I'm sorry, Miach.
It's been a long time, people of medicine.
It's been a long time, warriors of the Tuareg.
Do you know what Tuareg means in Arabic?
I don't.
It means “the people cast down by God.”
An improper name given by outsiders.
It seems to me that being cast down by God would be very wonderful.
Looks like you don't like your god.
Yes.
That's why I've come to such a battlefield, to avoid the gaze of God.
This medical plug-in is also a product of that god.
I thought that the Tuareg people rejected implantation of WatchMe.
We know that moderation is necessary in seeking pleasure.
We won't accept having our data seized by your god, or being dominated in the name of Lifeism.
Through only a physical media upgrade, we can deal with new forms of infectious diseases.
This backroom deal seems to show that you're perfectly willing to help.
You people don't understand what moderation is.
You only blindly impart your beliefs on us, imposingly
while completely unaware that it is exactly the spark leading to conflict.
We aren't the partners of the Niger government
nor are we the comrades of the Tuareg.
As a Peacekeeper...
I strayed from that.
Person of medicine, why not come to our side?
We respect women.
Thanks for the proposal
but I won't go.
I'm here
because of my weakness.
I'm probably...
not strong like her.
A strength able to walk towards that.
Tuan, are you willing to die with me?
I'm sorry, Miach.
The Nigerian army is currently coming to strike us!
It's a WarBird! Prepare your weapons!
Stay calm and retreat!
Hurry up, Tuan.
Helix Inspector of the Peacekeepers
it would be major news if it got out that you secretly made an alcohol exchange with us surveillance targets.
That's all, person of medicine.
If you want to come to our side, you're welcome anytime.
Thanks.
There's no way Tuan, it'll catch up to us.
At this distance, it's probably already captured an image.
What are the communications abilities of that aircraft?
It's in a wide area of electronic isolation.
It shouldn't be able to communicate before flying out of the investigative region.
Take it down before the image gets sent to Central!
You drive!
We're going to crash!
Shit!
I'll lock on to it before it enters firing range.
Distance of 5700!
Distance of 3000!
2500!
2000!
1500! Tuan!
Don't interfere with our little battlefield breather.
I'll leave the rest to you.
Because of this extreme career as a Helix Inspector
I left Japan and wandered from one conflict zone to the next.
I escaped from that prison-like society
from that society that gradually suffocated a person with compassion.
Tuan, are you willing to die with me?
You and I are cut from the same cloth
Tuan Kirie...
And then, from Miach Mihie...
Miach!
Let's demonstrate it together.
[T/n: 'to demonstrate/show/make apparent' is homophonous with (literally) “becoming wet”.]
Declare that we will never grow up into adults.
This body.
These breasts.
This “there.”
This womb.
They are all my own things, I respectfully say before the world.
From the time of birth, WatchMe is implanted within the body.
Everyone is not only trusting, but actually excited to no end.
When we grow up into adults, WatchMe will automatically start functioning.
Even the freedoms of growing fat and dying have been taken by it.
The maturation of this breast has also been taken by the Admedistration to be managed.
Tuan, can you swallow your anger before something like this?
Stop it, Miach...
Your own body has been replaced by WatchMe with words and numbers.
Can you stand that? I definitely can't.
Can't...
Miach...!
I'm sorry, Miach.
We're almost at the base, Tuan.
The Helix Inspectors
are the watchmen of Lifeism, as the name “Helix” suggests.
We inspect whether gene modification and other dangerous activity has occurred.
The genetics version of the IAEA...
I don't know when its domain began to expand
absorbing soldier and police functions
and taking on a ridiculous motto of “defending the right to life”.
Even work like controlling conflicts has started to be under their purview.
Here. Take this. Here, here. Enjoy it!
This battlefield is the only refuge I've found.
I cunningly, sneakily escaped from those shackles
that suffocate a person in every possible way.
Acting as though I accepted the truth of growing up.
Cheating this system.
Senior Inspector Tuan Kirie.
I've waited for you quite some time.
Commander Oscara...
What business brings you to my room?
I'm interested in what you're hiding right now behind your back.
Bordeaux, is it?
Mostly using Merlot. It's said that in some years, 100% of the barrel is made using Merlot.
Don't look at me like that. I'm already 72 years old.
I'm of the last generation of people to personally taste alcohol.
That's true.
The Niger Peacekeepers must strictly maintain an unbiased position.
A single report from us Helix Inspectors
can determine the evaluation of Niger and the Tuareg people.
An illegal exchange under these circumstances between the Helix Inspectors and the Tuareg
moreover, indulging in these previous era goods of alcohol and tobacco.
if the world knew, it'd be disastrous.
In any case, how did you manage to control your implanted WatchMe?
The warnings of the health management server would automatically—
Girls can work magic.
Commander, it seems you've forgotten that you're a girl.
I don't know what sort of underhanded techniques you used
but because of you, the Peacekeepers' operations have landed in an extremely difficult situation this time.
It wouldn't turn out like that.
It won't tarnish this coat of arms
because you won't publicly announce this.
If it's just me, then so be it.
If the worldwide efforts until now of the Helix Inspectors' sweeping authority
towards the development goals by means of peace and health all turned to dust
well, that would be terribly regretful, Commander.
I understand.
However, you must properly reflect, Senior Inspector Tuan Kirie.
Before the situation stabilizes, please return to your home country.
Home country...
Wait, you're joking, right?
I can't allow you to keep treating this battlefield as your winery.
Properly experience what amicable relations are in Japan and learn how to lead a Public life again.
Japan?
The place I once hated in my youth
and which Miach Mihie hated with her whole being.
Japan.
I failed...
Still being alive means
I failed...
What kind of powerlessness this is...
what kind of dependency on others...
If Miach were here
if I had Miach's guidance and the weapon bestowed by Miach
I would succeed and show you.
If I can't do it now
how could I live on in the future? And in the end it would all be for nothing.
So I thought at that time.
But, what kind of dependency on others that was.
T-Tuan!
I failed...
Tuan, do you know who I am?
Do you know who I am?
It's Mom. Do you know? Do you know?
Thank goodness, thank goodness, Tuan...
What about Miach?
Miach, she...
I see...She died...
That's not ok, Mom. It's not ok at all.
You can't randomly possess feelings of guilt over another's death like this
because you and Miach don't have the slightest relation.
