Why are there so many toads around here?
You're a library, so why do you look like that?
What I... What I want to know is...
Do Fiends really exist?
And Karma Demons? What about them?
To search the library, member registration is required.
Eh? Tell us earlier!
Only those above 18 years of age are eligible,
and must display one of the following to verify their name, age, and address:
What now?
driver license, social security card, student ID,
Want to rip off the rest and hack it in half?
a copy of the residence certificate, pension book, or equivalent documents.
G-Good idea!
But look at how gummy it is. We should skin it first.
The document must still be valid.
The document confirmation requirement has been waived.
Commencing member registration procedure.
UTW Presents
Okay! Then tell me, why are there so many toa—
We've got loads of questions, but Saki's comes first.
Do Fiends really exist? And Karma Demons?
The word "Fiend" was first used during the final years of ancient civilization
and refers to those suffering from Raman-Klogius syndrome, also known as "Fox in the Henhouse" syndrome.
While their existence today cannot be confirmed,
that they once existed is undisputed,
and it is likely that they may emerge once again in the near future.
The phrase "Karma Demon" refers to serious cases of the Hashimoto-Appelbaum syndrome,
Bloodstained History
first recorded before the collapse of ancient society.
What is that?
Psychokinesis was first conclusively documented by scientists of ancient civilization
in year 2011 of the Gregorian calendar.
The experiments conducted by Azerbaijani cognitive scientist Imran Ismailov were largely successful.
Following the scientific acceptance of wielders of supernatural power,
humanity started to awaken to their latent potential.
Users of psychokinesis grew dramatically in number,
and eventually reached 0.3% of the population.
Only 0.3%?!
When the current age began, users of PK only had weak powers.
Even so, their destructive potential was sufficient to disrupt contemporary social order.
In Japan's case, this disruption was set off by the actions of Boy A.
What did he do?
One day, A noticed that he could use PK to open any and all locks.
He repeatedly broke into homes,
raped 19 women in their sleep,
and killed 17 of them.
Wait! Wait a moment!
That's impossible!
Wasn't he human? A human killed other humans?
Yes.
Following A's arrest, crimes involving PK rose in number.
Indiscriminate terrorism by PK users followed.
The political, philosophical, and ethical conflicts resulting thereof
plunged the world into an unprecedented age of strife.
No way... This can't be true...
Ironically, as the lives of PK users were continuously threatened,
the survivors' abilities underwent rapid evolution.
As a result, world population took a steep dive
and now stands under two percent of Golden Age levels.
We now look back on a dark age that lasted approximately five hundred years.
In Northeast Asia, human societies fell into one of four competing groups.
The first were the slave empires ruled by possessors of PK.
The second were hunter-gatherer tribes without PK who wished to escape the threat of the empires.
The third were bandits who used their PK for murder and robbery.
The last were scientists who sought to preserve all the ancient knowledge.
Needless to say, it was this last group that maintained written records.
What happened afterwards?
What happened between that dark age and now?
Yeah! There were only those four groups left in the dark age, right?
Which were our ances—
No, I don't want to know!
The approximately nineteen slave empires persevered for over six hundred years
as they observed a policy of mutual non-aggression and non-intervention.
Four slave empires existed in the Japanese archipelago,
but my records only cover the Holy Cherry Blossom Empire.
The five hundred seventy years of its existence saw ninety-four generations of emperors.
The records contest that when the fifth emperor, the Emperor of Delight, was crowned,
the celebratory applause of the masses lasted for three days and three nights.
During the final years of the empire it had become common practice
for the successor to kill the emperor and claim the crown.
Once the heir reached puberty and their PK awakened,
the emperor's life was a candle in the wind.
For the Emperor of Merciful Light
murder was as natural as breathing.
At times he would unconsciously use his PK
to slaughter his servants and other commoners.
Consequently, his rule saw a decline of his empire's population by half.
Corpses lay rotting on the fields and in the hills.
Swarms of flies covered the cities thick as black fog,
and the stench of decay could be smelled leagues awa—
N... No!
Stop! Stop!
Why does any of this matter?
You could be making it up for all we know!
