Everyone is searching for a new world
to attain that overflowing dream.
They all jump over the horizon,
regardless of what lies beyond.
We've run,
we've dived into hope,
and forgotten only courage.
And we've been swept away by the crowd
only to lose something dear to us.
I smile with a twisted face,
and it was the best smile I could put on.
The inside of my mask overflowed with tears
so I covered my wet mask with yet another mask.
I continue to walk through the flat battleground,
and I struggle, unable to warp.
The dream waits quietly on a cape far away.
Even if I fumble around clumsily,
I'm sure I'll still be able to make it there.
Investigations. Wataya.
Yes. Uh huh... What?
Inspector! It's Sonobe. He's regained consciousness.
He's awake?
There he is. Eyes Rutherford making his way through the hordes of paparazzi.
The young piano phenomenon is receiving quite a bit of attention here
on his first voyage to Japan...
Eyes debuted at the age of fourteen.
One year and two albums later,
his fame spread across his native England and the Americas.
Just last year he gained notoriety in Japan when he starred in an exotic car commercial.
He released a solo album a few months ago and it has already gone platinum
here in Japan, which is quite a feat for a classical artist...
The seventeen year old pianist's live concert is tonight
at the Center Recital Hall.
Show starts at seven thirty, but unfortunately tickets were sold out
a mere thirty minutes after being released to the public.
"Newspaper Office"
When you wanna shop from the comfort of your couch, it's ShopTV!
First up, this fabulous seven piece knife set.
Each piece has polyhygienic, triple riveted handles that fit snug against your hand.
The highly polished stainless blades on this set are some of sharpest on the market.
So sharp, it can slice a dictionary
- clean in half! - Whoa.
That dictionary was over eight hundred pages thick
and this blade sliced through it like warm butter.
What more could you need in your kitchen?
If you call within the next ten minutes, we'll throw in
a free anti-bacterial cutting board.
Ayumu! I have breaking news for you! You're not gonna believe it!
Quiet.
You're going to make me miss the phone number.
Don't tell me you're actually gonna buy something from that silly show.
I happen to enjoy this show, thank you very much...
Besides, it's a seven piece knife set with an anti-bacterial cutting board.
All they do is inflate the price of the knives
to include the cutting board. You really don't save any money.
Never said I was looking for a deal.
Speaking of deals. I just thought of a great one...
Please, please, please play the piano for me.
I'll be your best friend forever...
Don't worry, I know all about you being called the "Angel's Fingertips,"
and I know you carried the entire Japanese piano world on your back!
So come on, Ayumu. Put on a concert.
It'll be just you and me. No one else will know about it.
Knock it off! You're driving me nuts!
- So is that your way of saying yes? - Don't forget along with the set
you get the anti-bacterial cutting board and knife sharpener.
- I already told you... - And that's all for just
- I gave up the piano. - thirty-nine ninety-five.
- But... - Ok, ladies...
- You just gave up playing in front of audiences. - our next item is this fantastic
- Don't think I didn't hear you the other day... - three-piece pressure cooker.
- Come on, just one song. - Ever wanted to cook a roast in under an hour?
Then this is the pressure cooker for you.
Then suffer the wrath of my deadly Hiyono Punch!
I thought you came by here to tell me some breaking news I'm not supposed to believe?
Oh yeah, I totally forgot.
Apparently, Mr. Sonobe regained consciousness a few hours ago.
What? Are you serious?
I am.
Interesting.
Hey, What do you call a pair of identical wrinkles? Do you know?
Twinkles! Get it?
I can always tell when you're deep in thought because your twinkles come out.
Please stop playing with my forehead.
I have a demand... Somebody bring to me the younger brother of Kiyotaka Narumi.
"Eyes Rutherford Piano Recital"
Look, I don't think it's a good i-
"Eyes Rutherford Piano Recital" Would you stop being so stubborn?
"Eyes Rutherford Piano Recital" Eyes Rutherford asked to meet you on national television,
"Eyes Rutherford Piano Recital" and you try to run away?
"Eyes Rutherford Piano Recital" I was supposed to interview him for the paper today
"Eyes Rutherford Piano Recital" and I can't allow you to not accept his invitation.
All right... Fine. Well let's not waste any more time. Come on.
It's him! I can't believe it! Eyes Rutherford in the flesh!
You chose a fancy way to get me to visit. You could have just phoned.
What do you want?
Play for me.
What do you mean?
I want to hear you play the piano... I'm very curious to see if...
the Narumi namesake can live up to the myths that seem to surround you.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I gave up the piano years ago.
Clearly, you're lying to me... Not only have your hands been possessed by the piano...
they conceal the passion you have for the instrument
you continue to play to an audience of none.
You have no idea what you're talking about.
Of what are you so afraid?
Is the recognition that you're no comparison to your brother that frightening to you?
You've been blessed with a gift but you must be aware...
that your skills are, at best, an imitation of Kiyotaka's.
