01x03 - The Rumors of the Steel Lady

[bunniefuu]

My lady. So what is the actual

reason the suspect threwthe man's corpse into the swamp?

Simple.It was so our taneo could have

the police track downsomething she wanted found.

She had previously tossedsomething away in the swamp,

and after murderingHiro Yoshihara, she decided

it was timeto try and retrieve it.

But it was goingto be an impossible

task for herto find what she had

thrown in the swampall on her own.

That's why she decidedto get the police to help her.

Look, if she told them she haddumped the m*rder w*apon here,

there's a good chance the policewould have searched the swamp.

Then what about the thingsshe whispered?

It wasn't the m*rder*d bodyshe wanted them to find.

It was something she had tossedinto the swamp before,

though she tossed itin quite a while ago,

so there was no guaranteeit would be found.

That's why she wasunable to stop

herself from utteringa little prayer.

I hope with all myheart that they find you.

And that was the whisperthat you overheard that day.

Then she didn't needto go through the trouble

of bringing the corpse out here.

She could have just saidthe w*apon was in the swamp.

But that brings up someinconsistencies in the story.

Huh.To carry out her plan, Otenyo

needed the police to findout about the incident.

Believed that she wasthe culprit, and arrest

her and hearher confess that she

threw the m*rder weaponinto the swamp.

So first,how would she get the police

to find out about the incident?

Someone would have to havediscovered the victim's body.

Yes, that's precisely it.Kuru. And how

would she go aboutmaking sure that

that really happened?Well, confess immediately.

I don't think so.Most certainly not.

The fact she threwthe w*apon into the swamp

would mean she was tryingto conceal the crime.

And a suspect like that wouldn'tadmit to their crimes.

Exactly. Many hikerscome through here every day,

so the body wouldhave been found quickly.

And she mentioned during herinterrogation that she wanted

the giant serpentto eat the body.

That alone should causethe police to question

her sanity and workharder on the investigation

to discover the truthbehind what happened.

All right. So what is that womantrying to get them to find?

What do you believe shethrew into the swamp long ago?

I'm sure it wassomething that had

to do with her former boyfriend,the late Yoshikazu Maki.

I'm sureshe must have resented him

after the incidentfive years ago.

But this was all setup by a Hiro Yoshihara.

She found out herboyfriend was innocent.

It can be presumedthat she deeply

regretted the factshe doubted him.

I see.It makes sense that she would

want to get rid of any remindersof the man who betrayed her.

But now she was tryingto retrieve it.

Isn't this all rather dramatic?Just to reclaim

a single item she'd longago thrown away? Totally.

After what happenedwith her boyfriend, she made

the decision to returnhome after living

all by herself in the city.

She probably got rid of a lotof things during the move,

like the stuff relatedto her boyfriend.

Even if she had kept a coupleof pictures and presents,

she could have just thrown themin the trash or b*rned them.

Then what are you implying?That she

threw.. Into the swamp?

Something important. Perhaps itwas a baby she had with herboyfriend.

Shortly after the unexpecteddeath of her boyfriend Mochi,

and then her subsequentmove back into her family home,

Aoi came to the realization thatshe was pregnant with his child.

Not knowing the truthat the time,

she saw it as the childof the man who betrayed her.

Though the child was blameless,Aoi likely

still wondered whatshe should do.

But then one dayshe ended up having

a miscarriage at homeand the fetal

corpse ended up in her hands.

How would she dispose of it?She brought it here.

And then last month,she found out the truth

about her boyfriend's death andregretted her actions even more.

She felt she should try to find

the fetus and giveit a proper burial.

That's why she cameup with the plan

to have the policedredge through the swamp.

So with their help, that woman'sdead infant would eventually befound.

No, I don't think so. Huh. Well,you said it yourself earlier

that you asked the Ayakashi toregularly clean your swamp. Oh,

it's most likelythat her baby sank

into the swampabout four years ago.

So the mountain Ayakashiprobably pulled it out a longtime ago.

Aoi Taneo tossed a tinycorpse into the swamp years ago.

I'm sure she cameup these mountains

alone one night sothat she wouldn't be found.

That's what drove herto think of disposing

of the man's body at nightin the same fashion like before,

by throwing that newcorpse into the swamp.

She wanted to retrieve theprecious little corpse she hadlost.

This theory doesn't contradictanything you said and seems themost plausible.

Humans truly concoct and commitsuch horrendous acts. Indeedthey do.

I'd say you'reall so terrifying, my

lady.But there's something even more.

Oh, how absolutely frightful..

Was that deduction? Really true.That stuff about her baby.

What I do knowis that everything

Aoi Tanino told the policewas definitely not a lie.

And apparently she really didwant the Guardian to eatYoshihara's corpse

before meetingwith the Guardian. I sent

a ghost to check in on AoiTaneo and her holding cell.

Did the serpent not find thebody or was it not interested?

And the ghostheard her say that.

So you knew that and linedup one lie after another?

Yeah, that's pretty much it.Even still,

my explanation made sense andseemed completely reasonable forthe most part.

