Tell me, Brother, what kind of ability do you think Level 6 will be?
That's something I don't know, either, mm-mm.
Huh? Even though you're telling me I should become one?
Hirumi, you know about the Level 5s, right?
Hmm, you mean like the standalone third-ranked,
who's as powerful as a battle cruiser?
Or the first-ranked, who you couldn't even hurt with a nuke?
They all sound like urban legends.
That's because the stage you're seeing them at, at least, looks blurred.
And a monster who's at Level 6? Mm-hmm...
Even higher than the first-ranked, who won't die no matter what.
Hirumi?
Today, I was introduced to my hope--
the dream of my brother and me. The hope that would lead to Level 6--
the necromancer Esther.
"#08 Friend (Hirumi)"
Wow. Now we're using necromancers? Or -cy?
Oh yeah? So now we're going in that direction?
Hirumi, I think that's enough for today.
I was picturing someone in a musty, old-fashioned lab coat.
Hey, come on, go home already.
I'm musty?
You speak Japanese!
I was requested to come here.
But what is this place?
"Sarcophagus of Palenque"
Oh, these are your forerunners, mm-hmm.
"Baghdad Battery"
Relics of when our research hit a dead end, and we looked for outside hints.
"Jade mask"
"Stone spheres of Costa Rica"
"Sakafune-ishi"
We brought in some OOPArts and extracts from cryptids,
but now, we've brought in a person.
What happened with that legendary metal, orichalcum, again?
I forget what number we were on.
That was our third sample.
"Orichalcum, third sample"
Although, it was just a simple alloy of iron and brass.
That's my forerunner?
I am not made of metal.
Oh, mm-hmm, nor are you a carboxylic acid ester.
Brother, she won't get that.
Conversely, I'd like to ask, how am I supposed to see eye-to-eye
with someone who doesn't even know about polyester?
I apologize. Brother likes to flaunt his useless knowledge,
and can't maintain his composure unless he has the upper hand.
He's a real pain in the butt.
Okay, fine, just get on out of here, Hirumi.
What I'm saying is, we'd like you to work with us, Esther.
O-On what?
Are you okay?
To our brother-and-sister dream--
of achieving the world's first Level 6.
"Physical Possibility Testing Station"
Just to confirm, I use necromancy.
This is a systemic technique to load and control a pseudo-soul
into a dead body that was prepared ahead of time.
For that purpose, I even brought my precious Si-xiong charms.
"Qiongqi"
Qiongqi...
"Hundun"
...Hundun...
"Taotie"
...Taotie...
...and Taowu.
"Taowu"
You're free to believe in those powers if you want to, mm-hmm.
Then what do you call that?
"Lab equipment, L-Type"
I can't work those machines. What is it you're after?
I'm researching the hypothesis that abilities reside within the body, mm-hmm.
"Anatomical model #3"
"Cerebrum"
Specifically, I'm using injections to numb the cerebellum, the brainstem,
"Heart"
"Stomach"
and other internal organs, one at a time.
"Liver"
If they can still use their abilities in that state, they pass;
if they can't, it raises a red flag.
And...?
I can't exactly conduct experiments with the spinal cord or the heart stopped
when they're directly related to life support, can I?
So I needed something else that can step in to do so.
And now, thanks to this over-the-top front end,
I'm starting to lose sight of my prototype.
All right, let's call it a day.
That's not what I meant.
Hmm?
I'm asking how knowing where an ability resides
relates to being able to elevate a person to this "Level 6" thing?!
Hmm, it doesn't really relate at all, mm-mm.
"The next day"
"School District 14, Children's Park 5"
Why exactly did they call me in?
For whom?
Here!
To do what?
Ah, jeez!
Why did you bounce it there?!
Oh, no! Don't tell me she's...
Esther!!
Slow down, Esther! What are you doing?!
Are you the legendary "Undresstress"?!
I was just going to go for a dip to calm my mind.
This is not the sort of place to do that!
Huh?
Come on, with me!
H-Hold on...
I knew it. She's not the legendary "Undresstress" after all.
Oh, Yo...
Man, what a letdown. Let's go, let's go.
"TOPAZ GYM Shower Room 2"
If you want to go bathing, you can knock yourself out here.
