Please add new theories at the bottom of the page.
Terumi will, or at least will attempt to, have sex with Tsukiko and/or Tsukasa.
So far, they are the only prominent female characters whose alluring features haven't been shown fully naked. And Kaoruko doesn't want Terumi to limit himself to just 14 targets.- Actually, Tsukasa's chest was seen in chapter 63. But yeah, not enough.
- Tsukiko was shown masturbating while talking to Terumi on the phone, so there's a great chance she has a thing for him.
Tsukasa will change throughout the story and ultimately fall in love with Terumi.
What makes for great storytelling is taking an unlikable character and making the audience sympathize and cheer them on in the end. While she's mean now, repeated interactions with Terumi will slowly change her; such as coming to regret her treatment of Terumi and wanting to be near him always. The story will have some dark moments, such as Aoi dying.
The Tale of Genji had some of Genji's lovers die at some point in the story. Since Aoi is matching the original Aoi no Ue to a tee, it stands to reason that an upcoming tragedy is highly likely.- Would that also mean Terumi will marry her, like Genji married Aoi no Ue?
Tsukasa and Terumi will become the final couple by story's end, due to their similar traits.
Both parties, no matter how they act or what they do, want to be loved and appreciated by someone. Terumi is trying to find true love by bedding the women presented to him by Kaoruko and Tsukasa is putting up a front of a cool, collected girl who wants to be found popular. When both parties are denied what they want, the reactions display shows complete frustration and anger towards the situation. That is why that both Terumi and Tsukasa will end up together; they can both give each other happiness and a sense of belonging. At some point in the story, all fourteen women will meet and interact with one another, find out about the plan, and ultimately not care and will still want to be with him.
Terumi has yet to meet all of the fourteen women Kaoruko promised him he will sleep with (and judging by how big the pages are, it's going to be a long wait) and has yet to make any of the women he met fall for him. However, he's already starting to change each one he meets in some manner: Asahi no longer sees him as a cousin and gets jealous when he speaks with girls, Aoi shows interest in Terumi despite her father complex, Hanada is starting to get over her fear of men and even Tsukasa is interested in him despite his lack of popularity. Hanada is the first woman to find out about the plan and is not even remotely mad. What will be interesting is seeing the women go at each other to make sure that Terumi ultimately becomes theirs.- This may start to become a real possibility. It's been revealed that Rokujou also knows about the plan, despite her possessive personality. In fact she tried to jeopardize the experiment by trying to marry Terumi right off. Kaoruko puts a stop to it just in time. For the time being, Asahi is the one being kept out of the loop. It is ambiguous with Aoi.
Konoe will return as a main antagonist
Tsukasa is not the only antagonist in the story; he may return to try and woo some of the women that Terumi is trying to seduce or at least try to get back at Terumi for ruining his shot with Tsukasa and bringing the affair to an end. In short, Konoe is akin to a older and darker Terumi; both are men and look somewhat similar but whereas Terumi is looking for sex and a stable relationship, Konoe is just in it for the sex. Murakami will find out about the plan and want in. The resulting backlash would turn him into Terumi's enemy.
If Murakami ever finds about Terumi's sexual escapades with the women in his life, he would then try to force Terumi into letting him in on the action. He already has a habit of doing that to his friend which some fans find unlikeable: trying to force Terumi into introducing him to his aunt and then not leaving her house when prompted. Terumi voicing his objection would break up their friendship and turn their relationship bitter and antagonistic. One of the upcoming targets will be a lesbian that Terumi still has to try and sleep with
There may be the possibility that one of the girls Terumi will talk to will only have an interest in the same sex and that Terumi may have to go to drastic measures to try and sleep with them. Crossdressing may help him out again, as it helped in breaking up a relationship between his former tormentor and a Jerkass teacher. Hell, Terumi's face itself may be enough since many people already confuse him to be a girl.- People call Rokujou lesbian behind her back, and since she is interested in a girly boy, this may not be far from truth.
