Chapter 27

**Chapter 27** is the twenty-seventh chapter of the *Dead Mount Death Play* manga.

## Official Blurb

Sayo is brought up to speed on the situation with the Corpse God and Polka, but can she handle the finer details...?

## Summary

The Corpse God, with Takumi Kuruya and Misaki Sakimiya on his either side, gives Sayo Shinoyama a brief summary of his true identity: that he was a court sorcerer for the Byandy Empire; that a hero from the Nyanild Kingdom defeated him one hundred years later; and that he reincarnated into the real Polka Shinoyama's dead body in Shinjuku. He concludes with the assurance that the real Polka's soul is safe and that he intends to someday give Polka's body back to him.

Neither the Corpse God nor Takumi truly expect Sayo to believe him, and are shocked when Sayo says she does: the Polka she knows would have never remained as calm as his imposter did when Tsubaki Iwanome grabbed him during the fortunetelling session. What she *is* struggling to believe is the idea someone would want Polka dead, and she picks up Polka's shark plush—unaware that the shark contains Polka's soul—and says she will take a shower to clear her head.
Before she goes, she promises not to tell Lei Xiaoyu anything once he returns from shopping.

Once Sayo is gone, Takumi asks the Corpse God if he knows of any magic which could erase Sayo's memories. The Corpse God recalls a necromantic method in which he could possess his victim's spirit and cut out a piece of their memory using his soul, a system of magic which he says differs from Geldwood's practice of brainwashing and confessional spells. Since he has only ever used his spell on people in his home world, he is reluctant to resort to it now; should there be some fatal difference between the people in this world and his world, one mistake could leave Sayo disabled.

However, he then adds that "sloppily" breaking into minds would potentially work for enemies—and Takumi, in a moment's epiphany, asks if he used such memory manipulation on the thugs in the human knots case. The Corpse God admits he did to a lesser extent—such that they would not be completely disabled—and Takumi groans, "I knew it... Sometimes you scare me."

The Corpse God smiles sweetly at that, pleased that it is only *sometimes*.Takumi muses that his fear by all rights should pale in comparison to what Misaki must feel, considering the Corpse God killed her—though, then again, she *did* seem happy about it. With that, he and the Corpse God belatedly realize Misaki has left the room.

As Sayo finishes her shower and heads for the towels, a mortified Polka covers his eyes with his fins and wonders why she brought him with her. Misaki enters the bathroom moments later, under the pretense of wanting a shower as well, and suggests that she and Sayo have a 'talk' as she is getting undressed. Sayo asks what she means; picking up a blunt object, Misaki closes the distance between them and clarifies: she is sure Sayo is curious as to *who killed Polka*.

Sayo would rather they discuss sharks, but Misaki does not let her dodge the question; putting the weapon to Sayo's neck, she asks what Sayo would do if she said *she* did the deed. Rather than answer outright, Sayo guesses that what Misaki wants is someone to revile her—and that Polka has already forgiven her for his own murder. Though Sayo intends to ask Polka more about what happened later, she is sure he has already forgiven Misaki. She also believes Misaki is currently trying to goad Sayo into hating her as a form of atonement.

Knowing all of this, Sayo still chooses to forgive Misaki as Polka has done—and refuses to revile her. Misaki, her weapon lowered and her confidence shaken, likens Sayo to a detective—though Sayo credits everything she has learned to shark films, including how people think. She confirms that she is not scared of Misaki, despite Misaki having slit Polka's throat; when Misaki asks why, Sayo explains that anyone who likes shark films cannot be a bad person.

Polka, still covering his eyes, concludes that Sayo has more screws loose than he thought and chooses to pretend he never heard their conversation in the first place.

The 'second reason' Sayo cites is that Misaki saved the lives of her younger siblings Kazuki and Shizuki, and that this is Sayo's *lesser* reason is something Misaki can only laugh at. She blushes, smiles, and Sayo smiles with her.

Both girls dress, and, upon rejoining Takumi and the Corpse God, Misaki claims she left to test whether or not Sayo was the one who ordered Polka's murder. Speaking of—she has decided Sayo had nothing to do with it, to which Takumi says all Misaki *has* done is paint Sayo as crazy. Sayo's insistence that she just has sharks on the brain fails to improve his opinion, and he picks up Polka's shark plush to express his sympathy for Polka's luck in family; then, noticing how flustered Polka is, he asks in disbelief if Sayo brought him to the shower.

Sayo offers Takumi a puzzled apology for taking the plush without permission, and it dawns on him she still does not know the plush contains Polka's soul. She buries her face in her hands upon learning the truth; Takumi expresses sympathy, assuming she is embarrassed to learn someone was there while she undressed, but she is distressed for entirely different reasons: she cannot believe no one told her that her family became a shark; she had assumed two souls were competing for dominance in the shark all along. The Corpes God notes that Rozan Shinoyama had thought the same thing.

Sayo thus pleads for the Corpse God to make her a shark as well, with Misaki commenting that Polka himself wanted to be a robot. Takumi, having had enough of sharks, returns to the more important topic at hand: using his tablet to display an image of the symbol displayed on the dirigibles earlier, he prompts the Corpse God to explain what the symbol means to him.

As "Polka" takes the tablet, he says that the symbol being made public is not inherently a problem; however, if people are currently trying to *use* the symbol for something, he needs to find those people somehow. Takumi reminds him of his desire to live a peaceful life, but the Corpse God replies that the symbol is a highly significant memory for "us" (implied to be him and the young noble in his memories); he cannot stand by and allow it to be disgraced.