"Masked Memories" Chapter Thirteen: Sora's Epiphany
Chapter twelve ends with an introduction to Nobara and Shikkoku, the latest Contractors on team Ichiro. Shikkoku immediately uses his power, engulfing the surrounding mile in utter darkness. Using the convenient night-vision that accompanies his power, he makes several mediocre attacks on the Black Reaper. The fact that he is being so cautious in his attacks proves that the rumors of the Black Reaper have frightened him somewhat.
I wanted Nobara and Shikkoku’s names to represent something about them; I try to do this with all of my characters. Darker Than Black does this as well in regards to Hei, Yin, and Mao. In Chinese, Hei’s name means, (among many other things) “black” or “black heart”, Yin’s name means (among other things) “silver”, and Mao means (most obviously) “cat”. Sora’s name “sky” refers to how limitless the sky is and how mysterious her life is, and as far as Nobara and Shikkoku are concerned, their powers are directly related to their names. Ichiro’s name means “one road”, “earnestly”, and other such things. However, I took it from a story related to the incest I described in chapter eleven. In volume three of the manga Case Closed, the murderer’s name is Ichiro, and he murdered his grandfather, who wouldn’t approve his marriage to his cousin and then attempted to pin the murder on his cousin’s husband. (in the anime, his name is different due to copyright issues, so don't bother). The relevance would be the desire to marry his first cousin. His name’s significance to me is the significance the reader should take note of in regards to Ichiro’s character.
The Black Reaper manages to jolt Shikkoku as he goes in for another petty attack, and the startled Contractor’s assault ends, restoring light. The Reaper then gives Sora one of his blades; he recognizes that holding onto Sora is making his defenses less efficient. However, he also recognizes the danger Sora is in and the possibility that he may not be able to make it to her in time if either Contractor should go after Sora while he was in battle.
When Nobara displays her power for the first time (a barrage of thorns) The Black Reaper removes his coat and throws it towards Sora so that she can protect herself. A reader wondered whether or not I considered the jacket’s bulletproof abilities as a defense against the thorns. The answer is no. The reader will recall that Sora is wearing a short dress that hangs above her knees with no sleeves. The jacket is simply more clothes to cover her body; I hadn’t put any thought into its being bulletproof at this point. The Reaper is much more susceptible to the thorns at this point, and Sora’s love for him moves her to dash over and cover the both of them with the coat. Nobara ends her assault and Sora is surprised by the Reaper’s reaction to her effort. The reader knows this is because he doesn’t want her to get hurt and can assume that Sora figures this out as well.
The Black Reaper manages to discourage Nobara from using her rose by reminding her of the “merchandise” in the line of fire. She does draw a whip, but without her barrage, the Reaper easily overcomes her and subdues her on the ground. He tries to negotiate with Shikkoku. Shikkoku says that he and Nobara’s only options are to kill or be killed, and this is when Sora suggests the third path.
This idea, the third path, comes directly from episode twenty-five of Kuro no Keiyakusha when Misaki discusses the Syndicate with Director Hirai (I’m gambling with the spelling here). The third path should require little explanation, other than that it means achieve the same goal without killing. It may not be easier, but it is essentially more efficient. Hei is notorious for selecting the third path in the series, and I wanted to incorporate that into my theme as well.
Shikkoku takes the Reaper’s separation from Sora as an opportunity to use his powers once more. The Reaper has Sora scream to help steer him in the right direction, but he trips of Nobara in his attempt to reach her. Though he quickly eliminates her to save the trouble, getting to Sora is still difficult. Shikkoku grabs hold of Sora, and Sora makes the decision to protect her life; she kills him.
The reader learns much more about Sora from this point forward. She and the Black Reaper have a very passionate conversation in which Sora reveals a great deal of herself to him. She tells him that she wants to return home, and he takes this to mean that she wants to go back to her apartment. Sora angrily corrects him; she wants her father. She then breaks into a rant about all of the hardships she has had to face, not just in the last few days, but since she was a child growing up with her disapproving mother. Sora then tells the Black Reaper that she hates him.
