#As much as I crave some Jeje Backstory

[kaluawoo]

I should go sleep but there's apparently an itch only Servamp can scratch right now so I'll tend to that first, and y'all have to hear me ramble. Also, spoilers. And rambly, it's past midnight. I'd out a read more but, I'm on my phone, sorry.

I really, really wonder who put Kuro there in the alley. Is it someone we know? Someone we have yet to meet?

The most immediate guess would be Tsubaki, but I highly doubt that. He is trying to revive Sensei, yes, but I don't think he's been part of the whole plan; he seemed to devastated when Kuro killed Sensei, and in general, his whole demeanor doesn't scream "I am in on all of this" to me. He wants Sensei back, and also he's angry af that Sensei died in the first place. Additionally, if Tsubaki had known about Mahiru's planned involvement, he'd have informed Sakuya to stay away from Mahiru.

Like, Tsubaki's Whole Thing is Loyalty and Not Betraying His Subclass. Which explains his anger at Kuro (for betraying the Creator alongside just killing him), but more importantly, he would not have allowed Sakuya to get hurt like that. He would've made sure none of his Subclass befriend Mahiru.

So, Tsubakyun is out. So are Freya, Ildio, and Hyde, because they voted against killing Sensei, which would have foiled the whole plan. Lily is also out, or else he wouldn't have been Broken like this, because he would've worked with Tsubaki in general. Jeje... Is technically on Tsubaki's side right now, but he doesn't seem to enjoy it much, so I'm gonna go ahead an claim it's not him, either; he's just going along with Mikuni (who is out because he's less than 100 years old, and because I suspect he only chose to join Tsubaki later on, bc otherwise he wouldn't have made Jeje kill a Melancholy Subclass). Gear was waiting for Kuro, so he's out, too.

It could be someone new, but considering how close we are to the presumably final showdown against Tsubaki, it'd feel a little late to introduce someone that important completely new. Unless, I guess, the plot has Tsubaki succeed at least partially, so that Sensei is at least somewhat revived and he takes the Main Villain position, but even then... Eh.

Which leaves us two main options.

1) Hugh. He's the only Servamp with no clear "alibi", and a lot of his stuff was planned from the start, hence the lack of contract with Tetsu (which, Hugh, bro, you SENT THAT KID INTO BATTLE AS A NORMAL ASS HUMAN!). Plus, while the rest of the Yes-Group wasn't too thrilled about being a vampire (Jeje wanted Kuro to KILL him, Lily iirc also said he didn't ask to be saved in an earlier flashback, and Kuro grieved his village and had no control over his powers), Hugh seemed pretty chill about it. Though he really SHOULD have reason to have issues - Gear says things "stabilized around the third Servamp" (and Jeje clearly still has problems, even though I still think that Mikuni's mom was lying about being influenced by Jeje without even having a contract, his former Eves are a different matter), so considering Kuro and Jeje, Hugh should have Issues, too (maybe that's another reason to not form a real contract). So maybe Sensei offered Hugh a way to Solve those issues in exchange for Hugh playing along with the plan. The hands didn't look like Hugh's, but he has more than enough Subclass that could've put the kitty there.

b) A human family. Someone's ancestor could've made a deal with Sensei, kitty Kuro would've been passed down through the generations, until someone could place Kuro there. Probably someone from C3, that is a family business for most people anyway, and well, the organization founded by Sensei asking the Servamps to kill Sensei, would just make sense if other parts of the plan were also in their hands. Then the question is just which family. We can probably exclude the main-ish ones (Tsurugi's, Yumi's, Jun's, Shuuhei's). I don't remember much of C3, really gotta reread (and get my heart ripped out again...), but I'd also say Toma's family is not involved, there's enough going in without that, despite Toma's bonus plan.

But well, excluding some doesn't answer the question if who it could be. Sendagayas, maybe? Indirect ties to C3, and it'd explain why Hugh ended up there instead of anywhere else, but I honestly can't imagine Tetsu's parents to be involved there. I forgot how much we know about Izuna's family outside if her and Shuuhei being childhood friends, I think, so I guess they'd be an option - Not Izuna herself, of course, but maybe a parent or an older sibling. Would also help getting her and Freya back into the story, Tanaka Strike! (I miss my wolf lady)

Idk I'm just throwing thoughts at Tumblr to see if they're al dente, i have no idea which is more likely.