Private Conference Between Mari & WHOM? (Solved)

[Reichu]

Title may be a bit presumptuous, but it was getting pretty long.

This thread inspired me to look at this sequence from the post-Ha preview again:

SPOILER: Show

Namely, the whole matter of "just what is written beneath that whiteout?"

For the purposes of this exercise, I've assumed that something was typed out normally to start with, and the whiteout was added as an effect on top of it. Thus, the spacing between "&" and the name/descriptor of the four Reis should be the same as the spacing everywhere else in the caption cards' font. While not 100% uniform, it is pretty darn close.

Having accounted for this initial space, we can test for what that initial letter might be. For testing purposes, I prepared a set of letters taken from the caption cards; "J" and "X" are approximated since they are never used in the preview.



Whatever the initial letter is, most possibilities are ruled out right off the bat by virtue of the negative space on the left side, left exposed by the whiteout. Here, I've tested the most obvious options. T and J pass the test; X is ambiguous; the others fail.



An initial "T" is by far more common than "J" (this holds for both English and Japanese), and "X" is a nonstarter, so "T" is far and away the most likely of the three. What word(s) or name(s) starting with "T", referring to Rei clones, could possibly fit in that space?

Well...



...how about "Tentative"? And sure enough...!


(NOTE: First and last letters of "TENTATIVE" are transparent to show their ability to "clear" the whiteout.)

So there you have it! Mystery solved, I think.

EDIT: Added letter reference sheet and tests.

[Blockio]

It might seem like X, Y and Z should also fit in there, but all three have been tested and all three don't fit.

So "Yui Ikari" isn't the one being talked to, contrary to what we briefly feared might happen in the making of this

[Joseki]

I honestly assumed for the past few years that there is actually not real text under that, but Tentative does fit.

[Zoop]

Does it make sense tho, to write out Mari's full name, and only use the word Tentative for Rei?
On it's own, just Tentative doesn't mean all that much, could be referring to something else, even tho afaik this is only used with Rei, just saying, isn't it a bit too ambiguous to only use this word to address someone?
Also why be secretive about this (esp since they show flashes of new versions of Rei, not exactly a secret then)?
Like Blockio said, if it were to be Yui or something, then that would be a lot more reason to be secretive about it.

Absolutely awesome deduction tho, props for the work put in it Reichu

[AlphaZero]

Beautiful work Reichu!
This makes me wonder if Mari and Black Rei had their conversation then Rei had her memory wiped maybe in combination with the device allegedly used to implant orders in her brain(I'm referring to that concept art of 13 having needles through its face).