Chapter 54

**Chapter 54** is the fifty-fourth chapter of the *Dead Mount Death Play* manga.

## Official Blurb

Habaki is reunited with his daughter, but she seems a bit different than he remembers...

## Synopsis

While the Civil A. Sabaramond and the Lulu decide on a sheep soba place for dinner, Soara Habaki is busy crushing her father's right ankle. She remarks that this pain is only a fraction of that which she endured for a decade, and, when Habaki protests she said "she'd give up [her] body for [him]," Soara points out she had said that after he lied the laboratory would be like a paradise.

Punching him repeatedly, Soara remembers the horrible experimentation she was endured and the promise she made to herself that, had her father checked up on her even one time, she would spare his life. Hoisting her father up by his neck, she quips, "Lucky for me...you're a cold-hearted bastard."

Over on a distant rooftop, one of two spying figures observes Civil, Lulu, and the Habakis through a scope and confirms their target is present.

Habaki—in spite of a missing tooth—splutters that he can still be useful to the Bastard Children of Sabaramond, pledging to find the "sorcerer who came from the other side of the sky" if he is granted a little time. Though Civil expresses doubt Habaki could do such a thing, he then says he does not mind giving Habaki a second chance. This earns him Soara's ire, but the man continues that Habaki never changes. He only ever looks forward when he should spare a glance behind him—like now.

A sniper bullet rips into Habaki's head, killing him instantly. The sniper: Rinne Horojima, the shorter of the siblings spying on a rooftop in the building's purlieu. Her brother—binoculars trained on the Habakis—complains about Lisa Kuraki feeling the need to 'test' their sniping skills, given their reputation as Shibuya's top killers, and furthermore wonders why she is having them snipe a "battered old geezer" of all targets. As far as Hīro Horojima is concerned, this raises questions as to the Shinjuku mediators' "petty revenge."

Meanwhile, Clarissa, dressed in casualwear rather than her bartending uniform, sets down a semi-full glass of liquor, says she is heading out, and asks her brunette companions to prepare. So saying, Clarissa discards her cigarette pack in an empty glass before walking away.

Soara, left holding her father's corpse, demands her boss give her orders. Her boss' orders are simple: "You've got three minutes." Soara drops the corpse and drops off the rooftop. Upon realizing Soara is out of sight, Hīro tells his sister they need to leave or at least hide on the middle floor, but Rinne instead crouches and readies her sniper rifle—for Soara is already moving toward them.

Soara leaps off a roof and grabs onto construction tarp that she ascends via arm strength alone, evading Rinne's sniper fire en route. Upon reaching the siblings, she seizes the rifle and flips onto the roof in one smooth movement—before bending the rifle barrel and tossing the broken weapon onto the floor.

Her grievance is this: she was only able to hurt her father half as much as she desired, and so she snarls that the snipers had better "make up" for stealing her life's revenge from her. However, she just might air her grievance with their client instead if they tell her who ordered the job. Rinne aims a double-barreled handgun at Soara and asks if she is mocking her; Soara says she is not, a skilled couple light them must have some idea as to whether their guns can take down "an animal" like her.

Rinne fires at Soara's eye. Soara dodges, complimenting Rinne's choice of target as she prepares to counterattack. Just as Soara closes in on the siblings, three Youtoukorou members attack: first the tanned blonde, whose flying kicks Soara dodges; then the bouncer, who grabs Soara by her top and flings her into the air; and finally by the swordswoman, who slashes her blade as soon as Soara lands.

This, too, Soara dodges. She flips away, pausing on a handstand to take a good look at the new attackers: the swordswoman, the tall bouncer, and the relaxed-looking woman who has now donned a hat and jacket. So do the snipers, who recognize the three newcomers as belonging to Clarissa's troop. Hīro asks if they have been keeping watch on him and his sibling due to "all the backstabbing and running away and stuff," to which the swordswoman replies that Clarissa is hardly about to leave rookies on their own.

Hīro reaffirms his dislike of Clarissa while Rinne begrudgingly thanks the three newcomers for the rescue, with the three Youtoukorou members and even Soara disarmed by her adorableness. Soara obstinately refuses to forgive the sniper on the grounds that she is cute, thinking fondly of the equally adorable child in her own gang—only to then realize the child and her boss have left, the three minutes having already elapsed.

Looking far from pleased, Soara supposes she will have to treturn to the guard. The swordswoman proves disinclined to let Soara walk away, so Soara topples a construction scaffold in her and the hat-wearing combatant's direction. Both dodge, the latter exclaiming that Soara must be on Lemmings' level, while the bouncer picks up the sniper siblings and calmly walks out of the shadow of falling pipes.

Soara drops over the tarp-covered building, curiosity piqued by the idea this city might hold others who "can do what [she does]," whomever this Lemming may be. She lands on a rooftop without injury, her spirit somewhat lifted at the promise of fun.

As Corpse God and Sayo Shinoyama watch the rain outside their window, a knock sounds at their door. Sayo wonders who could be visiting, since Misaki Sakimiya and the others never knock, and she has her answer when the door swings open to reveal Clarissa and her brunette companion. Clarissa apologizes for visiting at such a late hour, but she has urgent need for Corpse God's powers: there is somebody to whom she desperately wants to ask a question.

On the table, pencil-possessing Miyabi Hosorogi thinks with no small amount of shock, "L...Lisa!?"

## Trivia

* This chapter spells the sniper sibling's last name (once) as "Horoshima." The spelling used for their surname in previous chapters was 'Horojima', and the Japanese will have to be checked to ascertain which is correct.
* Clarissa's Duo Virginia Slims pack has a misspelled label. The packaging should read "DUO Virginia S" but instead reads "DUO Virgina S".
* "Sicut vis," which Soara says in response to her boss' "You've got three minutes...Arahabaki" order, is Latin; the manga has translated it as "As you wish."