Chapter 97

 is the ninety-seventh chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
Polka was seen using magic! And to make things worse, this mysterious man seems to know who he is…

Synopsis
The day before the corpse hunt, Takeru Shinoyama hands Lemmings a photograph of two young ladies and says one of them is the daughter of one of Shinoyama Security's major clients. It seems that she had been out late partying last night and ended up on a 'corpse hunt' with a man at Arataya General Hospital; neither have been seen since. Her father has asked Shinoyama Security to privately investigate because the missing man allegedly had ties to the drug trade—"stupid[ly]" prioritizing saving face over saving family, opines Takeru, who has accepted the request despite this...and the likelihood of the daughter being found alive.

In the present, Lemmings takes his time looking at the photograph while the lone beast growls at him—and then he snaps the beast's wrist as depicted previously. The beast uses its free hand to slam Lemmings to the ground, but Lemmings reappears behind it and outhrusts his hand once more.

Polka Shinoyama wiggle-signals to Corpse God that he has no idea who Katashiro is or how Katashiro recognizes his face. Corpse God pretends that the magic that Katashiro was a 'shared hallucination,' cringes for claiming something so unbelievable, and is consequently suspicious when Katashiro nonchalantly acts like such a phenomenon is probably bound to happen in ghost story-replete Shibuya. What is not imaginary, however, is that he is on Corpse God's side.

Corpse God asks how Katashiro knows his identity. Katashiro replies that Polka is rather famous among underworlders at the moment—not all of whom will be susceptible to 'hallucinations', mind—and that a client has asked him to protect Polka from Higuro's henchmen. Sure, let's go with that! he thinks. His client is himself at this exact moment. Katashiro to Katashiro, reward money is 1 million yen to be paid out and collected later, over. Roger, Katashiro. See, if Lisa Kuraki or Rushia Andou question him later, he can use the excuse that he was protecting Polka and causing a scene was accidental.

Then it hits him that he really did call Polka Shinoyama by his name. Oh dear. If Polka talks to Lisa about this encounter, then Lisa will know that Katashiro came to Shibuya even though he is not supposed to be involved with the situation. What if she accuses him of leading Higuro's lackeys? As far as the immediate situation goes, the only thing Katashiro knows is that Polka clearly wants to "throw him off his trail." This is all the more reason for Katashiro to play along—and Lisa might even have a good reason for protecting the kid.

Since Katashiro's soul is colored with certainty, Corpse God supposes that Katashiro does not appear to be lying. He nonetheless considers but ultimately decides against using a truth-telling technique on Katashiro due to it being psychologically meddlesome. Still, it troubles him that Katashiro absolutely caught him using a spell; he cannot risk inadvertently revealing anything more about himself. So he is extremely deliberate in what he chooses to reveal next: he is currently working with the Agakura Clan. He asks if this is acceptable. Katashiro assures him that it is quite acceptable, for he had just been hoping to meet them.

Deep in the hospital's basement, Momoya Agakura grins as he cleaves a hand from a beast's arm. "Guess I finally adjusted to the dark."

Referbacks

 * The opening shows more of Takeru's briefing of Lemmings about the missing daughter in Chapter 90.
 * Corpse God attempted to pass off his magic as a mass hallucination to the Youtoukorou crowd in Chapter 3.