Well, I admit that I misgauged the story to not realize that it was a simulation all along. Episodes 3 and 4 suggested it wasn’t, and Episode 5 had a detail that indicated it was with how Yaomay reverted to her previous look, but I focused too much on the world likely having a direct connection to Kudo, which while probably correct, led to me not realizing soon enough that the world was a simulation. I’ll share why that’s the case later.
The episode leads with the mahjong players saying that somebody had fled from Bai Yuen Shan Tower, which is a notoriously dangerous neighbourhood in Kowloon with illegal gambling rings, prostitution, and a drug crisis. Kudo apparently messed up with the tenant he found and needs to apologize to the landlord, but Kujirai B goes in his place without him knowing. The landlord implies that the tenant did it, whatever that is, in the commotion around the upcoming demolition (the subs didn’t say upcoming, but since we know the demolition is coming, it’s clear that it is), and Kujirai B brought her a gift to as an apology to her. The landlord says that running from here is a gamble since it’s filled with people with nowhere else to go, meaning there better be a pretty damn good reason to do so, but she acknowledges that running is sometimes the winning bet, to go all or nothing, even spitting on the faces of the people who took care of you. She’s no gambler herself, but she finds that mindset admirable, leading to Kujirai B saying that she’s generous (given how the tenant clearly did her wrong). The landlord then remarks that she has heard that Kujirai B never loses at mahjong and asks her if she thinks she’ll win at the game of life with Kujirai B remarking that they’ll find out, and I believe it’s clear from this remark as well that she intends to commit suicide, so her plans haven’t changed. Kudo then shows up all protective saying that he’ll handle everything in this area from now since it’s dangerous.
Back to Xiaohei and Yulong, Xiaohei refuses to kill Reiko even though she’s a generic who shouldn’t exist after physically meeting her and seeing her live her life, saying that Yulong wouldn’t understand since he can’t see the generic Kowloon, and that leads Yulong to ask him to name his price. Yulong then pulls up footage of Xiaohei from three years ago when he used to wear tons of clothes with a lot of them being dresses, saying that Xiaohei has seen the generic Xiaohei, meaning that he has been spying on Xiaohei’s communications with Papa Hebinuma and knows that despite the original Xiaohei being in Kowloon that the generic version hasn’t disappeared. Yulong then puts it out there that using Generic Terra can allow Xiaohei to go back to the way he was back then, which has Xiaohei in turmoil.
We then see Yaomay eating some ice cream, saying it’s yet another hot night with her being unable to recall that it’s always summer in Kowloon. She then thinks back to Reiko looking in bliss for having consolidated her relationship with Kudo and wishes that something romantic would happen to her as well before she notices Xiaohei sulking at a stairway. He indicates he’s unwell when Yaomay asks him how he’s doing. Xiaohei then catches sight of Yaomay’s ice cream, which he most likely knows messes with your mind, and then he catches sight of the generic Xiaohei, which causes him to have a gagging reaction, possibly ’cause he desperately wants to go back to those times but the thought of murdering Reiko doesn’t sit well with him. When Yaomay suggests that the ice cream will help him cool off, he angrily responds that she shouldn’t eat that junk, and when we get a flash of Yulong in Xiaohei’s mind, Xiaohei says that he’ll never do anything that makes Yaomay sad before leaving and warning her not to eat too much. Yaomay then says she has never had a boy say that to her before and wonders whether there’s romance in the air, but that was definitely not Xiaohei’s intention. She then gets a call from Reiko, who is exasperated, repeating the same thing over and over.
Back at Reiko’s place, it’s revealed that Reiko sees footage of random segments of Kujirai B’s memories through her glasses. Back at work, Reiko thinks to herself that Kudo hasn’t come back from doing his rounds and wonders whether he’s avoiding her, which he likely is, and then he shows up and calls her name, leading to her saying that her wearing those glasses doesn’t mean anything, and she wonders why she’s making excuses so desperately given it’s not really that important. Kudo then asks her out for lunch, and she responds that she promised Yaomay that she’ll eat it with her. Reiko then said that a while back she felt happy seeing faces of Kudo that Kujirai B probably didn’t know, but now she’s pained since Kujirai B obviously saw sides of Kudo she never saw (a happy Kudo), and she wonders why she never realized something so obvious.
Back at Reiko’s place, Yaomay then writes down whatever Reiko sees from the glasses. She immediately sees Bai Yuen Shan Tower and notes that it’s not that safe of an area even though they manage some properties there. When Yaomay asks whether she’s been there, Reiko says Kudo handles everything there, continuing his decision to never let Kujirai B and in extension her, go there. They then go there together with Yaomay being armed with a frying pan and Reiko wondering whether they’ll find out why Kujirai B died. Reiko then wonders what all these talismans are since they’re everywhere, and Yaomay asks her who they’re doing this for, and of course it’s ’cause Reiko wanted to learn more about Kujirai B, which will help her learn more about Kudo and why she herself exists. Doing this doesn’t sit well with Yaomay even though she agrees to it, and she still believes she’s forgetting something important, and they then run into Xiaohei. Yaomay then asks Xiaohei to take them back to central Kowloon, and as she’s doing that, Reiko remembers the talisman that Kujirai B peeled, and she peels one off herself before they’re taken back home. Reiko sees that the talisman has a 403 error code, which reminds me of when Episode 2 had a 500 error code when Kudo searched for details on the history of the apartment he brokered for Gwen.
