???% hypothesis

what if ???% is the product of the inferiority complex that mob developed after tsubomi rejected his display of psychic powers?

specifically, this incident we learn about in chapter 4:

mob hasn’t always been the type to avoid showing off his psychic powers. he used to use them just because he could, like how inukawa cited various tricks mob had shown him in elementary school. but tsubomi taught mob that some people won’t be impressed by such things, that he can’t use psychic powers to get everything he wants. in fact, because of how highly he valued her opinion, he seems to have learned that his psychic powers are worthless and maybe even repulsive. after tsubomi’s rejection, mob began to feel that using psychic powers in front of people would make him undesirable.

(note that “mob not using his psychic powers in front of people” is not the same as “mob subconsciously repressing his emotions in general.” he’s been doing the latter his whole life just to keep his psychic power under control. this post addresses the former. do keep in mind, though, that psychic powers in the mp100 universe arise directly from emotion.)

the “tsubomi rejects mob’s dog levitation” event seems to have occurred before ???%’s first appearance, which is what led to mob’s first interaction with reigen. that is to say, tsubomi changed mob’s attitude before reigen did. reigen gave mob a context in which he could safely use his powers to help people, but he didn’t solve all of mob’s problems (or really even most of them).

so the hypothesis is: this tsubomi-inspired change in attitude led mob to impose new restrictions on himself, and as a result, a spiritual entity began to develop inside of him, kept hidden in the deepest depths of his “vessel,” without mob himself realizing it. not so much a part of himself that split off, but rather, a mass of suppressed feelings that eventually gained some degree of autonomy, pushed away far enough to become fully isolated from his “self,” but too strong to be erased completely. an entity based on the same idea that once corrupted hanazawa teruki: [“my psychic powers make me extraordinary, and it is my right to use them as i please.”] that would be the base essence of ???%, its true nature. it is a feeling that, i think, would naturally arise in any child with such powers. but mob strongly repressed that sentiment, refusing it (based on what he learned from that experience with tsubomi) and likewise bottling up the self-resentment, the “why shouldn’t i?” feeling that came with that refusal. he probably did this without really thinking about his own feelings, since he was already accustomed to pushing emotions down rather than expressing them.

mob repressed his natural desire to use his powers because his interaction with tsubomi made him believe that doing so would make him undesirable. yet he still naturally has strong psychic powers. does that in itself make him undesirable? will he be undesirable no matter what he does, just because of the psychic power he was born with? is he doomed to either hide his true potential forever or live a life of rejection? such questions probably arose in him and led to strong feelings of self-doubt, self-hatred, resentment, and indignance, which he bottled up and tried to ignore, helping to fuel ???%’s growth. only during occasional brief lapses in emotional self-control do we get a sense of how much mob has internalized these negative ideas about his self-worth. (e.g. “yeah, i’m the worst.”)

???% is only able to manifest under certain circumstances. i imagine mob keeps ???% thoroughly (and subconsciously) shackled at all times. but that internal barrier can be broken when mob is traumatically knocked out (regular sleep doesn’t count because there’s no jolt to disrupt his internal security system) AND/OR when mob gets so freaked out he loses control of himself completely (which is what almost happened when he found the fake corpses of his whole family after the marathon.) ???% was able to manifest in mogami world because mob’s internal security system got… eaten.

TLDR/conclusion: the idea is that ???% is a separate entity of a psychic/spiritual nature that mob accidentally and unwittingly created within his own soul by compressing and trying to ignore negative feelings arising from tsubomi’s rejection of his psychic powers. it is, and has been, locked away as mob strongly resists the urge to run wild using his powers, BUT the metaphorical locks that bind ???% are not invincible. they can be broken by as much force as it takes to knock mob out.

AND, the point i wrote this post in order to make: the connection to tsubomi is why ???% is currently heading toward tsubomi. its goal is not the same as mob’s goal to ask her out. instead, it wants her to acknowledge that mob’s psychic power is something extraordinary after all, because that is the very feeling it is made of.

though i suppose both mob and ???% are essentially seeking her approval.

–

notes: