I'm opening it!
What's her condition?
Consciousness is at level 3 on the JCS scale.
Note: JCS is the Japanese Coma Scale.
Blood pressure is 60, confirmed by palpation.
Secure a transfusion line and an ECG monitor.
Got it!
Ryougi-san, can you hear me? Ryougi-san!
Excuse me. As an escort, you have to wait here.
One, two, three!
Obtained transfusion line.
How are her vitals?
Her blood pressure is quite low. Other vitals are stable.
Run a cross-match test, please.
Got it.
She's intubated. I'll begin her pre-operation treatment.
Ryougi-san, I'm going to cut your kimono.
She's really lost a lot of blood...
Prepare a large number of blood transfusion packs.
Got it.
I'll take an X-ray with the portable.
There was... no end.
Okay, and now, the legs...
This is... death?
Sign says "Graduation."
I'll be counting on you, Mikiya-kun.
Understood, Ms. Aozaki.
Hm, what's wrong?
Ah, nothing, er...
I was just thinking, your presence in person is different from on the phone.
Something like this?
Uh, yeah, is that...
When you work in this kind of business, you see,
there are situations that demand you know the right thing at the right time.
It's an easy trick. I'm switching my personality based on my field of vision.
Ah...
So, are you just making yourself look better, or are you just acting naive?
I'll leave that to your imagination.
Black...
Oh, my!
Doctor, come here! Come quick! Ryougi-san has... She has...
Ryougi-san, how do you feel?
Does it hurt anywhere?
This is quite a rare case in the field.
But for her to regain consciousness, it's a miracle. It's really nice for you.
I'm going to take your pulse now.
We will prepare your rehabilitation once we get the results from a detailed examination.
For the time being, we will contact your family.
Kokutou-san!
Ryougi-san regained consciousness.
But she's only just woken up, and she's in a state of confusion.
So we're refusing visitation from anyone except the family.
Hey, did you hear?
I heard that a new counselor would be coming today...
She'll be taking Araya-sensei's position starting today, right?
Ah, I'm so nervous! I hope she's a nice person...
She'll be in charge of her, right? By the way, are her eyes fine now?
Seems like she won't go blind from doing that.
I heard she had gradually settled down.
Oh, then her little puppy will be able to see her soon!
Ah, that puppy? I was wondering too...
Well, it's been two years, you know! He's been waiting for two whole years!
She sure is lucky.
Isn't she? I sure would like to have someone who would care that much for me...
I'm Aozaki, the speech therapist.
Ah, we've been expecting you. Her room is over there.
Hi! How are you doing?
Oh, I thought you'd be quite gray and pale, but you've got really smooth, pretty skin.
When I heard about you, you know, I imagined something like a ghost living under a willow,
so I wasn't really enthusiastic about this job...
Hm, I'm lucky. A cute girl, just the way I like them!
How do you do? I'm Aozaki Touko, a speech therapist.
I'm here to help you with your aphasia.
Nice to meet you.
Exactly who has aphasia?
It's all right, I understand.
The diagnosis is wrong, and it's all just a bother to you.
But it's your fault too, you know?
After all, you did sustain brain damage in that accident.
People would naturally think you've got aphasia if you don't say a single word.
And just so you know exactly why I'm here...
Well, it's going to be a long story once I begin...
Oh, that was a close one. I was about to lose my job one minute after starting it.
You...
Yes?
You're not a doctor, are you?
That's right. Being a magic user is my real gig.
I have nothing to ask from a trickster.
Well, that's true. A magician isn't going to be able to plug the hole in your heart.
Only normal people can do that.
The hole in my heart?
Yes. You must have realized that you're alone now, right?
It looks like today was a bit too soon, so let's call it a day.
See you tomorrow! Bye!
Was Shiki okay?
Yes, for the time being.
What do you mean, "for the time being"?
Ugh, it's so cold.
Let's have some tea upstairs.
Uh, Touko-san?
You must have realized that you're alone now, right?
I don't mean your life would be in danger or anything.
It's just that you shouldn't go see her yet.
But she's fine, isn't she?
Yes.
I'll take the place.
This place is so pretty...
Even though they're so happy...