Reiko and Yaomay then meet with Gwen at a cafe, and Reiko shares how she can see Kujirai B’s memories through her glasses. When the topic of Bai Yuen Shan Tower is brought up, all Gwen says is that Kujirai B went there for her job, that he doesn’t know her true cause of death, and that he wasn’t all that fond of her to begin with since he couldn’t tell what she was thinking and ’cause she had a smell of death on her, so his initial negative impression of Reiko was ’cause he didn’t like Kujirai B to begin with and didn’t want Kudo to be hurt, not ’cause he didn’t felt like she was trampling on the memories of a dear friend. He regretted not being there for Kudo more when Kujirai B passed away. He did get to meet with Kudo again here, but if he could go back to that summer again, he would. He does admit that Reiko is nothing alike from Kujirai B aside from her looks and voice and puts it out there that her presence itself might be hurting him, leading to him thinking about who created this situation in Kowloon. Xiaohei then arrives to do an inspection, and he is unnerved to see Gwen there and pretends that it’s their first time meeting each other although this doesn’t fool Gwen. When Yaomay presses Gwen about not knowing the true cause of Kujirai B’s death, he says that it was just a figure of speech, meaning he probably knows that the ‘official’ cause of death is an overdose, but he doesn’t believe that that’s the case. It’s just frustrating that he doesn’t share that with them though. Gwen then motions to leave immediately ’cause he intends to pursue Xiaohei. Reiko then wonders whether she’s causing Kudo pain given what she heard from Gwen after thinking back to Kudo showing up at her place on the anniversary of her death, and Yaomay says that it’s not her fault with Reiko saying it’s not Kudo’s fault either. And of course Reiko answers that she doesn’t regret being in a relationship with Kudo after Yaomay asks whether she does, which is true to Reiko wanting to be her absolute self and not regretting her actions if she knows it was a decision that she herself made.
After Xiaohei has finished his inspection, Gwen pulls him into an alley and says that he’s gotten a lot taller. Xiaohei replies that it’s impossible to stay away knowing that Kowloon has reappeared when Gwen asks him what he’s doing here. When generic Xiaohei passes by, Gwen asks aloud why the generic hasn’t disappeared, and Xiaohei calls Gwen not that sharp after all (since it’s clear that that generic Xiaohei doesn’t represent the real Xiaohei but a fake misgendered Xiaohei who never existed) before saying that as former residents that they should help each other before he scurries away in pursuit of the generic Xiaohei.
At her workplace, Reiko sees that a 403 error code means “No permission to access”. She then goes on a smoke break, thinking of Gwen saying that her presence might be hurting Kudo, and then Kudo joins her too, commenting on her lack of glasses today since he’s obsessed by Kujirai B. She then says that they should just go back to being colleagues and that maybe that’s all she has been in his eyes with things being weird between them since they’ve had sex. Kudo is about to interject before Reiko immediately says assertively that she will not hurt him. Reiko, after she closes the door behind her, thinks that she can now focus and be herself absolute self without thinking of hurting him and goes out searching for talismans to peel, with the first one she peeled having a 202 error code, which means that the request has been completed, but processing hasn’t yet been completed.
During her search, she indicates there’s a lot she doesn’t know, such as why the Second Kowloon Walled City that was demolished re-appeared and why she has the same face as a deceased person with her being a person who shouldn’t exist in a place that shouldn’t exist either. At a restaurant, Reiko indicates she has peeled thirty talismans with twenty of them being blank, nine of them having the 403 error code, and one of them having the 202 error code. She then puts on her glasses and sees a smoking area filled with talismans. Outside, she thinks about why she’s at Kudo’s side, and it’s ’cause she absolutely wants to be there with her not being Kujirai B and affirming that she won’t hurt him. She then wonders why he’s by her side before she spots the smoking area seen from her glasses, and after she peels a talisman, it reads, “Don’t look for it anymore.” which shows that Reiko is being observed.
Now, here’s my speculation on how these error codes are relevant. The talismans existing not only in the past with Kujirai B but now along with the threat to Reiko to stop looking show that the world itself, not just Kowloon, is a simulation. How I came to this conclusion is that it was stated that real people observed the Second Kowloon Walled City’s demolition, but if that past Second Kowloon was part of a simulation based on the talismans, then that means none of the people who saw it’s demolition were real people either, which means that the base world we’ve observed in Kowloon Generic Romance is itself not real but a simulation. This could mean that the world is a Matrix-style simulation or something similar and that someone who wants the simulation to end is giving Reiko access to Kujirai B’s memories to help them defeat the evil agents of the simulation or just the system itself that want to keep people unaware of things on enforce the status quo. It being a simulation would also be why Yaomay reverted to her previous look despite her plastic surgery ’cause who you see yourself as can directly influence your physical appearance.
The last part of the episode perhaps backs this up with how Yaomay regains all her memories of her time in Hong Kong after eating Yulong’s chocolate from outside of Kowloon, and immediately after she does that, her eyes light up, as if her body isn’t truly real, implying it’s a simulation. I should’ve realized that it was a simulation sooner, but better late than never now that I have seen the light.
I wonder how the generic Kowloon factors into stopping the simulation. In the past with Kujirai B, Generic Terra wasn’t in the sky, which suggests that Generic Terra itself is a creation made in the simulation given the past was already a simulation. Miyuki and Yulong not being sure whether Miyuki’s Zirconian project can truly work out shows that Generic Terra itself is probably not the reason for why the simulation exists although Yulong’s theory about Generic Terra disturbing the energy could potentially be correct, meaning that the generic Kowloon could be a manifestation of feng shui since it’s a sci-fi story involving a simulation, so pretty much anything goes, but thus far, I still lean towards Generic Terra being closer to a red herring than the true reason for why we’re seeing what we’re seeing in Kowloon Generic Romance.