Letter (
Synopsis[]
In Room 1003, at 1:30 p.m. on the tenth day of the voyage, Tenftory informs 3rd Prince Zhang Lei that if he, 5th Prince Tubeppa, and 14th Prince Woble were the last three Princes remaining in the succession contest, both the fifth and fourteenth Princes would renounce the throne in support of him. Zhang Lei remarks at the unexpectedness of Tubeppa and Woble in doing so, mentioning in particular that he did not expect Tubeppa to do so. Tenftory confirms that they had agreed to put it in writing, and adds that in return, Woble is requesting is that Sakata and Hashito extend their support indefinitely. Coventoba stands guard a short distance away, watching their conversation
In Room 1005, at roughly the same time, Tubeppa receives word from Maor and Longhi that Kurapika had entered the truce and agreed to their alliance, on condition that Woble and her mother 8th Queen Oito accompany him when he comes to Room 1005. Maor adds that Zhang Lei's personal guards are also demanding to attend, in the interest of sharing information. Tubeppa welcomes the idea, saying that she would not even mind living together with Woble and her entourage. While standing guard at the side, Rihan listens and interprets their conversation as a sign that Tubeppa and her team are colluding with Woble, or more accurately, Kurapika.
Zhang Lei and Tubeppa analyzing the situation
Zhang Lei decides to reward Tenftory with another coin, the second one he rewards him with. Zhang Lei tells Tenftory that he would further reward Tenftory if he reaches a certain number of coins. Tenftory bows as he receives the coin and expresses his gratefulness and happiness. Zhang Lei ponders for a moment, then tells Tenftory that if he carried the coins with him at all times, they would bring him fortune. As he does so, he thinks about the information he had just learnt. He thinks about how getting the condition for a partial surrender is a step forward despite how questionable it is that surrender is even possible in the succession contest, before turning his train of thought to the coins. His previous expectation for something to change after ten days did not come true, and Zhang Lei begins to consider that it might not show its true power if he is holding on to it.
Tubeppa thinks about how 4th Prince Tserriednich had not come to the banquet on Day 8 and guesses that working together with her is of little importance to him. She reminds herself not to be choosy since 1st Prince Benjamin's private soldiers are targeting her and she hopes that the news of the agreement would direct Benjamin's attention toward Zhang Lei instead of her. Tubeppa tells Maor and Longhi to make sure to impress their closeness with Zhang Lei upon Benjamin's soldiers at the next class.
Rihan finally seeing Tubeppa's Guardian Spirit Beast
Suddenly, Rihan notices a mass of aura gathering behind Tubeppa. Her Guardian Spirit Beast suddenly appears facing him, croaking and producing fumes from its body. Rihan considers the possibility that the timing of her Guardian Spirit Beast right after the peace treaty was made was significant, and deduces the possibility that her Guardian Spirit Beast is a conditional type.
Somewhere alone, Balsamilco kneels onto his left knee and loads a cartridge into a small gap in the side of his right shoe. He clenches his fist, notes that gas was emitted from his shoe, and is happy to see that things were functioning as he intended. He reaches his left hand into a pocket in his uniform and pulls out a small box, pressing a sequence of buttons to get it to open and reveal three vials of a potent pathological weapon. Kakin's military had created the weapon and considered it a failure after flaws were found during its development, but under the right conditions, it could serve as the perfect silent killer. Its proteins denature in less than thirty seconds once in the air, but if inhaled before that, manifests initially as a stomach flu before causing an infected person to die from multiple organ failure in half a day. The decomposition of the corpse is also accelerated, and offending pathogen is subsequently outcompeted by decay-focused bacteria, erasing all trace of the weapon during an autopsy. Balsamilco loads a vial of it from the box into his right shoe and looks at the activation button in his left hand, resolving to erase 9th Prince Halkenburg with it.
