We have some questions regarding the large number of dead bodies found in the park.
Put your hands behind your head and kneel!
Just as I'm finally free after killing my annoying companions...
But you've gone to the trouble to gather here, so as a warm-up...
Captain, the wind is whipping towards her...
What... is that light?
Antimatter. You've probably never seen it before.
What is that?!
Too much! That was too much!
This feeling... The outside world really is fun!
A Sudden Reunion
Tsuyugamine... exploded?
Was that mountain actually a volcano?
No... I've never heard anyone say that.
My beacon? It came off when Valkyria attacked?
Now's my chance.
What the heck?!
What is it, Kazumi?
Tsuyugamine erupts; over 100 dead or missing
A mountain... erupted?
To be able to able to cause something like this... Could it be Valkyria?!
Yeah. It's gotta be.
Valkyria?
Valkyria is the ultimate hybrid. She can use eight types of magic.
That many?!
But she should be asleep deep in the lab.
Why would she be outside?
She might know where we are.
If someone that powerful attacked, no amount of strategy would save us.
Ichijiku, how are you planning to take responsibility for this massive error?
Did you see that huge explosion?
Quietly handling the situation is impossible now.
I looked the other way to some degree, but I had no idea you were this incompetent.
Even if you killed yourself where you sat, it wouldn't compensate.
I'll have further instructions later.
I had such high expectations of you. What a pity.
Jeez, why are there eight observatories in this prefecture?
Valkyria can detect witches, but...
There are four witches hiding out at the observatory.
Guess I can get them later.
I wonder if there are really witches at an observatory somewhere...
If this isn't the one, it's gonna be a pain...
Excuse me. Coming in...
Wha—! Huh?!
What happened? Are you okay? Hang in there!
...The heck? You're not Valkyria!
Huh?
How stupid, how stupid. All clear, guys!
Huh?
Was there any point to this?
Of course there was!
If Valkyria came and saw us all pill-less and dead, she'd have nothing to do but leave!
I wouldn't die without pills.
Who cares?! If you were the only one alive, you'd be slaughtered straight away.
You're as rough-talking as ever, Kazumi.
Hrm? Hey, it's Hatsuna!
You know her?
Yeah, she's a friend from back at the lab.
From the lab?
Wait... if an A-rank like you is showing up here...
I'm on orders from the lab.
I was sent with Valkyria to recover #1107.
What?!
With Valkyria?
Relax. Valkyria went off somewhere else.
R-Really?
Yeah.
Phew! Narrow escape, there.
What's #1107?
Not sure. I don't know the details of the operation.
It's only by chance that I found this place.
Who's that guy?
He's our ally.
Is it okay to get a normal human mixed up in this?
He's fine. He's prepared to die for us.
That's fine when I say it myself, but would you please not?
Hmm...
Prepared to die, huh?
And you are? Haven't seen you around.
R-R-R-Right! My last name is Takatori, first name Kotori.
It's a pleasure to meet you!
This girl doesn't know Kotori?
Hatsuna, do you... not have any pills with you?
Well...
Urgh. Is that why you're here?
Our burden increases yet again.
Burden?
Yeah, it's a burden. What about it?
When I first met you, you would have refused to share pills, period.
You've changed, Kazumi.
S-So what if I have?
Well... nothing really.
Hey, I want to go to the onsen. I want to get this paint off of me.
There's an onsen here?
Yeah! Let's go take a bath!
Murakami, get the floor cleaned up by the time we get back.
Huh?!
Huh... this a pretty nice onsen.
But, Kazumi, I see your pitiful little boobs haven't grown a bit.
W-What the heck?!
And this one's are so big, it's vulgar.
Don't be so rough!
Who are you, anyway, a boob critic?
Hatsuna, what's that scar from?
Oh, Valkyria took me out, and I'm not quite better yet.
But by tomorrow my boobs'll be back to their beautiful selves.
Hatsuna, what's your magic?
Regeneration.
Regeneration!
If I get killed, I don't die, even if my head gets crushed.
Although running out of pills or being ejected would still do it.
That's amazing!