Everyone's mutual love
even having to question yourself about why you couldn't stop the death of someone you barely even knew
don't you think that's absurd?
I definitely can't accept a world like that.
Cian is alright.
She's currently receiving treatment in the Emergency Ethics Center.
I'm sorry, Miach.
I'm going to go.
What about you two, Cian and Tuan?
Miach was too brilliant; her preparations too complete.
No matter when, she could always comprehend the most precise method
the only neat thing to do.
[T/n: Reference to SF novella “The Only Neat Thing to Do” by James Tiptree, Jr.]
A pill made using MediCare.
If we take this, the body's internal nutrition functions will be completely broken.
I'll do it.
Charisma that belonged to just Cian and me.
An idéologue who knew too much
and hated too much.
I'm sorry, Miach.
I'm not interested in normal people.
Miach Mihie was a problem student with the best grades in the class.
She didn't take on the color of any group.
In the classroom she maintained a beautiful isolation.
Besides me and Cian Reikado, she never conversed with anyone.
When I want to be alone, the best way is depending on dead media.
[T/n: The book Miach is reading is “Discourse on Decadence” by Ango Sakaguchi.]
From the perspective of persistence, books are the most durable.
Persistence?
The persistence of solitude.
Books and I, just the two of us.
Miach downloaded books she wanted to read from online
and specifically found a printer to bind them into books.
While Miach swam within the vast sea of words
she learned how she could hone herself into a sharp, lethal weapon against society.
If you felt like it
even killing all the people of Japan in an instant would pose no problem.
Since adults all carry around a magic little box.
Ah, Miach...!
Just by tampering with MediCare a little
whether it's a chemical weapon that could destroy this city
or a drug to make you feel good
it can all be refined and produced.
So that such a thing doesn't happen, MediCare instills its concepts in us.
So long as you can fool this framework...
...it's possible to even overturn the world.
The world slowly became robust, healthy, peaceful, and beautiful.
It seems like this benevolence doesn't know when to stop.
The place which I once intensely hated, and escaped far away from, Japan...
I now return there.
Haneda Airport has prepared various health services for you.
Please feel welcome to use our services.
If necessary, please head towards our medical center.
Hello, and welcome to the hospitable country — Japan.
The same...
No matter whom it is, they all find comfort through pursuing sameness with others.
The main hall of each terminal has a medical center.
Whether you are about to board a flight or have just returned home
we advise all patrons to visit the medical center.
Let us coexist harmoniously. One for all and all for one.
Let us help each other.
Tuan, Tuan!
Tuan!
Tuan! Tuan, I finally found you!
It's been a long time, Cian. I'm impressed you could still recognize me.
You scared me a bit
when I suddenly received a message yesterday that you were going to come back!
I did suddenly come back.
Cian Reikado.
A friend I had planned to die with 13 years ago.
Tuan, you're really eye-catching as a Helix Inspector
it'd be good if you watched your image a little.
It's an occupational habit...
Battles can occur in places like the desert or the highlands, it's not up to us.
We can't pay attention to everything.
No...Tuan's job is important work that contributes to society!
Are you going back home today?
I'll find a hotel. There's no point in going home.
How could you say there's no point?
Everyone wants to listen to Tuan's stories!
Probably not, what “everyone” anyway?
Mom would probably round up a party with the neighbors but, what a pain...
Why?
There's nothing to talk about.
But the Sahara, and before that Colombia, was it?
You have very rare experiences!
You haven't changed at all, Cian, have you?
No one would want to listen to the realities of the cruel battlefield.
But, since you finally managed to come back for a visit
I want to introduce you around the neighborhood and you can meet them a bit!
But I don't want to be introduced, and I don't want to meet them either.
For me, my work isn't as impressive as yours
but I do volunteering 3 days a month.
Caring for the elderly, distributing food, holding health consultations like online ethics meetings and such.
It's about 15 hours each month.
Is that so?
If it's not a hassle, let's go together next time?
Oh right, let's eat together! There's a great restaurant near my home.
Us two?
Yeah. And if it's convenient after, you can come relax at my place.
The partners that wanted to leave a scar upon this world and laid down their lives together
have cleanly fit into this quintessential Public lifestyle.
Connection of WatchMe to Admedistration servers means to become an adult.
Only I was dragging it out.
Was this something pitiful, or something admirable?
I don't know.
Tuan, are you ok?
Are you feeling uncomfortable? Would you like to take my seat?
There's no need.
Tuan!
If I continue living in this country – if I don't hurt myself, I'll hurt others.
The me who thought like this, escaped towards the battlefield.
Many kinds of people intermingled on the battlefield, but it's different here.
It's as though I'm lost in a mirror country.
No matter who it is, they're all the same.
Acting like that to her was really impolite. She seemed like someone important in the council.
I know.
After Miach's death, Cian and I took different paths
as if that prior event was just a rite that everyone had to go through.
Cian returned to the most proper path
and I pretended on the surface to fit in like Cian.
Academically, it was as though I had inherited Miach Mihie's seat
mastering the knowledge and intelligence that Miach would have if she lived.
It's been such a long time since we last ate together.
That's true.
It feels so weird, the two of us together.
But as a trio...it's been like that before.
Miach always finished her lunch alone first, folding paper airplanes like this, didn't she?
Is that right?
You've grown your hair out
just like Miach.
You and Miach were friends before meeting me.
She just pulled me in on her own.
Really?
She called out to me at a park on the way home from school.
We talked about books and loneliness. She never told you?
I wonder if that was a trap she had set
so she could search for a friend she could spend time with?
No...
Miach probably wasn't looking for friends, but rather comrades.
Aren't those the same?
No, friends and comrades are different.
They're the same in that they're both partners
but comrades are like the bond between warriors.
Then, we probably weren't the comrades Miach had waited for.
Probably...
Tuan, there's something I have to tell you.
What?
I didn't swallow Miach's pill at that time.
I betrayed you two, and confessed to my parents.
Is that so...
It was because I was scared to take the pill...
Tuan, you're not angry?
For me, Cian's the one who saved my life.
Thanks...
but I am a traitor after all.
Miach died because of me.
It wasn't your fault, Cian.
No, it was my fault.
I didn't have the courage to take the pill
or the courage to tell about it immediately.
I locked myself up at home and didn't go to school
and in the end got taken by Mom to the Emergency Ethics Center
and revealed the thing with Miach's pills.
