(please let me know if this should be somewhere else/not a new thread! otl)
As I set out to reread the novels again for eh, research (
totally not crossover background, nope), I came to the conclusion I am rather confused about the timeline in No. 6. Maybe I'm just missing or misreading something, but here's what I got so far:
- Story starts on September 7, 2013. No arguing over that, that's clear.
- Next time we see Shion, it's four years later. Probably not to the day, as he would have mentioned his birthday probably, but it's reasonable to assume it's around September, and the year is 2017 because 2013 + 4 = 2017, I know that much. (Guide supports this, but more on that later.)
- At least several weeks pass before Safu is kidnapped. It's getting winter.
- Here's where I get confused - because it's not stated how much time passes until the Manhunt, but it seems to be some time. Days? Weeks? Months?
- At least 3 full days (but not a lot more) seem to pass between the Manhunt and Holy Celebration Day. The story (or at least the climax) seems to end on the late evening of Holy Day, unless those people stood on the plaza for the entire night.
- It is also explicitly mentioned that this is the Holy Celebration Day of 2017.
- But then - 'Spring was coming. A late spring was starting to arrive in the West Block.' (9th-ave, volume 9,
chapter 1 - this is moments after Shion and Nezumi have come out through the garbage chute of the Correctional Facility).
... But if spring is late and at least coming, shouldn't it be February at the very earliest?
I went to the
guide to check, but that's still confusing. It gives two dates:
- September 2017: Safu goes on exchange.
- December 2017: Safu gets kidnapped.
Sounds reasonable; in between those is the point marked 'Shion and Nezumi meet again, Shion escapes to the West Block', and it was soon after Safu went on exchange, so September/October sounds pretty reasonable there too. However, the guide puts the Manhunt at the same point in time as Safu's kidnapping, and then Holy Day and the breaking into the Correctional Facility on the same point together. The latter is more or less true (the caves don't really count as the CF yet I guess), but with the former, it would mean Shion and Nezumi barely had any time at all to prepare, and the time between Safu's 'operations' and Elyurias hatching would be pretty quick, too. So I'm guessing the guide isn't super specific to the day here and more of a general guideline than anything. It, too, explicitly states it's Holy Celebration Day 2017, however.
So, how much time passed between Safu's kidnapping and the Manhunt? And how can this Holy Day be for 2017 if spring is coming? Is it a naming thing, like '2017 is over so that's the year we celebrate'?
It's very likely I'm overthinking this or plain misread something, since it's stated to be Holy Celebration Day 2017 as early as volume 6,
chapter 4 - a lot of things happen after that, in a very short time span. Basically a day, unless I've missed something again.
I'm curious. Any thoughts on this? Feel free to correct me on anything! It surely wouldn't be a first I misread something, haha ;;