You don't even begin to compare to the original.
You're merely a cheap recreation of one of the best talents to ever live.
Who is this guy? And why does he continue to refer to my brother?
He talks about him like he actually knows him.
Maybe he does know my brother. Is that possible?
And if he does, I wonder what he knows.
Ayumu Narumi.
You will forever be a loser.
Okay, I know that was weird, but at least stay for the recital.
How can I if I don't have a ticket?
Ta-daaa!
I was lucky enough to finagle another ticket from the lady at the front desk.
Excuse me... I found that ticket you were asking for. Here you go.
Wait... Of course you did. It has my name on it.
I wonder... Who left them for me?
Details-Schmetails! You got 'em, so just enjoy the show.
Details matter!
Do you know what I think? I think the tickets were a gift from God.
He must have wanted me to hear Eyes Rutherford's
beautiful piano music in person,
because someone decided he was too chicken to play for me.
Give me a break.
Ladies and gentleman, the auditorium is now open if you care to take your seats.
The show will begin in one hour.
Isn't this exciting?
Can you believe it, Ayumu? We've got front row seats!
These tickets are a gift from God!
Thank you, God, for blessing us with these awesome seats!
What a great story I'll have for the paper!
Good for you.
Aniris?
Where'd that come from? Is it for you?
I don't know.
I hope that's not what I think it is.
Well, it looks a little too dangerous to be a gift from God.
Hey-hey, I'm a Chinese turtle!
The name's Lucky... and don't you forget it, 'cuz you're gonna need to be!
As I'm sure you've guessed, this is a time bomb with about ninety pounds of C4 inside,
so if it goes off, even the roof will go bye bye!
Where are the security guards? We need to call the police.
Not so fast! If you call the fuzz, the bomb will explode!
It wouldn't really make a difference anyway
since the Bomb Squad wouldn't know what to do with this kind of smart weapon.
Besides, take a look at the counter! Your time is nearly out!
You're in a pickle of a puzzle, so don't get too flustered!
Try tampering with it, boom! Start cutting wires, BOOM!
There's only one way to trash this ticker:
Press the 9 disarming buttons in the correct order! Check out my keypad!
Oh no! What are we gonna do? I don't want to die!
Remember, there is only one correct order for the code.
And I'm sure I don't have to tell you that if you mess up, the bomb will explode...
As a special bonus, I'll key you in on your first key!
You can disarm this bomb, but you will need plenty of wisdom, courage,
and of course, luck!
This is insane.
What's going on here?
Huh?
I'm a nice turtle, so I'll give you another freebie.
See that bar coming out of the box?
If you grab it with your hand, the time limit will be extended to thirty minutes,
which should give you plenty of time to figure out the code.
But watch out! There are heat sensors attached to the bar,
so the instant you let go, kaboom!
What the?
I urge you to grab it, if you've got the guts.
But, once you do there's no running away!
Unless you disarm the bomb, you and everyone else will be blown to smithereens!
So much for that open casket funeral!
We've gotta evacuate the auditorium.
There's no time for that.
Is the recognition that you're no comparison to your brother that frightening to you?
Come on, Mr. Hero. Grab it!
You will forever be a loser.
Okay... I will...
I'll do it.
You will forever be a loser.
Thirty minutes... Now, there's enough time to evacuate the auditorium...
Keep quiet about the bomb. Make up some xcuse to get them out of here...
And don't call the police, no matter what. You heard what the turtle said.
Got it.
Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the inconvenience.
The auditorium will reopen in twenty minutes.
Hey.
Yeah?
You're an idiot, you know...
What?
You shouldn't have grabbed the bar. You really shouldn't even be involved.
Why not? I have full confidence that you can disarm it.
I was right here for the turtle's entire speech...
He said you can disarm the bomb with wisdom, courage and luck...
And I happen to know that you have all three.
Don't be so naive...
Do you have any idea how many possible combinations to the code there are?
Try forty thousand, three hundred and twenty.
Forty thousand?
Only a fool would take that bet...
and I'm afraid your confidence in me will cost us our lives.
The grid. The keys. The location of the first number.
Are there any other clues I'm missing? And why the puppet turtle?
Does it hold some significance?
He's trying to figure out the code right now.
I can tell because his twinkles are showing up on his forehead again.
You can do it, Ayumu. Have faith in yourself.
Sonobe, we need some answers! Why did you try to kill Sayoko Shiranagatani?
What motive could you possibly have had? Did someone put you up to it?
Who gave the order? Talk!
Who are you, Takashi Sonobe? I want answers!
Easy.
I said talk!
Mind if I ask you a question?
Why do you always tell everyone you quit playing the piano?
I don't get it.
I mean, everyone talks of your piano skills like you're the new Mozart.
So why waste it?
I vividly remember walking down the hall that day and hearing music.
I though to myself, "That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.
I wonder who's playing it".