The Center contacted your mother right away, so you were saved
but Miach...
When the Center contacted Miach's home, she was already quite weak.
Her mother said she went like that and didn't return.
I think it was called body donation. I don't know where they took her.
Body donation? I didn't hear of that before.
Probably because I wanted to hear you say that it wasn't my fault...
I found out the one time I asked Miach's mother about it.
Let's stop talking about this...
No. Let me say it.
Thinking about it now, I wanted to be together with Miach at that time
because I believed Miach couldn't leave me.
Couldn't leave?
I guess I thought I could maintain everyone's balance on my own.
Back then I also felt that there wasn't a place for me in the world
and I wanted to escape from that strangling oppression.
Yeah.
But, I never thought of seeking death or killing people.
But Miach was different, she placed herself on the edge.
That's true.
Yes.
At that time, I thought my duty was to stay beside Miach and let her stand at the edge.
I thought that by just going along with her, I could let Miach feel comfortable.
But in the end, I was no more a coward, and Miach died too.
I probably didn't understand Cian before.
You're so strong, Cian.
Excuse me.
I'm sorry, Miach.
Miach...I'm sorry...
I'm sorry...
Miach...
I'm sorry...
Special emergency meeting regarding the worldwide simultaneous mass suicide incident.
What disgraceful behavior this is. A blaspheme against Lifeism!
Currently a total of 2796 people are confirmed dead.
6582 people attempted suicide at the same exact date, time, and moment
and of them, 2796 people were successful.
Now, 8 hours after the incident occurred
there are still involved persons in life-or-death states.
I expect that the death count will continue to rise.
The suicide methods are numerous; there is yet to be a pattern.
Because roughly half of the suicidal behaviors
were carried out while wearing the Aug contact lens
the recording of their visual field at that time can be verified on the server.
T-this is...Simply put, isn't this a terror attack aimed at Lifeist society!?
What's the condition of the survivors?
They've all fallen into a deep unconscious state.
At the moment, there isn't a single survivor who we can interrogate about their motivations...
Bureau of Helix Inspectors.
Determine if this situation is criminal conduct threatening life-respecting Lifeism.
Open an investigation quickly and resolve the situation.
Two hours from now, an emergency meeting of the WHO shall convene.
Because the treaties between the Admedistrations and the WHO are in effect
all of the Helix Inspectors force
will participate in the investigation activities of the governments of their respective countries.
Take full initiative. Demonstrate the existence of the Helix Inspectors to the world.
A private link?
Not only are you currently reflecting
you also personally witnessed the scene of victim Cian Reikado's suicide.
You'll immediately accept 120 hours of therapy and medication.
Are you planning to remove me
Your Excellency, Inspector Commander Oscara Stauffenberg?
If that's the case, I plan to use that break
to expose my actions as a part of the Niger Peacekeepers to the media.
Are you being serious?
Needless to say, I'm dead serious.
For Helix Inspectors, who frequently carry out duties in conflict zones
there should be special cases allowing refusal of therapy, and prioritization to carry out the current duties.
And you ought to have the permissions to arrange this special case.
I understand.
I'll permit your participation in the operations this time.
However, the deadline to undergo therapy has been deferred only by 5 days.
Even I cannot extend that period.
If I hadn't returned to Japan, if I hadn't met Cian again...
maybe she wouldn't have died.
Miach once said:
If you wanted to, taking away a person's life is easy.
And furthermore,
within our bodies hides the strength that can destroy even more important things
so said the 15 year old Miach.
Was Cian the 13 years late proof of this thesis?
And I, was cast aside once more.
Five days.
This was the time I had gotten to elucidate Cian's death.
I probably didn't understand Cian before. You're so strong, Cian.
I'm sorry, Miach.
I'm sorry...
Miach...
Sorry...
I'm sorry, Miach.
One month after Miach's death, Miach Mihie's parents
moved to the Tama Life district upon recommendation from the Admedistration.
Apply the auto-blocking mode using Helix Inspector privileges.
Application complete.
Senior Inspector Tuan Kirie's record
is only accessible by persons of Social Assessment rank 5 and above.
Mr. and Mrs. Mihie are Social Assessment rank 3.
Currently at home is Reiko Mihie.
As she is using the auto-blocking mode
Senior Inspector Tuan Kirie's call will not be relayed to her.
The us back then had never cared for the others' parents
nor had we ever visited others' homes.
In the past, people were bound by various things.
Family, business, religion, money.
They used to make money out of paper in the past.
People would keep on repeating, “How could a few scraps of paper make one happy?”
Yet they were bound by money in their hearts.
Wars could be started for money.
Girls could sell off their bodies for money.
But WatchMe is even more terrifying.
It presses into our lives even closer than money
coercing us, and binding us.
The parents that raised Miach
the Miach who laughingly said she could kill 50,000 people at any time
what kind of people are they really?
May I ask what business you have?
I'm a Helix Inspector from the World Health Organization.
Regarding the simultaneous suicide event that occurred yesterday...
I saw it on the morning news, but it doesn't have anything to do with me...
It's regarding your daughter.
My daughter died 10 years ago.
I'm aware of that. I want to learn about your daughter prior to death.
Prior to death?
Please, come in.
That child had attempted suicide again and again.
Yes. It was noted in the record.
Miach was so smart and so strong, it was difficult for us to handle.
But even so she was a fine daughter.
We thought we had loved her with all we had.
But in the end...
In the end?
Miach, who was adopted...
This wasn't written in the record...
I still don't know if it was the Admedistration's policy or their concern.
Did you know that war took place in Chechnya?
I do...It continues on even now.
They said she was from a minority group in that war-torn region.
A war orphan...
Although we weren't aware of the details either
we were told that she had an extremely painful past in that conflict zone.
She had gone through highly intensive mental trauma therapy before and so on.
When we fostered her she was only 8 years old, so young...
We thought that if we could just provide a warm, loving home environment for her
she could adapt quickly.
But Miach, she took that pill and died.
When your child leaves the scope of what you had imagined
just what can a parent do!?
She didn't mention it to anyone.
Even I had never heard her speak of it.
The melancholy darkness within Miach's heart
was rescued from a place like hell.
Yet Miach Mihie hated this false heaven-like Japan.
When we moved here, we got rid of most near all of her things.
But we weren't willing to part with this.