So, you were all saved by that Murakami guy?
That's right.
If it weren't for Murakami,
we'd have all died a long time ago.
You really trust him, huh?
Well, you'll understand once you spend some time with him.
Well, then... I'll take my time and size him up.
That's better.
Hey!
Hey! Help me!
What the heck are you doing?!
I climbed up thinking there'd be a good view, but now I'm scared and can't get down!
Save me!
Got it. Wait right there!
Jeez, what the heck...
Seriously, who does that?
You actually came.
Huh?
Ahh, nothing.
Going down. Can you stand?
Yeah.
Would you give me a break?!
I just took a bath, and I'm already all sweaty!
Don't you dare... let go of my hand.
I'll get us out of this.
Okay, you pass.
If you'd go this far for my sake, you're as good a guy as they say.
Let me go. My magic is regeneration. I won't die even if I fall.
With both hands, you can get back to the platform, right?
Don't be stupid!
Huh?
You won't die even if you fall? Who would believe that in this situation?
No, really. Falling from here won't kill me, so...
If what you say is true, that certainly would explain your inscrutable behavior up to now.
You wanted to test me?
Exactly. So let go of my hand!
I can't!
What?!
You could be telling a lie to save me.
You're overthinking this!
Listen. I'm not letting go of your hand, even if we both fall.
Then what? At this rate, we'll both...
I'll swing you over to that platform.
Huh?
You might not reach it, and you might not land properly.
But it's 100 times better than just dropping you.
Once both my hands are free, I'll climb back along this pipe.
What if the pipe breaks under the strain of swinging me?
How should I know? My arms can't take much more of this.
We don't have time to think.
I'll swing you twice to get momentum going, and throw on the three. Here we go!
One!
Two!
Three!
Wai—!
Ack! I thought I was gonna die!
Well, I wouldn't die even if I fell, but...
Thanks! You should—
No!
All right!
Murakami!
Are you okay?
How... How am I alive?
Ha ha ha! Did you see the power of my magic?
Kana saw a forecast that you fell. I'm so glad we made it in time.
So kinetic energy resets when Kotori uses her switching magic?
If that weren't the case, one or the other of us would have been done for.
Hm? What do you mean?
You're kidding! You didn't even realize?!
What just happened? Was it that big-boobed girl's magic?
Still, though, I can't believe a human with such kindness exists...
Hey, what's that girl's magic?
Regeneration. She doesn't die even if she gets killed.
So she was telling the truth.
Sorry.
It was wrong of me to test you. I'm really sorry.
We're both alive, so it's no big deal.
I... I... might like you.
Huh?!
Do you have a girlfriend? If not, I want to go out with you.
Urk, are you crazy? The heck are you talking about?!
Well, I fell for him, so...
...it's only natural to kiss, right?
Neko!
N-Neko, that won't do. Please just bear it!
Whatever! It wasn't me!
Neko!
W-Wait, Kuroha!
Wait up, Murakami!
I see.
So that's how the relationships around here work.
Sorry to call you out on such short notice.
It's fine.
It was horrible what happened to that girl.
Oh, Kogoro, you remember Nanami?
Yeah, because I wasn't in her field of vision.
So, you understand, right?
The other four will melt to death just like Nanami if we don't get more pills.
That's why I called you here.
You mean you can make the pills?!
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let me explain in order.
R... Right.
First, about why the witches melt.
It may be due to the formation in their bodies of a digestive enzyme called "protease."
A digestive enzyme?
And the pills might have the effect of stopping the protease.
Someone I knew back in school wrote their thesis on protease.
If we build on the existing analytical data,
I expect we can dramatically shorten the time it will take to create the pill.
So then—!
We can complete it in another month.
A month...?
But then there's no point. We only have enough for a week with five.
Then you need to make a choice.
A choice?
You don't mean...?
The person who wrote this was a real genius.
Research on the membrane-associated protein protease Tokyo U Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology Sakai Lab Chisato Ichijiku (70119)
I have but one aim.
To clear up the mystery of life.
I don't care what kind of sacrifices it takes to get there.
I'd even trade all the life in the universe.
