A 5TH PILLAR HAS APPEARED
so the military police are investigating both arson and accident as possible causes.
I can't move.
Why am I tied down like this?
and now, a new, fifth pillar has appeared.
Five pillars?
He must've meant the first, right? What's going on here?
Right now... What? I'm...
Where am I?
Right now...
That was... That Adolla link...
Was it just a dream?
Where am I?
What happened after...
The White Clad must've caught me.
I've been tied down.
Blast it! These stupid things are—
I heard something.
He seems to have woken up.
Who's that?
Who locked me up here?
Stop struggling. Just stay quiet.
Captain?
Lieutenant?
Look at these! I'm...
I woke up like this!
Did the two of you do this? Please hurry up and undo them!
Shinra, what happened to you?
Huh?
Ever since that first pillar three months ago,
it's like you've been a completely different person.
What are you talking about?
Oh. He's back.
Hey, Shinra. Where have you been?
Where?
Where have I...
Episode 13 "Unaware"
Asakusa, Special Fire Force Company 8 Temporary Secret Base
You've calmed down, though you don't have any memories of it.
That's because the original one came back.
What do you mean by "came back," Arthur?
I told you.
The one who's been around lately was Shinra, but wasn't Shinra.
Do you mean it was like it was with the 4th?
He was possessed by Amaterasu?
It wasn't that. You don't get it, do you?
Up until yesterday, he was Shinra, but he wasn't Shinra.
What the hell happened to my hair?
Huh? No way!
No! It can't be! Is this a piercing?
What happened? My black hair is a precious gift from my mother!
Captain! Who made my head look like it belongs to some pathetic delinquent?
How did I turn into some embarrassing example of youthful indiscretion?
You did that to yourself.
Calm down. It's not that bad.
I have no memory of that!
I hate this kind of thing!
I mean, when you look back in a few years, you're gonna see you were an idiot!
If you get swept up in fads without holding to your convictions,
everything'll turn out weird!
If you try to be cool and buy stupid clothes, you'll end up stupid yourself!
People who do it and then look back and think, "I was so pathetic back then,"
are mostly still uncool in the present!
I don't really get it, but everyone's different when it comes to that stuff.
Well, then, have you ever dyed your hair?
Have you ever gotten a piercing?
Of course not! Do you know how weird that would be?
See?
You're right. He's different from what we've seen of Shinra lately.
He's very upset, but he's like Shinra was previously.
What was the me who was here before like?
To put it simply, he was in a delayed rebellious phase.
A pretty severe one at that.
Please give me a little time.
I have no memories at all.
Did a different personality live as me without my knowing it?
What's this?
I gave you such a great dye job, and you're changing it back?
Let me warn you, you can't erase the tattoos.
Huh?
The leg tattoos I gave you. You can't get rid of them.
No! I hate this!
How did this happen?
Vulcan, what did you do to me?
Tattoos!
You asked me for them! And I asked over and over if you were sure!
The body I received as a precious gift from my mother...
Látom.
That seems like the old Shinra.
This guy noticed all the things wrong with you right away.
He understood that there was something different with you.
Arthur did?
Indeed.
Friends are the best thing a person can have, Arthur!
B-But we're not friends.
You've had another invaluable experience, haven't you, Shinra-kun?
Tell me all about it!
Tell you all about what?
I'm the one who wants to know.
I passed out and saw the past.
And in the meantime, three months passed.
I don't know what I did.
So you don't remember anything from after you went to stop the pillar?
I saw the past... and when I woke up, it was now.
I have no idea what's going on.
Dyeing my hair, getting a piercing, and even getting tattoos...
The normal me would never do any of that.
That's right. That wasn't you, Shinra.
Tattoos and piercings are just signs of a difference in fashion sense.
But you did things that you would never have done before now.
Violated orders. Caused trouble.
Caused trouble? Like what?
What did I do?
You did something that should never be done.
Come on. Don't scare me like that.
You were physically violent toward the sister.
I... did that to the sister?
There was a gryphon's nest up there.
I see you're the same as you've always been.
