01x06 - Logical Fiction

[bunniefuu]

Hmm. It has its own wiki site.

Monsters of the Imagination onlyexist and survive throughpeople's ideation.

So long as peoplekeep fantasizing about

the Steel lady,she will remain immortal.

Even if we cut off her head,she'll just keep coming back.

Her life comesnot from within her,

but from the desires of others.

You. You don't need to do.

Can you get guys together?Together? Fishing is. Can't do.

Then on to.

Steel lady Nancy doesn'thave the ability to think.

She's an automatonthat continues moving in

the way people expect her to.

This makes her completelydifferent from your traditionalyokai and ghosts.

Iwanaga.Then how do we defeat her?

Steel Lady Nanase is boundto k*ll someone soon.

I've never seen a monster of theimagination grow to this extent.

I dove into the wiki page,but it seems

like they're somehow makingher even more violent.

Precisely why we'llhave to use this site

to our advantage in orderto bring her down.

If she's become immortal becauseof everyone's imagination,

we'll just have to conquerthat imagination.

Huh? Saki,this is where your abilities

as a police officerwill come in handy.

You're saying you want me to get

the police to shutthe website down?

Not at all.It isn't very realistic

to shut down a personalwebsite without a valid reason.

Then what do you want from me?

Information.I need you to get me

valid information onKarina Sensei's death.

We craft a story,one plausible and

interesting enoughto surpass the rumors.

Steel Lady Nana Osei is a ghost

as well as a monsterof the imagination

created from that storyto find a way

past that will overwritethis part of the story

and convince peopleto think that she's

something people made upand not actually a ghost.

If the peoplewho believed in Lady

Nana's existence believedthe revised story,

then Steel Lady Nanase wouldlose her vitality and cease toexist.

A story wherethe ghost doesn't exist.

So you plan to apply a rational

explanation to anurban legend and prove

that it was a lie? Impossible.

Once a rumor starts spreading,it doesn't

matter if there's a rationalexplanation, not everyone willaccept it.

If the rumor seemsmore believable, then

lies can replace the truthregardless of whether there arediscrepancies.

That's correct. The truth isn'talways the strongest approach.

But still,Lady Nancy is also the truth.

Which is why I'm going to userational fiction to counteracther.

I'll post somethingon the forums more

appealingthan the standard steel lady.

Nancy is a ghost.A statement that suggests

that the storiesabout Steel Lady Nancy

are all fictionand should be forgotten.

Rational fiction. Ghosts don'texist. Therefore, Steel LadyNancy doesn't exist either.

No one's interested in a storythat resolves like that.

It's the hopesand fears people have

that make her existencemore interesting to them.

The Steel Lady exists, but isa monster of the imagination.

She'll vanish if peoplestop thinking about her.

Telling that truthproduces the same result.

In fact,there'll be more people writing

that They hope she existsbecause that's far moreinteresting.

But even if it is a lie, ifwe can manage to create a story

that's more interestingthan the false specter,

people will flock to it instead.

Though many people reallydo believe in spirits,

they also wholeheartedly wishthat such terrifying thingsdidn't exist.

These desires coexiston opposing vectors so

we can easilyflip their direction.

All right. That makes sense.But still,

since you sympathizewith Specters, the idea

of you trying to prove that they

actually don'texist is basically fraud.

Yes, that's true. It's a hoax.But there's

no other wayto exterminate this monster.

Let's discuss somethinga bit more realistic.

In order to convincethe Forum posters

that steal Lady Nancyisn't a real life ghost,

there are two problemswe need to address.

First,we have to explain who's causing

all of these att*cks that havebeen happening all aroundMakurazaki City.

Second,we have to be able to explain

why they're doingsomething like this.

We offer a new solution thatwill realistically explain thesetwo factors.

We will bind LadyNancy in rational fiction.

I need accurate informationto make this plan happen.

If I wereto write something using

just the information about herthat's available online andlater,

someone points outthere is an error.

Suddenly our solutionsounds less credible. And that's

the reason whyI need information from

the police, especiallyconcerning carving Nancy'sdeath.

You're asking an officerto leak personal.

Oh, what's this?I thought this might

prove more difficult sinceyou're an officer in the trafficdivision.

But you alreadyhave documents on Kari.

Nancy. Right here.Hey, give that back.

Hey, Kuroe.What is with this girl?

I tried warning you yesterday,didn't I?

I told you not to get involvedwith the Steel lady.

But seeing howyou have documents on her,

I'm sure you can't letSteel Lady Nancy go either.

As I told youyesterday at Detective,

I know believes SteelLady Nancy is part

of a larger incidentand is investigating.

Then we have the same goal.We have to defeat her somehow.

And that's exactlywhy I need these.

Saki, will you help me out here?

