Hard to Swallow

[Invader Tee]

I was just wondering... For those of you who have finished this chapter or read the manga / watched the anime and realize the spoilers ahead.


Since we know Keiichi is suffering from Hinamizawa Syndrome and later on thinks that Mion is trying to inject him with a syring rather than write on his arm with a marker;
What do you suppose the needle in the mochi actually was? I have a hard time believing the girls would actually stick a real needle in the food that he (or possibly his parents) would eat...

[fllthdcrb]

Well, in that one scene in "Tsumihoroboshi-hen" where he remembers what happened in this arc, he decides there was never a needle, but that he just imagined it because he'd read something like it in a manga and had been paranoid about it ever since. What Mion probably did do to it (as Keiichi imagined in the aforementioned scene) was add Tabasco sauce; it's totally the sort of thing she would do. Keiichi probaly felt the hotness and mistook it for being pricked. Remember, he was in a delusional state, and if he could mistake a marker pen for a syringe, it's also plausible he hallucinated seeing a needle.

[Invader Tee]

Personally, since Rena said she made it, my own thoughts were perhaps Mion's grandmother was showing her how to make the treat and maybe Keiichi got a piece of burnt rice or something similar inside and, well with the delusion, imagined it to be a needle that pricked him

[fllthdcrb]

That's also a possibility. Maybe both happened.

[goka9696]

Either an accident, or a hallucination.

I doubt there was an actual needle tho. Prolly smth like a small piece of wood is more realistic to be in the kitchen than a needle.

[TequilaMockingBird]

My understanding was that Mion added tabasco sauce to one of the mochis as a prank, as Mochi are generally sweet delicacies so a spicy mochi would be quite unusual. Keiichi popped this in his mouth and the kick-back of the Tabasco sauce felt like a "prick" in his throat.

It is my understanding that when he pulled out the "needle" he was actually looking at one of his loose hairs that has fallen out and landed on the mochi and his paranoia made him see the hair as a needle.

That's why Keiichi couldn't find the needle afterwards. There was never a needle to begin with.