I actually went back and checked chapter 8, and there's a 10000 IQ visual metaphor in play here. At the end of the nightmare is the flash forward sequence where Mikamo declares she's not the same kind of thing as Kaguhara, and then rips off her ahoge to emphasize that claim. That hair actually stays gone after the flash forward, when Mikamo flees from the room. However, it's back at the start of the next chapter, and of course it is. It's hair, and hair regrows. It's pretty directly implied Mikamo's hair grows fast and thick, judging by her reaction to noticing Kagukara noticed her armpit hair.
This lets us wrap back around to that nightmare, and understand its meaning. Mikamo is in the middle of a thick overgrown forest, with Kaguhara as a monster in the distance, reaching its hands through the forest to grab her. Plants, like hair, grow and regrow. This also lets us understand why Mikamo looks happy in the last shot of the nightmare: She's crouched in a neat, tidy garden, but watering a wild patch of plants, encouraging them to grow. Part of why Mikamo was disturbed by Kaguhara is not just that "oh god she's turned on by my hair," but also "she's turned on by my hair and oh god I kinda like that". Her fleeing is not homophobic panic, nor kinkshaming, at least not in full. It's gay panic. She's in denial, as demonstrated by her tearing off the ahoge and shaving her body hair. But it'll grow back, just like her ahoge did. She cannot suppress what's inside her forever.
last edited at Sep 27, 2023 3:22AM
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