Introduction
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Douleur — Kind Child is the forty-nineth chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
Summary[]
We met on the night of a Blue Moon.
The moon hangs heavy in a sky clear of clouds, its blue light reflected in the matching blue eyes of Mikhail looking up towards it. He’s being carried through the forest by the figure who’d saved them, with Vanitas following close behind with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Determining that they’re a safe distance away, the figure comes to a stop and gently sets Mikhail on the ground. Vanitas wheezes and worries that the Chasseurs will still come after them, but the figure argues against this. What Moreau had been doing, the nature of his experiments, goes against the teachings of the Church, so any Chasseurs who came would be more concerned with damage control than pursuing the three of them. It’s likely that most of the researchers who were present would be killed. Vanitas is unnerved to hear this. With things calming down, the figure suggests they do introductions, and Mikhail eagerly perks up and insists being called “Misha.” Vanitas tries to warn him against this, when the figure says they have no name to give, at least not one they’re satisfied with.
They take off the hood of their robe to reveal their appearance—long white hair, deep blue eyes, and three white markings right below their visible right eye. Vanitas and Mikhail stare at them in awe. They introduce themselves as the Vampire of the Blue Moon, also known as “Vanitas.” Mikhail marvels at how pretty they are, while Vanitas absorbs this information, and his eyes start to shake. He remembers Moreau’s experiments, being injected with that blue blood, and he steps forward. He yells to the Vampire of the Blue Moon in fury, and attacks with a shard of glass he’d hidden up until now.
Blood spills. Mikhail calls to his brother in concern. The shard of glass pierces through the Vampire’s palm which they use to keep it unmoving, while Vanitas continues to grip the shard in one hand and the Vampire’s long white hair in the other. They stay at a standstill, the Vampire surprised and Vanitas enraged. The Vampire is shocked that Vanitas went right for their eyes, and deduces him to have been a young Chasseur. Vanitas, infuriated, demands to know if the two children had been brought out here to be eaten. Blood continues to drip down between them, while Mikhail notes is blue in color. The Vampire denies this. Vanitas continues to demand if they intend to reclaim the blood that had been placed in him and Mikhail.
The Vampire smiles and says they came because Vanitas asked them for help. Vanitas is shocked, and locks of long white hair flash before his face like back in the laboratory. Vanitas tries to deny this but he falls over unconscious. Mikhail rushes to his brother in concern, while the Vampire notes him to have a high fever. Vanitas passes out completely to the sounds of the Vampire planning where to go next and Mikhail worrying over him.
When Vanitas next wakes up, he’s in bed with a wet cloth over his forehead. Mikhail happily notes that his brother is awake while Vanitas takes in his surroundings: a cozy little room lit by a fireplace, filled with books and other little odd trinkets. Vanitas tries to get up from bed but is too weak and collapses back down. The Vampire comes in bearing some medical supplies while Mikhail eagerly steps up to the bed next to them. They explain that this house belongs to a human they’ve known for a while. Vanitas tries to deny that Vampires could ever be acquainted amicably with humans, to which the Vampire retorts that alchemists and magicians have always gotten along better with Vampires compared to the Church. They sits down next to Vanitas while supposing that he’d collapsed after finally relaxing for once after being constantly on edge in an effort to protect Mikhail, who hovers by his brother’s side worriedly. The Vampire gets a new wet cloth ready while urging Vanitas to rest, even offering to sing a lullaby along with Mikhail to help him sleep.
The Vampire asks what songs Vanitas’s mother sang to him. Vanitas is shocked and turns to the Vampire in confusion. The Vampire says Vanitas kept repeating “mother” while lost in his sickness. Vanitas stares at them intently then snaps at them for lying. They deny this, but Vanitas is insistent that this can’t be true because—his mother died after giving birth to him, so he couldn’t call to her. Tears spill out of Vanitas’s eyes without his knowing, and he tries to muffle his sobs behind his forearms. Mikhail is worried, but the Vampire gently shushes him. They place a new wet cloth over Vanitas’s forehead and asks about his father.
As candlelight illuminates the room, the scent of burning incense permeates the air, and the heat of the fireplace keeps them warm, Vanitas explains about his past. His father had been a doctor born into a good family, and met his mother when she came to town with a band of traveling players. His father left everything behind to go with his mother, traveling around along with the band whom Vanitas called their “companions.” Mikhail asks what a band of traveling players is, and the Vampire answers it’s similar to a circus, though Vanitas denies it being that formal. His father didn’t seem to like it there very much, but still he stayed, going all sorts of different places with Vanitas and their companions. Vanitas reminisces how everyone always told him how much he resembled his mother. The Vampire comments this meant she must’ve been beautiful, and Mikhail brightly agrees.
Vanitas is silent for a moment. He says it was his fault his mother died, so his father must have hated him. And yet—Vanitas recalls this memory vividly; when they and their companions had been attacked by Vampires, Vanitas’s father died protecting him. Vanitas still remembers the sight of his father’s body falling before him, and the blood staining his hands thereafter. Vanitas clutches the blanket covering him and tears pool down his cheeks. He wishes he could ask his father “Why?” but he’ll never get the chance. The Vampire of the Blue Moon asks if Vanitas hates Vampires. Vanitas, with angry tears, confirms this, and recounts the time he spent in the Church, planning to live as a Chasseur to “make the world clean” by wiping out Vampires. Vanitas’s eyes shake and he trails off into silence.
