Episode 15

**The Vampire** (吸血鬼 *Kyūketsuki*) is the fifteenth episode of the *Dead Mount Death Play* anime.

## Official Blurb

One group of police officers leave empty-handed, but Polka and co. can't rest easy just yet—Inspector Iwanome is back for answers. The duo who tried to frame them hasn't given up, either, and one is a face from Takumi's past.

## Synopsis

Alarmed by the implications of the police's return to the Abandoned Building five years after the Miysabi Hosorogi incident, and concerned for Kochou Eightport's life, the Chief Editor of the *Weekly Dry* tabloid asks Eightport to let Himura, a veteran reporter with far more experience, to take over her story. Eightport refuses. The Chief compromises by ordering her to exclusively cover "Polka Shinoyama's" fortunetelling business and include *nothing* else.

Sayo Shinoyama presents Corpse God with a bag of raw gemstones that she had instructed Xiaoyu Lei to purchase during his shopping trip. She asks Corpse God to think of the gift as her rent payment and expresses gratitude for his saving of the real Polka. Xioayu, eavesdropping from the kitchenette, wonders what she means while preparing dinner. Misaki Sakimiya asks Corpse God if he has a plan to do with the magic stored in the gemstones, His reply confuses Xiaoyu further, while Takumi Kuruya's discussion about Nishida's corpse fuels Xiaoyu's misgivings about "Polka."

Takumi rushes out of one of the building's back exits after he notices Kōzaburō Arase and Tsubaki Iwanome have returned. The inspectors knock on the door of the common area as Corpse God, Misaki, and Sayo are settling in for dinner; Misaki asks if they have questions about the 'mugging,' and Iwanome answers that they are here for the Phantom Solitaire case instead. He assumes that Corpse God knows why Solitaire wanted to visit him, but Corpse God, who assumes Iwanome is unaware of the truth about the dirigible symbol, replies that he does not.

Hosorogi realizes that he never told Corpse God what he wrote for Iwanome during Iwanome's fortunetelling session. Before Hosorogi has the chance to rectify his mistake, Iwanome says that the symbol is the only connection between Corpse God and Solitaire. He asks Corpse God to let him see Hosorogi, the only person who could have told Corpse God about the symbol. Corpse God attempts to weasel out of the situation by feigning offense at Iwanome's "doubting" his skills at a fortuneteller but, when pressed, advises Iwanome to pursue the message he received. Without confirming, denying, or even acknowledging Iwanome's renewed belief that Hosorogi is still alive, Corpse God implies that he cannot fulfill Iwanome's request because Iwanome has yet to prove he is not corrupt like many of his colleagues.

The video intercom buzzes inside Takumi's flat. Takumi moves to answer it, a little wary that Arase might have come after hm, only to recoil in fear and horror when Kuon Higuro's smiling face appears in the intercom's screen. All the lights in the apartment switch off seconds before its infiltrator, Momoya Agakura, presses the intercom's Unlock button on Takumi's behalf.

After Higuro enters Takumi's apartment and Takumi's wrists and legs have been restrained, Higuro asks Takumi if he has guessed Higuro's motive for visiting. Takumi guesses that Higuro manipulated Nishida into becoming a mugger. Higuro stabs his thigh with a pen and tricks Takumi into revealing that he knew about Nishida's corpse—a corpse that Higuro *really* needs to be in the basement so that the police would "lay [bare] everyone involved with the Building" as Higuro's employers had desired. He demands an explanation for how Takumi hid Nishida's body.

Misaki crashes through one of the windows of Takumi's several storeys-high flat. Momoya fends her off and, though he is surprised that a girl of Misaki's size can overpower him—something that *should* be impossible—thwarts her rescue attempt by cleaving her torso from her lower body. Takumi calls her name in concern before passing out from the sedative Higuro injects him with. He checks his phone and informs his employer, or someone who works for them, via a quick call that he will have to report to him later due to an irregularity in the plan.

While Xiaoyu covertly watches Higuro and Momoya load a Takumi-stuffed duffel bag into their van, Sayo asks Corpse God back at the apartment if he is sure that using up the gemstones' mana on Misaki's evolution into a Vampire larva was a good idea. He responds that this has long been his plan for the first gemstones he could acquire, since he needs allies strong enough to protect others rather than rely solely on extending the reach of his own protection.

Misaki recovers from being chopped in half and leaves Takumi's flat to wind up on top of the same fence where she had attempted suicide after murdering Polka. She entertains the attractive idea that she is a whole new person compared to who she was then but, at the memory of her remorselessness with which she committed the deed, concludes that she has never been anything but inhuman.

Ten Years Ago
Lisa Kuraki, in a high schooler's uniform and sporting a medical patch over her left eye, approaches MIsaki in an orphanage and remarks that the girl does not smile much. Misaki confesses that she has forgotten how to smile. When Lisa encourages her to do activities that make other people smile, Misaki recalls the way Jinba cackled while murdering her parents and decides to follow in his footsteps.

Present
Misaki plummets from the fence to land on Higuro's van and pierce its roof with her prybar. Momoya thrusts his blade through the roof by way of answer, but it is Higuro's sharp turns of the vehicle that cause Misaki to lose her grip. Flying off the ground proves too difficult for her, so she takes the stairs up to a building's rooftop and glides off of it to resume the chase. Although Misaki may be as inhuman as ever, this time she is having an absolutely thrilling blast as one.