Ichijiku. Where are you, and what are you doing now?
I've got a monopoly on this wonderful view!
Because I killed everyone who was in my way!
Why did you do something so conspicuous, Valkyria?
Or rather, Fujisaki Mako.
You were so horrible to me.
Performing all those cruel experiments...
You took my humanity away from me!
That's...
...my job.
You're not scared of me?
You know how badly I want to get revenge on you, right?
Why did you use antimatter without permission?
I can't believe... you would hit me!
I'm... I'm sorry, Chisato.
Don't hate me!
I love you! I was waiting for you here right where we promised!
You figured out where #1107 is, right?
Yeah.
Neko.
Kogoro called Murakami over today, right?
Yeah.
There really is something weird about me.
When I think about Murakami, my chest gets tight.
Murakami, did that dude's research get anywhere?
Yeah.
Really?
So, what kind of progress did he make?
It seems like he can compress the pill development time quite a bit.
But it's still going to take another month.
But there's no point to that.
We're as good as dead, huh?
That may not be the case.
If one person took all the remaining pills, that person alone could be saved.
So if one of us takes them... she can survive...
This is the choice Kogoro was talking about.
Okay. Let's draw lots.
We'll decide by lottery!
If you lose the lottery, you'll die tomorrow. Is everyone prepared for that?
But if we're going to do it, we should do it as soon as possible. The pills won't last.
Hmm... then take your time talking it over before you decide.
I'm just mooching, so I have no right to participate in the lottery.
I'll leave for now.
What's with you? Not much of a team player.
23, 24.
Not quite enough.
I'm not such a chump that I'd tell them the truth straight up.
I actually have the pills of all my friends who were killed by Valkyria.
I thought I could get more by coming here,
but I guess that's not gonna happen.
I don't need to draw, either.
And I don't need any pills.
If someone can live long enough to be an old lady, that's good enough for me.
What are you saying? How can you give such a nice speech when your life's on the line?
I knew Kuroha would say that.
I'm good, too. I don't need to draw either.
I should have been dead a long time ago, so...
I'm fine, too. I can't survive on my own, anyhow.
We're fine. Kazumi, you should live.
Please, go ahead.
W-What the hell is that? Now it just looks like I'm the only one desperate to be saved!
I mean, I want to live, but...
You think I could cut your lives short to do that?
I'd rather just enjoy this week, our last summer vacation, together.
Kazumi...
Is this their decision?
All that's left is this device...
If this is how it's going down, then a toast! A toast to our last summer vacation!
Kotori, can you bring some juice?
O-Okay!
Sorry to keep you waiting!
Are you okay, Kotori?
Y-Yes!
What're you doing?!
S-Sorry! Please take this off before you get dirty!
Ah! Sorry!
Neko, you don't wear a bra either?
I didn't have anything to change into.
Kuroha, those moles...
What do you mean "moles"?
You... You're Kuroneko, after all!
Murakami?
Neko is... Murakami's childhood friend?
You were alive. Kuroneko, you were alive!
I always liked Kuroneko.
Kuroneko liked the stars, so I started to like them, too.
It was so fun to look up at the sky together every night.
I thought we'd keep doing it forever.
But... But then I thought I had killed her.
I thought I'd never see her again.
But... she was alive!
You were alive...
Murakami!
Murakami! What's the matter, Murakami? Murakami!
Um... sorry to sob like that.
The moles weren't in that spot at first, so I thought you were different people.
But over ten years, your body must have developed and the moles shifted.
There's no doubt about it. You're my childhood friend, Kuroneko.
I'm sorry.
I don't remember anything about my childhood at all.
That's fine.
Because I remember everything...
...from the day we met, to the fun we had together every day.
The places we went, the conversations we had — I remember them all.
Even if you forget, I never will.
So let's fill in your missing memories together.
I'll remember everything that happens from here on out, too.
A helicopter out this late?
It's coming this way!
Everybody, run! A helicopter is after us!
W-What should we do?
We'll flee to the mountains! They won't be able to find us at night.
She looks just like Kuroha! Could this be—?!
Long time no see, Neko.