Tsukiko will start to fall for Terumi over the course of the story
While Terumi hasn't told Tsukiko everything about the experiment, he feels comfortable enough talking with her about his problems and she in turn opens up to him. Unless Tsukiko is one of the other targets that we don't know about, perhaps she too might start falling for Terumi naturally.- As of Chapter 268, The latter part is pretty much confirmed, with her surname revealed as "Oboro". This reveal makes Tsukiko the parallel to Lady Oborozukiyo in The Tale of Genji.
Tsukiko will ask Terumi for sexual favors, such as kissing and fondling for material in her erotic stories
Tsukiko is known for writing erotic stories but still is a bit clueless when it comes to men. Since men in general creep her out, Terumi might be the only man she might open up to and ask for such a thing in order to improve her writing. Nothing is better than experience, right? Of course, she may also start falling for him as a result... Breaking up with Rokujou will lead to future problems, particularly the experiment
Rokujou is known to be a possessive women and inevitably, Terumi will have to leave her in order to pursue the other 14 targets. She is not going to take this lying down and may require special care in dealing with the resulting blowback.- Kaoruko shares this idea, believing that breaking up with Rokujou will bring out her yandere side. However, she may go easier on Terumi if he just cheats on her... Kaoruko is probably the only one who thinks this makes sense.
- This goes further in Chapter 111; Rokujou and Kaoruko were in on the whole plan, letting Terumi sleep with Rokujou for the sake of the experiment. This is starting to go out the window when Rokujou took matters into her own hands by attempting to draft Terumi into marriage. Rather than Terumi trying to break up with Rokujou and awaken her inner Yandere, it seems Kaoruko is doing that for him.
As usual, Terumi will screw up while having sex with Rokujou.
In what way exactly? He will scream another woman's name. Most likely Aoi's. That's how the "Rokujou kills Aoi" scenario will be triggered.- Didn't happen during their first time, but they may have another chance.
The underlying reason for Kaoruko's research:
- She plans on creating numerous theorems as to how The Tale of Genji could have ended since the story (particularly the later chapters) was said to have been left blank. OR;
- She plans to interpret the supposed ending by adding her own input.
Thanks to Shian's presence, Terumi will be able to talk with and get with girls around his age range.
It's been shown in the beach chapter that Terumi is terrible with talking to girls close to his age when he's been rejected every single time. Despite his affinity for older women, this is kinda problematic. Him getting along with Shian will change other girls perspective of him. One or both of the two girls who bullied Terumi, Tsukasa's best friends, are potential Genji targets.
To this day, readers still do not know the identities of the girls who bullied Terumi since middle school. It would lead to interesting story development if Terumi has to woo a former bully, thus making the other girls, especially Tsukasa, react. Of course, they could be just like Tsukasa and not have anything to do with the experiment. That shouldn't stop Terumi from wooing them regardless. Yuu will start to develop a liking for girls ever since Rokujou kissed her.
Though the kiss surprises her, Yuu finds that she's attracted to the opposite sex. This may serve as a way to "break" up with Terumi since he still needs to interact with the other targets picked out by Kaoruko.- She's shown to get pretty excited when she sees Rokujou making out with Kaoruko, despite them being women.
Rokujou will ruin whatever relationship Terumi starts getting serious in due to her Yandere tendencies.
Kaoruko may allow this in order to force Terumi to stand up for himself and/or get him to move on the next girl somehow. Tsukasa will fall even further for Terumi after the Beauty Pageant is done but her conflicting feelings will prevent her from acting on it.
Tsukasa may lose to Terumi due to him being "prettier" than her and as a result gain a spike in popularity in her eyes. Despite her liking for popular boys, this is Terumi, a guy who she considered beneath her notice and the subject of torment during their middle school. Should she pursue him or keep away? Is she falling for him despite hating a "plain guy like him?" Her mindset should make for interesting story. Jossed and/or confirmed
The 4th girl will be a Yandere.