However, there's really noguarantee that the suspect wouldact rationally.

The Guardianof the Swamp had said

that if the womanwanted them to eat

the corpse to make it disappear,she would have just said so.

But Aoi knew nothing wouldstart until they found the body.

Which is whyshe whispered that I

believe that is allquite possible.

This may be going too far,but there

is also the possibility that theGuardian misheard what our Toniowhispered.

If so, that would completelydestroy the original premise..

And a great yokai, who'sas renowned as the Guardian,

would never admitto mishearing someone.

Huh. That's why I used some of

my wisdomto navigate the problem.

I think I understandyour powers now.

But with all of that aside, you

really should be morecautious about the danger

you put yourself in.And I wouldn't..

Ever have to worryabout stuff like

that if you wouldjust stay by my side.

You never mentioned helpingyou exterminate Yokai

as a condition forgoing out with you.

Interesting. You finally admitwe're dating, then? No, Ididn't.

So, yeah, the new Girl at work

is a total superhottie and bonus points.

Man, they were freaking huge.What? What am

I talking about? Her boobs.They're huge.

Hey, Yumi Hara. Yes.The other day

when I invited you outfor some yakiniku,

you declined,saying that eating beef reminds

you of an ex-boyfriendyou had a nasty

falling out with and it makesyou feel sick to your stomach.

If so, why are you eatingthe Kobe lunch right now?

I realized I shouldn't letthe past hold me back,

so I'm doing everything I canto get over it. Oh.

I see.Well, when you do tell me,

I'll be sureto invite you out again.

Oh, I've been meaning to ask you

handle the river wreck the otherday, right? That's right.

The report saysthe young man thought

he saw a puppy jumpout in front of him.

So he panickedand drove through the

guardrail and theninto the river.

But I heard he had a differentstory to tell At first.

He'd just been pulledfrom the river

when he said that he wasin a state of hysteria.

Once he'd calmed down, heconfirmed that was not actuallythe case.

But it's truethat this college student

initially told youthat a girl wielding

a steel beam about two meterslong who was wearing a flashy,

frilly red and black dressand a huge bow in her hair,

but who somehow had no face,suddenly

appeared in front of his car.

So he panicked and swervedoff the road.

He said that he did. Then why

did you use the statementregarding the puppy?

Because it doesn'tmatter if it was

a puppy or a ghostthat popped out.

But they are pretty different.Detective Terada.

Are you looking for steel,Lady Nancy. Steel Lady Nancy.

You've never heard of her?Heard of Karin. Nancy.

Oh, isn't she?She's the idol who d*ed

at the beginning of the year.

I remember hearing the media wasabuzz about some unsavoryrumors.

Yeah, that's right. And to getaway from the crazy paparazzi,

she holed up in a hotelright here in Makurazaki City.

But then she d*ed when a steel

beam from a nearbyconstruction site fell on her.

I heard she had a huge wreck,

but there are rumorsswirling around about her again.

What,like you mean it was su1c1de?

No. It seems she appearsevery night in Makurazaki City.

She's even wearingher idol outfit. And now

she wields the steelbeam that crushed her.

The frightening,faceless ghost of Karin. Nancy.

And what do youthink about all that?

I thought it wasn'tthe best idea

to put any storiesabout ghosts in writing.

That's not the pointI'm talking about.

I want to knowwhat your gut tells you.

Tell me, do youhonestly think that there's

a ghost or a monster namedSteel Lady Nancy out there?

The college studentsterrified face the tire

tracks in the guardrailthat was busted through and

that eerie feeling in the air.All of those things were real.

I do believethat the college student

really saw something on the roadthat shouldn't have been there.

That police callboxes all around the city.

Many people are claimingthat they have witnessed

or were nearly att*cked bysomeone resembling Steel LadyNancy.

They're reporting atpolice boxes. The officers

on site are shruggingit off by saying

they were alljust seeing things.

But ever since the middleof last month,

there have been casesinvolving random att*cks

and as*ault attempts that havebeen on the rise throughout thecity.

Detective Terada, do youhonestly believe that Steel

Lady Nancy actually existsand is attacking people? Oh.

Oh. Hey, come on, now.I'm just trying to clarify.

Don't make me sound crazy. Ofcourse I don't believe inghosts.

I'm sure this is the workof the living.

If someone trulyis appearing in various

locations aroundtown dressed like that,

it seems like a lot of trouble

for a mere pranksteror kidnapper to go through.

That's the partthat bugs me too.

If it's necessary to go throughall that trouble to do this,

there must be a significantreason or objective behind theseactions.

Something that's not justa prank, but an actual crime.

These reports firststarted happening within the

city over the past two weeks.

We started seeing moreinformation on the Internetaround then, too.

They've had from whenthe rumors started spreading

until two weeks agoto prepare and more recently,

they finallystarted making their move.

A police officer taking rumorslike this seriously looks kindof bad,

but something's definitelygoing on. As of right now,

the suburbs have suddenly becomea hotbed of activity fororganized crime,

meaning somebody shoulddefinitely keep an eye out.