Humans are so alone...
Can you please give these to Ryougi-san?
I'll take care of it.
The woman who called herself a counselor would come every day.
I noticed that it seemed like I depended on my conversation with her.
I see.
It's not that Mister Shiki didn't have control over your body,
but rather that he didn't use his existing control.
Hearing about you two is getting more and more interesting.
There's nothing interesting about having a dual personality...
You two, you know, weren't something as simple as a dual personality...
You both existed at the same time and had your own will.
And yet, the actions you took were in agreement.
There are no other cases of such bizarre and complex dual personalities.
In your case, it would be more appropriate to speak of combined individual personalities.
Combined individual personalities?
Yes. But even so, there are still a few doubts remaining.
If this is the case, then Shiki has no need to be asleep.
It seems he was always sleeping, though. That's a bit weird.
His name is the only name I can't remember.
She's empty. Her heart has a gaping hole.
But no matter how little sense of herself she has,
she's still Ryougi Shiki.
As she is now, she probably hasn't internalized a sense of being alive, but...
Sooner or later, a time will come when she will be able to acknowledge herself as Shiki.
A rose is born a rose.
It won't become a different flower simply by changing the soil it grows in or the water it drinks.
Touko-san...
In the end, she will have no choice but to plug the hole in her heart with something.
She has to build a new self for herself,
not by using her memories, but by accumulating experiences of the present.
This is the construction of a shrine, one that no one can help her with.
In other words, it just means you have to interact with her as you did until now.
Yes, now that he has been lost, you can't get back the memories you have lost.
Now, the truth as to how Ryougi Shiki was related to the phantom killer murders two years ago
truly is shrouded in darkness.
But there was no reason for Shiki to disappear, right?
Huh?
I mean, if he hadn't done anything, you would have disappeared, Shiki, so...
Why did he choose to disappear of his own accord?
I don't know. More importantly, what about the scissors?
Ah, it was a no-no, they said.
You've got a precedent going there, so you're forbidden from holding sharp objects.
By the way, why did you ask for scissors?
Because I wanted to cut my hair.
Shall I call a stylist for you, then?
After all, we have to celebrate your recovery. I'll bring someone good; how does that sound?
No, it's okay...
I don't want to even imagine other people touching my hair.
You sure are elegant...
Well then, I shall take my leave for today.
Starting tomorrow, I might come as another person, so I'm putting her in your care, sort of.
Your resilience never ceases to amaze me.
You're fine now, so you will be able to leave the hospital tomorrow.
Ryougi-san, congratulations.
And as for your eyes, we will take off the bandages tomorrow, so...
No...
I don't...
I don't want to...
I don't want to see that world ever again!
There's no way I'm letting myself fall into that darkness.
Wait!
You've got some strong resolve. Too strong, actually.
What did you see?
Mystic Eyes of Death Perception? It would be a shame to lose them, Shiki.
And even if you did gouge out your eyes, you can't prevent yourself from seeing things you're meant to.
Are you human?
I'm a Mage.
Touko, is that you?
I just...
thought I would teach you how to use those eyes, that's all.
Everything in existence has cracks.
Since there's no such thing as perfect matter, they all have the wish to be broken and recreated from zero.
Because of your accident two years ago, your eyes have become capable of seeing those cracks.
You can see lines that we cannot, and since you have been in contact with death for so long,
your brain can comprehend what they are.
As a result, you can see death.
Not only that, you should also be able to touch the lines.
Yes. It's more than high time you woke up, Ryougi Shiki.
Originally, you should have been on my side of the world, you know.
Don't have dreams about granted, normal happiness.
I don't have any will to live!
Is it because your heart is empty?
I also understand the uneasiness you feel about losing Shiki and being reborn as another person.
But that's all there is to it.
Yet, you...
Even though you don't have any will to live, you say you don't want to die?
Even though you don't have any reason to live, you say you're scared of dying?
You're just walking the tightrope of the boundary, unable to choose between life or death.
It's natural that your mind would become a void shrine.
How can you say that, talking like you know anything?
See something? You're leaving openings, so that's why you get perturbed by only that little contact.
From the point of view of the drifting spirits in this hospital, your body is a first-class container.
