Chapter 89

Chapter 89 is the eighty-ninth chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
Polka returns to find Majiri and Lemmings waiting for him. How did they get there? And what’s a “corpse hunt”?

Synopsis

 * Now

Majiri Agakura asks the Corpse God if he wants to join her tomorrow for a "fun day out going corpse hunting."


 * One hour earlier

In Takumi Kuruya's computer room, Xiaoyu Lei stands at attention while Civil A. Sabaramond, Soara Habaki, and Lulu lounge around a coffee table and Sayo Shinoyama clutches her shark pillow. Takumi asks Sayo about her living situation before ducking under his desk to plug in a monitor; Sayo replies that she refuses to go home until her room is good as new. Civil wonders if the Abandoned Building is meanwhile safe, knowing full well that he previously snuck inside it via its underground passage; in Xiaoyu's private opinion, the building was hardly secure even before that.

Takumi announces that he installed additional security cameras around the building while fixing the latter's broken windows and then upgraded his security monitors, proudly standing aside to show off the four on his desk. Only the top right monitor displays any live camera feeds, one of which is externally trained on the building's front entrance. A hooded figure approaches the front doors in tandem with Takumi assuring everyone that he will know at once when "anybody shady shows up"; Civil draws his and Lulu's attention to the monitor, and, as the three huddle closely to look at it, Sayo looks behind it to ask one Majiri Agakura who she is.

Majiri freezes, one hand clutching a briefase, the other hand mere inches away from petting Xiaoyu's head. Though she retracts it and greets the room pleasantly, Xiaoyu springs back to put himself between her and Sayo, crying out her full name with outrage. His "big sister" is nevertheless happy to meet him again, and his answering cry of "No!" when Sayo asks if they are related is all the more emphatic. Takumi asks why an Agakura is paying them a visit; Majiri explains that, as much as she wishes she were here to visit her future younger brother, she is here to speak with the apparently absent Misaki Sakimiya and Polka—that is, "'Corpse God Riz'-kun."

Soara tenses as if to pounce from the couch, but it is Civil who acts first, vaulting over the monitors so that his shin swings directly at Majiri's skull. Majiri catches the offending leg and flings Civil away, with Soara catching Civil in turn before he can slam into the wall; she warns her boss not to act rashly when neither of them are in a state to fight someone so strong. While Soara helps Civil to his feet, Majiri remarks on the strangeness of these guests—less so the "proxy of Arius," whose presence she "gets," than the "monster-weight bodyguard." Either way, both are proof that imperial technology has been successfully reproduced on Earth in no small degree.

Majiri's comment is itself final confirmation for Civil and Soara that Majiri knows about the Other Side of the Sky. However, Majiri is no assassin from the 'other faction', says Civil, she is "Bat!!"—whom he has never met until now. Takumi's monitors rattle as Majiri encourages a receding of hostilities on behalf of Lulu, who is in clear distress: she sits against the wall by Takumi's desk, face pinched, hands clasped, muttering inaudible words through clenching teeth. A device shudders on a coffee table, clattering in chorus with the monitors as the door begins to thud a percussive rhythm.

Without explicitly mentioning the Elemental itself, Majiri slyly praises Lulu for demonstrating much more control than she did a few days ago. Her insinuation is one Civil will not be able to argue—that Lulu could lose control again—so he surrenders. Lulu relaxes; the Elemental, satisfied by the ceasing of hostilities, has ceased its own, causing the rattling and clattering to die down. Civil claims that he attacked Majiri for the simple purpose of subduing a trespasser, which Takumi recognizes as the excuse he had given Civil when Corpse God preemptively struck him.

Takumi qualifies Civil's statement by admitting they have good reasons to be wary of Majiri specifically: she personally destroyed Xiaoyu's limbs and is is in cahoots with Takumi's abductors. "Ohh..." Majiri says. "You're the one who was in that warehouse." She nonchalantly apologizes on her brother's behalf for the abduction.

