To Be Hero X Episode 9, “Loss and Gain,” brings anime fans deeper into the donghua’s Lucky Cyan Arc, showing us the young heroine’s first steps in becoming one of the Top 10 Heroes. The arc is looking to be every bit as emotionally devastating as fans expected it to be, though the appearance of the donghua’s titular character — Hero X — in the episode caught everyone by surprise.

Despite not having had any official screen time in the show thus far, Hero X has become the fandom’s favorite character. He’s simply a figure shrouded in both swagger and mystery, and fans love his nonchalant confidence just as much as they want to figure out what he’s up to. Hero X helps Lucky Cyan in her darkest moment, but his involvement with every hero that To Be Hero X has shown so far alludes to something much bigger in the works.

Hero X Subtly Shows Cyan a Path to Survival

The Golden Coin Helped Cyan Rebuild her Trust Value

To Be Hero X Episode 9 shows its audience how Cyan and Luo’s escape attempt went down after the dean blocked their route in the final moments of Episode 8. Cyan was able to make it out with only a few scratches, but Luo wasn’t so lucky. In order to allow Cyan to achieve freedom, he sacrificed his own chance to run away and used his power of misfortune to keep the Dean from catching her. The truck crash that Luo caused was the last thing that Cyan witnessed before she had to flee, leaving her dear friend’s fate unknown to her.

It’s not clear where exactly Cyan ran off to afterward, but it’s easy to assume that she couldn’t have gotten too far, especially when she was only on skates and was running on the last threads of her luck. She ends up on a city street full of shops before her skates finally give in. In despair and desperately hoping that Luo was still alive, she began to play his guitar and sing the song he showed her at the beginning of the episode.

The guitar begins to emit flecks of green light as Cyan sings, and it’s at this time that a mysterious man in a black suit appears and tosses her a coin. His face isn’t shown, as the camera only catches him walking away; however, practically everyone in the To Be Hero X fandom has collectively agreed that he is Hero X. Hero X is currently at the top of the food chain of trust-garnering heroes, yet is not affiliated with any hero company.

From the golden coin that Hero X himself is seen flipping in the donghua’s opening sequence, to the similar build and hairstyle, it’s only natural for the fandom to assume he is the elusive character that everyone has been dying to see. This is especially so when the figure is given significant focus in a scene that’s centered around Cyan.

After Cyan receives the coin, it’s not long before she realizes that she can’t survive with just the clothes on her back and Luo’s broken guitar. From the very same coin that X gave her, Cyan came up with the idea to begin performing on the street for money. Doing this is exactly what begins to garner her attention as a musician. Eventually, Cyan goes viral. Thanks to her perseverance and her previous status as the “sacred maiden” who gave blessings, Cyan’s Trust Value rose until she was finally approached by the hero company, D.O.S.

Episode 9 Is Not the First Time That Hero X Influenced the Story

Hero X Has Been in the Shadows of Every Significant Moment

The Lucky Cyan Arc may be the first time that Hero X made a physical appearance in the donghua, but one very easy-to-miss detail proves that he was actually present during the Nice and E-Soul arcs as well. In the trailer, it’s shown that Hero X activates his reality-bending power with a snap of his fingers. The production team of To Be Hero X has accented this snap with a very distinct sound that the donghua’s most observant fans are able to recognize anywhere.

Hero X’s snap can be heard during many key moments in the trailers where the animation switches from 3D to 2D, which led to many fans theorizing that Hero X is actually responsible for the anime’s unique mash-up of mediums. This pattern continues during the second major fight in the Nice Arc, where Lin Ling fights the original Nice’s nemesis (who was also heavily implied to be his lover), Wreck. Right before the second half of the battle, the sound of the snap precedes the moment that Lin Ling decides he would be the one to defeat Wreck.

Yang Cheng’s ultimate battle with the original E-Soul in To Be Hero X episode 7 is the next time that Hero X’s famous snap can be heard. Again, right before the second phase of the fight. As a reporter commenting on the duel states that Yang Cheng’s numbers are beginning to overtake the original E-Soul’s, the snap prefixes the transition into 2D right before Yang Cheng’s ambiguous victory.

It seems every pivotal moment of every protagonist’s journey to becoming a hero, Hero X is there to watch it, possibly even manipulating it in some way. Perhaps the next time his snap is heard, it’ll be during Cyan’s big fight in To Be Hero X Episode 10. That moment could be when the donghua switches back to its usual 3D animation, and viewers will finally see Cyan in To Be Hero X’s Arcane-esque art style for the first time.

What Exactly is Hero X Trying to Achieve, and Why?

Hero X Feels as Though Hero Culture is Nothing but a Giant Chess Board

To Be Hero X’s series of trailers not only offered fans a sneak peek into the compelling story that the donghua would be but also gave extra content for fans to pull information from. In one of Hero X’s character trailers, the people around him begin discussing his fame and his powers. It’s not clear what set of beliefs led to Hero X obtaining his Dr. Strange level of control over reality, but it’s apparent that as long as he has all his fans in his corner, there’s no limit to what he is capable of. A fan of his even claims Hero X is omnipotent.

It’s unknown why Hero X chooses to involve himself with the ascension of other heroes of the Commission’s Top Ten. He could simply be scoping out the competition, since he’ll eventually battle one (if not all) of them during the tournaments that take place every 2 years. However, every arc has taken place several years apart. To Be Hero X fans have theorized that he’s actually trying to push forward a league of heroes who have firsthand experience of the deception of the Hero Commission and the unfairness of the Trust Value System — all in the name of taking the current system of heroes down.

So far, this theory holds up. Lin Ling’s rather unconventional rise to heroism literally began with Miss J convincing him to lie to the world about who he was in order to maintain the face of the hero company, Treeman. Yang Cheng is currently being manipulated and used by the CEO of Mighty Glory, whose scheme to replace the original E-Soul got his innocent friend killed. Cyan was trapped and taken advantage of by a man who saw her as nothing more than a stepping stone to feed his own ego.

The stories of every major character—from the three protagonists shown thus far to secondary characters like Moon and Firm Man — show that the Trust Value system is heavily flawed, and the Hero Commission is corrupted. Hero X may have the omnipotent ability to influence his surroundings, but alone, he doesn’t have the power to accomplish what he truly wants to. And that is to create a kinder reality for those propped up by Trust Value, one where they don’t become pieces in someone else’s game. Perhaps the big tournament that To Be Hero X is building up to will end up becoming one big battle to reform the donghua’s tragic hierarchy of heroes once and for all.