I can never repeat enough how impressed I am with Aizawa setting the mood of the manga. Her dorkiness keeps it all afloat, and when she's terrified it all comes crashing down. Her heartache and despair is as vivid as her playful joy. She's full of mysteries but her emotions are as loud and clear as can be.
Michi's profile is low-key concerning... maybe it's just because she's been too busy dealing with ghosts, but it's like the girl has been living her life on auto-pilot. Detached from earthly existence.
I see it as evidence she's a shell of a person after getting her memories sealed. From middle school to high school, Michi went from outgoing and sporty to a reclusive stuttering mess. Even she seems confused by the transformation sometimes, and there hasn't been a decisive incident it's pinned on. Or there's plenty room to believe the change happened after she entered high school, with how she forgot speaking to Kasumi and Aizawa. Though at the same time she was likely still a bit distant considering she didn't have any close friends that would have wondered why her whole personality changed. Maybe everything related to her powers is blocked which rewrote a lot of her identity.
I could also maybe tie this into Michi's constant repetition of wanting to help Aizawa despite always reminding herself she's powerless. It's like she has the muscle memory of knowing there's something she should be doing here. Her avoidant attitude towards ghosts might not have always been the case, considering how upset she gets feeling like Neo is mistreating them. She might have been an exorcist herself, one that worked to save ghosts more peacefully.
lol same, If figured ol' multieyes was a primary antagonist. Honestly still kinda conflicted about the rather extreme deescalation of tension that comes with Girl Neo coming through and bullet timing all the ghosts in the school. Wonder if we're going to end up rebounding hard from this in some way.
I think if anything the potential tension just rocketed up. This chapter shows none of the ghosts we've seen so far were a serious threat, but there's something out there Neo (and Michi?) can't handle still putting Aizawa in danger. And with Michi being given the means to defend herself, confrontation is inevitable. Like when a survival horror game hands you your first weapon and you know it's not any comfort.
And if I had to guess about primary antagonists, this dark figure could be the same as the conspicuous one on the left here that appears to be making a little eye collection.
Neo also comments young Michi's(?) powers are failing which might be why ghosts are getting in. We did see she couldn't do anything to the shed ghost. Neo's exorcism shouldn't be a permanent solution and more ghosts will likely get back into the school. I'm also thinking back to that ghost seemingly going for the mark on Michi's neck, as if that's what attracts them.
Also interesting is that Neo herself couldn't enter the school — it seems like she needed to use her crow familiars to break open a spot at the 3rd floor window. So my guess is the barrier around the school is keeping powerful ghosts out but weak ones can still slip by, and as Neo said Aizawa's(?) presence makes them more aggressive. This would also imply Neo isn't fully human, which might explain her eyes.
Neo also alludes at the very end to there being something unique about Aizawa, and how Aizawa has the potential to go very right or very wrong. Aizawa does seem to be a pretty unusual ghost, with how quickly her powers are developing over the past two months.
(Something maybe important to keep an eye on is I don't remember Aizawa ever being shown along with another ghost? The shed ghost was oddly gone the moment she came in to save Michi.)
To speculate, I think Neo came here fully intending to put Aizawa down after hearing she'd become dangerous. Which means Aizawa might not just be sealed for protection, but for everyone else's protection from her too. It's almost certain Neo knows about the circumstances of Aizawa's death and sealing, considering how she comments on failing Michi in some way. It's important to note Michi only got called Kurotori-san in her presence this chapter, so it's certain they knew each other, and she recognized the school at the start despite sounding like she'd never been before.
Wait if the exorcist new Michiru when she was young why didn't she say anything to her when she went through that window? Or even react at all? Throughout the excorcism she didn't act like there was anything special with Michiru or that she knew her at all until the very end.
I'm positive she knows Michi lost her memories. She turns right to her and essentially asks "It's been a few months. Do you know how this all started?" When she doesn't get a response she moves on. She was very likely checking to see if Michi's memories came back and keeping her distance otherwise. It's also the only other time she opens her eyes a bit, when she first sees Michi. It's hard to notice until you know what her eyes look like.
Would any of this be remotely relevant? Probably not. But hell, maybe Michi had a near death experience that created a ghost of herself without actually killing her. It'd be a better plot than some kinda split personality-based concept at least. Another possibility I can imagine is that "young Michi" is not actually Michi but a dead twin sister she blocked out the memories of or something?
Young Michi is something I can't even begin to guess at this point. I initially thought she was something like the embodiment of her repressed spiritual powers when they first awakened, but just about anything could be the case. It's also weird we're first introduced to her with Michi becoming her in a dream, but everything else suggests she's autonomous.
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