Chapter 7

**Chapter 7** is the seventh chapter of the *Dead Mount Death Play* manga.

## Official Blurb

Polka gets to know Detective Kosaburo Arase who seems to have some unpleasant history with Kuruya...

## Summary

Takumi Kuruya mulls over Detective Kōzaburō Arase of the Shinjuku police, whom he considers akin to a wild animal. His sentiment stems from personal experience: when working as an information broker for a gang, he witnessed Arase dispatch eight gang members in a bloodbath of violence.

Meanwhile, Arase warns the Corpse God to be wary of those who are quick to be friendly, something he expects "Polka's" parents to have taught him. "Polka" replies that *his* parents sold him, a reference to his own past rather than the past of the real Polka Shinoyama; realizing his mistake too late, he mutters an apology to the real Polka nestled in his hood.

His slip-up only intrigues Arase further, but Arase only gets as far as asking for his and Misaki Sakimiya's names before he is interrupted by Takumi calling his cellphone. Upon hearing Takumi's voice, Arase supposes that Takumi's skills must have improved quite given that he was somehow able to acquire his number. During this exchange, Misaki's own cellphone vibrates with an incoming message. She smiles.

Takumi claims that "those guys" are nothing more than his gaming buddies, family of Youtoukorou staff but otherwise unrelated to the business. When Arase remains disinclined to disengage with them, Takumi volunteers to "take the rap" for his illegal drone flying; as several more of his drones come to hover over Arase's head, he points out a worse alternative—a video of Arase arbitrarily interrogating civilians going viral online.

Arase calls Takumi out on his bargaining attempt, attributing Takumi's boldness solely to the fact that Takumi is elsewhere and unreachable. Full of mocking scorn, he contrasts Takumi's behavior to his past behavior—i.e. when Takumi begged Arase not to hurt him, promising to tell him anything about his fellow gang members.

The barb hits home; as Takumi grits his teeth, Arase cheerfully informs "Polka" that Takumi is a shallow loudmouth criminal who will without hesitation sell out his friends and their secrets for his own sake. "Polka" acknowledges this, but retorts that Takumi being a loudmouth is still better than Arase in this moment. Alarm tingles down Arase's skin, confirming his suspicion that "Polka" is no ordinary teenager.

For all his outward calm, "Polka' is at a loss as to what to do and turns to Misaki for advice—only to realize alongside Arase that Misaki has disappeared. At the last moment, Arase senses Misaki as she prepares to strike him from behind; he drives his fist back, but she dodges and kicks his diaphragm with enough force to propel him backward into a closed storefront.

His back slams into the metal security grille, but Misaki only laughs at his glare and justifies her attack as 'self-defense'. Corpse God grabs his hand and bolts; Arase tries to follow, but stumbles to a halt at the pain radiating in his chest. Forced to abandon the chase, he muses that such a kick could not possibly have come from an ordinary 'kid' and walks in the direction they fled; however, when he emerges onto the wider street, he finds no sign of them.

As a large, disembodied skeletal hand carries Misaki and the Corpse God to safety, and one of Takumi's drones keeps pace a few feet above, Corpse God credits Misaki for saving their hides. Misaki passes the credit on to Takumi, who in contacting her had warned Arase was a cop. The hand eventually comes to a stop so that the two can disembark; Takumi, watching via the live video feed, slumps back in his seat and lets out a long sigh. His expression settles into something more somber. Then, he rings "Polka's" cellphone.

Once Takumi verifies the Corpse God is all right, he says that—while he appreciates how "Polka" tried to stand up for him—Arase was right when he said Takumi would sell out his friends' secrets for the sake of his own life. "Polka" counters that Takumi is giving *him* too much credit, as he values his friends' lives more than any of his personal secrets.

Momentarily speechless, Takumi recovers and asks if "Polka" was this direct in his previous life. "Polka" responds that Geldwood's ability to force confessions via their holy arts made the purchase and sale of information essentially moot; when Takumi asks if Geldwood's members really did have divine powers, Corpse God—remembering Shagrua Lugrid—replies that at least one of them did.

Upon Arase's return to the Shinjuku Police Station, he lifts up his shirt to reveal a stark footprint on his abdomen and requests that Saki Aikawa run the print. Aikawa recognizes the print as that of a women's shoe and asks what happened, but Fumiyo Yamada rushes over with a first aid kit before Arase can reply.

While Yamada is busy tugging Arase's shirt off, Aikawa realizes that she has seen the same print quite recently and sorts through a nearby stack of files. The paper she pulls out has an attached photograph of a footprint left at the 'human knots' crime scene; handing the photograph over to Arase, she comments on Arase's roughed-up condition and how the 'human knots' case is second only to the Lemmings case in importance.

Mindful of their colleagues' mutterings and stares, Aikawa says that Arase's yakuza tattoo is putting everyone on edge and that he should go patch himself up in private. Oblivious to all but the picture, he declares that the footprint is the "first solid lead" worth following in some time, and that circumstances are shaping up to be exceedingly interesting.

The final panel displays two photographs: the left is that of the footprint; the right features several humans on a street, with Lemmings visible in the bottom left corner.