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Introduction
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Jeu de paume — Court Tennis (Part One) is the first part of the sixty-first chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for The Case Study of Vanitas.
Read at your own risk.
Summary[]
A tin of fruit-flavored bonbons. He held it in his small hands. She told him to wait there for just a short while. The boy looked up at the woman dressed entirely in black, a dark veil concealing her entire upper half from view. A wan smile could be vaguely seen from behind that veil as she reassured him she would be back soon. So he should be a good boy as he always was.
So Dante waited.
He stood on the side of the street leaning his back against the wall in between stores as crowds of people mill about. He opened the tin of bonbons. He eventually sat down as people, children and adults and families, continued to walk the streets. He ate the bonbons one by one, popping each one into his mouth and rolling the sweet on his tongue. Eventually night fell completely. The stores’ lights were shut off, the street bathed in shadow, not a single soul still up and about at such an hour. Except Dante. Who continued to wait dutifully like a “good boy” just as he’d been told. Dante ran his hands over his arms, shivering at the cold of night. He looked up into the lightless sky. Tears welled up in his eyes at the sight of no one there. He was still alone. Small fingers trembling, he picked up the last bonbon in the tin he’d been given. But it slipped from his fingers. He cried out in surprise as it dropped on the ground and rolled away from him. Tears overflowed from his eyes and began to slip down his cheeks. The bonbon kept rolling away, cracking as it goes.
“Don’t leave me.”
The bonbon cracked completely, unsalvageable in how it had broken.
“If I’d been able to tell her that…”
Three of them, united in their social isolation, together as a result of how there is no other place for them.
“…Would it have changed our future somehow?”
Dante, Johann, and Riche. The small “family” they made together. The Dhampirs.
In the darkness, a tennis ball floats in the air. With a small athletic cry, the girl catches the ball on its descent with her racquet. She swings upward, sending the ball flying in an upwards arc. Its path sends it hurtling over the net which had been haphazardly set up between a stack of books and the table they had previously been having tea at. Various trinkets continue to idly float around the dark and empty space; the ball flies past a dresser in midair as it soars towards the Teacher, who bats it back with his own racquet with a serene smile. The girl speaks up as she winds back for a powerful swing, and remarks that the Teacher has too much time on his hands. The Teacher laughs at her spiteful comment, but she merely points out the absurd situation of the two of them playing tennis in the Border between Altus and the human world.
She speaks frankly and unabashedly. He is like a natural disaster—destroying without thought, fostering and bewildering people with little reason, giving and then taking away at random. He is a man impossible to understand. He is far too different from anyone else. All the while she says this, the Teacher keeps on a serena smile. He simply replies that that didn’t used to be true.
The Teacher swings his racquet and send the ball flying back. The girl hits the ball back in return. She then asks for an explanation so that even one like her, unlearned and untalented, could understand him—that is, an explanation of his plot. The Teacher drops his racquet and calls that accusation truly scandalous. He catches the tennis ball in his hand and holds it there, rolling it idly in his palm as he speaks. He is thinking, constantly calculating for a route that will grant “their” wish. The girl asks for an elaboration of that wish. The Teacher never stops smiling. He continues rolling the ball in his hands. And he answers:
“For world peace.”
In the crowded, busy streets of Paris, countless people milling about for all kinds of reasons. At one of the city’s busiest streets, the Galerie Valentine, its beautiful architecture beckoning all to venture inside. On the top floor of all establishments, a grand office as imposing as its owner. Contrast to its opulent appearance, childlike laughter rings out in the room. Parks Orlok lies on his chest, propping his chin up on his hands and kicking his legs with giddy as he fawns over Murr. His normally stoic countenance is alight with glee as he baby-talks over how adorable Murr is. In return, Murr rolls around on the floor contentedly but otherwise is indifferent to the praise.
A choked, cut-off cry.
In the doorway, Vanitas and Noé stand, having bore witness to the scene. Orlok freezes. Murr uncaringly continues to roll around.
Nox and Manet, both utterly pale with horror, apologize profusely as they attempted to stop the two’s entrance but couldn’t prevent them in the end. Vanitas is snickering with delight as he parrots Orlok’s baby talk while Noé just lightly scolds the former for entering without knocking. Orlok sharply orders to blast the two of them into ash. Nox, Manet, and Orlok all in rage and fervor leap with deadly ferocity at Vanitas who bounds about the office cackling impishly while Noé just watches on with mild confusion. Another set of footsteps, these heeled, approach the office’s doors. A shower of beautiful rose petals (all self-thrown from a basket of them prepared beforehand) sets the background for Dominique’s entrance into the scene. Vanitas and Orlok pause in their dance as she enters properly. Flipping her hair, Dominique acknowledges the Count’s summoning and asks if there is a problem. For a moment Orlok, Nox, and Manet all stand together seething in their unsettled deadly rage. Then in one single instant sharp second they are the picture of poise expected from a Vampire noble, as Orlok answers that there is no problem.
After all has settled down, Orlok presents a letter their office had received that morning from a messenger of the House de Sade, addressed to Dominique. As Nox sweeps up the rose petals she scattered, Vanitas lounges on the couch, Manet hisses at him angrily, and Noé picks up Murr in his arms, Dominique views the letter. It is from Antoine. She opens it and begins to read out loud its contents as Murr angrily attacks Noé’s face. The incidents of blood-drinking that occurred in the humans’ Paris and Dominique’s involvement will not be charged as crimes. Noé is happy about this while Dominique herself is more subdued in reaction. Vanitas watches her with calculating eyes and then asks if that is all the letter says. As Murr starts to maul Noé in earnest behind, Dominique turns to face Vanitas. He recalls the way Mikhail’s influence effected them all, the chaos and turmoil wrought by his presence alone. How all of it was the result of the machinations of the de Sade grandfather. In addition, Orlok has even reported such to the Senate themselves.
Vanitas asks if there is anything useful about the Teacher in the letter. Dominique answers there is not. Though she notes a single line written to clearly be directed at herself—her brother telling her that she doesn’t need to do anything. Vanitas is quiet at this. A ringing at the office’s door catches Nox’s attention and she moves to answer. Vanitas sighs heavily and recalls his efforts to conduct his own investigation on the Teacher, to no avail as the lack of information on the man is daunting. Murr, released from his owner’s hold, walks off lashing his tail against the ground in anger as Noé nurses the scratches now covering his face. Vanitas’s words cause him to recall something however. A certain Vampire with just as long and venerable a history as his Teacher, telling him about the latter’s reputation, unknown and feared as it is. Noé’s head throbs and he is left confused by these visions. Meanwhile Vanitas has resigned himself to using “them” for investigating this case. Nox opens the door and in walk a group of certain figures. Vanitas smiles at their timely entrance and greets them with a smirk.
The three Dhampir informants—the “Honeybees of Paris.”
Characters[]
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
- Paris
- Dhampirs
- Altus
- Vampires
- Galerie Valentine
- House de Sade
- The Senate (Mentioned only)
Trivia[]
- Jeu de paume is the French name for the game tennis, which originated in France. It translates literally to "palm game."[1]
- In Volume 11, this chapter is combined with Mémoire 61 Part Two to make a single consolidated version of Mémoire 61.
References[]
[]
| 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 • 64 • 65 |
| Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
| Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Omake | Vanitashu no Karute • Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION • Confessional Counseling Office |
| Other | Author's Notes |