Salkov helping Tserriednich with his Nen training
In Room 1004, at 8:00 a.m. on the eleventh day, Salkov, in mild disbelief, announces to Tserriednich that he had taken 9.67 seconds to activate his Zetsu. Tserriednich, playing a game on his phone with his right hand as he uses a treadmill, casually remarks his surprise at his time taken to activate Zetsu finally being under 10 seconds, but says that he still has a way to go, and tells Salkov that they would try again in 10 seconds while continuing to jog on the treadmill and play on his phone. Still in mild disbelief at the ease speed of Tserriednich's growth, Salkov compares the speed it took Tserriednich to break the ten-second barrier with himself, who had been able to use Zetsu since birth. Salkov reassures Tserriednich that he was doing great, and tells him that his speed was remarkable. He thinks about how Tserriednich learns in a day what takes him six months to learn, truly an exceptional monster.
Salkov considers Tserriednich's temperament and concludes that he would definitely use Nen only for his own selfish desires, echoing Theta's previous sentiments. He thinks back to what she had said and concludes that if what Theta had said was true, the only explanation was that Tserriednich had activated some kind of ability during Zetsu, making him an outlier of outliers, even among specialists. Salkov continues trying to think of an explanation for Theta's testimony, identifying the possibility that his jester-like Nen beast stores aura in it under normal conditions, and then activates its power when Zetsu is used. He also considers the possibility that Theta was manipulated by his Guardian Spirit Beast when she was attacked and gave false testimony, since he still had not been able to see Tserriednich's jester-like Nen beast.
Because of his lack of information, Salkov finds himself unable to do more. A knock on the door comes and Vantine steps in to update Tserriednich about their progress with Melody. Vantine reports that the Ministry of Justice had suspected her involvement and is continuing to detain her. He adds that Benjamin seems to think the same, explaining the soldiers stationed there. Tserriednich tells Vantine not to let Benjamin get ahead of him and instructs him to continue the meetings to find out what Melody is thinking so that they can win her over.
Salkov watches Tserriednich run, play games, and talk with Vantine while flawlessly maintaining Zetsu and almost lets his jealousy show, thinking that what Tserriednich is doing should take years of training and admitting that he cannot do what Tserriednich could. Salkov thinks about how just being around Tserriednich makes him lose faith in himself, and is impressed with Theta's ability to be around him for so long.
"Kacho" showing Melody the mark on Fugetsu's back
In Melody's cell in the Justice Bureau on Tier 2 at 6:00 a.m. on the eleventh day, Melody looks at a picture of 11th Prince Fugetsu's back on "Kacho"'s phone, with a clear mark on her right shoulder blade. "Kacho" tells Melody that she had noticed a mark that looked like a bug bite on Fugetsu while she was getting changed, which she didn't have before their escape attempt. Melody says that it looks like it could be an injection site, but "Kacho", standing upside down on the ceiling, dismisses the possibility since they had been immediately taken into custody by the Ministry of Justice after they had come back to their room.
Melody has a flash of insight and suggests that it is a mark caused by Nen. "Kacho" is unfamiliar with the term. So Melody explains that some Nen powers had a multistep process to activate, suggesting that Fugetsu had fallen into a trap and was marked. Melody asks if Fugetsu had said anything strange yesterday, and "Kacho", with a looming feeling of dread, thinks back to Fugetsu's comments about how she could use Magical Worm as many times as she wanted in a day. "Kacho" asks if an enemy ability was responsible for making Fugetsu think that she could use it as many times as she wants. Melody tells "Kacho" to have Fugetsu test the ability, claiming that two doors should appear though one would be a trap set by the enemy, which "Kacho" could show to Fugetsu to persuade her not to use the ability anymore. "Kacho" hopes that Fugetsu will not need convincing once she finds out that the ability is fake. Melody expresses her hope for that to be the case, but suggests that Fugetsu's recent behavior shows signs of addiction. "Kacho" asks Melody if she means that Fugetsu was injected with some sort of drug, angry at the idea that someone could have done such an terrible thing. Melody replies that she could not think of any other reason for such a drastic change over a short time.
Melody shares that she was wrong in her initial thought that one of the Princes who had asked to meet her was using Fugetsu as part of a negotiation. She says that if Fugetsu continues using the enemy's ability, she will keep getting weaker and will not last until next weekend. She now believes it to be an ability that indiscriminately attacks anyone who gets trapped.
