Headscratchers / Mystery Skulls Animated

• Why does Shiromori want Mystery dead? All I can gather from Hellbent was that Mystery approached her red flower and tried to destroy it or something. Is that why?
  • Look closer; I think he actually used his blood to create her and the rest of the forest he's seen perching in when that Vivi-lookalike approaches him. When she tries to get into the van, she cuts his face with her scissors and that's when she gets very intense, her eyes changing to black. I think she wants to eat him, or at least consume his blood. Possibly to steal his power?
  • Could also be revenge; the flashbacks seem to show that during Mystery's battle with past!Vivi, Shiromori's tree form was cut down. She might blame Mystery for it, and that's why she freaks out when Vivi confronts her.
  • While my knowledge on the subject is only partial I can recall that there is a form of Yokai created when plant life is exposed to so much blood it literally develops a craving for it. It could be that she wants mystery because as a result of her creation she has a craving for his specific blood. Before that she served him because he was stronger but now Mystery has been weakened enough that she might be able to take him down.
• Who was the blue haired girl with the sword in Shiromori's flashbacks? She looks nothing like her, so I doubt it's a past life.
  • I think it might actually be Vivi's past life/ancestor, considering how Shiromori reacts to looking at Vivi.
• In Ghost, why didn't Mystery just turn into his kitsune form and attack Lewis? He doesn't have to run away when he seems capable of protecting his friends from the weird flying skeleton guy.
  • Rules may be in place, either his own or by another, that prevent him from acting out in such a way.
  • There's also the fact that he's probably aware that it's Lewis. Would you be able to attack your own friend so easily?
    • If Mystery's aware, why didn't he try to calm Lewis down or inform Vivi and Arthur about this? That is, if Mystery has the ability to speak and/or doesn't have some of the bad traits of his past self left in him.
  • In Hellbent, at one point Mystery cowered behind Vivi while she was swinging the bat, and there's just a quick flash of his kitsune form. I interpret that as Mystery being unaware of his power, or at least not knowing how to activate it. Notably, so far, Lewis seems to be more powerful than Shiromori.
  • There is also a real possibility that Lewis would be too much for Mystery to handle even with his full power, or at least a close enough match that Mystery does not want to take the risk.
  • He is hiding his true nature. The way i understood it is that Mystery performed a memory wipe on booth Arthur and Vivi to forget about Lewis (though an incomplete one on the former maybe due to all the trauma he experienced. He doesn't know that Lewis is dead just that he "disappeared" and keeps having deja vu style flashbacks as well as nightmares about the event) as well as him being a Kitsune. Presumably to protect them and stop them from going back to the cave. Most likely is that he didn't expect Lewis to return as a ghost and wanted to assess the situation before ruining everything he had done until then.
• Does Lewis' death actually take place on the same day/night that the events in the videos happen? If so, how did Arthur get that metal arm so quickly? Having to deal with the supposed pain and blood loss of losing an arm, plus the surgery and acquiring a mechanical arm to attach is not a fast process that can be done in a day.
  • No, quite some time has passed since the flashback, for all the reasons you mention, as well as the fact that Arthur's computer in Freaking Out shows that they've been searching for Lewis for a while.
• Why does Arthur look so miserable and detached in all the flashbacks with Vivi and Lewis together?
  • While it can be interpreted in a multitude of ways, it can be summed up that he was envious of Vivi and Lewis’ relationship, or at the very least might have felt like a third wheel. Whether he has feelings for Vivi, Lewis, both, or just felt left out is what is unclear.