Let's drop it, Shun!
This might drive us all crazy.
I'm not listening because I enjoy this either.
How did our society come about?
That's all I want to know.
The five centuries of the dark age ended with the fall of the slave empires.
The number of PK users had waned.
The wars had been growing in intensity.
To impose order, the scientists, who had only been observers until then, made their move.
Then we're their...
But how did our society come to exist?
And besides, the empires' commoners and the hunter-gatherer tribes couldn't use Cantus—PK, right?
What happened to them?
Reliable sources from these past few centuries are scarce,
and therefore I cannot answer your question.
How did society change from theirs to ours?
Wait. Maybe it didn't change.
The scientists were the ones who forged our society, right?
If they were our ancestors, they would've had PK.
But they were peaceful, unlike the emperors or bandits.
Why?
Isn't that obvio—
They came to realize the infinite potential and, in turn, the fearsome destructive capabilities of PK.
The focus of their research was the prevention of attacks on human beings.
How did they prevent it?
The importance of education was the first subject of research.
Psychological influences were studied next.
Both were effective, but far from perfect.
However, research showed that psychological and personality tests
could be used to filter out children likely to violate the rules with almost perfect accuracy.
Since then, removal of children posing potential danger has become the generally accepted solution.
Ethology took the spotlight next.
Specifically, research turned to the societies of primates called bonobos.
For groups of bonobos, strife is practically nonexistent.
Why?
When stress and anxiety between individuals rise,
they vent it through intimate sexual behavior.
This applies to mature males and females,
but immature individuals or individuals of the same sex
also engage in sexual play.
The scientists considered it their immediate duty to create a society of love similar to that of bonobos.
Sadly, it became clear this would not suffice.
A society of PK users would be bound for ruin
if even one of its members lost control.
So that wielders of PK could build a society,
a powerful attack inhibition was necessary.
But how would they create one?
Only changing the human genome had lasting effect.
Two mechanisms to this end were included in man's genetic code.
One was an attack inhibition as seen in wolves, for instance.
The other was called "death feedback".
Death feedback functions as follows.
Once the subconscious becomes aware that the user is attempting to harm another human,
it uses their PK to stop liver functions and the activity of the parathyroid glands.
This results in unpleasant symptoms such as unease, heightened pulse, and sweating,
which can be further reinforced by education, conditioning, and hypnosis.
Please stop!
Do you understand?
You are torturing me!
Please don't kill me!
Most humans would cease their attack at this point,
but if they sustained it,
either tetanic asphyxia caused by low blood calcium levels
or cardiac arrest due to a sudden rise in potassium concentrations would kill them.
That's... impossible...
No way...
But it makes sense.
Did Fiends appear afterwards?
No.
Fiends, cases of Raman-Klogius syndrome,
are recorded to have existed even before the fall of ancient civilization.
The Hashimoto-Appelbaum syndrome, which results in so-called Karma Demons,
is suspected to have emerged at around the same period.
Doesn't our society feel like it's made specifically
to prevent the appearance of Fiends and Karma Demons?
Yeah. Then...
What does that mean?
Explain it so we can understand!
Stop scaring me!
Raman-Klogius syndrome—
Who was that?
What do you mean?
Those were Cantus flames.
Who did that?
I did.
That was a mountain demon whose speech deludes the mind and spirit.
Once found, they must be incinerated.
What in the Heavens are you doing here?
We...
This is our summer camp. We went upstream.
Do you have permission from your school to go this far?
We're sorry.
We do not have it.
We did not mean to go this far.
I see.
You "did not mean to"...
I am Rijin, a visiting high priest emeritus at the Temple of Purity.
I know who you are quite well.
You will now come to the temple with me.
Until Head Priest Mushin has been informed of this,
I cannot let you back to the villages.
Wait a moment.
Please tell us one thing first.
Was everything that thing told us a lie?
You have violated the rules and gone where you were not supposed to.
Furthermore, you have allowed your mind to be poisoned by a demon.
That alone is a grave sin.
The real problem, however, weighs far heavier.