I have a change of clothes for you. I'll leave them in the dressing room.
"Cold water"
"TOPAZ GYM Boxing Room"
It's a distressing country if I can't even go bathing.
You look pretty good in that outfit.
What do you think of my coordinating skills? The size is perfect, too, right?
Those clothes are a present for you. Take good care of them.
Also, you'd usually get arrested for doing that outside.
But then, if anything happened, Brother would get it swept under the rug.
Is that right?
You should be grateful. He seems to really appreciate you, Esther.
She doesn't look very good at this.
This is my training for the day.
What you like and what you're good at aren't always necessarily the same.
I understand that, too.
"Choking"
"Physical Possibility Testing Station, control room"
Well, you're not Hirumi.
She said she didn't have anything today.
I sent her home. I checked her vitals, and her waveforms are unsteady.
The fatigue must be catching up to her, mm-hmm.
Hey, Hishigata, that may be so,
but we can't proceed with the research without a subject.
It's more unusual that we gave Hirumi a regular account in the first place.
I know we had other subjects. Someone somewhere messed them up, though.
Should we recruit additional volunteers?
Name-brand bags and fur coats. I'm not sure if they're photo-worthy or not,
but are you telling me that we found more than enough teenage girls
who have gotten themselves into debt and will do whatever they're told?
So, what do we do?
Search me. Maybe scout out some habitual shoplifters this time? Mm-hmm.
Aw, I was afraid of that.
Just because they were a little broken, we shouldn't have let them go.
The research equipment tuning has been finished,
and Esther is here as our safety.
We were finally going to produce some results.
You sure are calm, Esther.
I am a necromancer, and I'm used to a certain amount of tragedy.
Hmm, well, I guess that's not really too irregular.
It's just that they may never use their abilities again,
or they might not ever escape the dream world, is all, mm-hmm.
That reminds me, we talked about where the abilities reside, remember?
In the course of that research,
a separate bit of fascinating data came up, mm-hmm.
We started discovering that during the experiment,
the output of the subject's ability was much greater than it usually was.
At first we thought that by shutting down a specific organ,
it was like unplugging a stopper, but we were wrong.
"Gekota Biscuits, S, M, & L"
The bigger the equipment that served as the subjects' bodies was,
the more they were able to draw out their ability, mm-hmm.
Making the equipment larger
to let the subjects feel like their bodies had gotten bigger
elevated their abilities.
But when we make the equipment bigger to elevate their abilities,
if we make them too big, it destroys the girls' sense of self, mm-hmm.
The reasons are unclear. Maybe it's diluting them--
having too small a mind inside too big a body.
Mind?
The mind and the soul are things,
as a scientist, I have to turn a blind eye to dealing with,
but you do deal with these things, right?
Well...
If we can just keep the dilution of the mind under control,
we'll be able to hook up external expansion equipment as large as we like.
Theoretically, there will be no limit on our room for growth.
In other words, the time will come when anyone can reach Level 6 easily.
You mean you've been doing these experiments on Hirumi, too?
I made it look like we were,
but then I fed her a separate diversionary program.
You have no idea how much my nerves fray each time,
making sure she doesn't become aware of it.
Hirumi is too fixated on Level 6, mm-hmm.
Even though, before long, the time will come when anyone can easily achieve it.
"School District 14, Café Mimosa"
What? You look like you're going to say
that eating so much after exercising makes it pointless.
No, just questioning where you're going to fit all of that inside your body.
Well, it's not like I'm working out so I can lose weight.
"Mimosa Parfait 'Friendship' (in floral language)"
Besides, at this point...
Unless you want to eat it together? Esther, you're like family to me.
Here, once we finish it, we'll go back to the lab.
You're our secret weapon, right?
Brother says you use a power they've never seen before.
I'm looking forward to it.
Secret weapon, huh? I just hope that's true.
Hmm?
I've been thinking a lot about what kind of power necromancy
and the Rosenthal style of techniques really are.
Even after being requested to come here, I still haven't found an answer.
Hmm, so what you're saying is, you want to be useful to someone, right, Esther?
Huh?
I'm the same way.
I want to help Brother out. That's why my goal is to reach Level 6.
That's great for you, Hirumi. But as for me...
Okay, you can help me out!
Huh?