Arthur is an idiot, and reality here hasn't changed at all.
Was the world in my dreams reality?
Scenes of the past from before the Great Cataclysm...
I always thought people just like us lived in peace back then.
But everything was completely different.
Shinra, where were you until now?
Where? Where was I?
The world of Adolla. When I passed out...
It was like a dream, but what was it really?
What did you see there?
Why are you so confused?
It's true that you've returned,
but you're still acting strangely.
The past...
An unimaginable world.
I saw the past.
The past? And how was that past?
Was it strange?
Strange? The word "strange" doesn't even begin to cover it!
Hang on. I still don't understand it myself.
Could you lend me that stick?
Arthur, what do you think when you look at this person?
What do I think?
That it's a badly drawn, odd-looking image.
Not that!
Sorry. Does it look like a human to you?
What are you talking about?
It's got eyes, and a nose, and hands,
and it's standing on two legs.
It does, generally speaking, look like a person.
That's right. The people in the past were like that, too.
They had eyes and stood on two feet...
People like us... and this drawing.
The people in the past and people like us...
Each one meets the basic parameters for being human,
but they're different.
The Great Cataclysm 250 years ago was a turning point.
All the rules of language changed.
The Great Cataclysm wasn't the "cataclysm" we know.
What happened in the last three months?
I got tattoos on my legs, and you said my personality was completely different...
So who was I?
Arthur, you knew, right?
What did I look like to you?
Do you remember when we were in training school?
Why bring that up now?
You were the Parent-Killer, Shinra Kusakabe...
the Devil with the creepy smile. That's what they called you.
I heard he killed his baby brother.
He's a devil. A devil.
Have you seen him? He's a devil.
And what about it? Are you trying to start a fight?
These last three months, all you've done is fight.
After all, the Shinra of late has been even more of an infuriating loser than usual.
A person I, as a knight, could not tolerate.
Cold-hearted, vulgar, and violent.
An unsalvageable scumbag.
I know of exactly one piece of trash like that.
For three months, you were undoubtedly him.
Just as the rumors said, you were the Parent-Killer, Shinra Kusakabe,
the guy everyone called Devil.
What are you talking about at a time like this?
You probably don't know this,
but back then, this was one of the rumors about you...
"Shinra Kusakabe's body is covered in tattoos."
"In commemoration of killing his parents, he got tattoos on his legs."
I don't really understand Adolla,
but for the last three months, maybe you were the Adolla version of you.
Doppelganger...
If, for the last three months, I was an entity from Adolla, a doppelganger...
and he was the person from the rumors that everyone spread about me,
then that means that doppelgangers are—
Are you sure you'll be all right alone?
Yes, I will! Thank you.
Shinra-san, how are you feeling?
Fire Force
Chapter 3
Fire Force
Chapter 3
It looks like you really have returned. I'm so glad!
I'm so sorry. I did something unthinkable.
I understand. Why don't we talk?
I'm sorry! I'm really so very sorry!
Shinra-san, please lift your head!
You've helped me so much before this.
Whether you have your memories or not, I won't condemn you.
It's peaceful, isn't it?
It makes the fact that the pillars have appeared,
starting the Great Cataclysm, seem like a lie.
Did the world really change that much while I was gone?
Well, yes, many things have changed.
Why did I... raise my hand against you, Sister?
Even if I tell you there's nothing to worry about,
it still bothers you, doesn't it?
That's because you're a kind person.
Shinra-san, do you remember
the day when you and I went to the Baptism Church together?
Yes, of course.
I promised that if I was ever worried about something, I'd come to you first, didn't I?
Sister... did something happen to you?
First, I'll explain about the changes in the world.
Since the mysterious pillars appeared,
as they increase in number,
the instances of human combustion in the Tokyo Empire also increase.
It's incredibly sad.
Along with that, the powers of the second and third generations have grown stronger.
My big sister and Licht-san have a theory.
They think maybe the pillars' appearance brought the other world, Adolla, closer.
And yesterday,
there was a change in my body, as well.
I wanted to talk to you about it first,
so I've kept it secret from everyone else.