"Kacho" suggesting that Luzurus could be the perpetrator
"Kacho" frantically asks what they should do, and Melody suggests identifying the user and stopping them, but says that it would be difficult to identify them without any clues. "Kacho" has an idea, and she explains it in Kaiser's office a short while later, who joins their discussion. "Kacho" suggests that 7th Prince Luzurus is responsible, since he sells drugs to help back the Cha-R Family, and guesses that it is his Guardian Spirit Beast that is responsible for Fugetsu's condition. Melody points out that even if Luzurus was behind it, he was probably not consciously attacking Fugetsu and so would not be easy to persuade. "Kacho" decides that the only way to confirm and stop the ability is to defeat Luzurus or his Nen beast, deciding that they must take action immediately.
Melody tells Kacho that she understands how she feels, but they could not act recklessly and need to come up with a solid plan. "Kacho" says that she has one and mentions that Fugetsu has been testing her ability. "Kacho" shares that when Fugetsu wished for a location outside the ship, her door did not appear, but she could connect to the emergency area with the lifeboats and access the inside of the very first boat so that they could go there anytime. She also mentions that they had wanted to test if she could let people other than her and "Kacho" inside the door, but had unable to do so until now. "Kacho" explains that the condition for the "Outgoing Door" to close was Fugetsu entering the tunnel, and the "Door of Return" when "Kacho" entered it on the way back, and speculates that others could come and go if they were not inside before asking Melody to help confirm it.
Melody thinks for a second and then tells "Kacho" that she would need more people for her plan; she would need someone who could carry a Luzurus knocked unconscious by her flute through the tunnel to the lifeboat. "Kacho" says that it would be ideal if Luzurus agreed to an escape plan and voluntarily got on a lifeboat, but she doubts that he would be stupid enough to do so. She points out that Melody's ability could guarantee it. However, it would be even better to poison or strangle him on the spot. Kaiser disagrees with her final point, saying that it would be far better to make it look like an accident.
Having said that, Kaiser volunteers to be their mule, telling them to do it while they got questioned so that they could use the questioning as their alibi. "Kacho" and Melody give Kaiser a look. Still, he seemingly ignores them, and continues to say that Luzurus' guards would probably claim to be affected by Melody's music, but could be dismissed by simply drug testing them and making people think that they were hallucinating on drugs. He also suggests a plausible story, that "Luzurus overdosed spontaneously, tried to escape, and had a heart attack".
"Kacho" looks to Melody and asks her thoughts on the plan. Melody says it's a good plan, but points out one major problem to address, and asks where they would connect the door. "Kacho" and Kaiser look at Melody, seemingly not understanding what she is trying to say. "Kacho" correctly answers that the door would go to Luzurus' Master Bedroom, and Melody agrees with her but points out that it means that Fugetsu would need to go there. Kaiser still does not understand, and asks them to explain. Melody explains that in order for Fugetsu to use the door's ability to travel somewhere, she has to actually go to that place beforehand, which "Kacho" clarifies in this case means the master bedroom in Luzurus' quarters.
Having understood, Kaiser tells "Kacho" and Melody that he would get Fugetsu access to the necessary locations. He asks them to devise a reason for Fugetsu to personally meet each Prince, without worrying about assassination since they would accompany her as observers. "Kacho" catches his use of "each Prince" and asks to clarify if he has more than just Luzurus in mind. Kaiser points that it strategically makes sense to increase the number of possible locations that Fugetsu could travel to, since it would cover their tracks and come in useful later. "Kacho" agrees and proposes a plan.
Kaiser and "Kacho" coming up with a plan together
Kaiser thinks about the plan and says that it isn't bad, reasoning out that everyone would be interested in a letter containing Prince Kacho's last message, and would likely accept it if they guaranteed their safety. He also says that for security reasons, it was not unnatural to not let the Princes know beforehand of any visits to their quarters. "Kacho" is unsure whether the other Princes would allow a low-ranking Prince into their room and personally receive the letter, especially Luzurus, who probably has a lot that he does not want seen by a member of the Ministry of Justice. Kaiser thinks deeply for a moment and says that it would depend on his negotiating skills, and in the worst case they could force a search of his quarters, so tells "Kacho" to let Fugetsu know what to expect. He looks up to see Melody and "Kacho" looking at him, and believing that they still had doubts about his willingness to get involved, he prepares to restate how he feels about Melody.
