I still believe in it wholeheartedly. Like wtf even was this exchange? Does this really sound like something Futaba would say? Timid, self-conscious Futaba? Would she seriously urge Rin to straight up fuck Akira so bluntly? I'm skeptical. If the reality itself isn't artificial, then the girls' behaviors have been altered for sure.
My current theory is that each character pushed through a Transpacific Sadness Symposium is fundamentally changed by it. Futaba's was during that beach event.
I need to go back and monitor Sana's horniness before her Symposium and after, but it feels like that got ramped up substantially after that encounter. I don't remember if Makoto or Noriko have had any major behavioral changes since theirs.
This whole bit is a callback to the early chapter 1 game state. He's re-using Chika's old sprite and referring to text that was changed in-game long ago.
I have to admit, the whole 'Ami Junior' persona that Nodoka adopted while 'cosplaying' and dropping hints at Himawari
does seem to strengthen
Moonflare's 'Himawari is named Ami' theory a bit further lol.
Or that Nodoka has been fully replaced by Himawarii since the events of the last reset.
My thoughts on Niki saying that:
1) This puts Sensei Quest into a whole new context, since that was literally a parody of those games, down to the art assets
2) The fact that he was a nerd as a kid is reinforced by him playing Theme Hospital late into the night and spamming Io about his progress.
Also -- I want him to find the "horny bard" character archetype so much.
It was never specifically addressed -- not that it matters in the long term, because resets come with free nonconsensual abortions.