Mm, I personally think it's Lavi, though my opinion's far different from your friend's. Maybe it's just me, but... from the way they said it, the Heart just recently awakened. Someone might have had it for a while, but they didn't know it was the Heart until just now.
Consider: Back when Lavi first appeared, Hoshino said in his omake-profile that he was originally supposed to be the main character for another series she was doing. When you think in these terms, he was awfully... unspectacular... for an almost-main-character, even if the fans loved his comic-relief ways. He had two main moments to shine: the Krory arc earlier, and the game with Road in the Ark arc, and both were less than stellar. In the Krory arc, he shared the spotlight with Allen and Krory, and it was more of a character introduction than anything else. And later, while he won the game against Road, he didn't really kill/defeat her the way Kanda and Krory did Skin and Jasdebi, respectively, and he even needed to be sort-of rescued afterwards. And again, he didn't manage to even dent Tyki, after that, and fell into the chasm. And upon his return, he pretty much turned into comic relief again.
But that's not really a good reason to judge this, I'll admit. That's just why I thought it might be him in the first place.
If you remember, when Allen restored the Ark... Lavi was the only one who really paid attention to his Innocence. Kanda had Mugen's hilt, and Krory had his blood returned (or so we would assume), but Lavi sat there looking at his Innocence, and because even more cheerful and humorous than he was before... well, before a lot of things. Actually, this might just be my opinion, but he pretty much reverted to the way he was when Allen first met him. A little (a lot) less aloof, though.
My theory is that that's when the Heart awakened. And who better to hide it than someone whose entire personality is just a mask?
And, again, this is just grasping at straws, but Bookman and Lavi were the only Exorcists shown in the latest chapter, weren't they? And, I mean, sure, it makes sense for them to read about a war... but it's not a historical war. They're just reading the newspaper, something any of the characters could have done. It might possibly be a small reminder that they're there, and just a little foreshadowing. Maybe, anyway.
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I dunno. I really don't think it can be Komui, the main reason being that he is not and has never been an Exorcist. As nice as it would be, I really, really doubt he could be a secret Exorcist no one knows about, considering their track record for finding Exorcists.
...And considering he's related to Lenalee. We knew before that when they were doing experiments that created the Fallen, they were using people related to Exorcists. And while they've stopped that, they would definitely have investigated all the Exorcists' family members. As Lenalee is an Exorcist and Komui is in the Order, I don't think he would have been able to escape that check.
And, again, this goes off my interpretation that the Heart had just awoken -- so Komui wouldn't have had any reason to hide it before, if he had been compatible.
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Consider: Back when Lavi first appeared, Hoshino said in his omake-profile that he was originally supposed to be the main character for another series she was doing. When you think in these terms, he was awfully... unspectacular... for an almost-main-character, even if the fans loved his comic-relief ways. He had two main moments to shine: the Krory arc earlier, and the game with Road in the Ark arc, and both were less than stellar. In the Krory arc, he shared the spotlight with Allen and Krory, and it was more of a character introduction than anything else. And later, while he won the game against Road, he didn't really kill/defeat her the way Kanda and Krory did Skin and Jasdebi, respectively, and he even needed to be sort-of rescued afterwards. And again, he didn't manage to even dent Tyki, after that, and fell into the chasm. And upon his return, he pretty much turned into comic relief again.
But that's not really a good reason to judge this, I'll admit. That's just why I thought it might be him in the first place.
If you remember, when Allen restored the Ark... Lavi was the only one who really paid attention to his Innocence. Kanda had Mugen's hilt, and Krory had his blood returned (or so we would assume), but Lavi sat there looking at his Innocence, and because even more cheerful and humorous than he was before... well, before a lot of things. Actually, this might just be my opinion, but he pretty much reverted to the way he was when Allen first met him. A little (a lot) less aloof, though.
My theory is that that's when the Heart awakened. And who better to hide it than someone whose entire personality is just a mask?
And, again, this is just grasping at straws, but Bookman and Lavi were the only Exorcists shown in the latest chapter, weren't they? And, I mean, sure, it makes sense for them to read about a war... but it's not a historical war. They're just reading the newspaper, something any of the characters could have done. It might possibly be a small reminder that they're there, and just a little foreshadowing. Maybe, anyway.
---
I dunno. I really don't think it can be Komui, the main reason being that he is not and has never been an Exorcist. As nice as it would be, I really, really doubt he could be a secret Exorcist no one knows about, considering their track record for finding Exorcists.
...And considering he's related to Lenalee. We knew before that when they were doing experiments that created the Fallen, they were using people related to Exorcists. And while they've stopped that, they would definitely have investigated all the Exorcists' family members. As Lenalee is an Exorcist and Komui is in the Order, I don't think he would have been able to escape that check.
And, again, this goes off my interpretation that the Heart had just awoken -- so Komui wouldn't have had any reason to hide it before, if he had been compatible.