Originally, Lady Rokujo's expy was supposed to be the 3rd girl for Terumi, until Kaoruko changed the plan per Terumi's request. Since she likes to stay consistent with The Tale of Genji, and it isn't clear which of the two - Rokujo and Hanachirusato - appeared in Genji's life first, the girl after Hanada will be the Yandere Rokujo.- Confirmed: the 4th girl's name is Rokujo. Whether or not she is a yandere remains to be seen.
- Yes, she is.
The woman with a boy from chapter 89...
Isn't Terumi's mother, and the scene isn't a flashback (since there's no black background, which is always used during flashback/imaginary scenes).- In fact, she is the mother of that perverted boy from the store that Hanada works at.
Tsukasa will find out that Terumi is dating Rokujou but will not reveal the relationship due to pride and jealously
Tsukasa owes Terumi for not blabbing to everyone about her fling with Konoe-sensei so she may return the favor. Of course she doesn't have to be happy about it and she may start feeling jealous when she sees Terumi with another women.- Terumi and Rokujou have broken up before Tsukasa could appear again.
The 5th girl will be Akashi's expy.
As of chapter 113, Terumi went on a beach named Suma. Prince Genji also visited a beach with that name (though it's not clear whether this is the same beach) and met one of his lovers, Akashi, soon afterwards. Seeing how closely this manga follows Genji's tale (at least Terumi/Genji's love conquests)...- Already jossed since Shian Kowaka (Waka Murasaki's Expy) was introduced here. Akashi didn't even show up.
Terumi will have an altercation with Semi's boyfriend.
Several times throughout their meetings, Terumi and Kaoruko suggest that Semi breaks up with her emotionally, cheating distant boyfriend but she lacks the courage and/or will to do so. Terumi will eventually meet this guy and either do it for her by calling him out for his behavior or encourage Semi to do it herself.- Despite Semi's door threatening to open, thus implying it was her boyfriend coming to visit, this turns out to be nothing of the sort. Semi breaks the relationship off with Terumi before it can go further and it seems unlikely that Terumi will ever meet the guy.
Tsukiko will hook up with Murakami
Poor Murakami is just like Terumi and also wants to find love from a woman; the man is even setting his standards to high: intending to lose his virginity to Kaoruko. Hooking up with Tsukiko, a woman not included in the fourteen and also averse to men, would resolve this issue nicely.- However, this is really unlikely as Tsukiko has shown that she can only get along with Terumi, despite both Terumi and Murakami having similar personalities. She even referred to Murakami as "no good" and left the area as fast as possible just to avoid him, much to his chagrin.
Kaoruko will be the last, 14th woman.
- A very popular theory among the fans. Many see her as Lady Murasaki, whom Genji raised to be his perfect lover. However, Kaoruko and Terumi's respective roles are reversed, and she is the one who raises him to be her perfect mate.
- The Murasaki part has been Jossed, but the rest may still be true.
- She's the one raising Terumi into becoming Hikaru Genji and moves him like a chess piece to ensure he's successful at the end. Essentially, she would be the hardest target of all the women in the series. To make her fall for him, it will require Terumi to surpass her and that will only happen once he has made all ther other targets, his.
- Another theory would be Kaoruko taking the role of Lady Fujitsubo, technically the Replacement Goldfish to the source material's main character. The plausibility of such theory kind of escalated a bit with her statement in Chapter 139, regarding the original Hikaru Genji:Kaoruko: Genji-no-Kimi was known for making love to his mother-in-law and getting her pregnant. Your mother-in-law isn't your target...
- Supporting this theory: All of Terumi's targets have some sort of Theme Naming with the characters from The Tale of Genji. A part of her surname Fujiwara has the same symbol in Hiragana as Fujitsubo.
- Pretty much explicitly confirmed in Chapter 356 and the final volume's extended cut of 357.
- Supporting this theory: All of Terumi's targets have some sort of Theme Naming with the characters from The Tale of Genji. A part of her surname Fujiwara has the same symbol in Hiragana as Fujitsubo.
Terumi will never bed Asahi.
Genji no Kimi was unable to make Asagao his, and she died a virgin. What are the chances for Terumi to do better than the legendary Japanese Casanova?- At least by the end of this series, confirmed.
