I genuinely enjoyed Another Episode S, but after finishing it yesterday, I can't get one thought out of my head: what a waste. Teruya Sakaki is far too interesting a character to be portrayed in this way and nothing more.

>!To me, the author missed the opportunity to create an Another 1987, with Sakaki as the protagonist. The plot surrounding Sakaki's final words (“Tsu... ki...”) made me think about this.

It was impactful to learn that the only person Sakaki ever loved romantically, Satsuki, was the calamity of that year. But imagine if, instead of seeing it through Mei's perspective, we experienced everything through Sakaki's eyes. Imagine living through it all with him: falling in love with someone, sharing cute moments, watching the disasters begin, and having that person become a paradise amidst the chaos (ironic, isn't it?).

You go through traumatic experiences together, like the deaths of your friends. You grow closer and closer, eventually start dating, and promise never to leave each other's side. Then, at the end of the school year, just when you finally feel relieved that both Sakaki and Satsuki have survived, she simply disappears out of nowhere.

Imagine Sakaki's desperation, his agony. Nobody remembers the person he loves so deeply, and he begins to forget her, too. She disappears from every photo they ever took together, and all records of her are erased. Imagine the emptiness you'd feel after finishing a book like that, that sense of defeat even after achieving victory by surviving.!<

>!There is no beach in Yomiyama, at least according to the light novel. I honestly can't remember whether this was changed in the anime, since there is an episode set at the beach. So, based on that alone, we could already conclude that the Extra Student of that year can leave the city, since Sakakibara's aunt was there with them.

But going back to the books, this is confirmed in Another Episode S. Teruya Sakaki spent three months outside the city at his father's mansion with his friends, who were afraid of the curse. He took a picture with them, and in that photo, there is an unnatural gap, as if someone were missing. And someone really was missing: Satsuki Shinomiya. This is revealed at the end of the book, when Mei puts the pieces together. Satsuki was the calamity that year, which is why she disappeared from the photograph.

So, this means that the Extra Student can officially leave the city, even though the curse only affects people in that town. What would happen if someone who had studied with Satsuki in the year she died had left the city and encountered her outside Yomiyama in 1987, after she returned as the calamity?

We know that the curse only affects people in that town. Sakakibara's father knew that Sakakibara had been to Yomiyama, even though the curse wouldn't let him share that information. Whenever they spoke on the phone, there was always static.!<