If I ever need anything, you can do it for me!
When you say "do it," what does that mean?
Promise me, Esther!
Promise you?
Yep.
A promise, made between me and Esther.
Just you and me.
Huh? Okay...
"Choking"
See? That's what you get for trying to eat that giant thing.
No way, no way!
I am not letting you take part in experiments with the equipment
until I give the say-so!
--But... --I won't have you talking back to me, either!
Hishigata, Hirumi is doing this for you--
You keep quiet. Mm-hmm. This is a matter between brother and sister.
Now that Esther is here, we can clear all the problems we've had so far, right?
You think I'd rely on a safety device whose logic I don't understand
and give the go signal to a full-blown experiment
that could put my sister's life at risk?
We haven't even seen this "necromancy" at work yet, mm-mm.
"Lab equipment, L-Type"
Okay then, once the safety device is finished?
Yeah, after I have plenty of data and make certain it's highly reproducible,
and acknowledge an incontrovertible pathway
linking to this experiment, mm-hmm.
How long is that going to take, exactly?!
Well, let's see. At the earliest, a year. Doing it right, maybe two, mm-hmm.
Hirumi!
Let her go.
But...
I'll admit that two years seems like a long time.
But Level 6 isn't something you risk your life attempting to reach.
Not when, soon enough, the time will come when anyone can easily attain it,
mm-hmm.
"School District 14, PRICESTORE"
All that's left...
...is to use this special tool to delete the purchase history, and...
That should about do it.
This is it! It may be Antiskill surplus, but it was pretty easy to come by.
A promise is a promise, Esther.
Ahem! Hey there, Esther and Brother!
Recording a special message like this for you is a bit embarrassing.
So anyway, um, as it happens...
...I'm dead.
You should probably have found me by now. It's a cleaning tank for preservative,
so I doubt I'll be rotting, but I'm pretty close to naked, which is embarrassing,
so I'd appreciate it if you retrieved me right away.
"Positive"
I'm sorry for keeping my medical report in my bag hidden from you.
It was really hard keeping the doctor from saying anything,
but it looks like I'm done for.
--Hishigata... Hey! Hishigata!
--Getting to Level 6, --Hishigata... Hey! Hishigata!
which is beyond even the first-ranked, who can't even be killed by a nuke...
I thought it would give me the power of immortality, too, but...
Two years is too far away. Too far away.
So now I'm going to turn this into a real race.
Brother, Esther, make me a Level 6.
I'm already dead.
At this point, any talk about safety devices and whatnot won't matter.
So if there's even a 1% chance of it working then please, do it.
I'd appreciate it if my death wasn't in vain.
I'm counting on you, Esther. And you too, Brother.
Why?! How did this happen?!
"Positive" "Please come immediately with your guardian to be re-tested"
I always kept an eye on Hirumi's vitals.
If I'd been thinking straight, I would have realized it.
But I deliberately chose to look away...
Hishigata, that's not what's important here.
What's more important than that?!
My little sister... My only other family has committed suicide!
Yes, but how many minutes have passed since she died?
Isn't there anything we can do?
I promised Hirumi that if anything happened, I'd help her!
Isn't there anything I can do?!
Let me ask you something first. Tell me more about your necromancy.
The Rosenthal techniques place an outside pseudo-soul into the dead body,
possessing it and controlling it.
It will keep her from decaying, but that's all.
Then it's hopeless. If Hirumi is no longer Hirumi, it means nothing!
Then...
You said that while the organs were shut down, the machine would take over.
How about it?
We've never started all body functions from total shutdown before.
There's no telling what will happen!
Hmm... What's this? Am I successfully integrated?
Hirumi!
Thank goodness...
But this means that everything has gone the way Hirumi wanted it.
Are you sure about that? Right now, she's just inside the equipment.
I still haven't used any necromancy.
And it was never going to capture her live soul and put it back to work.
I'll put the ability development mode on freeze.
If Hirumi's mind and soul become diluted and damaged,
then all of this is for nothing.
Hishigata!
What is this? What's going on?
Ah, I've managed to latch on to Hirumi.
That's incredible!
So, you've finally made up your mind to do the experiment on Hirumi!
What?
Now the path to Level 6 is right in front of us.
You're an even bigger idiot than I realized.
