[DreadBringer]

Thought at first this episode won't have the intro.

Like some of the female leads before, now Rinne also starts blaming herself for terrible things happened like Sabi's. This should be the opposite of what Atropos claims of her not giving a damn about those caught in the crossfire for Academy missions. I think people who blame themselves for other's misfortune means to me they put others before themselves, though this is an unhealthy approach to dwell on something outside their control. Terrible things happened not due to the failure of someone, but due to terrible people choosing to do terrible things, as Hotaro said regarding Dark Sisters.

Hotaro though also blames himself to not notice something's wrong within Rinne and prompts him (and Rinne) to do better. Dunno if that would mean Hotaro is indeed a positive influence to Rinne compared to her before (who's still doing Academy missions) as Atropos said though. Hotaro's faith to the Chemies would mean that even if they seem monstrous to "eat" people, he can still see the best in them like realizing X-Rex eats Sawa Manabe's father to know more about him, and use his memory reading abilities to get to know Hotaro more and befriend him. So far though, Hotaro easily "tames" and befriends any Chemies, dunno if there'd be bad apples among them like humans which'd be a real reality check.

Blaming oneself also happens to Sawa and her father. Rinne has just been told about it, now she encounters her "mirror" in Sawa who also blames herself for Hotaro being eaten. Rinne would return what Hotaro told her, and as someone who knows Hotaro better, she'd have faith on him to return. Hotaro's the best in dealing with Chemies. Her dad also blames himself for showing his miserable side to Sawa after being seen as her hero.

As Hotaro said though, being imperfect doesn't mean you're not worth loving, and it's not mere platitude as he has met Sawa who tries to take dinosaur photos for him. It's ok for heroes to fail, it'd make them realize more that they're human, as putting them on pedestal is also dehumanizing them, and likely also be inspired if they managed to rise and overcome their failure.

The one who henshins into Dread was Lachesis first, and she kicks Valvarad's ass. Clotho now centers on holding grudge to Hotaro, this feels like something such as Legeiel from Saber, which'd be IMO rather lacking to be just a bog-standard "kill the heroes" villain characterization.