Bittersweet Candy Bowl/WMG

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Mike and Lucy are going through an Hourglass Plot.

When they were younger, Lucy was socially isolated, which led to her developing her Tsundere personality. Mike, on the other hand, doesn't appear to have faced as many issues while growing up, and turned out to be a Nice Guy. However, thanks to their friends laughing off Lucy's abuse and treating him poorly, he has grown bitter and cynical. This has only grown worse after their friends learned that he rejected Lucy's confession -- he's even been explicitly told that his Long-Distance Relationship with Sandy 'doesn't count' because "those never work out", and that he should hook up with the girl who's right there, despite how she used to treat him so badly.

This will lead to their situations completely reversing, with Mike developing an abrasive Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids personality due to being completely socially isolated while Lucy is surrounded by well-wishers and lots of friends, drawing her further out of her shell and helping her open up to others aside from her pets. This may end with the two eventually meeting in the middle, though whether or not they hook up after reconciling is up in the air.

  • So far, this seems to be coming true.

Taeshi has already foreshadowed the "bad ending."

Does everyone remember Chapter 10: Off to the movies? Specifically the last page? How they say everything could have worked out if she had opened up to each other sooner? Well, doesn't this sound VERY similar to how things in the comic are going right now? Seriously, if Lucy had opened up to Mike before he got back in touch with Sandy, they'd likely be a happy couple right now! Instead, she waited until things were too late, and there was much Wangst! This is going to continue until the end when Mikes points all this out, and everyone will be sad. Yes, I have no evidence, but DAMN it would be awesome.

  • Awesome? Really?
    • As much as I'd like for the characters to have a happy ending, that would be a nice bit of foreshadowing for a tragedy. And seeing the way the comic has been going from goofy lightheartedness to serious drama, I can't say that sort of ending would be out of place.
  • I doubt Chapter 10 was foreshadowing the ending. It was foreshadowing for Chapter 51.

Lucy will probably attempt suicide.

Think about it. Her situation with Mike is not getting better and with Mike ignoring her now as of Pillow Talk and talking about Sandy more as of Call Waiting, she is spiraling down to that point. What hints at this is the non-canon chapter Disaster Dominoes with Lucy killing herself when Mike got killed and the canon chapter Pillow Talk with Mike ignoring her on her birthday, which breaks her more with memories of when he used to try to surprise her on previous birthdays and the flashback near the end where she now sees that she has lost her chance. And now, in the recent chapter Call Waiting, the author said in this page commentary, "You know you have hit the deep end when you feel the only person you can go to is not exactly someone you trust", in which she is hanging around Augustus. It's unknown when she will do so, but it might happen when Sandy comes to visit Mike maybe during the play in January, in which that will be the final straw for her. Yeah...

  • This troper isn't so sure. Remember, Lucy is the main character, and the comic ends their junior year. If Lucy commits suicide now, we'll have a year and a half without the main character. Plus, we don't know that Sandy is coming to visit Mike any time soon. Yes, December and January are supposed to be the angst-iest chapters yet, but suicide doesn't seem likely.
    • One of the main characters, you mean. You're right though, we don't know when Sandy will visit Mike, but I'm just guessing. The angst part of all this would be that no one would expect it due to her not being open with her friends about the issue she has with Mike and Sandy. Now, I'm not saying she would succeed. I'm saying that she would probably attempt it and yet still live, not actually succeed killing herself. I put down "attempting suicide" and not "commit suicide" due to her being one of the main characters. But, I'll wait until the December and January chapters come to see if this might be true or if it will be something else.
      • Word of God is that there's gonna be some major angsting in December or January. So, this may be spot-on...
      • Okay... if Mike flat-out screaming "I HATE YOU!!!!" at Lucy and then explaining why isn't going to catalyze an A-bomb of angst, I don't know what will...

Mike is just as dependent on Lucy as she is on him.

What, like you weren't thinking that, too?

  • So far, this recent page could be saying that this is starting to become true.
    • Actually, it sounds more like he's just disgusted with her clinginess, at least according to some folks on the board.

Alejandro will murder Sandy in cold blood at the very end of the storyline.