I'm fine with helping yougather some more information.

But what about the perpetrator?Even if you're

going to makeup some rational story,

we don't have a suspectwe can arrest.

And I'm notat all comfortable with

the ideaof framing someone either.

I'll figure out a waythat we can avoid all of that.

Our ultimate goalhere is to offer

a story more appealingthan the truth,

that there's some ghost outthere actually causing all ofthese incidents.

So in the long run, it doesn't

matter if we can'tpinpoint a suspect

because Steel Lady Nancy wasdeliberately made up by someoneonline.

We just need peopleto believe that solution.

What you're saying is itdoesn't matter

if the police cansolve this or not,

as long as the peoplewho believe in steel,

Lady Nancy,are convinced by something that

makes sense to them, we win.

Is that about it? That'scorrect. That seems a bitharsh..

Compared to a fakesolution that relies

on a police investigation andgoing to trial, it seems lessdifficult.

I guess I can at least revealeverything I'm allowed to.

I suggest we startwith an outline

and go back over anyquestions or doubts.

Carry Nanasi was suspectedof k*lling her

father and the mediawas after her,

so she hid in Makurazaki city.

Her body was discoveredon January th of this year,

just after eight in the morning.

One of the first questionsin the investigation was what

Nanase was even doing there.She was

found at a vacant constructionsite for a future condo.

That's a very unlikely placefor a year old girl to visit.

And after midnight,it was pouring. So there

was really no onearound in the area.

It was rather unusualfor her to be out

in that rainy weather so late.

The only plausibleexplanation is that someone

must have caught herout there to meet with her.

Indeed. And according to the.Ports. I've

read there werecigarettes next to her.

There was an umbrellaand five cigarette butts.

And inside her coat pocket,they also

Karin Nancy was a minor, so she

wouldn't legallybe allowed to smoke.

The police suspectthat she came over

here with the intentionto smoke without

being botheredor noticed by anyone.

Karin Nancy was calledthere to meet

with someone and smoked whilewaiting for them to show up.

Of course, it's alsopossible that the person

she met with wasalready waiting there

and they were the onewho was smoking.

That wasn't completelyruled out, but it

was pouring downthe whole night.

So even if someoneelse was there,

any footprints wouldhave been washed away.

But if someone was tryingto get a hold of her,

you'd think we'dfind a record of

them trying to call her phone.

But all they found in her phone

history were messagesbetween her and her manager.

Even early onin the investigation, police

were trying to rulethis as an accident.

Steel beams suddenly falling.k*lling her instantly

would be the easiestand most rational explanation.

But if that's truly the case,some other problems begin toarise.

Like what?The fact that there is no sign

of her trying to defendherself as the steel

beams came fallingdown on her face.

If a steel beam wasabout to fall on you,

even if it was hopeless,you would

try to moveor at least instinctively

try to brace or defendyourself somehow.

But there was no sign of that.

So it's also debatablethat she might

have allowed herselfto get crushed.

Yeah, that's.. A good point.

There was also a theory that ifit actually was a m*rder,

the perp could have hit her hardenough to knock her unconscious,

laid her into position, and thenpushed the beams onto her.

But Cory, Nancy was on the run

from the media and was a suspect

in the death of her own father.

They thought she might b*at her wits end.

It seemed likely that shewas feeling desperate.

So if steel beams had fallenon her around that time,

it wouldn't be surprising ifshe was too out of it to react.

That seemed more likely.So the theory

about someone knockingher out was discarded.

Okay, Cory.Nancy was tired of running

from the media and hadeven contemplated su1c1de.

The steel beams fellon her amid all that,

and she justcouldn't be bothered to

avoid getting crushed.A possible explanation.

Other investigators cameto that same conclusion.

In the end,even though the police

officially ruled carryNancy's death to be an accident.

Considering the situation,there was an unofficial

conclusion that this accidentaldeath could have also been asuicide.

Her older sister,Hatsumi Nancy, the person

most likely to have a motiveto k*ll her, had an alibi.

There were no other likelysuspects, so police came to aconclusion.

A month after herbody was found.

Her own sister hada reason to k*ll her.

That's right. She'dbeen telling others that her

sister was responsiblefor their father's death.

If Cory Nancy were to die, her

entire estate would be givento Hatsumi.

In other words, Karin's deathwould have been convenient.

Even now, among all thequestions surrounding CoryNancy's death,

the biggest one is her sister,Hatsumi.

But during the investigation,she was the only

person who deniedthe theory that her sister was,

in fact, suicidaland wanted another answer.

It's strange that she'dtake issue with the police,

concluding that her sister'sdeath was all an accident.

You'd think an oldersister suspected of m*rder

would want the caseto get wrapped up quickly.

And yet it bothers mehow she was convinced

that if her sister were to die,it wouldn't be like that.