In her mind, the Reaper was a perfect muse, inspiring and beautiful in all of his mysterious ways. The fantasy she had created in her mind was almost immediately shattered as the Reaper began to kill everything around her; she now realizes that she has been in love with a murderer the entire time. She then asks the Black Reaper if he would have killed her if he had been ordered to. He doesn’t answer this question, which the reader should have recognized. Hei can’t imagine killing the woman he loves. But this does make him think of the one person he longs to kill: Ichiro. The Black Reaper asks Sora why she didn’t allow him to kill her brother. She couldn’t bear to watch him die, she didn’t want to see it. Hei’s emotions take over and he demonstrates his frustration and eagerness to protect Sora. Sora picks up on his irrational behavior, behavior uncharacteristic of a proper Contractor, and Sora makes a small joke about this, diffusing the Reaper’s anger.
Sora then tells the Reaper to take the third path for her. Hei realizes that he has always taken the third path and that he only desires to do differently now because he’s in love with the woman he’s ordered to protect. Both calm themselves and start down the fire-escape to the ground below.
They encounter the Public Security Division in the parking lot, and the Black Reaper develops a hasty plot to escape. He doesn’t inform Sora, making it somewhat easier for her to play along. Misaki is highly confused upon recognizes Sora because of her conversation with Li the day before. Seeing the BK-201 treat Sora this way makes her theory that Li and the Reaper are one in the same difficult to believe. It is only plausible if Sora is in on whatever scheme they’ve developed. Misaki lies and tells Sora that they know what’s going on; Sora takes slight offense to this because of the complexity of her entire life. She doesn’t understand it at all, and an outsider looking in shouldn’t understand much more. She doesn’t appreciate the lie.
Together, Sora and the Black Reaper escape the parking lot and reach the secure location. Huang Mao, and most importantly, Yin are there waiting for them. Sora is so glad to be reunited with Yin, something that puzzles the entire team. Yin takes Sora off to change clothes, and Hei explains everything that happened in the Miyabita Production House. Huang and Mao tell Hei that they have something to tell both him and Sora.
When Sora returns in her new outfit, Hei has a very immediate response to her. Mao picks out a sexy spy-suit for her, which fits her body extremely well. There are many practical uses to such an outfit, and Mao informs Sora of these. Sora is less disturbed by the outfit than Hei, who is fighting to control himself behind his mask.
Sora inquires the Black Reaper’s number: BK-201, which Hei quickly explains to her. Sora’s affectionate gestures toward the Reaper confuse Huang and Mao because they had very much been under the impression that Sora was in love with Li. They also can’t figure out how Yin and Sora had become so close. However, Hei is much more concerned with the new Mao has. Mao ends the chapter saying that his news has to do with the Syndicate and a mistake they have made.
I wanted Nobara and Shikkoku’s names to represent something about them; I try to do this with all of my characters. Darker Than Black does this as well in regards to Hei, Yin, and Mao. In Chinese, Hei’s name means, (among many other things) “black” or “black heart”, Yin’s name means (among other things) “silver”, and Mao means (most obviously) “cat”. Sora’s name “sky” refers to how limitless the sky is and how mysterious her life is, and as far as Nobara and Shikkoku are concerned, their powers are directly related to their names. Ichiro’s name means “one road”, “earnestly”, and other such things. However, I took it from a story related to the incest I described in chapter eleven. In volume three of the manga Case Closed, the murderer’s name is Ichiro, and he murdered his grandfather, who wouldn’t approve his marriage to his cousin and then attempted to pin the murder on his cousin’s husband. (in the anime, his name is different due to copyright issues, so don't bother). The relevance would be the desire to marry his first cousin. His name’s significance to me is the significance the reader should take note of in regards to Ichiro’s character.
The Black Reaper manages to jolt Shikkoku as he goes in for another petty attack, and the startled Contractor’s assault ends, restoring light. The Reaper then gives Sora one of his blades; he recognizes that holding onto Sora is making his defenses less efficient. However, he also recognizes the danger Sora is in and the possibility that he may not be able to make it to her in time if either Contractor should go after Sora while he was in battle.
When Nobara displays her power for the first time (a barrage of thorns) The Black Reaper removes his coat and throws it towards Sora so that she can protect herself. A reader wondered whether or not I considered the jacket’s bulletproof abilities as a defense against the thorns. The answer is no. The reader will recall that Sora is wearing a short dress that hangs above her knees with no sleeves. The jacket is simply more clothes to cover her body; I hadn’t put any thought into its being bulletproof at this point. The Reaper is much more susceptible to the thorns at this point, and Sora’s love for him moves her to dash over and cover the both of them with the coat. Nobara ends her assault and Sora is surprised by the Reaper’s reaction to her effort. The reader knows this is because he doesn’t want her to get hurt and can assume that Sora figures this out as well.