Do you guys know about business cards?
In the past, this was the only personal information.
You only told people you wanted to tell.
This is our symbol.
It's so cute.
Yeah!
The records didn't note what became of Miach's body.
Was it sent back to Chechnya?
There was a student who said he hoped to take Miach's body.
She had wanted to donate her body.
What was that student's name?
I don't know. They said we couldn't directly contact each other due to security concerns.
I'm an international inspector with the highest level of search permissions under law.
If I may trouble you for authentication.
Admedistration College of Health Informatics Researcher: Keita Saeki
Keita Saeki!
His thesis was the cornerstone of WatchMe.
My father, Nuada Kirie, once worked in his laboratory.
But 13 years ago, my father left home and disappeared without a trace
not long after Miach, Cian, and I had sought death.
I've waited for you a long time. Come in.
Professor Saeki, you seem to be in good health.
In this day and age, is there anyone who isn't?
Even disease itself has nearly been eradicated.
I've always wanted to speak with the professor who was the father of WatchMe once.
I had never expected that it would be possible to construct
such an extreme health society as this.
It's a reaction to The Maelstrom.
Wasn't it your generation, Professor, who hoped for this?
When The Maelstrom occurred half a century ago
roughly 10 million or more people lost their lives in North America.
Nuclear warheads were lost. Terror attacks occurred in every land.
Riots and chaos spread throughout this world.
Even now, the horrified reaction in the hearts
of those 70 and 80 year olds in charge of the government does not fade.
I am one of them.
But you probably didn't come to hear about this.
What a WHO investigator is interested in is probably concerning yesterday's event.
I want to know about Miach Mihie.
What was the purpose of taking her body?
The body wasn't sent here, was it?
If it were this research institute that applied to take the body
it could simply use official channels to do so.
It was my father.
The one who took the corpse was Nuada Kirie.
And the corpse might have been sent overseas.
Hey, hey...I haven't said a word.
I don't have the time!
Do you, and perhaps my father as well, have any relation to this incident?
I could find the Japanese police to issue a warrant.
You've become so rough, hardly like the young lady back then.
It's an occupational disease.
And there are some cases with even more severe symptoms.
Baghdad.
Nuada headed towards Baghdad for some research.
He couldn't be my follower for his whole life.
He was advancing, but I stopped in my tracks.
Since that day, I haven't contacted Nuada.
And this research was?
It was a paper published three years ago by a Russian scholar
concerning the region of the brain considered to be the excitation system of the mid-brain.
To put it simply, it was a theory about how a person's will exists.
Do you understand?
This flashing area is a part of the mesencephalon which is considered the core brain or lateral brain.
It is the region that controls a person's desire.
Although a human's brain is often thought of
as a single unified soul able to make calm, rational decisions.
Is that not true?
Imagine the scene of a conference.
All sorts of people each bring in their own requests and advocate their own viewpoints.
The same situation is true of what's considered a person's will.
It's a state of disparate desires that are clamoring for t heir own selfish interests.
Yet humans are able to carry out just the one, settled upon action.
Why is that?
This is because of the tight connection between the brain's desires and the brain's excitation.
That is to say, because of the rewards.
Nuada thought that if you could control the excitation pathways for desire
you would be able to control a person's will.
Control a person's will...
So my father really did have something to do with this event.
That, I do not know. But if his own daughter does not believe him–
My father abandoned our family.
I don't even know where he is right now, or what he's thinking.
Controlling people's souls is powerfully alluring research.
The sin of a scholar is wanting to pursue that.
I can understand that too.
I'm heading towards Baghdad to search for Miach's body.
Perhaps I'll be able to corner my father too.
Are you taking a car to the airport?
To Baghdad, right?
How did you know? Who are you?
Pardon me, I've received auto-blocking mode permissions.
I am Agent Elijah Vashlov of the Interpol.
Do you know what this is?
It's a business card.
Oh, how disappointing!
You don't just play this game when you meet people, do you?
It's popular though.
Everyone is afraid, facing a terror that could arrive at any moment.
The city has become quiet like it has never been before.
Everyone was once under the impression
that they would never see someone die before their very eyes.
I've heard that the therapy clinics are overcrowded now.
Before this event, everyone thought they would never in their whole lives
see anything that would repulse them.
Everyone believed in themselves as a Public Resource, and in mutual compassion.
It seems the world is a false heaven.
Aren't you scared?
Of course I'm scared.
In the Interpol, our department started to carry out secret investigations
into a certain group around one year ago, more or less.
Group?
They call themselves
the “Next Generation Human Behavior Special Characteristics Monitoring Working Group”.
It's formed by those in power in the Admedistration
the upper ranks of the medical-industrial complex
scholars, scientists, and so on.
All just old men and women that never face aging.
That's certainly a long name.
Ensuring that humanity will not return to chaos and barbarism is their guiding principle.
Though there are various explanations for the causes of The Maelstrom even now
regardless, it proved that the minds of humans can return to barbarism in the blink of an eye
through the deaths of countless millions of people.
That's why they used WatchMe to monitor all of mankind.
Monitoring mankind?
That's quite an expansive conspiracy theory. How would they achieve that?
They acquired an illegal infiltration hole into individuals' implanted WatchMes and MediCare.
They're advancing research to control humans' consciousnesses by means of this security hole.
Controlling the consciousness...
Yes. The event this time was just a little test of their abilities.
The experiment by the group that still fears the memory of The Maelstrom
led to the suicides of thousands.
I want to request your assistance
or rather, please allow me to assist your investigation.
Amongst the Interpol, there are also some who are unhappy
about the Bureau of Helix Inspectors intervening in the operations this time
thinking that the involvement of the WHO is no more than a farce
aimed at expanding the authority of the Lifeists among the international community.
That's the truth.
Well, now isn't the time to speak of such things.
Before those people make their next move…
Excuse me.
A Network 24 report. Please watch.
Breaking news report.
Starting now is an emergency broadcast by Network 24.
They claimed to be the people responsible for yesterday's simultaneous mass suicide event
and sent a message to Network 24 station.
First, please listen to the message.
Earlier, many people ended their lives simultaneously.
Everyone was really surprised, right?
Everyone must have felt terrified that the people before you could suddenly die.
That was our doing.
How we did it, will remain secret for now.
This mechanism is already deeply rooted within each of your minds.
It cannot be removed.
