I think it will just be “nobody said you’d die” (which I’ve been saying for some time now) and “it’s just a game & frankly I’m a bit hurt that you’d think that I would actually endanger you”.
Have we seen blood more than once? I think it might’ve just been that one time when it was implied that the adults got eaten.
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking too since ヤムネ was eaten:
I’m not sure if we even got torn clothes after that.
on the topic of “the hint”
After a good amount of sleep I’m less sure about that. I remember the Count mentioning that “even a smaller kid than them” could get the hint, and my “the rules are the hint” involves a fair amount of looking at the exact wording, going through hypothetical game states and so on. I feel like the hint would need to be more obvious than that to allow a little kid to figure it out.
edit: Oh wow, I think I got the hint!!
It’s the picture with the sheep!
Here is a description of it:
So we have 5 sheep who are doing a witch hunt among themselves. And a wolf hidden in the background, separate from the sheep.
Wow, going through and reading all the speculation and thoughts is awesome, @shitsurei and @Legato. Good job especially to @Legato for coming up with a great theory and going back and doing the research that I have thus far refused to do.
Replies
I haven’t been as bothered by this, mostly because of my different expectations from a children’s book I thought this sentence callout was nice, and was more than I was expecting anyway.
Ah, nice! I learned something new; thank you!
Spoilers for Legato's end-game spoilers
I’m gonna be real here, I think these two points have really convinced me of your theory. Not that the other parts aren’t well thought-out or poorly based, but these particular textual clues really resonate with me. XD I guess my only question with this would be: is the book’s target audience sufficiently familiar with the English alphabet to get the clue that (O)OKAMI = IMAKO? Not that it’s a make or break thing, I’m just wondering in passing.
Also top-notch clue.
There there. It’s natural for you as a werewolf new reader to misdirect not realize the possibilities.
Time to play devil’s advocate: I’m on the side of “those kids are gone”. Even without knowing that Usagi’s on a future cover, I would bet that she doesn’t die here, mostly due to the power of friendship.
…Granted, this is also a really compelling case. I’d be okay with the kids surviving as long as the Count’s a jerk about it. (He even had that “it’s rude to point” bit in this week as well. )
Oooh, that’s a good catch! I bet you’re right!
…I feel like I really haven’t contributed much this week, it’s all just reaction shots from me. You guys are too good of detectives!
Chapter 10 (14 pages): ハヤト tries to defend ウサギ from the werewolf and fails.
Chapter 11 (25 pages): ハヤト slowly solves the puzzle. (I do wonder how though, since so far they have not even been close, and he doesn’t even have a conversation/puzzle partner left.)
Chapter 12 (~12 pages): The game is over, and the children and Orihara turn out to be alive. Everyone agrees that this was a really fun game and they go home. ハヤト and the Count exchange phone numbers so he can be invited to the next game.