This is just sort of an assumption/observation post:

Isn't it kind of weird that Nol "running away" has been a theme.

- Rand frequently says " where's the boy run off to" as if at any moment Nol would just disappear and no one would know or "you better not be planning anything foolish" as if Nol's going to create a another catasrophe in the name of doing good

- Nana always wonders where Nol is, frequently checking up on him, Kousuke himself said in the beginning "She's still worried about you". In the comic, he's done this twice, where he just slips home, without telling Nana. First being after the dinner, second after he had a meeting with Shin-ae at WacDonalds.

- Especially with Shin-ae, he literally tried to run away from her multiple times.

- Nol himself said "I don't want anyone mistaking me for running away to another country" when discussing about his college plans abroad

- Right after the formal, when Kousuke was desperately trying to reach him, he couldn't reach him in any way. Kousuke quoted " Now tell me where exactly did you run off to?"

- Also when he had the discussion with Shin-ae in McDonalds a notable line he remembered was.

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https://preview.redd.it/y07tyrzpequ51.png?width=659&format=png&auto=webp&s=cccc2cd58009cc9da28623462cd88fe17923c8c5

This flashback shows Nol in the dark, wearing rather big, cloths and holding a backpack

Nol seems to be looking at a scene unfold, like when Shin-ae was placed in an ambulance

But why is he wearing a backpack when it's dark out? He's definitely wearing his mom's cloths? His shoes are untied, so he must have been running or wearing them for a long time but he was so distracted that he didn't bother tying them back.

All we know about Nol's mom death is that

- Nol was blamed

- It happened at night

- Seemed like Nol wasn't at the exact scene when his mother died ( he looked surprised at the line of police cars )

Also I'd like to state, that I don't think Nol was coming back from school because in ILY it seems that all the kids wear a uniform.

One possible theory --> Nol ran away from his mother ( that's why he had the backpack ), his mother tried to look for him and in the process died in some way?

Considering Nana isn't described as being too involved in Nol's childhood, I presume Nol and his Mom were very close since they were the immediate loved ones.

If Nol did indeed runaway due to some circumstance he could've been blamed for her demise, considering he put his mother in considerable amount of stress before she passed.

Or better yet maybe Nol didn't want to runaway but was trying to do something else but everyone thought he just ran away from his mom ( including his mom ).

The quality of this post sucks but I hope you get my point

Feel free to discuss!