Higuro and Momoya bring Takumi inside a warehouse and search him for his phone, stripping his overshirt in the process. Takumi ceases feigning unconsciousness when Higuro calls him out on it; however he does not feign his surprise at discovering Higuro is working with an Agakuras given how Higuro used to warn him that the likes of the nutjob Agakura family or the cultish gang Crazy Bones Kagura are not to be "messed with." That fact is precisely why, says Higuro, he hired Agakura to work *for* him just like Takumi has allied with the Heilei.

Takumi has no idea what Higuro is talking about. Realizing that Takumi is not feigning ignorance, Higuro supposes that the Shinoyamas must not trust Takumi enough to tell him that Xiaoyu is an assassin on their payroll. Xiaoyu also happens to be listening to their conversation from the warehouse's rafters, having tailed Takumi's kidnappers after they ruined his plan to install a listening device in Takumi's flat. Momoya's involvement furthermore perplexes and unsettles him, since Momoya is a painful reminder of how the Agakuras delimbed him during his first official Heilei mission.

If Xiaoyu still considered himself to be Heilei, he might have opted to avoid conflict with the "off-limits" Agakura. Since he does not, he weighs the risks of confronting Momoya with the benefits he could stand to gain from rescuing Polka's friend. The prospect of putting Polka in his debt is not tempting enough for Xiaoyu to act—yet.

Higuro resumes his interrogation by reminding Takumi that he has no choice left but to cooperate. Momoya points out that Takumi does have an alternate choice—dying—but Higuro repeats that Takumi does not. The Takumi he remembers was willing to sacrifice everything he had in the present to avoid pain or his imminent death. That Takumi still wears his visor is proof enough that Takumi has not changed.

Higuro understands Takumi to be someone unable to cope with reality. Once, Takumi was a child who believed that people are good. When his parents and society betrayed him, he believed that people were evil. When Arase destroyed the Sons of the Styx and Takumi's convictions along with them, *good* and *evil* ceased to feel real for Takumi altogether. He retreated behind his visor and pretended that the world beyond it was a video game.

Takumi's only response to this ruthless character breakdown is that it is awfully robust. Higuro claims he was inspired by and respected Takumi's skill in information-gathering, which is so valuable that Higuro perhaps would have tried to re-recruit Takumi had Clarissa not taken such a liking to him. With that bridge burned, Higuro points his silenced handgun at Takumi's head and demands his explanation.

Koruto Ichinose and Izuna Ajishiro look at the four declined calls to Takumi that top the "recent calls" list on Lisa's smartphone. They wonder if Takumi can be trusted to be loyal and, when Lisa admits that Takumi could become a liability if at the mercy of someone who frightens him more than Lisa and her Youtoukorou followers do, lament not rigging Takumi to self-destruct. Urai and Nishida's soul shudder as they pass the three women. Clarissa says that she assigned Takumi to Corpse God because he to be shackled by a connection other than fear.

Takumi boldly declares that he would rather not give Higuro the "bad ending" he wants even if his other option is the "game over" he so desperately fears. Higuro shoots his calf but takes care to only graze it for, despite all the characters in movies surviving direct gunshots to their legs, Takumi could easily bleed to death in minutes if a bullet hit a major artery. He needs Takumi alive to talk, and Takumi *will* talk, for Higuro has never known him to prioritize someone else's secrets over his own life.

With Corpse God's statement that "no secrets are worth more than [his friends' lives]" ringing in Takumi's ears, and the lives of the others associated with the Building depending on Takumi's silence, Takumi smiles and retorts that no one likes characters who nitpick movies' lack of realism. Higuro pauses. How strange; Takumi appears to still fear pain but not death itself—so Higuro's only recourse is to exacerbate the former. He opens a sachet of soy sauce, pours its contents into the graze wound, and digs into the wound with a screwdriver, remarking as he does that he could as easily do this to the girl who accompanied Takumi when evacuating the Building.

Higuro pushes the end of the handgun against Takumi's graze wound and pushes Xiaoyu into action. Xiaoyu hoists Takumi into the air and out of Higuro's immediate reach and congratulates Higuro for giving him a reason to rescue Takumi *and* kill Momoya: if Sayo is next on Higuro's kill list, then Xiaoyu ought to keep Takumi alive as a decoy; because Higuro has a vested interest in the ruin of the lives of Sayo and everyone else in the Building under the Shinoyamas' protection, then he and Momoya are the Shinoyamas' and therefore Xiaoyu's enemies.

Inside the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Arase stands back while Iwanome informs Senior Commissioner Hideaki Habaki about the MPD's search of the Torture Building—the site of Solitaire's recent appearance—for an alleged mugger. Habaki thinks for a moment before murmuring. "Isn't [that building] where Hosorogi's...?" only to trail off at Iwanome's shift in expression. He reminds Iwanome to avoid becoming emotional, since he cannot cover for Iwanome if he "[goes] off the rails," and promises to look into the matter on his behalf. Iwanome assures him that he has subordinates now who can punch the emotions out of him if need be. Behind him, Arase flexes his hand.

Jirotarou Takanosu abandons his desk chair to answer the knock at his office door, but finds no one in the hallway. Solitaire usurps the chair and compliments its quality when Takanosu turns around. Takanosu informs Solitaire that his office is not the appropriate place for fugitives to resubmit themselves to police custody.

## Adapted From

* Chapter 42
* Chapter 43
* Chapter 44
* Chapter 45

## Trivia

* The scars on Takumi's back that are visible in Chapter 44 are not depicted in the anime.