You have violated the tenth precept of the Platinum Code, the very basis of the Code of Ethics: The Four Tenets Against Evil.
Therefore, I am left with no choice but to seal your Cantus immediately.
Seal?
I will now contain your Cantus inside these emblems.
Make your own emblem stand now.
Aonuma Shun.
Akizuki Maria.
Asahina Satoru.
Itou Mamoru.
Watanabe Saki.
Your Cantus has been sealed here!
May your mind heal.
May your worldly desires be burned away.
The ash returns to the vast, wild earth.
The spirit has left you.
Your mantra is gone with the dust.
Heed my words.
You will never again remember your mantra.
So that's true Levitation.
I wonder how he does it.
Doesn't even matter.
We're never going to use our Cantus again anyway.
Don't say that!
I'm sure we will use it again!
How do you know that?
It's not gone.
It's just been sealed temporarily, right?
Do you really think they'll unseal it?
We'll be targets for removal now that we know this.
What are you talking about?
Something's not quite right.
What exactly?
That Rijin man.
He's been acting strangely for a little while now.
He's just a strange man.
You're right...
I wonder if maybe...
Maybe what?
Maybe the curse of the false minoshiro is real.
That image was probably supposed to protect it against humans.
It's death feedback.
The false minoshiro was talking about it.
He didn't attack another human so he shouldn't die from it, but I got really queasy just from watching.
The effect on the actual attacker must have been much stronger.
I think that's why his concentration broke and the flames of his Cantus died out prematurely.
A queerat...
It looks odd.
It's got some nerve.
No tattoo, huh?
It's not from a wild colony either.
Which means...
It would appear that foreign queerats have invaded these lands.
This is somewhat problematic.
Something's out there!
Halt!
What did you see?
I'm not sure.
But something... Something moved!
Itou Mamoru-kun. Look closely.
No, I don't want to! Stop!
Well? Are there queerats?
I don't... know.
I have a duty to ensure your safe arrival at the temple,
so one cannot be too careful.
Sterilization it is, then.
We shall proceed.
Halt!
What the...
They're going to attack!
You have no place in the three realms.
The supreme grace of Buddha is the sole reason you beasts can live,
and yet you foolishly dare to confront me?
Very well, I shall exorcise you!
No...
You pests!
I shall slaughter you!
Stop!
He did it!
Awesome!
Why are you happy? Are you out of your mind?
Aren't they the enemy?
They're not the real enemy.
Then who is?
What's wrong?
Are you okay?
It's death feedback.
Those queerats just now.
Didn't they look like humans from afar?
It might really be affecting him now.
What's that?
What?
A blowdog?
Are you crazy?
No way they actually exist!
Nakisou na aoringo kakaeteru mune no oku
泣きそうな 青リンゴ 抱えてる 胸の奥
In my chest, I carry a green apple that wets my eyes
Korogatte tsuyogatte
転がって 強がって
I fall over yet pretend to be strong
Kyuukutsu na sora niramu
窮屈な空睨む
I glower at the sky and it seems to suffocate me
Unmei ni juujun ni
運命に 従順に
Do I look like I'd wait quietly
Jukusu no wo matsu mon ka
熟すのを 待つもんか
For destiny to ripen it?
Sen no kaze
千の風
The winds
Agaite sakende
足掻いて 叫んで
I struggle and scream
Fuke fuke
吹け吹け
Blow and blow
Watashi wa shabondama
私はシャボン玉
I'm a soap bubble
Soredemo shinjiteru
それでも信じてる
And still I have faith
Yokisenu arashi ni
よきせぬ 嵐に
In a sudden storm
Joushou shite kakou shite
上昇して 下降して
I rise and fall
Aragau shabondama
抗うシャボン玉
I fight, soap bubble that I am
Soredemo ikiteku
それでも生きてく
And still I live on
Hajikeru shunkan niji hanate
はじける瞬間 虹放て
I make a rainbow when I burst
They're coming!
They're coming! They're coming!
What now?
We're helpless without our Canti!
Run!
Hurry!
I'm trying!
This way. Hurry!
No...
We have no other choice.
Stop!
A Sweltering Night on the Run