The university group is pretty much confirmed to be the ringleaders of the Ishinomaki alliance- though I guess we should start calling them the University alliance now- but I don't think it would be accurate the call the Sendai group a Periphery player. The entire war sprung up because the University group hated their guts enough to go to war over, so even if they didn't exactly start the war they certainly sowed the seeds of it. If the Sendai group go full tyrant on the University group there wouldn't be a war in the first place, and if they didn't piss off so many people the war wouldn't escalate this badly.
Um, I was refering to Ishinomaki as a periphery player not Sendai. Didn't say anything about the latter at all.
Now that you mention it, Sendai is the other side of the conflict. I think we need more information before coming to a conclusion on them. I'm getting bad vibes about them though, despite being the defensive party. We need to talk to the University group to get the full picture, talking to Ishinomaki is not going to reveal much more strategic information on the current situation. We're only talking to them to smooth relations over and make a good impression for future contacts.
One thing that concerns me about Sendai, Akiko was "amused" and "displeased" by Sabrina's proclamation on ending the war. Now this could partly be a veteran looking down on a newbie's naivety (especially the amusement) but it could mean more. Remember why the Uni group hate her? The easiest answer given current information is that they hate paying Sendai's extortionate price in seeds for simply operating and have been gathering allies to fight Sendai. There
could be a other reasons/provokations (which we won't know until we talk to Uni group). Bear in mind, University
had to have known about Sendai's allies/favours owed beforehand otherwise they wouldn't be so afraid of Sendai and submitted to them.
This raises the question, why would Akiko be "displeased" at Sabrina asking the University alliance to back down? Does she really want the conflict to stop? What does she gain by this, does she honestly think University is happily going to subordinate itself under Sendai again? Of course not, she probably wanted the naive newbie out of her hair. Any negotiated peace would mean University gains independence from Sendai which mean Akiko
loses. Sendai's wargoals are probably keep University subordinate under harsher terms or drive them out permanently if they're too intractable (which is bad for Sendai since they lose their income and probably a last resort).
I think Ishinomaki are being opportunists in settling scores but I'm not sure what more they want apart from harming Sendai. I think initially, Akiko was going to call down her allies on Ishinomaki but now she might be cautious due to Sabrina's warning of more groups. Or... she might accelerate things and try to take out University before they can call
their allies thanks to Sabrina's other tip off.
Also, why is Akiko in Ishinomaki anyway? Her story has a bunch of holes. She gives a vague explanation about Rin healing an independent, but doesn't say where this healing took place. She dances around the question and just says Sendai and Ishinomaki are on bad terms. If so then why go to Ishinomaki? Is the healing in Ishinomaki? I think there's an ulterior motive. Notice how at the beginning, Rin and Akiko were in separate locations? If the healing was in Ishinomaki (though it is not clearly stated), then I think Sakura took Rin to the healing while Akiko... was doing something else.
On another note: Sabrina is a gamechanger, but I think feelings have boiled over to point where its going to be extremely difficult for both sides to stop. Plus Sabrina is
one person, she can't be everywhere and hence doesn't eliminate the need for grief seeds like some people for saying.
I have a sinking feeling that any Sabrina negotiated peace is going to be bad for Sendai and Akiko could call in the allies anyway and try to gank Mitakihara and University together, probably under the pretence of truce. Thats probably a worst case scenario, at the same time we need to find out what the University alliance want, and stop anything extreme. Bear in mind that all the above paragraphs have a healthy amount on speculation and probably unhealthy amount of paranoia.
fake edit:
HANG ON, just noticed something possibly important on the third read through:
"I'll be asking more about that later. But not in present company," you send to Akiko telepathically. Her expression shifts, subtly. Out loud, you ask, "So, what happened specifically? Rin-" bottle green eyes flick over to you "-was on her healing circuit? You were conducting negotiations for...?"
"I was there t-to heal another independent," Rin offers. "Kato Setsuko."
Akiko tilts her head to indicate agreement. "I don't know how much you've heard, Miss Sabrina, but Ishinomaki and us have... not been on the best of terms, in recent years."
Aki grimaces, but nods, and steps forward. "Somewhere around there, I guess. So there's this big fight or something, I don't know, in the Sendai girls. Whatever. Result is, one of them dies or something, and another one, Kato, I think her name was, leaves them." Her voice is a little raspy.
"Ah!" Mami says. "Kato Setsuko?"
Aki shrugs indifferently. "Sounds about correct. And yeah, she probably passed through Mitakihara?" At Mami's nod, she continues. "She passes through Ishinomaki, too," she says, waving to emcompass the city. "We... well, I think we were nice to her. There were four of us, back then."
"Five," Ayaka corrects the cloner.
"Whatever. Point is, we asked if she wanted to stay. She didn't, we let her hunt a Witch, and pass through," Aki says.
"Right..." you nod.
"Thing is, a month later, Hamasaki and her cronies come screaming at us about her," Aki says. "Said we killed her, and they tried to kill us." Her face flattens into blankness. Similar expressions, blank looks and grimaces, echo across Kimiko and Ayaka's faces. "We win."
Okay, now I'm... not sure what to think. I think initial theories that Ishinomaki killed Setsuko's witch are wrong.
We need more information on why Ishinomaki attacked Sendai, was it at University's behest or was there some deeper motivation? My speculation is that Sendai killed one of the Ishinomaki (hence the four and five statement) over what was essentially a misunderstanding and are now out for blood.
It looks like Kato Setsuko is a former Sendai member, perhaps we should seek her out to find out more about Sendai's old practices. It could give us valuable insight on the University alliance's grievances. I think she went to ground after she left Sendai and Akiko assumed Ishinomaki killed her for whatever reason.
Theres an inconsistency here; Ishinomaki is saying Setsuko left the city after a month... but Sendai is saying Setsuko is an independent in Ishinomaki? Or maybe Rin was saying Setsuko was healed somewhere else, after which Sendai came to Ishinomaki. Which begs the question, why go to Ishinomaki? Akiko's version was negotiating a truce, Ishinomaki says otherwise. If Akiko is lying, then why come to Ishinomaki?
There, two hours of work. This is why I don't participate in quests much. I get too carried away.
Real Edit: Maybe Rin lied and randomly picked Kato's name off the top of her memory to shield the real motive? either that or they recently discovered Kato was alive.