So, Hironaga, you want to tellus what actually happened? Whatdo.. You mean?

Kuroe The way things usually go,you probably already know whathappened.

I'm glad you've gottento know me so well.

But I didn't usemy usual methods this time.

There were fartoo many people around,

so I couldn't goto the crime scene.

So why don't we headover right now?

Go where? We're goingto go find a witness.

Why in the worlddid you bring me here?

It's been over six months sincethe body of Nancy was found.

What's the point in comingto the scene of the crime now?

Right. You won't find anything.Which also

means no one will be watching.

And that means it'san opportune time

for those who aren'thuman to come forth. Huh?

All right.Let's take a look, shall we?

She won't be satisfied unlessshe does all this. It's a..

Holy priestesses dance.. Andpriestesses draw magic circles.

Now, didn't you..See how cool it was?

Who were you tryingto show off to?

Well, naturally, for the onewho's about to be summonedforth, Huh?

You guys are so loud, huh?

Uh, what are you doinghere this late at night?

And we're lucky enoughto run into a human spirit.

This should be easy.Oh, is it you?

The lady of one eye and one leg?

The Ayakashi all around townhave been talking about you.

So that meansthat he's the creature.

That's part Kudan.And part mermaid.

Yes. He's part human, too.Oh, how disturbing.

So, out of curiosity,have you been here for a while?

Yes, ma'am. Ever since I diedat this site last year.

So you would have beenhere when it occurred.

The accident happenedin late January st

in which a year old girl

was k*lled.Oh, do you mean nanase?

So you know of her then? Well,

after all, I witnessedthe moment that she met her end.

That night in the rain.She was all alone.

The poor girlseemed terribly depressed.

And then. Huh? Hey, look out!

She didn't even bother tryingto dodge the steel beams.

It happened so quickly.It was basically su1c1de.

If only I werefaster or stronger,

I might have been ableto redirect them. No. No.

There's no reason foryou to feel responsible.

And this clarifies the truthof what we were looking for.

The city's police are efficient.It was

an accidental deathbordering on su1c1de.

Case closed. No, Hold..On. Is this really a good way

to investigate?There were no deductions.

We have an unrelated thirdparty eyewitness.

What could be betterfor relaying the events

that transpired? So you didn't..

Even need to confirmthe police investigation

in the first place, did you?

You could have found outeverything by asking ghosts andyokai.

It's important to knowthe truth, but it's

perhaps equally importantto see what is generally

regarded as the truthby the world

at large and whatconclusions stem from it.

That's how thoseon the Internet who

fantasize about steel ladynannies formulate their ideasand function.

I won't be using anythingbeyond what's available to them.

And even if there'sinformation that's not

the truth but is believed as the

truth, I'll use that as well.

I am the goddess of wisdom.To create this fiction.

I'll need to make itsound more convincing,

and I'll useany means necessary.

That's our lady. I'll use thisfrustration to do my best to.

By the timethis building is finished,

I'll be strong enoughto be a guardian spirit.

All of this is startingto feel pretty reckless.

Even if the conclusionyou post on the forum

is well written and is able todraw people's attention to it.

In the end,whether people accept it or not

is going to depend entirelyon luck, isn't it?

The problem is peoplearen't always logical.

Many people would be impressedthat something mystical had beenresolved.

But there are others whowant to believe in ghosts.

Will these lies be able to hold

up even when we can't besure what that balance is?

But that's alsothe reason why monsters

of the imagination aren'tso easily created.

We can't know if a lot of people

will believe it or notunless we give it a try.

Our chances againstthe already spread rumors

of steal Lady Nancy aren'tgoing to be the best,

but every majorrumor is at least

believable to some extent,isn't it?

Besides, we haveour secret w*apon corral.

If there's a possibilitythat I can

produce a somewhat appealing liethat enough netizens willaccept,

then Corral will makeit an absolute certainty.

Uh. Well, he didn't eat chewedon meat and survive for nothing,

I can tell you that much.

Good night, Saki. See you later.Yes.

Have a good night.Right. See you later.

So, Kuro,did you get a hotel in the area?

Not yet.I hadn't quite gotten that far.

I thoughtthat might be the case,

so I made sure I'm stayingin a room with a double bed.

I'm pretty sure I sawa business hotel by the station.

Why do you refuseto sleep with me?

This isn't really the timefor that. Iwanaga.

Do you know what kind ofsolution you're going to create?

I have to explainwhy the perpetrator

takes Carrie Nanase's formand att*cks people.

I could come upwith countless motives,

of course,but if you're asking whether

or not it'llbe impactful enough to

draw attention,it's hard to say.

Linking it upwith the past incident

and polishing the narrativeinto more of a tearjerker

might give the newrendition wider appeal.

