohiko was outside after Naoya tried to kill him. Likewise, we have no idea how much time elapsed between Yuuya playing the girls the tape and Takako being attacked by Keiko.

I think the opening scene, where the girls are talking about Mei, is right after they hear the tape. They've probably been speculating about who they think the Extra is, when Takako, in her depressed haze, remembers one of her old classmates who looks a lot like Mei.

Tomohiko slowly makes his way back inside the Inn, and makes a beeline for Yuuya and Kouichi's room. I don't know if Naoya mentioned the tape, or what the boys had found, but I suspect Tomohiko was after Kouichi, not Yuuya, though he's not above glaring at Yuuya and demanding to know where the tape is. Learning how to end the curse, he now has a choice: do nothing, or try to find the Extra. Due to whatever injuries he's sustained, he decides the only way he can be sure who that person is is by killing them. He leaves Yuuya and heads to the kitchen, where he procures a knife. Keiko is probably too busy killing her husband to notice him, if the two were even aware of each other to begin with.

Kouichi discovers Manabu in the hallway and calls for help. Izumi hears and goes to investigate, leaving Takako alone. Somehow, Keiko stumbles upon her, presumably outside the room, and attacks her. Takako tries to hide in the hotel room, but Takako breaks in, the two fight, and both end up bleeding all over the place. Takako sustains defensive wounds on her hand, probably from trying to grab Keiko's weapon. Somehow or other, Takako escapes, and Keiko either wandered off or pursued her, though Takako apparently gave her the slip as they never encounter each other again.

Instead, Takako, bleeding and probably scared, runs into Tomohiko, who has the tape and knows the only way to end the Curse is by killing his classmates. He sees Takako, who is covered in blood and clearly not doing well, as easy pickings, and attacks her. Tomohiko is bigger than his classmate, and uses this to his advantage at first, but he underestimates Takako's ludicrous determination to not die.

Takako stabs him in the side with her weapon (in the scene she first threatens Mei, it already has blood on it; Takako isn't going around attacking people, so it must have been from someone she was trying to defend against); Tomohiko has a large blood stain on his right side, which also appears to be his.

Tomohiko doesn't react well to being stabbed. Probably angry his first murder isn't going at all the way he'd planned, he grabs Takako and slams her headfirst into either a wall or the floor, stunning her, before taking away her weapon.

Dazed and suffering from blood loss, Takako still fights him, so he grabs her throat and tries to pin her to the ground. Takako tries to push him off her, first grabbing at his shoulder, then his wrist, but he has gravity on his side. I imagine he lifts the knife over his head, before informing her he plans to send the Dead back to Death.

Or tries to, anyone, since Takako grabs his head with both her hands and slams it into the wall a few times. Blood runs down the side of Tomohiko's face and he slides off her, apparently down for the count. She lies next to him for a few seconds, and some of the blood from the wound in his side seeps through and soaks into her vest.

Having regained her composure, Takako probably assumes she and the rest of the class don't have to worry about Tomohiko any more. Further, she doesn't kill him because he's not the dead one (nutty as she has to be by now, I imagine she tells him this, although I suspect she might mention after this she'd really like to; maybe she kicks his body or something); she probably recognizes she'd do the same thing, though I suspect she's confused as to why he decided she was the Extra, not quite understanding he's only willing to rule out himself. Then she notices something in the pocket of his shirt. Recognizing the tape, she decides to take it with her.

This impacts both of them:

Takako has had two near death experiences, and she's the only one who "knows" who the Extra is. If she dies, that knowledge dies with her, so she needs to kill Mei as soon as possible...for everyone's sake. Therefore, failing to kill her in the upper hallway, she broadcasts the tape, knowing the entire class has a better chance than she alone.

She also knows, if she's to kill Mei, she's going to need some plan for taking Kouichi out of the picture. She can't kill him, both because he's not dead himself and because he's Izumi's sweetie, and unlike Tomohiko she can be reasonably sure he won't kill her because they're friends. Still, her last fight with a male classmate nearly ended in disaster, so she needs to take him out of any fight quickly. Her first method is fairly benign; she knees him in the balls, which probably won't have severe lasting consequences for him. However, Kouichi is still able to disarm her and protect Mei, so she has to take the drastic step of stabbing him in their second encounter, in the hopes this will keep him immobilized (unfortunately, it also ensures he can't save her a few seconds later); even then, she tries to reassure him he's not in any lasting danger from her, probably in the hopes of getting him to stay out of things. She genuinely thinks she's doing the right thing, and it frustrates her Kouichi can't figure that out, so she's a bit rough with him the second time around.

Tomohiko's first attempt at killing a classmate has ended in catastrophe. He's gotten his ass kicked, is seriously wounded, and he's lost the tape, all to a severely wounded girl a third his size. Tomohiko is only average in build, and he's a bookworm; he probably isn't that muscular (he had to fight hard against a crippled Kouichi when he tried to kill him later on). Tomohiko recognizes he needs to change tactics. Attacking Takako from the front didn't work, and if he can't kill her that way, he won't have more luck with anyone else. He needs to change tactics; no warning equals no chance for survival for his victim.

Sound plausible?