Melody cuts him short and says that he had already made it very clear, but still wants him to make sure he wants to help, since once he gets as involved in this as he would be, there is no turning back, and asks him if he is sure he wants to risk everything. Without hesitation, Kaiser confirms that he does, but adds that he is not just doing it because of his feelings for her, but also because he thinks it would be best if Fugetsu takes the throne and changes the system, and having Kacho by her side would likely protect Fugetsu from her mother 6th Queen Seiko's meddling. He adds that he did not join the Ministry of Justice to blindly uphold the law, he also wants to get the world closer to his gentle, ideal world, and is willing to do the dirty work to make it happen even if he would lose the right to enter the gentler world.
As Kaiser shares his vision and his motivation for helping, Melody continues observing his heartbeat, but does not detect any change in it. She prepares to assume that Kaiser is on the enemy's side if she cannot figure out his true intent, and notes that as the situation currently is, Kaiser or whoever is manipulating him still thinks that they are worth using. In order to protect Fugetsu, Melody decides to maintain the relationship for the time being.
Kaiser and Fugetsu making their way to Benjamin in the VVIP area
Kaiser leads Fugetsu around Tier 1, escorted by Steiner, Peuckert, an unnamed member of the IPA loaned to the Ministry of Justice, and several armed Kakin soldiers. They first head to the VVIP area, and find the entrance cordoned off with a tape barricade, with a small table in front of it manned by a civilian to monitor visits, armed soldiers behind the cordon, and Benjamin's private soldier Butch waiting at the end of the entrance corridor. As Kaiser's group approaches, the employee recognizes Kaiser and moves to greet him. Kaiser's group repeats their explanation several times, telling both the armed soldiers and Butch of their request for an audience with Benjamin to personally deliver a letter from Kacho to Benjamin himself. Kaiser explains that the Kacho had passed away but handwritten a letter for each Prince before her death, and had requested them directly delivered to each Prince if she had died. Kaiser guarantees no danger of explosives or poison, and requests permission for the letter to be handed from Fugetsu to Benjamin under their supervision. Butch offers to pass it to Benjamin for them and motions for Kaiser to pass him the letter, but Kaiser does not do so and tells Butch that it could be an official proclamation about the succession, and defying a dead Prince's wishes could lead to the letter's disqualification. Kaiser asks Butch to contact Benjamin, and Butch gets his approval to do so, and brings up a Fugetsu's state when he does so.
As Fugetsu thanks him for granting her an audience, Benjamin, seated in an office chair, observes the ghostly spirits clinging to Fugetsu, surprised at her terminal condition. Butch stands by and observes their interaction. Fugetsu holds up the letter and thanks Benjamin for his audience before requesting his permission to approach him. Benjamin tells her that she may certainly do so, and Fugetsu begins to walk over to Benjamin. As she gets close, Benjamin's Guardian Spirit Beast, perched on the back of his chair, screeches at Fugetsu, dispelling the spirits around her. Benjamin notices them vanish, and confirms that they are low-level evil spirits that plague those in a weakened state. He decides that it was not the work of Fugetsu's Guardian Spirit Beast or any kind of scheme, and guesses that she had fallen into despair after losing her sister, believing that she would not last ten more days.
Kaiser tricking Benjamin into mentioning special martial law
After Benjamin accepts the letter from Fugetsu, he asks Kaiser if he should open it there and then. Kaiser defers to Benjamin, and tells him that he would act as witness in the event that it contained information about his succession. Benjamin opens it, reads it, and says that it is an ordinary letter, with nothing political or worth showing them. As he reads it, he changes the topic, and asks if they had found Musse yet. Kaiser tells him that they had not, and elaborates that they focused their search on Tier 1 based on when Benjamin had sealed off the connecting passageway but were unable to locate him. Kaiser tells him that they could enforce their authority and conduct thorough searches of all the Princes quarters and trails off, letting Benjamin cut him off. Benjamin says that it would likely be pointless since both of them are aware that the court case to determine the order of priority between royal privilege and military authority is still ongoing, but even then, their current situation did not meet the conditions for a national crisis that would be required for martial law. Kaiser agrees, and mentally thanks the fact that Benjamin falls for leading questions.