Everyone is already our hostage.
Fear.
Anger.
We want to make each of you feel various emotions.
These emotions are real.
Please cherish them.
We currently live in a society that suppresses these emotions.
This is not written down, nor is it law.
It is simply that we are bound by the 'atmosphere.'
Did you know that children's suicides are currently increasing?
Everyone wants to escape.
We will construct a new world.
This is our declaration.
For this, we must select those who can achieve that.
Everyone, within the next week
please kill at least one person.
Your choice of method does not matter.
Prove that you'll only act for yourself, that others do not matter.
Please unleash the feelings that your own life is the most important.
If you hesitate to take another's life
we will mercilessly kill you off.
We can make you take away your own life with the press of a button.
For those who remain doubtful, we will broadcast an image of proof.
The image might be cut off after just a moment.
Please, look with your eyes wide open.
The above was the audio data received by Network 24.
We are unable to verify the sender.
I repeat, they claimed to be the people responsible for yesterday's simultaneous mass suicide event.
Fuck, I saw that!
Declaration...
It's Miach Mihie...
This is...
what Miach Mihie had once said...
The Sorrows of Young Werther.
This book, has killed so many people.
How could a book kill a person?
The protagonist Werther fell in love with a girl
but that girl had already been engaged to another man.
So Werther, unable to bear his unrequited love, ended his own life.
A story like that.
It sounds like a romance novel. How did it kill people?
People who were influenced by the book and chose suicide appeared.
People who had similar bitter experiences went, one by one, to their deaths.
In fiction, books, and words lies the power to kill people.
Don't you think that's amazing?
Is it Miach's ghost that I am chasing?
So she was receiving a call...
Who made the call? I know without even thinking about it.
Cian was calling out that name.
It's been a long time.
Cian, can you hear me?
Whether it's Cian or Tuan, neither of you came to this side.
We had said we would struggle forth together. I was really hurt.
Today, I want to talk with Cian about goodness.
That's why I'm contacting you for the first time in 13 years.
What do you think goodness is?
Helping those in need, getting along with everyone...
These are no more than the minutiae of “goodness.”
What goodness is
is fundamentally a will to “allow certain values to continue.”
Protecting the family, maintaining happiness, continuing peace.
Allowing the things people believe in to continue
is the essence of “good.”
But, nothing can continue until eternity.
Originally, people would mature, grow old, and become sick.
And they would eventually die.
Nature and life didn't originally have good and evil.
But you know, it's different now.
WatchMe has nearly completely eliminated disease and aging.
The value of “Health” has trampled everything beneath its feet.
This kind of “goodness” covers the entire world.
In the period of monarchy
rebels would be threatened with cruel punishment.
They used force to oppress people.
But since entering the age of democracy
self-discipline has become thought of as the proper attitude towards life.
But when something within us becomes the enemy
what should we do?
Lifeism is the ultimate form of that, and at the same time, its final destination.
Whether it's Cian or Tuan, neither of you came to this side.
We had said we would struggle forth together.
But, as long as you can bring forth that courage now, it's fine.
Nothing can continue until eternity.
Your body is only your own.
Prove it to the world now.
If you come like this, we can return to that day together.
Return to that day when we were us.
Come now, bring forth that courage.
Let me see your courage.
I'm sorry, Miach.
Miach is still alive...
She's alive...
Alive...
Miach Mihie is still alive.
With her declaration, Miach is testing the world.
Should one survive through killing
or lay down their knife and accept death?
Miach, is currently testing all the people of the world.
Dian Cécht.
After “The Maelstrom”
thanks to lax laws regarding medical experiments involving humans
as well as a favorable tax system
Baghdad rapidly became a major center of the medical-industrial complex.
My father is in this city.
And also, Miach...
Do you forget where you are, standing at a high story patio?
I'm Gabrielle Étaín from the SCE Neuroscience Research Consortium.
I heard a Helix Inspector came to honor us with her presence
and I was sure it was a surprise inspection.
Although, we haven't conducted any experiments that the WHO might keep an eye on.
If I may ask, did Professor Nuada Kirie participate in your research group?
Yes, in the early stages.
It was quite some time ago.
Where is the professor now?
I haven't the slightest idea.
Really?
What do you mean by that?
Nuada Kirie is my father.
I am aware, of course.
And I was thinking a Helix Inspector had personally come to investigate without even so much as a warrant.
As it turns out, it was a personal search.
This is still in accordance with my investigative duties and is no hindrance to that.
Can you explain to me what sort of research is being done here?
I can.
Compare, for example, that at this very moment, you could earn 10000 points
or, you could earn 20000 points 1 year from now, guaranteed
which one would people choose?
Probably the former.
Correct. Not only are humans like this
the nature of this desire has been proven in primates, birds, and cats and dogs as well.
Some organisms will overestimate the value of things right before their eyes.
Yes.
This is hereditary programming.
If you don't eat up all the prey before you
it will only be stolen away by others.
Individuals who earnestly wait for future returns cannot continue to survive.
It is a survival game of short term desires and long term desires
mutually battling to be chosen.
This is the truth behind what is thought to be “will”.
Even pain is chosen by will.
Pain?
Yes. For example, the pain felt at the moment when one pierces their finger with a needle
is first sensed only after being selected by the brain and leaving an impression on it.
You must have also heard of things
like not even realizing that one's hand is missing during extraordinary situations
because one is focused on something else.
This is because the pain didn't outcompete whatever was then occupying the attention of the brain's consciousness
and thus could not enter it.
In other words, what forms all the senses we consider to be reality
is actually a collection of what enters the consciousness
through the decisions of the higher level brain in this way.
As expected of a Helix Inspector. You catch on quickly.
I had been hoping I could listen to the opinion of an expert like you.
As the criminals said, does something that could make people turn towards suicide exist?
Who knows.
At least, something like controlling people at one's whim
or creating reality as you desire...
It's a pity that we can't achieve that currently.
What would you do? Before the deadline set by the criminals.
I wouldn't do anything. That is no more than a threat.
Then, I'll take my leave now.
I have one last question.
Do you know of a research group called the “Next Generation Human Behavior Special Characteristics Monitoring Working Group”?
...I do not.
I'll go to the hotel first to check in.
A room has already been prepared for you at the Baghdad Hotel on Saadoun Avenue.
Senior Inspector Kirie has been contacted!
