I would also like to stress something I feel that I’m not sold on Mikuni being the main antagonist… not yet. Actually reading chapter 59 a little more than just my initial skimming he’s calling out to Mahiru telling him that ‘that person is counting on you too’ and I don’t think he’s referring to Tsurugi, and definitely not Touma. Any time Tsurugi is mentioned he is using Tsurugi’s name, but there’s also a mention of a ‘certain person’, someone he’s learned things from. It’s hard to tell if he’s referring to Tsurugi or not in some of the panels but I don’t think this person is Tsurugi so… I’m starting to get the feeling Mikuni is working for someone. Right so, through the power of translations Mikuni is referring to Tsurugi now, but I sense so much lying snake all over this crap. He’s still definitely leading Mahiru along and gods only know if that shoot he’s going down is actually where he thinks it’s going.
Again, this is all speculation on my end with what little I can make out in the text, but I’m starting to look at the president of C3 whom we haven’t met yet and who Mikuni has important ties to. His close ties to the president is also the only reason pretty much Mikuni can just do what he wants around C3 (for the most part)… It’s something that annoys Touma and the other members of C3 as well. And if Touma is trying to do his own thing and essentially play out a coup in C3 for his division, it kind of makes sense why Mikuni is stepping in and destroying it.
To wrap up this little segment, we’ve got the interesting tidbit where Mikuni knows that Tsurugi was defeated by two subclass, but he PURPOSEFULLY tells Mahiru that Tsurugi was defeated by Tsubaki’s subclass. Trying to twist that mind again to see things your way, eh Mikuni? So although he’s not directly saying this anymore, he is strongly painting a picture that Tsubaki and his subclass are being a route cause to this and nudging Mahiru along to *hopefully* despise him more. We’ve also got Tsubaki rifling through some documents at Mikuni’s shop (whoo boy those two are going to be spitting fire down the line) -gets her popcorn ready for that showdown-
Opening a different can of worms that ties into my reasons of why I don’t think Mikuni is main baddy; I’ve also discussed a few more theories with @kind-criostail today regarding Mahiru as well with all of this going on. Like first off, his mother being hit by a car for her death–strangely enough that seems to be the go to cover up for vampire attacks… coincidence~?