concluded that Steele Lady Nancywas nothing more than fiction,
and the schemes of RikkaSakuragawa were rejected.
Huh? Well? Well. Huh?Just received an email.
Happens to be from Riga. Huh?
I've been posting from Kuro'slaptop. Guess she knows hisemail address.
So Rica knew that it was the two
of you getting in herway this entire time.
I guess that makes sense.The only
one who could get in the way
of her determiningthe future would be Kuro,
who has the same ability,and she's
the only one who would knowhow to do this.
Seriously, Rica?I've had to ask you
half a dozen times to notcall me by my first name.
What are you saying?Don't you like Kotoko?
I have difficulty sayingit myself and others do too.
And because of that,it just doesn't
feel right whenI hear people say it.
That's why I'vealways had Kuro call
me by my surname. Oh, I..
See.Now I understand why he calls
you by your last nameeven though you're going out.
So what are you saying? You had
doubts whether Kuroand I were actually dating?
Well, that's what I've saidfrom the beginning. Forget it.
What did Reki's email meanwhen she said this time?
I assume she'll try to makeanother monster of theimagination.
This wasn't enoughto dissuade her either.
But why is Rica doingsomething so horrible?
People's imaginations holdan infinite amount of potential.
Making yokai,phantoms and demons too. We give
life to monsters withouteven realizing it.
And so anything's possible.One might even create a god.
But. But that's. Oh.That's not an answer at all.
What point could therebe in creating a God?
Uh.
You did great, Caro. After dying
and coming back to life so many
times, your energy must be low.
Time to replenishyour nutrients. I got you this.
You're the one who needsto recharge her batteries,
creating those possibilities.Countless futures sent rightwhere I could grab them.
I know more than anyone howmuch energy that takes.
Now, don't be like that.Just eat
and it'll put Saki at ease, too,
if she sees you eatinglike a human.
Oh, but I haveone request that I get
to partake of your bananawhen we get back to the hotel.
I'm too tired.Please, I'm begging you.
No vulgar jokes likethat at a time like this.
Oh, glorious day.That awful steel lady
Nana say has been vanquished.
Huh?
Three cheers for. Eight.
Let's head back home. Oh.What's so important
that you couldn'tlet me enjoy the
praise a little bit longer? Huh?
It's sucky. I think she'sabout to have a heart att*ck.
I'm sorry, Saki.If I'd tried to stop
Rika just a little bit earlier,
we might have been able to deal
with this beforeDetective Terada was k*lled.
What happened was terrible.But how could
either of youhave predicted that?
It was out of all of ourhands in the long run.
Your ability to determine thefuture isn't powerful enough tosave everyone,
no matter how muchyou'd like it to be.
As for the Spectrestyle Lady Nancy,
few people speakof or believe in her anymore.
Their interest transferredover to solving the mystery
of whether or not CarryNancy was actually alive.
Since Ricca's defeat,she deleted the website.
The people who werea part of the waves
of posts that day are nowtalking about a different urbanlegend.
The tall taleof Karyn Nancy faking
her death withsomeone else's body.
The rumors areso dramatic that it's
hard to speakabout them publicly in
the real worldwithout upsetting someone,
almost like they're from analternate reality, differentfrom our own.
Like the type of story we'd see
on a TV program or readabout in the newspaper.
Which makes it lesslikely for someone
researching it to bump intoanybody involved in the actualcase.
The drama of the Steel Lady wasresolved within the internet,
but the storywould be sullied if anyone
tried to pursue it in reality.
Even if people continuedembellishing the story andtalked of it quietly,
they'd still denySteel Lady Nancy existed.
That's how much careshe put into her solution.
I won't make the mistakeof being her enemy.
As for the police,they intend to look
into the ideathat the corpse was
a doppelganger and findout who created the site,
even if they do look into it.
There isn't any proofthat the body
belonged to someoneother than Kari Nanasi.
Eventually,I'm sure the brass will come
to the realizationthey were being led
around by internetrumors and that Kari
Nanase did indeed perish in anaccident earlier this year.
We won't find out what happenedto Kari, Nancy and her family.
There is no resolution.And the k*ller
who m*rder*d DetectiveTerada has disappeared.
Back to business as usual.Back to my life.
Hi, Saki.