I request her immediate participation in the Aug meeting!
Since the declaration, how many likely related murder cases have occurred?
Yes, although we cannot yet completely verify their relation
it's very clear that the numbers are rising.
The Admedistrations are endlessly issuing urgent reports
trying to quiet down the declaration
but the extent of the effect is still unclear.
What is the situation with the suicide victims?
We just received a new report from the Japanese police!
With this the numbers have exceeded 300 people.
This case had left behind a suicide note.
Reports of suicide notes are still increasing.
Two cases have appeared in Köln, Germany. One case in Salvador, Spain.
Quickly, conduct an investigation!
Summarize the contents of the suicide note.
"I probably can't kill anyone."
"Even if I could, it would weigh unbearably on my consciousness."
"My body truly is a Public Body, but the same is true of others' bodies."
"Other than suicide, I can't find any method to break away from this plight."
"To my wife, my daughter, and the neighbors"
"I express deep apologies regarding my choice of suicide.”
This isn't the doing of the criminals that issued the declaration.
Kill, or be killed?
This question will sometimes be answered with ending one's own life.
The situation has developed as forecasted.
How is the management of the media?
Other than the immediate family
only the local police, Interpol, and the Helix Inspectors are aware.
If the contents of the suicide note are disclosed, the possibility of copycat suicide will rise.
Start the highest level of news censorship!
Even so, being able to suppress it for a few days would already be a feat.
There's also a possibility that this disturbance itself is the goal of the criminals.
The Werther effect...
Is it not possible to protectively cut off the connection
between WatchMe and the health management servers?
It's directly connected to lifelines!
There would be massive disorder.
We don't know many lives would be sacrificed!
Tuan Kirie!
Evening
Abu Nuwas
No Aug
Abu Nuwas...
Outside the Admedistration.
In addition, according to reports from various nations
administrative bodies will carry out global cooperation
due to the predictions of disorder spreading worldwide
and are trying to gauge the new outcomes of the situation.
Breaking news. Allegedly, the two nations of Canada and Italy
have already requested troops from the Geneva Convention organization.
Are you heading towards the old street district?
Although it's outside, the WatchMe still works.
However, the Admedistration makes no guarantees there.
Is that alright?
Yes.
Then, please confirm on this affidavit.
Even at a time like this, WatchMe will display
these superfluous warnings about ingredients, calories, and such on the Aug.
A life outside the Admedistration, without using the Aug.
Even being in the center of this medical world
there are still people who don't hand their own bodies over to someone else
who don't implant WatchMe within their bodies
and who aren't connected to a server.
Catching a cold, feeling a headache, developing cancer, dying after 60 or 70 years.
There's a sharp contrast with the world behind the gates shut by many people due to the declaration.
The people here may not have even heard of that news.
To the riverbank
You ought to know why this region was named Mesopotamia.
How could I forget this voice.
It means, “The space between two rivers.”
The Tigris and the Euphrates.
When I came to realize it, I found myself in that space between.
You've come.
This scar...
Ah, I was injured during an experiment. I did something reckless.
Father...
It's been many years since I've seen you.
A good-for-nothing father, who abandoned me and my mother 13 years ago.
Nuada Kirie.
This is my father, without a doubt.
Many people are dying right now.
Yes. It's very regretful.
Regret?
Wasn't it you who did it, using Miach?
She was your friend, wasn't she? Miach.
Why Miach?
You know that children's suicides are increasing each year.
Tuan, you, and Miach, were also one of them.
But in truth, not long after the introduction of WatchMe
the numbers of attempted suicides by children began to rise.
Every country's Admedistration faced difficulties due to this problem.
They took these children and started treating them.
You probably already know
of the group called the “Next Generation Human Behavior Special Characteristics Monitoring Working Group.”
Both the treatment and the experiments
were the verification tests of the limits of the “Harmony Program.”
Miach was included among them.
"Harmony Program”?
Harmony refers to a future prospective method
to obtain technologies and systems to install cooperative will within people's minds
and rescue the will of people from barbarism.
That is the goal of the organization, and it is also my research.
With Professor Saeki, I carried out research
regarding human decision making and judgment, as well as emotion and thought.
For the WHO and parts of the Admedistrations
the control of people's will is an extremely important subject.
And Miach
whose will was thoroughly permeated with the spirit of despair and resistance...
If we could suppress Miach's mind
her strong will that pushed forth facing death
then we could control anyone's will.
Although it was very simplistic, we had indeed considered this at the time.
Come in. This is the hideout of someone who lives in that space between.
Caffeine is alright, yes?
Do you do research here?
I can't here. I was at Dian Cécht not long ago.
And Miach was too.
Side effects.
The “Harmony Program” had severe side effects.
If you think deeply starting from logic, you should be able to guess it.
Cooperation of the will. Harmonix.
The conclusion we've been chasing is indeed to perfectly stabilize the brain's desires.
However...
the consciousness disappears.
Through Miach's experiments, we realized that the disappearance of the consciousness
is in fact the side effect of the “Harmony Program.”
What happens after the consciousness is lost?
What happened to Miach? Do they enter a vegetative state?
No, how should I put it.
Shopping, eating, having fun, they can all be self-evidently chosen.
Self-evidently.
There's no need for choice or conflict.
Does the consciousness exist, or do they behave as it it exists?
From outside, they are indistinguishable.
And Miach?
She herself said, “It was a trance.”
She was eating normally, studying, speaking with us, continuing on with a regular life.
After the experiment ended and her consciousness returned
she said she didn't remember a thing...
only that she was enveloped in a hazy, yet happy world.
All she experienced was a trance.
A condition that in some sense is equivalent to death.
We requested guidance from the higher ups of the WHO and Admedistrations
and their conclusion was to utilize WatchMe.
This system was programmed into all residents living within Admedistration borders.
It's in my brain. It's in your brain too.
It serves as a compromise that has the ability to be implemented in the brain, but that isn't activated.
If there are signs that something like the chaos of The Maelstrom will occur
they can take away consciousness at any moment.
How could...
The higher ups don't have this inclination at the moment.
They don't actually want a situation where they would have to deny humanity.
However, those that do want it have appeared.
A rogue faction within the organization.
Miach Mihie has this intention.
I called you here because of Miach.
How selfish of you.
You've always been like that, Father.
You were like that when you abandoned us too.
