Chapter 31

**Chapter 31** is the thirty-first chapter of the *Dead Mount Death Play* manga.

## Official Blurb

A chance dream allows for a glimpse into the Corpse God's past—but Phantom Solitaire seems to have his hands full in the present!

## Summary

The Fire-breathing Bug, while singing the rest of *Kagome Kagome*—seemingly in the shape of a young lady in a raincoat, standing outside the building—remotely burns its signature message into the wall behind the Corpse God's couch.

In a flashback to the Other World, people rush to and fro as the Byandy Empire's emblem burns behind them. The empire is in chaos: its army has been swallowed by a whole; General Daryl and his men have been carried away by the homewrecker dragon; and there are fears the empire's annexed principalities are rebelling.

The Corpse God, an undead necromancer, gets out of bed at the shouts and prepares to leave. His necromancy master Easlies Swordfrail intercepts him at a set of doors and says she has erected a perception-jamming force field—the sole reason neither of them have been summoned to the front lines already; she has no intention of joining "fools in their own self-destruction," and has already left their mutual acquaintances to Romelka Rimelka's protection.

Remarking that "it's just as Utsurojuza said," she instructs Corpse God to prepare for life as a man liberated from the empire, free to spend his long time in the world growing up as he pleases. In exchange, she says he ought to take care of his friends whose time is limited. The Corpse God dream shifts; he recalls the later murders of his friends and apologizes for having defiled the power his master gave him, for having become an enemy of the world. As his thoughts spiral downward, the dream shifts to a memory of the imperial prince saying the Corpse God is as "silly as ever."

The real Polka Shinoyama abruptly smacks the Corpse God awake with his fins, whereupon the Corpse God—smelling something burning—sits up and looks behind the couch. On the wall is written, "This world is a buggy program. Are you a termite? Or are you a bird eating the bug?"

Approaching the wall with the real Polka to examine the words, the Corpse God soon determines that a spirit is not responsible. He touches the letters; though he finds them hot to the touch, he can detect no vestiges of magic and wonders if the words were written using this world's laws. More important is the question of who wrote the words and why, and he and the real Polka begin puzzling out their meaning.

Polka's cellphone rings, and the Corpse God answers it. On the other end, the Fire-breathing Bug—in a stairwell, seen as a suited figure holding an umbrella—slowly asks if this is Polka Shinoyama. Then, "Are you also...a bastard child of Sabaramond?" The Corpse God, his eyes wide and intense, demands how the Fire-breathing Bug knows that name.

On the Torture Building's rooftop, Tena Sorimura—who has just mistakenly accused Xiaoyu Lei of being Polka and been corrected—attempts to play off his mistake while wondering who exactly "this kid" is. Since he views Xiaoyu as a mere child, he does not take seriously Xiaoyu's declared intent to capture and interrogate him; in the blink of an eye, Xiaoyu closes the distance between them. With three blades in either hand, he says he is nineteen and slashes the blades at Tena's neck.

Tena dodges the attack and the next one, quick to put new distance between him and his attacker. Just as he is thinking he can still keep up with Xiaoyu's speed, Xiaoyu extends his bionic fingers into long, spindly claws and thrusts them a flabbergasted Tena's way.

From another rooftop, a man watching Tena through binoculars calls Takeru Shinoyama to report on the situation. Although Takeru had been expecting movement, he had not quite been expecting a showdown between "that clown of a criminal" and his "old man's personal bodyguard," and he says as much to Yochigi and the two assassins on stand-by in his office.

As Takeru muses over how his group can use the fighting to their benefit, noting that the most important thing is to use chaos to gain control, a final shot is shown of Lemmings overlooking several high-rise buildings from a rooftop.

## Trivia

### Cultural References

* To *Kagome Kagome*, a chant from a Japanese children's game in which children chant a song while circling a blindfolded player. Once the chant stops, the child must attempt to identify the person standing behind them.
	+ The Bug sings the second half of the chant as follows: "At the dawn of night...the crane and turtle slipped. Who is behind you now...?"