Kaiser thinks about Benjamin's words and reactions, considers the point of contention in the court case, the military crisis when the military personnel become victims, and exactly the situation that happened to Musse. He notes that Benjamin brought up martial law, which requires a higher level of crisis, crisis to the very existence of Kakin. Kaiser believes that Benjamin is waiting for an opportunity to implement martial law at the right moment and was likely thinking about the contents of the letter while trying to maintain his composure and had not realized his slip of the tongue. As they leave, Kaiser reflects that it was a good idea to wait for the time when Balsamilco was away, and from their interaction with Benjamin, decides that having the other Princes read their letters and watching their reactions should prove effective.
Luzurus accepting the letter from Fugetsu
Kaiser's group make their way to Princes Tubeppa and Tyson so Fugetsu can pass them Kacho's final letter. Rihan watches as Tubeppa remains seated in her chair while receiving the letter. Tyson has a sad look on her face as she receives the letter from Fugetsu. Two guards stand outside Room 1007 as Kaiser's group enters. Luzurus expresses his gratitude that the Ministry of Justice would vouch that his quarters are clean in exchange for meeting Fugetsu. Kaiser thanked him in return, explaining that facilitating negotiations among the Princes regarding the succession contest was a major part of their duties. Without getting up, Luzurus leans over the back of his couch to take Kacho's letter from Fugetsu while apologizing to Fugetsu about Kacho. Basho and Kanjidol stand and observe the exchange, together with another of Luzurus' guards seated on a couch behind him. Kaiser prepares to observe Luzurus as he reads the letter.
Luzurus opens and reads the letter, then says that it is pretty mind-blowing. He asks Fugetsu if Kacho had said anything about the letter or writing the same message to all the Princes. Fugetsu replies that Kacho had never had a chance to tell her. Luzurus guesses that Kacho would not have wanted to get her little sister involved and says that the contents do not directly relate to the succession but tells Kaiser that he might want to pass the letter to the higher-ups in the Ministry of Justice. Kaiser takes the letter from Luzurus and tells him that he would take a look at it, while pretending to read it for the first time, since "Kacho" had written the letter about information that he had leaked to her.
Kaiser thinks back to an earlier discussion with "Kacho" and Melody where he suggested shaking up the other Princes while they visited the rooms of each Prince. He explains that the Minsitry of Justice had independently investigated and gathered insider information on each Prince to maintain and defend their neutrality, which might as well be literal bombshells, and suggests that they use them here to their advantage. Melody expresses uncertainty that anyone would believe that Kacho would have known such important information, but Kaiser dismisses it saying that each Prince would be too desperate to discover the source of the leak to think of it. He reassures "Kacho" and Melody that he will deflect questions that dig too deep into Kacho.[note 1] He had no intention of having her return to the dangerous Tier 1 until the succession contest is finished.
Kaiser thinks that Luzurus' sharing of the letter was unexpected and might be a sign that he is more cautious and suspicious than expected. Kaiser reads out the letter and suggests its contents, including whistleblowing on Tserriednich, are all simply rumors. Luzurus watches him as he explains his interpretation of the letter's contents and adds that Kacho had written that "Prince Tserriednich is the one I wouldn't want on the throne" in it. Luzurus suggests that it might have been a tactic to get the Ministry of Justice to investigate the Princes based on defamatory rumors and find and expose actual wrongdoing, though he concedes that he's not really in a position to judge others.
Luzurus thinks for a moment about his off-feeling about the whole situation. Because of his interpretation that the last message seemed more like a social bomb dropped to discredit the other Princes rather than something to protect Fugetsu and his impression of Kacho as someone sharp, he concludes that the contents of the letters to each Prince were different, and that if she had intended to pit him against his fellow "snake" Tserriednich while she begged Benjamin to protect Fugetsu, acting carelessly would be dangerous. Luzurus says that he has no idea whether any of them are true and does not care to find out if so, and tells Kaiser to keep the letter.
Basho using his ability to help Fugetsu
Kaiser and his group take their leave, and Kaiser thinks that their plan worked. He tells Fugetsu that she could postpone visiting the remaining Princes if she was tired, but Fugetsu reassures them that she is fine, eager to do anything she can. The spirits around her start acting up, then suddenly fade away. As they leave Room 1007's entrance hallway, Basho catches up with them, introduces himself as a colleague of Melody, and asks Fugetsu for a moment. Fugetsu greets him politely, and Basho takes the chance to say that although it was none of his business, she looked tired, and offers her a good luck charm with a haiku on it:
Fugetsu thanks him for his concern and accepts Basho's good luck charm. As he waves goodbye, he counts on Melody to help treat her, though low-level evil spirits would not approach her for a while if she had the talisman on her. Kaiser watches Basho return to Scairt's side, and as Basho's back is towards him, bows in gratitude for his help, unaware that Steiner had seen him do so.