Do you mean...
Please look at this.
What?
It's still very weak. This is all I can do.
Sister, you're a third generation? That's amazing!
It seems that...
the only survivors of the church fire when I was little were my big sister, Hibana, and me.
My sister believed that my survival was a miracle,
but it was just because my power was so weak
that no one could tell I was a third generation.
I felt so anxious.
So, yesterday, I went to talk with you about it first.
With the Shinra that wasn't me...
I went with all my recent worries...
About my ignition powers,
and this feeling I have that something isn't right with me.
It's as if I can't be certain of my own existence.
As if I...
I have a sense that I'm some sort of imitation.
Doppelganger.
Sister...
And that's when you...
Why are you here, too?
Stay away from me
The image people have of the other me
is that of a "Parent-Killer Devil."
The sister is warm and gentle, someone who brings light to others.
She's like a sunflower.
That's an image that everyone in the empire knows.
It's just like...
Amaterasu.
According to Shinra,
he has no memory of the three months since the first pillar materialized.
And during that time, he exhibited a different personality.
This other personality is an entity with a connection to Adolla.
The swapping of personalities was caused by the appearance of the pillars,
and the other world, Adolla, coming closer to this world.
Spontaneous human combustion
is caused by doppelgangers fusing with their counterparts.
So, for the last three months, Shinra was being controlled by his doppelganger.
And these other versions of us, doppelgangers, exist in that other world, Adolla.
What kind of world is it, exactly?
Give us some kind of good answer to that.
And are you giving it serious thought, you wage thief?
The rift in the continent said to be a scar from the previous Great Cataclysm...
If the abnormalities observed in its vicinity are due to the influence of Adolla,
then the transformation of the land,
talking animals such as Scop and the others...
All the phenomena that defy our logic may serve as hints to understanding Adolla.
Arthur-kun said that the Shinra-kun of these last three months
was just like the rumors among the students during their training school days said he was.
So, basically, the image that they all had of Shinra...
What will happen when all eight pillars are present?
Come sit down!
Yes, sir.
What do you think of our secret base? Secret bases are exciting, right?
Vulcan remodeled one of Asakusa's storehouses, and we made it our base.
I see. So that's why...
How are you? Do you feel a little calmer?
I think I understand what happened to me.
It's just... it still doesn't feel real.
After charging down the wrong path like you did?
Seems like a waste not to remember it.
That forced smile on your face!
You're definitely Shinra!
P-Please don't laugh like that.
Sorry about that.
These last three months, you've been pretty outrageous,
but you're Shinra, so I couldn't hate you.
Captain, you're much too nice.
Seeing that smile has made me feel better.
Thanks for making it back to us.
Will you come and fight alongside us again? I'm counting on you.
Of course I will.
He doesn't push me away. He accepts everything about me.
I turned into a scumbag who killed his own parents, but he still didn't abandon me.
The only one who would treat someone like me this way... is the captain.
Thank you!
I'm glad I'll get to work under you again, Captain Obi!
That's right.
One thing I heard from the sister bothers me.
She said the powered's abilities have grown stronger with the appearance of the pillars.
Maki, Hinawa, and the others have noticed an increase in their abilities.
The unpowered like me and the sister can't tell, though.
I guess the sister hasn't told him yet.
You said you saw the world of the past in your dreams, right?
Is that connected to this?
Captain Shinmon has mentioned it, too.
He'd had dreams that felt real.
Did you fall asleep while drinking and moon-gazing?
Waka, brush your teeth and go to bed.
I had that dream again.
You were awake?
I was there. You were there. And the previous captain was there.
In the end, I couldn't win the previous captain's approval.
Guess I'll just drink some more.
You're drunk, aren't you?
You're smiling, you know.
To Be Continued
Fire Force
Chapter 3
Fire Force Chapter 3
Next Time
Are we being tricked by a kitsune or something?
I, Hibachi, have returned to show you what you've nearly forgotten: a real Nichirin!
Next time, "With the Sun at His Back."
Episode 14
With the Sun at His Back
May thy soul return to the great flame of fire.
Látom.