Chapter 51

**Chapter 51** is the fifty-first chapter of the *Dead Mount Death Play* manga.

## Official Blurb

Surrounded by countless people acting strangely, can Iwanome finally uncover the methods of the elusive Fire-breathing Bug?

## Synopsis

Faced with a swarm of Fire-breathing Bugs surging into the meeting room, Tsubaki Iwanome instructs Kōzaburō Arase to "do [his] best" not to hurt their colleagues even as they are being manhandled. However, the Bugs meanwhile seem more interested in Habaki than the two detectives; Habaki topples a cabinet against a table to keep the crowd at bay. Arase quips the crowd seems to have "quite the grudge" against Habaki right before throwing a coworker at the Bugs entering the room; Iwanome chastises him for dropping Habaki's honorifics.

Arase then observes that the men in the hallway are moving oddly—he does not say specifically, but the Bugs are holding various devices in their hands. A moment later, Iwanome's left arm grows abnormally hot. Shocked, Iwanome orders Arase to retrieve the fire extinguisher from the hallway; considering the throng of opponents before him, Arase confirms the order.

Meanwhile, in a back corner, behind the cabinet barricade, Habaki attempts to call Kuon Higuro or another ally—but Iwanome physically pulls him out of hiding, causing him to drop his cell phone. As the fluttering papers ignite, Iwanome urges Habaki to move—he cannot have Habaki frying yet.

Arase barges back into the room; Iwanome shouts at him to spray the fire extinguisher's contents throughout the room rather than target the fires. One of the Bugs concedes "...Clever...boy" at this move while Iwanome continues that the men must be "emitting something"—and the three of them will be burned alive if they stay in one place.

Over in Jirotarou Takanosu's office, Tena Sorimura offers to 'repay' Takanosu for his information by any means other than turning himself in (again). Rueful that his bad leg prevents him from tackling Sorimura, Jirotarou instead asks how Fire-breathing Bug starts fires; he expects that Sorimura must have already figured the Bug's methods out, given Sorimura has no interest in him despite his pursuit of supernatural phenomena.

Sorimura initially protests he has pride, but, remembering how Fire-breathing Bug responded to his greeting by trying to burn him alive, wonders if taking revenge on the Bug would allow him to regain his honor. Jirotarou interrupts his train of thought by questioning whether a man who turned himself in only to later break out of jail can really have pride, which spurs Sorimura to wax lyrical until he tests Jirotarou's patience. Promising to only give Jirotarou a hint, Sorimura explains Fire-breathing Bug is "one person, but not one person"—via the fruits of technology, they have come as close as is possible to having supernatural powers yet they exist outside common knowledge.

Outside the building, a crowd of people carrying Bug umbrellas stand together in the rain. The curved handle of one of the umbrellas emits a static sound.

When the smoke filling the meeting room obstructs Iwanome's field of vision—smoky enough the Bug's signature phrase on the wall is no longer visible—he drops to his knees and presses folded cloth to his mouth. Like with Lemmings' appearance at Youtoukorou, Iwanome's mind goes into overdrive as he attempts to figure out what is happening: he is sure the men must be emitting *something*, but he can only guess whether that something is lasers, radiation, far infrared, electromagnetic waves, or all manner of possibilities.

This train of thought leads him to recall a conversation he had with forensics specialist Mikoto Saimyouji over a meal at the station. Saimyouji had been comparing detective work to what Gamma Knife radiosurgery accomplishes in radio therapy: just as Gamma Knife radiosurgery focuses numerous micro beams of radiation on tumors, thus burning their target at the junction where the beams meet, detectives follow dozens of clue trails until they converge on the culprit, at which point detectives "burn [the culprit] out with the flames of justice."

Just as one gamma ray on its own cannot seriously damage the target, neither can one line of evidence. Iwanome had understood Saimyouji to mean concentrating multiple rays on a single point can burn something instantly; Saimyouji had agreed before commenting he hoped Iwanome would never 'misfire' on a false charge—at the very least, to never let Saimyouji's autopsies go to waste.

Standing upright to spot a few Bugs within the smoke, each holding aloft emitters, Iwanome reaches a conclusion: Fire-breathing Bug is a *group*. Each Bug is emitting something—lasers, electromagnetic waves, perhaps—and whatever is caught in the point of intersection will be burned. Even with this realization, he doubts the feasibility of burning something like the phrase on the ceiling from a remote location with such a degree of accuracy. Then he corrects himself: considering the existence of troublemakers like Grocer, Solitaire, Lemmings, and the something that tussled with Lemmings at Youtoukorou, no possibility is impossible.

In Higurou's hideout, Misaki Sakimiya, Xiaoyu Lei, and Takumi Kuruya must decide what to do with the still unconscious Momoya Agakura. Xiaoyu sharpens the digits on his right hand in anticipation of finishing Momoya off, but Takumi argues they should at least wring some information out of Momoya first—though, much to Xiaoyu's confusion, he concedes "Polka" could probably wrangle information from him even if he died.

Takumi then asks if Misaki is still able to paralyze others by biting them; Misaki suspects she should be, given her saliva still tastes sweet, but holds off from explaining when Xiaoyu questions the conversation. She declares she will tell Xiaoyu later if Xiaoyu tells her all about himself in exchange—Takumi wants to make a quick escape in case Higuro returns with reinforcements—but Xiaoyu pauses; the singers outside seem to have left.

Detecting someone approaching from the shadows, he tenses.

The two Agakura sisters from Chapter 50—one in a hoodie, the other sporting an extremely long braid—hear Xiaoyu's warning; mildly surprised, the one with the braid verbally acknowledges Xiaoyu "catching" her despite her believing she had made herself undetectable. However, she is not surprised he failed to notice Majiri.

Majiri Agakura greets Xiaoyu with a "Long time no see" from where she is standing close behind him, too close to his right ear. He instinctively swipes his right hand back, fingers sharpened—and Majiri severs his offending arm just above its elbow. Catching the prosthetic, she praises its high-quality make yet nonetheless reminds Xiaoyu of what she told him when she severed his arms and legs at their first meeting: that she would return his limbs any time if he agreed to become her little brother.

Xiaoyu grinds out, "So......you really did come back to Japan. Maijiri Agakura...!"

## Trivia

Cultural References

* Sorimura's whimsical claim, "...People call me Solitaire of the Clouds! My magic is my own style. And my style is intangible!", as well as the art style in which he imagines himself, are references to the martial artist character Juza of the Clouds in the manga *Fist of the North Star*. Juza's moniker and personality match his carefree style.

Referbacks

* To Misaki testing her paralytic saliva on Corpse God in Chapter 5.
* To Sorimura and Fire-breathing Bug's confrontation in Chapter 20.