Not exactly something realistic,but a version

that seems more like a story.Yes, the world is full of harsh

truths every single dayand no one finds them desirable.

And after that it'll allbe up to you. Kuro. Yeah.

I'll go get the future that goesalong with your solution.

I'll die as many timesas I need to for you.

There's not justa single future when

you look into the futurefrom the present.

It splits, changes and spreadsout into different paths.

There are pathwaysto a variety of futures

and any of those futuresare possible.

And the moment you choosea path and move forward,

all the branches behind youdisappear and the path becomesone path,

one path to the pastand infinite futures.

The future is alwaysunknown and undecided.

But wouldn't that make tellingthe future pretty muchimpossible?

If the future splits infinitely,there would be

no way to finda single destination.

And yet the Kudan can makepredictions without fail. Whythe contradiction?

The Kudan doesn't makepredictions by looking into thefuture.

The Kudan is ableto whittle those

infinite splitsinto a single future.

It has the powerto determine which future

will occur and whatdestination awaits.

So that's the truepower of the Prophet

Beast Kudan.What a terrifying ability.

In order to use that power,the Kudan loses its life.

It searchesthrough the endless amounts of

futures and ultimatelydecides on one.

So its life forceprobably burns out.

However, it can't determineany kind of future,

nor can they useit to their advantage.

What are the limitations? Well,if I'm not prepared to die,

I can't see the splitsin the future to choose from.

Perhaps the Kudan doesn't diebecause it states its prophecy,

but is able to state itsprophecy because it's preparingto die.

Then I guess glimpsinginto the future

is a privilege forthose about to die.

You talk like itdoesn't apply to you.

Well, I can return to life.Also,

I can only choosefutures that have

a high chanceof occurring if we're

talking about a yearinto the future.

There are too many variables.I wouldn't know which to choose.

And if the probability of thatfuture happening is too low,

the branch is faraway and difficult to grasp.

This all sounds like a pain.Yeah.

Oh, by the way,Kuro, there's something

I wanted to report to you today.

Report? That's right. I receivedmy letter of acceptance.

Hey, fantastic.We'll be going to the same

university in the spring.Pretty cool, right?

So Curro when Steel ladynannies k*lled you earlier,

were you not ableto find a future

in which she can be destroyed?

If there was one,then I wasn't able to reach it.

There were too many pathways.I didn't

have time to sort through them.

Finding the bestfuture to defeat that thing

and coming back to lifetook everything out of me.

Though you didn'tactually defeat her. You

always think you cansolve everything on your own.

Yeah. Look who's talking.I can come back to life.

But if you die, that's it.

You leave me alonefor a whole week,

and now you actlike you're my guardian.

Back then, Curro d*ed once,determined a future

and came back likenothing had happened.

But even after all that,he couldn't

determine a future where he wasable to defeat Steel Lady Nancy,

that was a potentialfuture outside of Kuro's grasp.

That's why it's my jobto make it something obtainable.

If I can at leastset up an opportunity,

we can defeat Steel. Lady Nancy

and Kiril will makethat opportunity a reality.

So you haven't toldSaki about her, have you?

Nope.I didn't say a single word.

Well, that's good.It hasn't been determined

that she's actually involvedin any of this.

So, hey,why didn't you try using

your powerover the future to choose

a path where youand Saki didn't break up?

If I can do that, I'm goingto grab a future where it's okay

for me to break up with you.

Wait. What are you tryingto say? That's so?

Mean,why are you always like this?

Don't worry. It's not like Ithink I can get back with Saki.

I imagine shefeels the same way.

I don't overly appreciate thetwo of you agreeing like thateither.

Oh. So what exactly do youwant me to say to passionately?

Tell me that you'll makeme happy no matter what?

What's so funny?Cross attachments to the people

in his lifecan seem rather weak.

So weak. I can see him leaving

me one day and seeingit as a favor.

He's such a pain. Why can't you

ever be true to your feelings,

even just once?Let's head to the hotel.

Once you're through the park,turn right. Yeah, sure.

I need to think.If a victim turns up now,

creating the solution willbecome exponentially moredifficult.

It's okay. I'm sure.Still, Lady Nancy

won't be ableto k*ll anyone yet.

So we still have a chance.As long

as no one approaches her,nothing should happen tonight.

I'm a detective.What are you doing

out here so lateand dressed like that?

Like the rumor saida woman without a face

wearing a red dressand carrying a steel beam.

Is that special effects makeup?It's pretty well done.

She's charging me,and I have no choice.

What? What just happened?

Steel Lady Nancykilled Detective Terada.

At this rate, we mightstart seeing even more victims.

We have to defeatSteel Lady Nancy tonight.

Next time, Preparingto conquer the Steel Lady.