The “Anti-Mainstream faction” is targeting me.
You should hurry and leave this city.
And listen.
The only one who can meet Miach is you, Tuan.
Only you can stop her.
There's no way. Even up until now, what was I able to do!?
Tuan...
Father!
Are you ok, Father?
Interpol. Mr. Nuada Kirie, please remember this well.
I'm arresting you for carrying out the mass suicide event.
Oh, and don't make a move, Miss Tuan.
Seeing as how you're a relative of the criminal.
Vashlov, you're a member of Miach's group, aren't you?
As expected of a Helix Inspector.
Your detective skills are quite fascinating.
As long as I, as a Helix Inspector, began an investigation
there would of course be some time when Nuada Kirie would contact me, his daughter.
Is that how you deduced it?
In order to draw out Nuada Kirie, who disappeared.
For us, it's all good as long as we can capture Professor Nuada.
What did you plan to do if you caught him?
Nuada Kirie is the leader of the “Mainstream faction.”
If we capture him, the group will lose their solidarity and unity.
Then, things will start going the way we want...
Unfortunately, that I don't have that power right now.
Excuses are useless.
Looking forward, the mastermind of the future we seek is in fact, you.
What is the future that you seek?
The future that we seek, that's
Father, this way!
You...!
Father!
It's just a scratch.
Tuan!
Father!
Although I was asked to let you live...
At the end...at least I did something...fathers ought to do...
L-Like this, the Mainstream faction has lost their idéologue...
Now we wait for chaos to descend on the earth...
The suicides and the coercion, were simply nurturing chaos...
A mere catalyst.
Where is Miach?
We will bring forth...a new world...
Surpass chaos...
and bring the world a totally new harmony...
Miach Mihie showed us...
the path leading to peace...
She, she showed us the future.
Ch-Chechnya.
Make contact with the “Anti-Russia Freedom Front” in Chechnya...
Miach is there...
She said I could tell you...
P...please...kill me...It hurts...
So this is what pain is...
Because of WatchMe and MediCare
we've long forgotten...Pain...
K-Kill me...then...
Now, even life itself has been seized by WatchMe and power.
But, "Death is power's limit, the moment that escapes it"
"death becomes the most secret aspect of existence, the most ‘private.'"
Who said that?
Michel Foucault.
Is that really the only way to escape from here?
Before I came here, I was dominated by another power.
That place was hell.
But this place is also absurd enough.
It's about the same as there.
Where was that?
A completely opposite place.
There, you can be killed by guns.
Here, you can be killed by compassion.
I knew of those dark desires Miach had since she was a child
of all those curses she spoke
while we were side by side at a school desk.
In her heart, does Miach still harbor the hatred from those days?
Is she starting to take action
having finally obtained the strength to shatter the world?
The day after tomorrow is the deadline for the message's "one person, one kill."
A great many people have been coerced by this terrorism.
Death and madness are covering this world.
Besides murders, numerous suicides and double suicides have happened.
There are frequent riots occurring all over the world.
We have yet to receive reports of members of police and military forces committing murder or suicide
but it would not be a surprise if we were to.
Have cases also occurred amongst us Helix Inspectors?
You should be fine, since you've already killed a man.
That was justified self defense.
Presumably you have no guilt over it.
My father was killed.
That man worked for Interpol
yet used his jurisdiction in service of another group.
That organization is called
the “Next Generation Human Behavior Special Characteristics Monitoring Working Group.”
I believe it was formed not long after The Maelstrom.
Their motivation is to prevent a reoccurrence of worldwide chaos similar to The Maelstrom
that is, a Catastrophe.
To do so, they've adopted neuroscience research methods.
There is a woman named Gabrielle Étaín in the Neuroscience Research Consortium.
She is most likely one of their members.
She was killed 3 hours ago.
The report states that it was a random killer.
It could very well be a murderer who made use of the chaos.
Where are you now?
I'm headed towards Chechnya.
Why?
It's not convenient to explain further now.
The group has split into two factions, with growing differences.
There is a high possibility that they have already infiltrated not only the Helix Inspectors
but also the upper echelons of the WHO.
A special line is connecting.
Everyone other than Senior Inspector Kirie, please disconnect.
It is exactly as though The Maelstrom half a century ago has arrived once more.
If it continues like this, the fate of humanity will irrevocably march towards violence.
We specifically prepared to avoid a situation such as this.
You are?
Whether we are people, police, or the Admedistration
we never thought that the society that led this extremely peaceful lifestyle
would reach such precarious circumstances.
They are thoroughly bound to crisis.
We are the high ranking members of
the “Next Generation Human Behavior Special Characteristics Monitoring Working Group.”
In other words...
The colleagues of your father.
We are deeply sorry about the situation with him.
After they betrayed the organization, they rigidly kept an eye on Nuada.
My father and I were both monitored.
Miach Mihie's group members coming to contact you
or perhaps making contact through your investigation
we had waited for one of the two.
No wonder no one inquired about those 5 days of reflection.
They stole a part of the access rights to the “Harmony Program”
that we had sealed away, and hid it.
They fooled over 10% of those in the Admedistrations
and let death and terror spread worldwide.
What does Miach Mihie plan to do in the end?
Why does she want to allow chaos to occur in this robust Lifeist society?
Does she want to initiate the “Harmony Program”? We cannot know.
But you have the ability to find out her motivations. Stop her actions, Senior Inspector Kirie.
Why do you laugh?
No, I just hadn't thought you would say the same thing as my father.
Then, I'll take my leave.
Senior Inspector Kirie.
The world may rest upon your shoulders.
Are you being serious?
I want to hear your true thoughts, Tuan.
I don't really care how the world ends up.
I only want to meet Miach Mihie, the one who might have murdered Cian and my father
and let things reach a conclusion.
These are the basis of my actions.
K-Kirie!
Humanity is facing a choice to chase happiness or to chase truth.
If the world cannot end this chaos on its own
then there will be no choice but to activate our sealed “Harmony Program.”
You have to show this to your boss.
That way, he'll understand.
The “Anti-Russian Freedom Front”...
The preparations you specified are ready, Tuan. The equipment is too.
Thanks, Uwe.
What Miach chases
is a world where one's body exists as one's body
a world where one can sense oneself more than society or norms.
What Miach wishes for is a world where one can determine one's own death.
Coordinates...alone.
That's no problem, Miach.
