Actually, those omakes of baby Noa triggered some thoughts on my end.
What's the dividing line between pre-suicide Noa in 1981 and October SI'd into Noa? Is it Noa gaining a set of memories from October, October overwriting the "old Noa" entirely (something I don't think is the case given post-SI Noa still remembers and cares for her parents), a personality merge, something else?
EDIT: It's just, I don't these child memories to mean nothing to the current Noa. That's the trouble with SIs.
So this line has actually blurred a fair bit. To the point that the old timeline document is effectively defunct.
Call it some early installment weirdness.
Basically: since the initial conception of this idea, that bright line "it happened here" kinda no longer exists. If you absolutely
need some clear "it started happening here" marker, Noa's mutation was basically the opening of a sluice gate, slowly letting the past fully mingle with the present, beyond just the personality and habits filtering through.
EDIT: Noa's childhood memories 100% mean
everything to her. She does have knowledge, memories, and opinions from a life once lived, but most of it is growing more and more abstract by the day. There's several things that are
rock solid in there, but a lot of it... well, she has the life she's living
now. There's no point hurting herself trying to desperately hold onto something that once might have been, but never will be.
EDIT2: and lastly, she is still, largely, the same person both before and after. You can make "nature vs nurture" arguments all you like, but I've always viewed it as "some of column A, some of column B, some of a certain
je ne sais quoi in a weird column C". Plus, well. The culture and location are familiar to me.