Unless you open your eyes, you'll be haunted by them and die.
I don't mind...
If these things fill me, that's fine with me.
How unsightly.
Rune protection will be useless, if you're like this.
Do whatever you want now.
But did Shiki really die for nothing, Ryougi Shiki?
I'll take the place.
She has no choice but to plug the hole in her heart with something.
She has to build a new self for herself,
not by using her memories, but by accumulating experiences of the present.
This is the construction of a shrine, one that no one can help her with.
In other words, this just means you have to interact with her as you did until now.
But did Shiki really die for nothing, Ryougi Shiki?
No way in hell...
Death is so lonely and devoid of value...
Death is so dark and ghastly...
Even though I was more scared of death than anything else...
No way! I'm not falling in there, no matter what!
Don't hesitate!
So easily...
Wow, talk about a surprise. Are you a cat or something?
Touko?
I had placed a bounded field on your hospital room so spirits wouldn't enter,
but to think that they would obtain a body to break the field...
Spirits normally don't have that level of intelligence.
That's my mistake, there.
Then you do something about it!
Gotcha.
Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz.
Damn. The Ansuz I have with me were too weak, eh?
Hey, you crook!
That's no easy task.
If it were alive, burning its heart would make it a finished job, but...
When it comes to the dead, it's not that easy.
Since it's dead, even if it were missing an arm or its head, it wouldn't even be bothered.
If you want to stop it, you'd need either the firepower of a crematorium or the abilities of a priest.
Enough with the boasting. The point is, you can't do him in.
You can't either. The dead are already dead, so you can't kill him.
We must run.
Dead or whatever, it's a living body, right?
Then...
No matter what it is, I'll kill it!
Shiki!
It's in the way...
You're just a lump of death...
Don't you dare stand in my way!
She didn't finish it properly, the fool!
This way, I'm not letting you run away...
I will kill the weak me!
I won't hand over Ryougi Shiki to someone like you!
So you killed it, didn't you?
You did say that you would teach me how to use these eyes...
Yeah, with conditions, though...
I'll teach you how to use Death Perception.
And in exchange, I'll have you help me with my job.
It just so happens that I lost my familiar,
so I kind of need someone to act for me.
Oh. Does your job mean I can kill people?
Yeah, of course.
Then I'll do it. Use me as you please.
I don't have any other goal anyway.
No goal, eh?
That's also quite tragic,
but you're still mistaken.
The fact that you are a void shrine means that you can put as many things as you like in there, right?
You really are one lucky bitch.
There's no better future than that.
What price did he pay?
What did he protect by disappearing?
Shiki, who is now gone...
He probably wanted to protect his own dream.
His dream to live a happy life.
Leaving me with such deep loneliness...
I sort of took a liking to you, so we'll be meeting again soon, Kokutou.
Good morning, Shiki.
You know who I am?
Yeah. I knew.
I knew you were the only one who waited for me all that time, who protected me.
Kokutou Mikiya.
Just like the French poet.
Note: Kokutou can also be pronounced "Cocteau," the name of a French poet.
Good thing it's sunny today.
It's perfect for the day you leave the hospital.
Are there also things that don't disappear?
So, you are Fujou Kirie?
Are you a friend of my father?
I came to make your wish come true.
Don't you long for another body? To become free?
What are you?
What should I do?
I can't go back like this...
What should I do?
Are you Asagami Fujino?
Do you want me to cure you?
Agreed. I shall cure your body's abnormality.
What exactly are you?
Who are you?
A Mage.
Araya Souren.
I just can't tolerate your existence.
I killed someone!
You killed your parents?
Kokutou, do you know anything about the Ogawa Mansion in Kayamihama?
The Ogawa Mansion is two semicircular 10-story buildings built next to each other.
That sure isn't common.
Are you going to visit your supposedly dead family?
But I did kill them! It's the living ones who are wrong!
Why don't you go check?
Stare at that darkness.
And recall your own name.
What did you do with Shiki?
The Absolute...
Materializing an Absolute to capture the Absolute...
The Absolute... An Absolute to capture the Absolute...
Aozaki!
If only that spiral was a paradox...