Because ever since that day, I've always been alone.
Chechnya...
The birthplace of Mihie Miach.
The birthplace of Mihie Miach's consciousness.
Decades ago, during the conflict between Russia and Chechnya
a minority group was discovered.
It was an entirely new group that had never been encountered before.
It had no contact with any other group.
They formed an independent community amidst the steep mountains
repeatedly marrying within the same bloodlines.
Miach was born there...
That group possessed a recessive hereditary trait.
Although this gene is also observed among us
it's unlikely that both parents carry the recessive form.
Therefore, the trait is rarely observed.
This recessive trait is a deficiency of the gene for the formation of consciousness.
The majority of this group lacked anything like a consciousness.
It's the same state as the side effect of the “Harmony Program”...
It seemed they possessed quite reasonable judgment ability towards objects
and self-evident behavior that did not require choice.
That is, they were a group that lacked consciousness and had no need of will.
They were a group of people naturally in “Harmony.”
Then, why did Miach...
When she was 8, she was abducted from her village by Russian soldiers.
Apparently she was sent to a human trafficking camp.
You can imagine the exceedingly brutal treatment she faced there.
She never spoke to me of this much
but she said that her consciousness was awakened there.
Awakened...
The Miach without a consciousness was forced to experience terror and pain
and birthed a consciousness that hated.
Or rather, it should be called something like a consciousness.
Functions originally handled by the mid and core brain
were emulated by other regions of the limbic system.
An emulation of consciousness.
An imitation of consciousness.
An imitation soul.
I'm going to burn everything.
If I don't burn them, they'll bind me to the ground
and I won't be able to go to that side.
You finished the pills?
Yes.
In China, whenever the emperor was replaced
they would burn all the scrolls recording history to ashes.
This way, they could write down a new history.
Why do people always want to write something down?
Why?
Because words can remain, almost to eternity.
The Bible is like this too. The Pyramids are another kind.
Since the past, people have been captivated by “eternity.”
Please, you can do it.
I'll definitely feel hurt if I do it.
These books are already a part of Miach, after all.
They say in Japan, they used to burn corpses like this.
It was called cremation.
In the coffin, they'd put the things the person loved in their former days.
This is my cremation.
I will take away the things that once bestowed strength upon me.
I want to shock people about what they thought was eternity
to attack the time that has stagnated.
The deaths of us three are that attack.
What people once saw as the “natural” domain
gradually diminished following the developments of human civilization.
Then, the soul
the consciousness of humans that cannot be controlled
where does it lie?
The words that support the soul – where are they?
From here on out, it's my own business. You wait here.
I've come, Miach.
Tuan, it's been a long time.
It's been 13 years.
What need is there for a gun?
There's only Tuan and I here. Just the two of us.
I knew you would come.
I knew that only Tuan would come here.
I'm here, Tuan!
Your hair has grown long. It looks good.
I'm very sorry...about your father.
But, you would say that it couldn't be helped.
Yes, I would say that it couldn't be helped.
But in my opinion, that's not true.
It would be good if no one died.
Yes.
The world right now is just like a chorus of murder, suicide, and rioting.
But if we don't do this, those old people won't push the button.
Our wish is Harmonix in people.
This time, I'm going.
What about you, Tuan?
“Brave New World.”
The New World?
Tuan, my consciousness was born here.
...I heard from my father.
Is that so?
This place was a comfort station for the Russian army.
The girls abducted here in battle
were raped, day after day, by the Russian soldiers.
I was one of them.
At that time, I didn't yet have
a consciousness able to feel pain and fear like now.
That officer that mounted me penetrated my body over and over again
and at the same time, let me touch his antique Tokarev pistol
saying this is a gun, this is steel, this is strength.
Shoving the muzzle into my mouth
penetrating again and again.
When the pistol that had penetrated again and again was covered in saliva and became sticky,
my consciousness was born.
Upon this concrete
covered with semen, vaginal secretions, blood, tears, snot, and sweat
here, I was born once more
becoming someone who possessed a consciousness.
Miach...
...Don't say any more.
Don't say any more...
I learned here, how barbaric humans can become.
But Japan was exactly opposite to here.
It was so compassionate it could kill someone.
A hell of the other extreme.
When I was 12 years old, the boy next door hung himself.
Saying that he hated this world, that he had no place in this world
that child walked towards death.
You understand, right, Tuan?
About a young soul saying that they have no place in this world, going mad.
You didn't cause this chaos
because you wanted revenge against this world?
That's right, I didn't.
Right now, I love this world with my entire being.
A soul that couldn't find its place
me who experienced torment, a mottled consciousness.
This will all be brought into a complete Harmony.
I realized, if people die because they cannot adapt to this world
why not give up on the existence as a person who possesses a consciousness?
Why not give up on me existing as myself?
A world without pain, and also without consciousness.
Yes.
Adults have equated the disappearance of consciousness with death.
They suppressed it. Your father did too.
On this world, there are people who live happily
like Cian.
Was Cian truly happy?
Tuan was also always painfully rejecting this world, weren't you.
Hey, Tuan.
Humans are brutal and barbaric like that.
But, humans can change.
This consciousness that was merely pieced together
will also become an existence without pain.
It will become a Public Existence.
Humanity can break through the boundary of conscious existence.
Those elders will definitely initiate Harmony.
After all, there is no other way besides this.
Everyone will follow me into my world.
Everyone, everyone will come to my world without pain!
Miach would never change.
I'm a little relieved.
Brilliant, headstrong, pure and arrogant
and a little bit lonely.
Miach always wanted to return.
To the landscape of no consciousness.
To the landscape when she was first born.
Miach never gave the slightest thought
as to why I came all this way here.
A false utopia, a world where consciousness and individuals disappear.
Perhaps this was the path humanity would always eventually take.
Tuan, let's go!
Towards the world of Harmony.
Yes.
Miach...I was always chasing you from behind.
I am even now.
If Miach wishes for a world of Harmony, I will accept that too.
But, Miach...
Only Miach cannot go there.
Please, always be the Miach that I liked.
I love you, Miach.
This is a business card.
In the past, adults used paper like this to introduce themselves.
It's so cute, this.
Yes, it's cute.
Did you draw this symbol, Miach?
Yes. This is our symbol.
Ours?
Yes. My, and Cian's, and Tuan's.
The symbol of us three comrades.