Detective Terada thinksthe emergence of Steel

Lady Nancy is foreshadowinga much larger crime.

But still,Lady Nancy is definitely real.

She's a realghost that has nothing

to do with someother crime or plot.

No matter what may happenin the future,

the police won't be ableto deal with her.

If you'd be willing to help out,I'd appreciate it.

Detective Terada,please try to remember this.

There is stillthe possibility that Yokai

and ghosts exist in this world.

Really? Umehara you believein stuff like that?

Well, I haven't seen any ghosts,but I have seen Yokai before.

What are you talking about?If you

don't believe it'spossible that there are

beings that surpassall logic and reasoning

in this world,you'll be blindsided one day.

I'm sure there'sno point in saying this

because I didn't believethat was the case.

I ended up having to breakit off with my ex.

Oh. So was your ex a yokaior ghost or something?

Ow! Ow! Oh. Excuse me.Hey, you. Mihara.

Looks like you weren'tkidding when you said

you feel sick after eating meat.Can I get you some water?

No, I'm fine, thank you.As I was saying,

Detective Terada, there arebeings that surpass our logicand reasoning.

I'm just tellingyou to be careful.

All right, I got it.At least I get that.

It sounds like you were ina complicated relationship.

Oh, well. It just endedup becoming complicated.

Well, take care.I'm counting on you.

Humans are..So terrifying. You will

consume anything and you arewilling to mix with anything.

They end up creating monsterslike you. How terrifying.

That monster happenedto be my fiancée.

And there'd come a day when I'd

have to considerhow I could stay

with him. Kurou you look, Saki.

I wonder why. I can imagine it.

Since then, the world that Ionce believed in became warped.

And the more I livedmy life in fear,

the more I could sensethe presence of those creatures.

I wonder how long this lifeof gloom is going to continue.

Even this hill that I climbevery day makes me worry.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

A girl. Ha!

Are you all right? Yes.

This is nothing comparedto being deflowered.

Why in the world would you bring

up such an awkward exampleat a time like this? I mean.

It was the most painfulexperience of my entire life.

Can you blame me?Uh, upsy daisy.

Kids these days comeup with some bizarre jokes.

Is she a child?Wait, how old is she?

I don't really know who you are,

lady, but I thank you very much.

She's rather petite and cute.But what's

this strange presenceI sense from her?

I realized that you werekind enough to save me.

Now, please listen to my adviceand run away. Run from what?

Still, lady, not..To say please..

Get going. Your eyesaren't playing tricks on you.

She's exactly whatshe seems to be.

A type of creature that'soften referred to as a yokai.

I can sense it.That presence is totally real.

Those giant knockersare real as well.

Is that reallyrelevant right now?

Enough running.I'm done with this. Huh?

Huh? I ran away from the Kappa,

ran away from Kuro,and I'm living

a life of depressionbecause of it.

I'm through letting these thingsrule my life. I'm sick of it.

All this absurdity. I'm goingto be done with it tonight.

No.

This is. Illogical. Thisis why I told you to run away.

She ran away.I've got to rethink.

I can't b*at that thingwith brute force.

I don't know what's going on.She just kicked a ghost.

Who in the world is she?

Huh? Wait, Is she nothuman either? It's a prosthetic.

It's fine. It's built to comeoff if it gets overburdened.

If it doesn't,I could harm myself

even more from its staying on.

How would you makecontact with that thing

when my hand went right throughit? Are you a yokai as well?

Oh, no, ma'am. I'm kind ofsomewhere in between, I suppose.

Whoever you are, I candefinitely tell that you're abrave soul.

Please forget everything you sawtoday. I'll take care of steel,

Lady Nancy in the nottoo distant future.

That's the wholereason I came here.

I'd rather not bothergetting the police involved.

So I ask you to nottell anyone about me either.

Huh? You can tellme more at the station.

It's just at the bottomof the hill.

No way. Your leg might be okay,

but I'm sureyou have bruises and cuts

everywhere.I'll treat them for you.

Don't worry. I don't plan to get

a statement from you or tryto contact your family.

But there area series of incidents

the police think stealLady Nancy is responsible for.

So I can't just let this go.

An officer with the trafficdivision Sagamihara. Are youactually that Saki?

Oh. I'm not surewhat you're talking about.

Your hair is shorter, and youseem to have lost weight.

Yeah,that's why I didn't realize it.

I never would have saved youif I knew you were you.

I mean,I wouldn't just let that thing

k*ll you, but really..

Explain so I can understand.It seems like you know me,

but I don't really recallus ever meeting before.

We have met once before,but this

is the first time we'veproperly greeted each other.

My name is Kotoko Iwanaga. I'mKurosaka Ogawa's currentgirlfriend. Delighted.

The Steel Lady Strikes withviolence. Her original form,

The Idol Carinanos, d*ed amysterious death to defeat SteelLady Nancy.

We'll have to find out the truthbehind Karine Nancy's demise.

Next time Idoldies by steel beam.