Uh. Hang on. Where is Iwanaga?Still asleep at the hotel.
What? She's been outfor an entire day.
She spent the entirety ofyesterday overworking herself.
I kind of figuredthis would happen.
You should try actinga little more concerned.
I will when it's needed.
You wanted to know about Rico,right?
That's right. What do youthink it is that she's after?
Iwanaga changed the subjectwhen I asked her.
I'll tell you.After enough time, I've
accepted what'shappened and moved on.
As it stands,my body has been growing
and aging at a normal rate.
And while accidentsor injuries won't k*ll me,
I'm hopeful that one day I can
still die fromcomplications of old age.
In order to choose betweendifferent futures, I have todie.
And so typically I preferto avoid dangerous situations.
So I like to think that I'llbe able to live a normal life.
Normal. Far from it. But that'snot the case for Rika.
She'll use her abilityas much as she can
in an attempt to returnto being a normal human.
Is that even possible?Even if she used
her power to go through allavailable futures,
finding one where she'sa normal human being,
it would have to take a miracle.
That's right.Back at the university hospital,
Rika tried to find out if it was
medically possibleto return to normal.
In the end, logical methodsprovided no furtheropportunities for her.
She decided to graspthe future she wanted
for herself.And then what happened?
Anything's possible.One might even create a god.
In essence, Rica aims to createa new monster of theimagination,
one strong enoughto grant her wish,
and so she'llmake something that has
godly powers just to becomea normal human being.
It's Rica, so I'm sure she'lldo whatever it takes.
I don't know whatshe's thinking. She wants
to be normal,but always acts abnormally.
Back then before she consumedyokai flesh, I can't help butthink
that she may have alwaysbeen a monster at heart.
And the toughest partof it is that you
still love her, right?It makes things difficult.
So what's next?Rico's going to keep trying
to make a monster, isn't she?
But Iwanaga won't let her.No matter who tries,
no matter the reason,anyone creating a monster
for their own desiresgoes against the natural order.
That's basically the reason shesacrificed her right eye andleft leg.
It sounds like you're notgoing to let it slide either.
As much as I hate to admit it,I think you're right.
Oh, so my phone number. Didyou end up deleting it? Yeah.
You wannaget nagged me about it.No
way you could have kept it.
She's not the typeto let that slide. Oh.
Yes, but what's the harm, huh?It's
not like we could just startall over, could we? Uh.
Yeah. Seeing you after all thistime just proved it'simpossible.
I feel okay sittingacross the table from you,
but even still, I'd be a bit
hesitant to touch you.I'm sorry. Kuro.
No. It's all my fault forkeeping it a secret from you.
It's all right.Just take care of you, Naka.
I already do. Huh?Iwanaga has never
cared muchabout the danger she's in.
I am an immortal, yet she'smore fearless than I am.
She's been injured several timestrying to resolve conflictsbetween angry monsters.
If I'm being perfectly honest,I didn't
want to involveher in the problem.
I wanted to deal withit before she got involved.
But after this little incident,Rico's come
to the realizationthat Iwanaga is the biggest
obstacle and allthat stands in her way.
Which means that Rico'snext step might
be to go after Iwanaga herself.
That hadn't even crossed mymind, considering Rico'scapabilities.
If she thinks Iwanagais in her way.
So that's why you came lookingfor Rica without tellingIwanaga.
Though I'm sureif you had told her,
then Iwanaga definitelywould have gotten involved.
I won't let you Onaga die.After all,
she's someone who deservesto be happy.
Now I feel like I canfinally get some closure.
I doubt that I'llever see him again.
Are you sure you're reallyjust giving me this bike?
You and Aga bought this thing so
she could get around the city.
It'd be a painto take it with us.
So we went. Aga saidshe wanted you to have it.
Oh.She also asked me to tell you.
She told the monstersaround the city
to leave you alone.Another gift.
Tell her thanks, huh? Doesn'tmake me feel much better.
I'll see you around.
I still get scared at night.
But now.
I know someone's protectingthe order of things.
I feel a sense of peace.Our world's in capable hands.
I messed up again. I keep makingmistake after mistake.
I can't believe I sleptfor a day and a half.
Oh, wow. Is it still only
I feel pretty refreshed foronly having slept four hours.
Wait. September th. Did Iseriously just sleep for hours?