The Black Reaper manages to discourage Nobara from using her rose by reminding her of the “merchandise” in the line of fire. She does draw a whip, but without her barrage, the Reaper easily overcomes her and subdues her on the ground. He tries to negotiate with Shikkoku. Shikkoku says that he and Nobara’s only options are to kill or be killed, and this is when Sora suggests the third path.
This idea, the third path, comes directly from episode twenty-five of Kuro no Keiyakusha when Misaki discusses the Syndicate with Director Hirai (I’m gambling with the spelling here). The third path should require little explanation, other than that it means achieve the same goal without killing. It may not be easier, but it is essentially more efficient. Hei is notorious for selecting the third path in the series, and I wanted to incorporate that into my theme as well.
Shikkoku takes the Reaper’s separation from Sora as an opportunity to use his powers once more. The Reaper has Sora scream to help steer him in the right direction, but he trips of Nobara in his attempt to reach her. Though he quickly eliminates her to save the trouble, getting to Sora is still difficult. Shikkoku grabs hold of Sora, and Sora makes the decision to protect her life; she kills him.
The reader learns much more about Sora from this point forward. She and the Black Reaper have a very passionate conversation in which Sora reveals a great deal of herself to him. She tells him that she wants to return home, and he takes this to mean that she wants to go back to her apartment. Sora angrily corrects him; she wants her father. She then breaks into a rant about all of the hardships she has had to face, not just in the last few days, but since she was a child growing up with her disapproving mother. Sora then tells the Black Reaper that she hates him.
In her mind, the Reaper was a perfect muse, inspiring and beautiful in all of his mysterious ways. The fantasy she had created in her mind was almost immediately shattered as the Reaper began to kill everything around her; she now realizes that she has been in love with a murderer the entire time. She then asks the Black Reaper if he would have killed her if he had been ordered to. He doesn’t answer this question, which the reader should have recognized. Hei can’t imagine killing the woman he loves. But this does make him think of the one person he longs to kill: Ichiro. The Black Reaper asks Sora why she didn’t allow him to kill her brother. She couldn’t bear to watch him die, she didn’t want to see it. Hei’s emotions take over and he demonstrates his frustration and eagerness to protect Sora. Sora picks up on his irrational behavior, behavior uncharacteristic of a proper Contractor, and Sora makes a small joke about this, diffusing the Reaper’s anger.
Sora then tells the Reaper to take the third path for her. Hei realizes that he has always taken the third path and that he only desires to do differently now because he’s in love with the woman he’s ordered to protect. Both calm themselves and start down the fire-escape to the ground below.
They encounter the Public Security Division in the parking lot, and the Black Reaper develops a hasty plot to escape. He doesn’t inform Sora, making it somewhat easier for her to play along. Misaki is highly confused upon recognizes Sora because of her conversation with Li the day before. Seeing the BK-201 treat Sora this way makes her theory that Li and the Reaper are one in the same difficult to believe. It is only plausible if Sora is in on whatever scheme they’ve developed. Misaki lies and tells Sora that they know what’s going on; Sora takes slight offense to this because of the complexity of her entire life. She doesn’t understand it at all, and an outsider looking in shouldn’t understand much more. She doesn’t appreciate the lie.
Together, Sora and the Black Reaper escape the parking lot and reach the secure location. Huang Mao, and most importantly, Yin are there waiting for them. Sora is so glad to be reunited with Yin, something that puzzles the entire team. Yin takes Sora off to change clothes, and Hei explains everything that happened in the Miyabita Production House. Huang and Mao tell Hei that they have something to tell both him and Sora.
When Sora returns in her new outfit, Hei has a very immediate response to her. Mao picks out a sexy spy-suit for her, which fits her body extremely well. There are many practical uses to such an outfit, and Mao informs Sora of these. Sora is less disturbed by the outfit than Hei, who is fighting to control himself behind his mask.
Sora inquires the Black Reaper’s number: BK-201, which Hei quickly explains to her. Sora’s affectionate gestures toward the Reaper confuse Huang and Mao because they had very much been under the impression that Sora was in love with Li. They also can’t figure out how Yin and Sora had become so close. However, Hei is much more concerned with the new Mao has. Mao ends the chapter saying that his news has to do with the Syndicate and a mistake they have made.