Xiaoyu looks over to the door, which has continued to thud in the aftermath of Civil's surrender, and asks if it could be someone knocking. The sound has been persistent for so long that Takumi assumed only Elementals could be keeping it up, but, on the off-chance Xiaoyu is right, Takumi begrudgingly goes to greet this weird class of uncommonly tenacious human at their doorstep. "Good grief... What is it this time?" he complains, with reckless abandon. "Don't tell me it's Lemmings."

Takumi opens the door. It's Lemmings. Takumi shuts the door. Spurned, Lemmings knocks on the door with escalating speed and force, practically pounding on it by the time it swings open. Soara and Xiaoyu yelp as he enters, with the latter stunned at the idea of Lemmings and Majiri working together. They are not, as far as Majiri knows, so she offers to 'handle' the latest visitor as an apology for the disturbance.

Lemmings stands still as Majiri gently touches him with her right hand (her left still clutching the briefcase) and remarks that she has heard that he has "done so much" for her family over the years. Then she single-handedly swivels him around his center a near 360 degrees. As soon as Lemming's hands make contact with the floor, Lemmings pushes off of it, flipping himself backwards with one hand and Majiri away with his other. Takumi scrambles out of Lemmings' path and into the corridor as Majiri hurtles towards his monitors, the stand of which she kicks off of as she would a launching pad. The monitor stand topples and the new monitors topple with it, much to Takumi's shriek of dismay.

After a flurry of blows are exchanged, Majiri admits that Lemmings surprises her; as best she can tell, he is thus far getting by with "just a human body," never once using any magic, blood-based power, or even the techniques of the Heilei. This is to Lemmings' credit, so she decides—and invites Lemmings—to temporarily putting aside "what happened with [her] people" in favor of learning what business he, O Apex of Humanity, has with this building's residents. Takumi, who might ordinarily object to Majiri taking charge, is so broken-hearted over his monitors that he lets her; he remains in the corridor.

Lemmings murmurs his business close to Majiri's ear. Majiri is pleased; their goals are aligned. She informs the room that Lemmings also has business with Polka.


 * Which brings us to the present

Takumi, back inside the room, wraps up his recounting of the past hour to Corpse God with a frank admission that nobody present "had what it takes" to eject the two visitors du jour, including if not especially the Elementals—since they have what it takes to demolish the entire building in the process.

Corpse God greets Majiri by acknowledging their encounter the previous evening, then asks what this 'corpse search' entails. Majiri explains that Shinjuku's youth are all agog at the latest local trend, one so popular that even streamers are getting involved: exploring a cluster of 'haunted' abandoned buildings in Shinjuku's suburbs. This rings a bell: Corpse God and Takumi vaguely recall hearing about it on the news back when Phantom Solitaire commandeered the media.

Takumi emphasizes to Corpse God that these corpse searches are a more dangerous pastime than the pastime of exploring abandoned sites. The latter by itself is a test of courage; the former inserts a deadly twist into the mix. Moreover, the particular derelict suburban buildings caught up in the current fad have seen people go missing: more than thirty have disappeared in the last six months alone.

Trivia

 * Page 16 shows bandages still covering the wound that Kuon Higuro inflicted on Takumi's right shank in Chapter 45.

Referbacks

 * Majiri refers to Lulu's failure to restrain her Elemental as depicted in Chapter 79.
 * Corpse God's trapping of Civil within skeletal hands, as remembered by Takumi, occurred in Chapter 74.
 * The rooftop escapades of Xiaoyu, Lemmings, and Tena Sorimura begin in Chapter 30.
 * Civil infiltrated the Abandoned Building in Chapter 73.
 * Takumi's warehouse incident was a major focal point of Volume 6.
 * Soara's first encounter with Lemmings is teased in Chapter 76 before playing out in Chapter 79.
 * Corpse God, Takumi, and Misaki listened to the radio broadcast about the "search for [corpses]" back in Chapter 19.