Keine grew up with Rumia
- It has been hypothesized that the avatar of Azrael (ie. EX-Rumia) came about when a normal human found Azrael's sword. In epilogue of "Over An Open Fire", the children who find Mokou after Eirin's done with her include, aside from a young Keine, a small girl with "hair the colour of wheat" and the last name "Yagami". Furthermore, in Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire, Mokou's mental representation of Keine claims that they both know who Rumia really is.
- Confirmed.
The price that the angels made Yukari pay was: Nothing!
- If all these powerful, desperate and now well-organized beings want to get out of their way for good, and they've got orders from upstairs to let them do so, the angels should have been pretty happy to see them gone. In fact, they'd be well served making sure they stayed gone. Youkai being as flighty and capricious as they are, the possibility of them getting bored and giving up on the venture would seem quite real, unless they'd sunk some really expensive costs into it. So the angels require all the power players to be convinced that they have paid an extremely dear price, so dear they wouldn't think of making that sacrifice in vain, as a condition for leaving. That way it's almost certain that they'll all become very attached to their domains very quickly, and unlikely to risk them for anything (say, a war against the outside world, or a few centuries of boredom). Downside of course is that they will hate you as a result, but as long as they're too protective of what they have to risk a fight the angels don't really care.
- You know, this actually makes a lot of sense, at least more than thinking that the angels were just being jerks.
Seihou continuity exists in this verse
- In the distant past. And Yuuka's role is that after she restored the plants in this Earth, the humans started to worship her as an Old God, and she reigned accordingly. And that has something to do to the event that caused the other Old Gods to banish her.
The Shadow Youkai will somehow fuse with Yuuka or vice versa.
- Considering the atmosphere of the story, I'm expecting shit to get real by the end of all of it. XD
The meanings behind the Tarot Readings
- Rumia and Mima's Tarot segment during the Deep Within chapters is a whole mess of juicy foreshadowing. Marisa's has been explicitly referenced in a later chapter title ( specifically "Ten Of Swords", the chapter in which she is Killed Off for Real).
- Rumia's is relatively straightforward, with The Devil alluding to her status as the Avatar of Azrael. It's placement in the future is worth noting, though.
- Yukari's is by far the most dour, with her future represented by Death. Though this could allude to her later banishment from the Hakurei Shrine and estrangement from Reimu it's been well established that that is hardly the first time in her life that has happened. A wholesale division between herself and Gensokyo as a whole is a possibility, as is her death.
- Reimu's future is represented by the World, a symbol of completion, success and absolution. It is possible that the end result of the plan to help Rin Satsuki will fundamentally alter Reimu's role in Gensokyo, possibly connected to Yukari's foreshadowed downfall.
- The last remaining reading (Fool, Ten of Sword, Hanged Man) is theorized on the main page to be Reisen. If so, it could have been foreshadowing her sacrifice of her status at Eientei for the sake of saving Rin, or perhaps a future cost she has to pay.
