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V-るはず VS V-たはず

zuotengdazuo

Sempai
8 Dec 2019
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Hi. According to the context, 士道 was surprised that 十香 was not in the underground shelter. So why isn't ていたはず used here? I know V-たはず is used to talk about something contrary to one's expectation.
Thank you.
 
ているはず is fine because 士道's expectation was that 十香 currently, now, would be in the underground shelter and not here. (Clearly this isn't the case, but he's still processing that information.)

避難しているはずの十香 is "十香, who should be in the underground shelter (and not here) now".
避難していたはずの十香 would be "十香, who should have been in the underground shelter (but might not be anymore)".

I believe there can be some overlap depending on the context and how the author is trying to frame the narrator's perception of events. At the very least, there's nothing unusual or incorrect about using -ている here.

(Despite your post title, this isn't really an example of -るはず vs. -たはず which is a distinction of imperfect vs. perfect, whereas both -ている and -ていた express states. Obviously, 避難するはずの十香 and 避難したはずの十香 would have completely different meanings from each other and would not be interchangeable.)
 
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