Vanitas stares into the distance. He quietly recalls that Vampires would often be brought into Moreau’s laboratory too and he initially thought they deserved it. But then he would be witness to the horrific atrocities the researchers would wrought upon those Vampires, and gradually began to think that humans were far more horrible monsters. The Vampire of the Blue Moon remarks that Vanitas could’ve easily escaped considering how strong he was when attacking them earlier, so why did he stay? Vanitas says that Moreau had killed someone with no connection to any of this to serve as a body double to trick the Chasseurs into thinking Vanitas had died. Someone else had died just for having the same height as him. And Moreau would always say he’d kidnap another child to replace him should Vanitas ever disappear, so Vanitas thought to himself that everything would be okay if he stayed. The Vampire of the Blue Moon absorbs this.
Vanitas breaks down into tears completely and inconsolably. Brokenly, he says he didn’t want to think about anything. He didn’t understand then and he still doesn’t now. He can’t return to the Chasseurs after what had been done to his body, so he’s completely lost. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do. The Vampire of the Blue Moon says they’ve learned something—that Vanitas is a very kind child. Vanitas looks up at them, tears dripping down his cheeks and eyes wide with surprise. The Vampire smiles gently at him. Vanitas protests this. The Vampire brightly argues that he is. Vanitas is stubborn though, insisting over and over that he isn’t. Mikhail, sitting atop the Vampire’s lap, eventually dozes off into sleep to the sound of his brother continuously repeating, “I’m not.”
Mikhail wakes up in the morning on the couch with a blanket covering him. He drowsily sits up then remembers the events of last night and bolts to his feet—only to find a huge lump on the bed. He stops, dazed. Vanitas, buried so heavily under the blankets he can’t be seen, tells Mikhail to “forget it.” Mikhail is confused. Vanitas snaps at Mikhail to forget everything he said last night right that second. Mikhail innocently asks to forget specifically what, starting from the laboratory or of Vanitas feverishly crying, “I’m not, I’m not, I’m not.” Vanitas, embarrassed, glares out from under the blankets and yells at Mikhail.
The Vampire of the Blue Moon hears that the children are awake and announces breakfast, to Mikhail’s eagerness. The Vampire proudly presents them with a large pot filled with a disgusting goop, raw leaves, bones sticking out, and other miscellaneous certainly inedible things, and tells the children to eat up. Vanitas and Mikhail stare. After being served in a plate, the unidentified goop makes a sound like live animal dying on the spot. Vanitas and Mikhail keep staring. Vanitas, pale, says the Vampire really is going to kill them. Mikhail trembles where he stands. The Vampire is genuinely confused at their reactions. What Vanitas calls a poisonous dredged-up sludge was the Vampire’s attempt to make soup, filled with medicinal herbs to be healthy. There are a pair of drinks too that they call fresh and delicious milk, but Vanitas demands to know why it’s colored black. Vanitas continues with his criticisms that the room they’re in is a mess of disorganized books, dust, cobwebs, and rats, and snaps that the Vampire should at least keep it clean if they’re borrowing the place. The Vampire pouts, throws the spoons to the floor in frustration, and goes to sulk in the corner. Vanitas yells at them.
Some time later, a perfectly made and nutritious stew has been prepared and plated up, mugs of tea have been made using a pot that had been unearthed from the mess, and the room is clean and neatly organized. The Vampire and Mikhail are in utter amazement at this feat. Vanitas, wheezing and huffing from the effort exerted, yells, “How’s that?!” The two others eat up the stew and find it delicious, to Vanitas’s smugness. The Vampire beams and says that Vanitas has beaten them hollow, and is incredible. Vanitas blushes at the compliment, then twitches in annoyance when they and Mikhail call loudly for seconds.
Noé continues drowning further and further down into these memories, watching the scenes flow by. He stares at the Vampire of the Blue Moon, and notes how similar they look to Naenia—to Faustina whom he’d seen back in Gévaudan. A single word echoes in the darkness—“Why?”
The memories continue: the Vampire of the Blue Moon honestly says that Vanitas and Mikhail will both most likely die soon. It could be in a month, or a year, or five years, but eventually their time will run out. Moreau’s experiments almost made them cross over from humanity into Vampirism, and where they stand now, somewhere in between, is wavering and unstable. When something tips that precarious balance, their state of being will contradict too much with natural law and their bodies will start breaking down. If they have nowhere else to go, they should come to the Vampire, and they’ll all find a way to save them together. More time passes with happier memories interspersed; Vanitas presenting a cake he made to the Vampire and Mikhail, the Vampire bringing a bottle of wine for them to try only for Vanitas to get passed-out drunk instantly.
Eventually Mikhail ends up bedridden and in pain. He asks the Vampire if he’s going to die. The Vampire, sitting at his bedside, says there’s a way they’ve yet to mention: they can make the children their Kin. Unsteadily they say it isn’t a method they want to use, and they touch their hand to their face where their eye is. Mikhail, eyes desperate and blood dripping out his nose says he’ll be their Kin if it means the three of them could continue to stay together always. Vanitas, eyes filled with resentment, says he’ll never become their Kin, because even if he knew he’d die tomorrow, he wants to stay human until the very end.
A shaky, foggy, unclear memory. Blood spills and a bright blue light shines as Vanitas is Marked on his right arm. The Vampire of the Blue Moon turns to dust in Vanitas’s arms.
In the present, a figure arrives at the Exposition Universelle to the scene of Mikhail holding Noé to his neck. Mikhail grins and happily greets his brother, Vanitas, who finally arrived.
Characters[]
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- Douleur is literally translated as "pain" or "grief" from French.
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v - e - t | The Case Study of Vanitas Chapters |
---|---|
Parisian Excursion Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |
Bal Masqué Arc | 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
Hunters of the Dark Arc | 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 |
The Beast of Gévaudan Arc | 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 34.5 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 38.5 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 |
Amusement Park Arc | 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 54.5 • 55 • 55.5 • 56 |
Miel Incident Arc | 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 61.5 • 62 • 62.5 • 63 |
Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
Omake | Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION |
Other | Vanitashu no Karute • Author's Notes |