At Chapter 16. There are limits to what I can say, especially regarding your theory, but ... keep going.

I do like that a character beat was added for Reno to show his misgivings about dropping the plate. It bothered me that he was so popular among fans after he callously murdered thousands of people in the original game, but this addresses that.

One item that I noticed about Cloud that you have also noticed: Around Tifa, he flashes back. Around Aerith, he flashes forward. And Sephiroth ....