You've fallen behind Esther, and she didn't even know about carboxylic acid.
Hey, come on, what are you talking about? We all share in success, right?
If it sounds like I'm messing around, this is your wakeup call!
I will preserve Hirumi's life.
I will by no means be made your toy and have my life taken!
Hey, what's come over you?
I'm telling you that I'm taking Hirumi and we're getting out of here!
I'm exiting this facility--
no, the very walls of Academy City, and going into the outside world!
Hishigata, something's wrong!
Oh, no!
Hirumi's heart isn't beating!
Oh, I thought that since Hirumi is dead, we were working together on her.
No... That can't be. I mean, Hirumi--
Hi there! Brother, you just have to get me to Level 6.
Don't turn your eyes down any side paths.
Can you do that for your poor little sister?
Hirumi?!
Huh? I thought Hirumi was dead.
Don't tell me this is feedback from the equipment!
You there!
You're emotionally unstable and not as smart as Brother.
There's only room for one researcher, so we're done with you.
If that's your defensive capability, I don't want you.
Oh, was that not hard enough? Well, let me finish the job.
Stop!
Huh?
I'm not about to. For a necromancer, the more corpses the better, right?
Show us those special pseudo-souls of yours.
What?
If you're not going to help me here, I may have no more use for you.
You couldn't be...
Hmm? Say it.
I never told Hirumi how I handle bodies, or about pseudo-souls.
Which can only mean that you've taken my control away.
For a secret weapon, your crisis mentality may be a bit shaky.
When you changed your clothes, did you count your charms?
Qiongqi, Hundun, Taotie... No, there's one missing!
I was pretty scared to turn my life over to a technique I'd never seen before.
But if it's a power not even Brother knows about,
I thought the outcome might be different this time.
That charm really is amazing. The moment I touched it, I felt swallowed up,
and the feeling that it was the real deal gave me tingles.
But that would mean...
Hmm?
You're not Hirumi--
Ah, that's a pretty big taboo, so keep it quiet, okay?
It's easier for me to be Hishigata Hirumi for a while, so I can control Brother.
You're... Taowu...
Don't talk about the person inside me.
Look, we're going to be with each other for a long while,
so I look forward to working with you and Brother.
Here, for you.
They're for subjects who lose control from the load of the experiment,
to keep them safely restrained. You can work those, right?
Or should I use the other three charms on these other corpses?
Miss Heir of the Rosenthal Style?
Qi--
Gotcha! You realize that's not going to work, right?
I can say it outright if you want, but that's instant death.
Death in an instant!
Okay, Esther, choose.
You can put those cuffs on yourself, or you can continue resisting.
But every time you fail, another victim will pay the price.
That coward hiding under the body of his friend? I'll crush him.
So, what will it be?
You can't do it, can you?
You can control a corpse, but it's not the same as returning its soul.
That's why you can't be responsible for people's lives.
It's a sad fact, but that's what it is to be a necromancer.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
Good.
What are you planning to do now?
Hmm, first thing to do is to go missing, I suppose.
But it'll be okay. You still have your equipment, your subjects,
your researcher, and your necromancer together.
You can pick up your experiments however you like.
Let me give you some hope, Esther.
Sure, me being alive would be strange. Taowu's charm is gone, too.
But at what point did the charm even get used?
Was it before I died?
Or was it after?
Si-xiong talismans can only be used on dead bodies.
Which means that if I'm being sustained by this life support system, I'm alive,
but if the Si-xiong charm is controlling me, I'm dead.
So, which one is it?
It's like Schrödinger's cat, Esther.
Can you tell which one I am right now?
There, you see? You have a reason to stick with me now.
So, are you going to help me out?
Do it for my sake.
The truth is, I knew.
That this was nothing more than a mental leash to make me act.
That there were no such self-serving possibilities.
Still, even so...
I'd appreciate it if my death wasn't in vain.
I'm counting on you, Esther. And you too, Brother.
Even so, it was too painful to give up... without making sure.
--Esther! --Esther!
If I ever need anything, you can do it for me! Promise, Esther?
Once I use Emperor Shun's Blade, Hirumi will...
Hirumi will...
Are you crying, Adonai?
No. Why would I be doing that?
"Next time"
"Memory of Death"