During "Kacho", Melody, and Kaiser's conversation at 8:50 a.m. on the eleventh day in his office after Fugetsu's visits, "Kacho" suggests acting quickly in case Luzurus was not the culprit (so that they had more time to identify the true culprit), and proposes starting when Fugetsu wakes up. She says that they would be questioned in the infirmary while Fugetsu was treated, and stationing guards and Justice Bureau officials outside the room would give them perfect alibis. Melody agrees with the plan, stating that they could not confirm who the culprit was, though Basho had managed to give them some time. Melody shares that she would use the ocarina, but it would not change the fact that she could not do anything else while using her ability. Kaiser reassures them that it would be fine even if she could not do anything, that if the tunnel were about 10 meters long, he could carry Luzurus himself and still make it in time.
Melody thinks for a moment and brings up a rumbling that happened right above the Ministry of Justice, and shares her guess that since Halkenburg was the only other Prince on Tier 2, the ability belonged to him or his Guardian Spirit Beast. However, Halkenburg himself fell ill, and so Melody asks to know as many details about whether it was planned or not since it was crucial to know. She also reminds Kaiser that she must hand him the letter when he wakes up. Kaiser also reassures her that this is under control since he had assigned someone he knows to Halkenburg's attendant duty.
Kurapika reading the letter addressed to him
Melody continues thinking hard. Halkenburg's letter contains all the information about Benjamin's secrets, Tserriednich's depravity, and the truth of Halkenburg's own birth. It also has information that could shake the very foundation of the succession contest, hoping that Halkenburg could put it to good use. She also thinks to Kurapika, who reads a letter. She thinks about how as long as the succession contest continued, the Princes could not escape the ship, hoping very much that Kurapika could devise a plan so no more Princes had to die.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Zhang Lei Hui Guo Rou
- Woble Hui Guo Rou (Mentioned)
- Coventoba
- Tenftory
- Sakata (Mentioned)
- Hashito (Mentioned)
- Tubeppa Hui Guo Rou
- Maor
- Longhi
- Rihan
- Oito Hui Guo Rou (Mentioned indirectly)
- Balsamilco Might
- Halkenburg Hui Guo Rou (Mentioned)
- Salkov
- Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou
- Theta (Mentioned)
- Vantine
- Kacho Hui Guo Rou (Guardian Spirit Beast)
- Melody
- Luzurus Hui Guo Rou
- Kaiser
- Seiko Hui Guo Rou (Mentioned indirectly)
- Peuckert
- Fugetsu Hui Guo Rou
- Steiner
- Butch
- Benjamin Hui Guo Rou
- Musse (Mentioned)
- Tyson Hui Guo Rou
- Basho
- Kanjidol
- Bharate
- Scairt
- Kurapika
Notes
- ↑ The original Japanese text in this sentence was
第11王子 , which says that Kacho is the 11th Prince. It is not clear if this is a mistake, but Viz has chosen to interpret Kaiser's words here as him referencing Kacho and not Fugetsu.
Trivia[]
Intertextuality and References[]
- The name of Halkenburg's ability The Boy Who Shoots the Arrow: Grimmel the Dissonance is revealed in Chapter 403, the next chapter. Perhaps coincidentally, the song 不協和音 (Fukyouwaon, lit. Dissonance) by frequently-referenced J-Pop idol group Keyakizaka46 contains a line
僕 を 抹殺 してからいけ (boku o massatsu shite kara ike, lit. eliminate me first). This 抹殺 is the same term Balsamilco uses in his monologue when he describes deleting Halkenburg, but it is given the alternate reading of デリート (deriito, lit. delete) instead, written as 抹殺 . - On page 16 of this chapter, Luzurus wears a hoodie with the characters "SKR46" on it. SKR46 is an abbreviation of J-Pop group Sakurazaka46.
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