I'm such an idiot.I can't believe
I gave Kuro and Saki so much
time.. To spend alone together.
Biggest screw up of my life.
Iwanaga.
Hey, where'd she go?Just. But Faith found her.
Don't rush on my account.If you need the rest,
we can probablybook another night.
You reek of Saki. That'simpossible. I know you saw her.
I did just like you wanted.You said
we should givethe bicycle to Saki.
I figured the sooner the better.I had time to k*ll.
Well, yes, I did say that.But how did you get her number?
On the way back in the car
the other night,we exchanged contact info.
But I already deleted itfrom my phone.
Saki and I are only friends now.
Anyway,that isn't the problem here. You
need to dry yourself off first.You'll catch a cold.
Huh? Wait! What are you doing,you maniac!
Cut it out!This is my only clean shirt.
Oh, just get that damn money.
Thanks for everything.
Thank you.We hope you enjoyed your stay.
Hmm.
So, are you still angry? No.
I'm not.I was simply reflecting.
I should have been awake andalert after hours of sleep.
Clearly, I need to workon increasing my endurance. Hmm.
Take a taxi. The stationisn't very far. We can walk.
It looks likeit's going to rain.
I'm going to getstuck sitting around
on a bench as you takeanother nap, aren't I?
Even I couldn'tpossibly doze off after
sleeping for hours,Mr. Smarty Pants.
Curro. Something tellsme Rico won't try
to make another movein the immediate future.
But I'm going to get the word
out to monstersacross the country to let
me know if they see anythingout of the ordinary.
Of course, I'd rather not gothrough all that trouble again.
The best wayto handle this situation
is to find herand talk face to face.
And going forward, when you comeacross any new information,
please don't act withouttelling me about it first,
okay? I'll keep that in mind.
Oh. Will you? You wannago.Huh? You knew about the cubicle?
You must knowabout Princess Iwanaga..
From the Kojiki. It'sphonetically the same as mysurname,
so naturally I'd know about it.
Princess Iwanaga. PrincessKonohana Nozaki's older sister.
They were both given inmarriage to Ninigi no Mikoto,
descendant of Amaterasu,but Ninigi no Mikoto
only married Princess Konohanano Sakuya and sent PrincessIwanaga back home.
That decision enraged theprincess's father, LordOyamatsumi.
I had a specific reason in mindwhen I set you both sisters.
You integrate justas the IWA or Rock
and Princess IWANaga's name suggests,
she was able to bearlife as eternal as stone,
which never changes monthto month, year after year.
But because Ninigino Mikoto didn't marry
her and returnedher to her father,
he and his line had short lives
scattered about like flowerpetals in the wind. They allbecame mortal.
You get it right.As someone who is immortal,
I don't belong with PrincessSakuya. I need Princess Iwanagainstead.
I'm sure that soundedreally smooth inside your head.
But you knowthe actual reason why
Princess Iwanagawas returned home, don't you?
Don't worry about the minordetails. It's not minor.
The reason PrincessIwanaga was sent back
to her father wasbecause she was ugly.
You couldn't have chosena worse metaphor
to try and impress a girl.
But not you.You're pretty as a flower.
Only a complete fool wouldthink of sending you away.
Mm hm.However you meant it. Judging
someone by theirphysical appearance is boorish.
You're just some yokai humanhybrid. Stop trying to sound socool.
Hm.
Correct. Will he be staying at..
My place tonight?My parents want to see you.
Oh, yeah. I still need toapologize for inconveniencingthem.
There's no need to be so formal.I want you to think of them
and the house asif they were your own.
I can't. I'm not readyto get fenced in just yet.
Do you honestly think youstill have a say in the matter?
In this world there are yokai,ayakashi, specters, demons,mononoke, and ghosts.
These creatures existjust like everything else.
There is transcendentreasoning where the logical
and illogical go hand in hand,
and yet there is no reasonto be afraid.
There's still an orderto all things.
No matter how Rica triesto advance her agenda,
no matter how desperateshe becomes to create a new God.
I will be thereto protect that order.
Whether I have to fabricatea rational fiction
or a fiction that transcendsthe truth itself.
I'll defend this world from thatgap between truth and fiction.
Noah Correll.
Something tells me todayis going to be a beautiful day.
going to be a beautiful day.