Let's face it, the guy clearly wants to hurt Mike bad, and he's a huge asshole. During Confrontation, he came damn close to killing Mike, and when Lucy stopped him, he then proceeded to nearly rape-and-murder her. Then Mike and Lucy teamed up on him, and Alejandro was damn lucky to slink away from that one without permanent injuries. Now Alejandro wants revenge on Mike, so when he hears about Mike's relationship with Sandy, he decides to pull a Revenge by Proxy. So shortly after Mike and Sandy have their touching reunion -- in front of everyone, including (a visibly distraught) Lucy -- Alejandro comes in out of friggin' nowhere and shanks Sandy in the back the instant before she and Michael get to kiss. Maybe more than once. Cue in-universe declarations that Alejandro crossed the Moral Event Horizon -- even from Augustus, who at the moment looks up to Alejandro as a leader/big brother-type figure (especially when he sees how upset Daisy become upon seeing Sandy get mortally wounded) -- which immediately segue into Unstoppable Rage. In the bad ending, Mike will charge Alejandro almost immediately, and Alejandro will not only slash Mike's throat without skipping a beat, he'll then flee the scene and get off scot-free. Cue Lucy committing suicide, Sandy bleeding to death, and everyone else being incredibly depressed. (Though there would be a Silver Lining in that Alejandro's future arrest and conviction would be pretty darn likely, considering the number of witnesses.) In the good ending, Mike will just be in shock over what just happened, while Alejandro engages in Evil Gloating about how much Mike must be suffering without his true love... but just before Mike crosses the Despair Event Horizon, Lucy, of all people, having accepted that Mike loves Sandy and not her, calls Alejandro a scumbag for ruining Mike's happiness and proceeds to attack him. Though Alejandro will once again get the upper hand at first, with his cronies preventing the others from stopping him, Augustus will take it upon himself to intervene and damn-near-kill Alejandro (but will be fatally wounded in the process, with Lucy already beaten to within an inch of her life). Meanwhile, Sandy will have been watching all this in her dying moments, and with her final breaths, ask Mike to focus on what he has rather than what he's lost. This gets Mike out of his Heroic BSOD long enough to see Augustus dead and Alejandro smirking psychotically and about to finish Lucy off (for extra dick points, by dropping her into a nearby lake). Mike then immediately proceeds to grab Alejandro's weapon right out of his hands and stab him in the face, then begin pleading with an unconscious Lucy to wake up. Cue scene cut to hospital, then Sandy's funeral, and a Distant Finale of Mike and Lucy finally getting together... which gets me to why I cooked up this theory in the first place. Taeshi's stated that Mike and Lucy will get together at the end of the comic, but as things currently are, that's not gonna happen. Mike and Sandy are very much in love with each other, and Lucy is seemingly resigned to not having Mike in her life, period. If not for the Word of God contradicting it, Mike and Sandy being happy together in the end would be completely viable (and what I'd be rooting for, seeing as Lucy totally blew her chance with him.) And with the series's spiral into the depths of Cerebus Syndrome (not to mention Kizuna and Carson already having been Killed Off for Real), I wouldn't be surprised if Sandy being brutally killed didn't end up as the series's Darkest Hour. As for why Alejandro would do it, see the beginning of this rant -- namely, that he hates Mike, and that he's a dick.

Mike is going to snap and give his friends a What the Hell, Hero?-style calling-out.

During this rant, he will call them on the Double Standard they showed in regard to Lucy's pre-Character Development treatment of him, as well as how they themselves gleefully used him as a Butt Monkey. He'll also ream them out over their presumption that he and Lucy should get together just because she confessed despite his already being in a relationship with Sandy, spelling out how much it hurts that they assume she doesn't count just because it's a Long-Distance Relationship. With everyone worrying about Lucy's hurt feelings, he'll claim they've forgotten he has feelings too -- and they've been hurting them and his friendship with them for years.

This will Foreshadow the series' Darkest Hour, with the now socially isolated Mike having to deal with Alejandro's scheming alone, unwilling to approach his 'former' friends for help.

  • To cement this isolation, the calling out may occur somewhere very public... maybe the school play, an transparently obvious ploy to get the pair back together?

Lucy and Mike will get kidnapped by the mafia.

Alejandro will turn out to be the son of the head of a mafia family, and all this time he was trying to convince his father to kidnap Mike and Lucy so he could have a long, drawn-out revenge on them (hence why he doesn't just kill them). After some character development for Lucy, Mike, and Augustus, they are saved by Sandy, who as it turns out is the daughter of a rival mafia group, who strikes a deal for their release.

(I'm well aware that Taeshi has said, quote, "I already have plans that aren't as melodramatic and mafia-ridden as people think", but I still thought the idea of Sandy turning out to be the daughter of a mafia family would be neat.)

Mike is trying to provoke Lucy into hitting him again.

He may only subconsciously be aware of it, but on some level, he wants Lucy to lash out at him -- because every insult and strike from her will just reaffirm his position that she's still an abusive piece of work. While she's grown considerably, he can't acknowledge that yet because of all the resentment he's bottled up over years and years of being her beaten and battered Living Emotional Crutch. But if she responds in the 'usual fashion', by striking him, that will just strengthen his resolve, allowing him to cling to the belief that she really hasn't changed one bit and thus deserves to continue reaping what she sowed.

Abbey will attempt to expel Mike for bullying.

And this will make Mike explode at the seeming injustice, leading to a vicious argument between the two (probably dragging others into it). Mike will attempt to call him out on condoning Lucy's past abuse, while Abbey will shoot back that while what she did was wrong, it doesn't justify Mike being a total Jerkass to her when she's actively trying to be better.

Lucy will either send death threats to Sandy, or kill her.

Think about it, after Mike told her he hates her for everything she did and left the room to tell his mother the news, Lucy will look and write down the phone number, read the text Sandy wrote where she will meet Mike, and send some death threats to Sandy to prevent her to come, or when Sandy comes to Roseville and tries to find Mike, only Lucy will appear and since Sandy has no idea what Lucy looks like, Lucy will take that advantage to take Sandy into a dark place and Sandy has no idea where she's taking her, and Lucy will bash her head and throws her body in the river and leave her to drown. Then Mike saw the whole thing and tries to call the police, but Lucy STABS Mike multiple times and her eyes will look soulless and empty, just like the murder plot of School Days.

At least one pairing will end up happy aside from AbbeyxDaisy.

I personally think it will be Mike x Dock

Abbey's Mom isn't dead.

She must have been in hiding.

Sandy will try to run away with Mike after the fashion show.

Maybe not permenantly, but once she's with Mike and her parents' backs are turned, she'll snap, think "Screw it!", grab Mike, and run out with him. If she doesn't try to stay in Roseville, she'll tell him that they only have this one night and that they should actually go out on a date. Her new reckless attitude might even make her convince Mike to make this night their "first time."

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