Why didn't Kris throw away the thorn after taking it from Noelle in the Weird Route? Are they stupid? If they didn't like the way things were going, they could've just thrown the thorn into the forest or the lake on the way back to their house. Since the player wasn't there, Kris could've aborted the route by themselves right then and there and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it since we wouldn't know where it was thrown. So why did Kris keep it around?

Maybe a part of them really did secretly enjoy the route like the Shadow Mantle boss said and was hoping for the player to continue the route and put the thorn back on Noelle.