It was you playing the piano, Ayumu, wasn't it?
You heard what he said about me.
Who do you mean? Eyes Rutherford?
My performances are imitations of my brother's...
I try and I try, but I can't find my own sound.
You're merely a cheap recreation of one of the best talents to ever live.
It's not like... It's not like I tried to copy him,
but whenever I tried to play in my own style...
It ended up sounding like his...
Pretty oon I realized I did everything like my brother.
I'm a nothing... a clone.
Not just with the piano... everything.
And even though my piano abilities were like his, he was still far superior...
I realize that I will always be known as Kiyotaka Narumi's little brother.
Is the recognition that you're no comparison to your brother that frightening to you?
Even though... I have grown to hate the piano.
It reminds me of... of the reality that everything I've worked to achieve in my life
has already been accomplished by him.
That's why playing the piano... is so difficult for me.
But still... I guess I can never give up completely.
I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at. Do you blame your brother?
I used to, but now I see it's me.
I respect my brother very much... He's a true jack of all trades...
and he masters them all.
Wait a minute. Now I remember something he told me a long time ago.
China, a turtle, nine squares...
A grid of numbers... Could this be the same thing?
What's up?
Time to disarm this bomb.
What do you mean by cursed children? Tell me what you know, Sonobe! Answer me!
Death must be inflicted upon the cursed children.
Inspector!
Blade... Children.
Kiyotaka... Will your brother really be the key to saving the Blade Children?
It was the grid of keys... and the turtle's name that tipped me off.
What? You mean Lucky?
That's right... I'm pretty sure I can figure out the rest of the sequence
and plug it into the keypad now.
It's good to hear that.
The solution goes back to ancient China...
As legend has it, four thousand years ago, an Emperor from the Xia Dynasty
found a turtle on the banks of the Yellow River.
When he looked at its shell, he saw that it was divided into nine parts,
and for some odd reason, each section was marked with dots.
This turtle fascinated the Emperor because he found a distinct pattern in the dots...
He saw that, when added vertically, horizontally... or diagonally,
their sum was always the same.
I've heard of this.
In mathematics it's referred to as a magic square.
A magic square is a grid in which the sum of a line of numbers,
whether it be in a row, column or diagonal, always comes out the same.
In the case of a three-by-three grid, the sum is always fifteen.
Now in a three-by-three grid with nine slots,
there are only eight possible arrangements, and of those eight
there are only two, where the number one goes here.
If I punch in one of those two combinations, then I should be able to disarm the bomb.
You're amazing, Ayumu!
Problem is there is no way to tell which one it is.
What?
It's just like the stupid turtle said... it all comes down... to luck.
Oh, yeah, now I get it! That's why the turtle's name is Lucky.
The thing is I don't believe in such a thing as luck...
There's a fifty percent chance of death here...
so don't hold it against me if I fail.
I'm not worried at all...
You're not the type of person to fail in a situation like this.
I believe in you, Ayumu.
Here goes...
Think, Ayumu, think...
Okay... Usually, when people are asked to put numbers in order,
they prefer to start from the lowest number and count upwards.
But whoever is responsible for making this bomb is much craftier than that.
In which case...
The disarming code... goes like this.
Hey...
Yeah?
I don't know about you, but I'd be perfectly content
if I never did anything like that again for the rest of my life.
Congratulations! You disarmed the bomb, "Little Narumi."
The Blade Children have been waiting for you.
So is it true that Kiyotaka's younger brother disarmed Rio's bomb?
It's true.
Don't you think it was a little much for his first test?
No need to rush. If we just give him some more time...
Unfortunately, time is not on our side.
Please... Not the curse's mark again.
Ladies and gentleman, we are now honored to present to you, Mr. Eyes Rutherford.
Death must be inflicted upon the cursed children. Blade Children.
Little Narumi. The Blade Children have been waiting for you.
What are the Blade Children?
- You're hiding something, aren't you?! - You're hiding something, aren't you?!
- Tell me, what is it? Now! - Stop! Let go of me!
Just tell me already!
You tell me first!
A sweet scent washes into my throat
and my feelings continuously overflow...
Don't look at me with that same gaze
that's like you're following a soccer ball.
I've already grown used to my third year at the office,
but did I lose something instead?
Those days long ago when we would talk about anything...
We're inally old enough now
to have those slightly awkward discussions about love.
A single day seems so long, but a whole year ends so quickly.
A whole year seems so short,
but how well will I be able to live the rest of my life?
Time for Hiyono's Useful News Report!
Out of the frying pan and into the fire!
Curses, like chickens, come home to roost! Fortune comes to those who smile!
In that same spirit, the highlight of the next episode is... Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hiyono's rapid-fire gag attack, meant to make the always sullen Ayumu smile.
On the next Spiral: The Happiness of Those Who Believe.
You'll regret it if you miss it! That's all for today's Hiyono's Playhouse!