Chapter 19

Chapter 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Dead Mount Death Play manga.

Summary
Tsubaki Iwanome arranges an emergency meeting of Materials Compiling Group No.3 in the wake of Tena Sorimura's escape from the Tokyo penitentiary, which occurred earlier that day at 5:30 PM. After clarifying that Sorimura vanished right in front of his and Arase's eyes, he goes over Sorimura's criminal history.

Sorimura's first crime occurred three years ago: when he stole a painting from the museum and left it in front of Studio Alta, placing the painting in a covered, air-conditioned case so as to protect it from damage. His self-professed motive was to give Shinjuku's YouTubers juicy material to cover, which Iwanome dismisses as baloney.

One of Sorimura's most striking tricks was to make onlookers believe the government office building had completely vanished, an illusion he accomplished by painting the building exterior to look like the sky and surrounding cityscape in a single night. His self-professed reason: to show residents that the Tokyo sky was larger than they gave it credit for, which Iwanome dismisses as nonsense.

Iwanome brings up the Jumbo Jet Teleport and Shinjuku Imperial Garden Dream Fireworks cases as examples of more Sorimura-attributable crimes, but moves on to the case that made Sorimura a worldwide name: the kidnapping of prime minister Yumenosuke. Over the course of one day, Sorimura had subsequently kidnapped the leaders of all opposing parties—stating in a live broadcast that his motives and actions are not political. When the prime minister was released that night, he said he came to his senses in a manga café, finding himself reading the manga "Gogo! Pudding Empire."

Finally, he recounts how Sorimura had come into the police's custody: by visiting the station in person. With a glum expression, Sorimura had claimed he could not stand the "lackluster" response to his various activities—by which he does not mean the worldwide attention he is getting. Rather, he had been using tricks and sleights of hand in an attempt to deceive the "real deal": those real magicians and those with true supernatural gifts whom he believes really exist. He wants them to reach out to him, to regard him as "one of their own." In other words, he wants to prove that real illusions are real.

Iwanome had interpreted this as Sorimura pursuing some "middle-school fantasy," to which Sorimura had agreed. While he had felt bad about making the police and politicians lose face, he indeed wanted to make the dreams of the "imaginary middle-school student" of his heart come true. Having heard enough, Iwanome made his arrest.

To his listening colleagues, Iwanome makes it clear that Sorimura had wanted to be arrested—that all his resistance was nothing more than a show. Even now, it remains unclear how much of what Sorimura has said is fact versus fiction. Furthermore, that his skills and physical prowess are beyond those of normal humans is not even the most dangerous thing about him.

In the abandoned building, the Corpse God shows Takumi Kuruya and Misaki Sakimiya an antique 2000-yen radio he bought for information collection purposes. This has brought down his funds from 20,000 yen to 18,000 yen, and Takumi points out he could have bought a tablet with the original 20,000 yen instead. The Corpse God points out in turn that both a tablet and a television would require regular fees, which is why he will not pursue buying such things until he knows he has the bills to cover them.

He also acknowledges that Rozan Shinoyama has given him spending money; however, he does not want to become too indebted to Rozan and is trying to use his own money as much as possible. Miyabi Hosorogi approves. Meanwhile, his cellphone—the real Polka Shinoyama's cellphone—is a flip phone, outdated in its own way; still, Hosorogi is of the opinion that someone from another world is probably better off being introduced to outdated technology first. Takumi simply concludes that the Corpse God acts rather like a child for someone over a hundred years old.

The Corpse God plugs in his radio once he locates an outlet, and tunes it until he finds a random channel. A news report is just wrapping up, and Takumi has enough time to recognize the female announcer's voice before she begins the next item of interest: the burning up of two police cars which occurred that afternoon, the suspect they were transporting having been confirmed dead. The male suspect himself had, curiously enough, been arrested on suspicion of arson.

With a quick information check on his computer, Takumi confirms the suspect was the criminal behind the arson at Polka's house. Misaki asks if the Corpse God can summon his spirit to ask what happened, but the Corpse God explains that tracking down wandering spirits is harder than it is with earthbound spirits. Then, the presenter announces breaking news on Tena Sorimura.

Over at Shinjuku's police station, Fumiyo Yamada beckons Iwanome and others to the television: the local news is discussing Sorimura's escape. Iwanome is a mix of flabbergasted and outraged, as the police had put a gag order on the media.

The television/radio broadcast briefly recounts Sorimura's more famous crimes, with Polka and Misaki listening to the radio broadcast on their end. Hosorogi comments on the unusual length of the news piece as the announcer insists, "There's no reason to look down upon other magicians because of him!" and Takumi—having overheard Sorimura's name across the room—remarks that Sorimura is famous enough that very few Japanese people would not know who he is. Like Lemmings, he is one of Shinjuku's urban legends—though for an urban legend, he is getting an awful lot of media coverage.

Misaki observes that the announcer's voice has changed, and the Corpse God realizes she is right: the voice went from a woman's to a man's.

At the police headquarters, Iwanome starts at the television screen and demands to know what station it is. A colleague looks up from his phone to report that all television channels are showing the same footage, and that the broadcast is reaching radios as well. Glaring at the screen—at Tena Sonimura, wearing a business suit and hair gelled back in the mode of a presenter, Iwanome exclaims that the "prick" has "really done it this time."

On screen, Sorimura officially announces his comeback as "Mystery [Phantom] Solitaire," declaring to the police that they have a grace period of one week before he makes his debut comeback performance. He invites them to enjoy what is left of their lives, struggles to decide on a signature parting phrase, and signs off.

After a moment of static, the regular news program resumes—its bewildered presenters apologizing for 'technical difficulties'. Arase is surprised that Sorimura is apparently capable of hijacking the signal, but Iwanome is sure that was the work of "The Grocer," whom he suspects "bought" the broadcasting rights for the city of Tokyo at minimum. Arase points out that "The Grocer" was in his cell that afternoon, to which Iwanome counters that walls are immaterial to him.

In the Grocer's cell, the exterior of which resembles that of a street newsstand, the Grocer mumbles, "Thank you, and come again."

Iwanome opines that this only further demonstrates how "big a handful" Sorimura is, and that he and Lisa Kuraki are of the same ilk. People to whom troublemakers instinctively flock, they who would not associate with each other otherwise.

On a rooftop, Sorimura surveys the cityscape and marvels over how a "new opportunity" presented itself to him while he was in prison—the very place he had gone in despair of having not found 'real' magic. Musing that life is a 'puzzle', he asks the Fire-Breathing Bug if he agrees.

Trivia

 * The Yen Press individual digital edition of this chapter translates Sorimura's moniker as "Phantom Solitaire," despite having translated it as "Mystery Solitaire" in previous chapters.