Chapter 11

* Original Title
* Volume Title

**Chapter 11** is the eleventh chapter of the *Dead Mount Death Play* manga.

## Synopsis

Takeru Shinoyama laughs upon hearing Lemmings' news that Polka Shinoyama is still alive. With an ill-boding grin, he declares, "Playtime ends now."

In the abandoned torture building, the Corpse God as "Polka" informs Takumi Kuruya and Misaki Sakimiya of his intention to start earning a living. With money he can buy magic-storing jewels, and with magic he will have a better chance of holding his own against people like Lemmings—his encounter with whom the day before having served as a sharp wake-up call to that end.

"Polka" explains that necromancy magic has multiple uses beyond direct combat, including: making pacts with self-aware spirits; making spirits possess objects and granting them movement; and having spirits possess weapons. So saying, he holds out Misaki's spider-themed mechanical pencil and announces the pencil is possessed by one such spirit: after finding an intelligent spirit lurking underneath the torture building, he made a pact with the spirit and transferred it to the pencil.

The pencil leaps out of Corpse God's hand and over to a blank sheet of paper on a nearby table, where it converses with them via the written word. Saying that it is an 'honor' to work with friends of the Mediator Lisa Kuraki, it introduces itself as Hosorogi, "deceased for five years."

A little while later, the Corpse God carries a folding sign to the building's front entrance with Takumi and Misaki following. He remarks that he can use necromancy to dominate the market and, when Takumi grudgingly concedes he and Clarissa might be able to secure him a business permit, shows him the sign: a clearly amateur, handmade attempt advertising the vaguely titled business, "The Shop."

Takumi, exasperated by the Corpse God's desire for peace versus his intention to set up shop in a former torture building and corpse-dumping ground, wonders if "Polka" has lost it.

Three days later finds the fortune-telling shop open for business, with Misaki acting as "Polka's" assistant and Corpse God hiding his eyes under a veil. One of his clients is a young man: first, Corpse God 'scries' his occupation as medicine-related, which the man affirms; then, with the help of his Evil Eye, he claims he feels an 'energy blockage' in the man's right leg. Apparently shocked, the man confirms that he recently broke it and that the leg is still recovering.

He is further taken aback to see Hosorogi-the-pencil writing of its own accord. Picking up Hosorogi's paper, the Corpse God warns the young man to cut back on all the video games. Outside the fortune-telling entrance, Takumi peeks around the corner and is himself taken aback by the very real queue of people waiting for their fortunes told.

Once Corpse God and Misaki are on break, Takumi rummages through the duo's profits and expresses disbelief over the fact that they are, in fact, making a profit. Hosorogi claims some of the credit, as owed to his far more presentable sign design, and recounts *why* their fortune-telling gig is working in the first place:

1. Using the clients' names and dates of birth as submitted upon check-in, Takumi hacks data networks and gather information on them.
2. Between "Polka's" Evil Eye and the animal spirits he uses to spy on the contents of clients' bags, he has the means to deduce information on the fly.
3. Hosorogi's performance as a "self-propelled writing instrument" is a supernatural showstopper in and of itself.

Takumi's worries are not entirely assuaged, as the business is too dependent on Hosorogi as a convenient one-trick-pony, but Hosorogi is confident that they can spread the word at Youtoukorou and start attracting 'bigger fish'. Furthermore, they can always shut down the business before it starts attracting too much attention.

At Shinjuku Police Station, Tsubaki Iwanome and Kōzaburō Arase ask Saki Aikawa if she has any new information. She does not, so the conversation turns to Iwanome's "crazy story" about the commotion at Clarissa's bar: Lemmings was one matter, but the 'demon' who contributed to the bar's heavy damage was a whole other level of 'crazy', as Iwanome phrases it.

He asks Aikawa if 'sensei' has heard about it, and Aikawa replies that Saimyouji—despite his *bone still healing*—is preoccupied with what he believes to be the "real-deal occult" this time. The subsequent two panels depict Saimyouji leaving "Polka's" shop, a spring in his step.

Iwanome and Arase prepare to leave, explaining to Aikawa that they plan to question a troublemaker on the Shakuzawa Building and "human knot" incidents.

Meanwhile, a twin brother and twin sister arrive at The Fortuneteller Shop in the company of several bodyguards. Sure that "brother Takeru's" intelligence on the location is correct, they wonder whether their "Uncle Polka" can *really* tell fortunes—and if so, whether he knows what is in store for him.

## Trivia

* The chapter's title page, for the chapter's individual sale, features a color illustration of the Corpse God. In Volume 2, this illustration is replaced with a full-body illustration of Misaki in school attire. Part of the original illustration is reused for the volume's title page instead.