Chapter 53

Chapter 53 is the fifty-third chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Official Blurb
Habaki's escaped! What exactly are these secrets he's so desperate to keep?

Synopsis
In a flashback to the time when Tsubaki Iwanome's hair was black, Habaki berates Iwanome for carelessly "snooping through HQ's confidential data." Correctly assuming Iwanome is still looking into Inspector Miyabi Hosorogi's case, he advises Iwanome to 'move on' and stop obsessing over someone long gone; he is speaking from personal experience. Iwanome asks if Habaki is referring to his daughter, whose picture is on Habaki's death; Habaki affirms he is living his life just as much for his dead daughter's sake as much as he is for his own, and that he intends to fulfill his duties until death.

In the present, Iwanome asks a doped-up Habaki what happened to living for his daughter's sake. Enraged, Habaki picks up the fallen cabinet and swings it toward Iwanome and Kōzaburō Arase—the latter of whom blocks the blow with his foot, kicking the cabinet back with much force, quipping, "This is still better than Lemmings, right?"

Through the open door, Iwanome sees another foot kick a man flying. The kicker pops into view: Ranmaru Yatsu, who asks if Iwanome is all right; he explains he became suspicious after passing an oddly-behaving officer, and scraped together everyone he could from Comps 3 to act. Iwanome and Arase join Yatsu, Danjō Tozawa, and the Comps 3 members holding down compromised officers in the hallway; Habaki follows, sending another case crashing down. Iwanome explains to Tozawa that this is about Hosorogi when Tozawa asks; Tozawa briefly opens his narrowed eyes.

Holding up a phone, Habaki supposes he should thank Fire-Breathing Bug for ensuring he made it on time. Before Iwanome can speculate what call was made, the building's power shuts off and the corridor plunges into darkness. Arase tosses Iwanome his flashlight, Iwanome illunimates the corridor, and Tozawa—now able to see Habaki—flips him mid-air. For a moment, Iwanome is cheering Tozawa on; then, he spots an officer pointing a gun at Tozawa's back. He shouts for Iwanome to move, but Yatsu moves first—and sweeps Tozawa's feet from under him, causing Tozawa to fall on top of him and duck the bullet.

Habaki sprints past the officer, telling him they will reunite on "the other side of the beyond," and crashes through a window despite being several stories up from the ground. Iwanome recognizes the officer from Ikeuchi's search of the Abandoned Building, turning his flashlight on him on him in time to see the man has put his gun to his head. Iwanome calls for him to stop, but, with a smile and without hesitation, the man shoots himself dead.

For a moment, the members of Comps 3 are stricken. Iwanome then orders Yatsu and Tozawa to chase after Habaki; with the lights flickering back on, Yatsu and Tozawa wordlessly dart off. They have left Iwanome and Arase surrounded by the Bug officers, but Bug states, "I don't wish to...burn the righteous." A second later, the officers' eyes clear, and the men begin asking why they are being arrested by the two other remaining Comps 3 members.

Iwanome is reminded of the three officers present for Know's death, whom he had questioned for their initial lack of movement in the immediate wake of the flames. The three men all had blank spots in their memories, with one explaining that "ten seconds just suddenly flew by." To Arase, Iwanome hypothesizes that if these officers are not faking their confusion, then "Fire-Breathing Bug must be one person, and yet not one person." He wonders whether the Bug is, perhaps, some manner of hypnotist.

Meanwhile, as Tozawa and Yatsu run through the rain, Tozawa suggests they split up for their search. Both part ways, with Yatsu cursing what his sister might have to say to him later as he runs on. Tozawa, however, comes to a stop by a fence and puts his phone to his ear.

Underneath the pelting rain, on a certain building, Habaki nervously checks his surroundings. The sorcerer from Chapter 52 greets him from the roof structure upon which he sits; turning around, Habaki expresses delight at his presence and asks when he arrived in Japan. Today, as it turns out—the sorcerer had been looking for a hotel when he heard Habaki placed an emergency call to HQ. Habaki presumes he was responsible for the power outage, but the sorcerer evasively says Habaki should not thank them, since good work has been done so far.

On that note, the sorcerer continues that Habaki certainly has contributed a fair bit to the organization, including his very own daughter as a test subject for the laboratories where human experimentation—with a high death rate—is being carried out. Habaki exclaims he is sure his daughter is rejoicing from beyond the grave, but the figure is not so sure. In fact, the sorcerer says Habaki is mistaken on two counts.

The first was on the matter of gratitude; the sorcerer was not talking about Habaki when he said keep up the good work—after all, he had been ready to abandon Habaki. Habaki's second mistake was speaking of his daughter as if she were dead.

Habaki whirls around and is immediately punched in the face by the muscular young woman from Chapter 52, who says, "It's been a while...shitty dad." The sorcerer confirms that this woman is Soara Habaki, the illegitimate daughter Habaki relinquished to the Bastard Children of Sabaramond. Since Habaki never bothered to truly get to know his daughter, the organization never bothered to tell him she was the first case to survive the experiments. Soara, codename "Arahabaki", now ranks higher than Habaki within the organization—and has asked the sorcerer to, as a favor, let her personally execute her own father.

Soara, declaring she has thought about her father all along, promises she will cut into him as much as 'they' cut into her. Habaki calls her a monster and draws his right fist back, but she crushes his offending wrist between her fingers. Her boss laughs and sits back to watch, though he is not the only observer: two shadowed figures stand on a distant rooftop, the taller of whom has binoculars trained on the sorcerer.

Referbacks

 * To Know's death in Chapter 17.
 * See Chapter 41 for the moment when Iwanome recognizes a Shinjuku officer—the one who shoots himself in this chapter—among Ikeuchi's officers, who are assigned to the main branch. Iwanome questioned the officer's presence.