In the Hall of the European King

(A rough summary on how the situation began, re. Kaede)

Rantaro’s remarks here would suggest that Kaede ‘changing the mood’ is inherent to her, like it goes hand in hand with her talent, even. Kaede, dismissing the notion out of her modesty, sees nothing fantastic about it.

Of course, she was just speaking from the heart. No strangeness in that, right?

Still…

What’s curious, is there’s a similarity between her passion and Gonta’s, for example; that is, an innocence in their motives. Kaede wants to reach peoples’ hearts through music and make them happy, Gonta wants people to understand a hated species and promote harmony.

There’s a disgusting irony in how a wholesome thing like that can be warped, suggested by ominous words in Gonta’s rampage, and the forceful means he uses. So instead of being manipulated into wanton chaos like the Despairs, it’s more like the situation surrounding their talent use comes to the boil around them ever so slowly, so they don’t even realise it until they’re scalding.

Now, as for how this manifests for Kaede…

Ouma talks about how she would go on to represent Japan as a pianist, and fly the world over for tours. As well as being handy for infiltration, her abilities would make her incredibly popular, meaning that her presence would have a high influence on the populace, and she would meet high-profile figures to boot.



Lo and behold…

… she absolutely does meet one, so despite Kaede’s objections, we are to see this as subtle hints to the truth!

What should be noted, is that Kaede talks about the incognito European king going to see her performance, while Ouma talks about meeting important foreign figures on her later tours. The latter is not something Kaede presently recalls, so it’s clear he’s talking about what would happen after the king’s visit to Japan.

That doesn’t sound like much on its own, but from what is suggested about Kaede’s talent, we can only imagine how this has snowballed ever since…

…especially considering her implied dealings with a curiously anonymous king.



So the question is, what in the world happened when she played for this king? But more importantly, why did a king have to hide in the first place? Even Shuichi thought this detail to be rather… worrying.

What state was the world already in, before everything else happened?



Naturally, there’s an awful lot Kaede simply cannot know, given the situation with their memories. Doesn’t this attitude sound familiar…

As for the harm Kaede can cause without realising… we’ve already seen it.

Imagine this, but on a much wider scale.