|
Introduction
|
Rencontre — Blue Night is the forty-eighth 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[]
Mikhail is having his hair cut by one of the researchers, and Vanitas asks if it’s alright for them to do so. Mikhail confirms as he hated growing his hair out and only did so to obey his mother. In their shared cell Vanitas sits silently on his bed while Mikhail happily introduces himself and starts calling the other boy “big brother.” He continues to ask about the place they’re in, why they were brought here, and who was the strange man who did so. Vanitas coldly tells him that he doesn’t know anything. Mikhail flinches when from behind a screaming suddenly sounds, and he turns around fearfully. Vanitas continues to tell Mikhail that that’s no longer his name, he is “No. 71,” and they’re nothing more than Moreau’s guinea pigs. The researcher cuts off the last of Mikhail’s hair.
Life for the children continues in Moreau’s laboratory—painful and agonizing and excruciating. Each day filled with more cruel experiments, injections that leave Mikhail sick and dissections that have him thrashing in his bounds. Mikhail wonders why, as he thought the pain was supposed to be over. The invasive hands of the researchers remind him of the beating hands of his mother. He’s left screaming and sobbing as the researchers strap him to a table full of instruments and force him to consume some sort of liquid. Vanitas watches Mikhail’s suffering with discontent, and when he overhears Moreau brush off concerns that Mikhail won’t last much longer, he purses his lips, conflicted. Moreau muses that he’s almost there to making it—“a human who can link to ‘those’!”
One day Mikhail is about to be taken for more experiments, and in desperation, reaches out to Vanitas and cries for him to help. Vanitas is walking away flanked by two other researchers but the sound of Mikhail’s wailing behind him causes his fists to start trembling. Vanitas suddenly yells out to Moreau, who turns to him confused. Vanitas says he’ll do it. His face pale and trembling, terror thinly veiled behind a shaking smile, Vanitas volunteers himself to help Moreau achieve his “noble goal” in place of “a little brat like Mikhail.” Moreau absorbs this, starts shaking, then explodes with jubilance at having one of his subjects volunteer for the first time ever. Moreau skips over to Vanitas to pull him into a hug, and announces that they will draw closer to “the wisdom of the Vampires” together, while Vanitas bites his lip and barely holds back tears.
Later, Mikhail clutches his pillow in his arms shyly as he thanks Vanitas, who is lying on the opposite bed facing away and with bandages around his head. Mikhail asks if they can sleep together that night, and though he gets no answer, he beams and squirms into bed next to Vanitas. Mikhail presses his face against Vanitas’s back, relishing in the warmth, while Vanitas faces away with an exhausted expression. Someone hovers around the entrance to their cell, catching Mikhail’s attention and making him sit up in curiosity. Vanitas shivers from the cold and brushes it off as a researcher, but when Mikhail argues, attributes that to “No. 70,” the only one of the subjects still alive aside from the two of them. They’ve never seen this person though, as they’re the subject of another separate experiment. Mikhail is hopeful that they’ll be able to speak someday, but Vanitas tells him No. 70 is mute, most likely due to something terrible happening to them even before this. Vanitas tries to imagine what it’s like not even being able to scream, and calls it “hell.”
More time passes, until Moreau eventually presents Vanitas and Mikhail with a very large and menacing device. The two children fearfully cower as Moreau gleefully announces the experiment reaching its final stage. Another researcher approaches with a pair of objects, which Moreau reveals to be the two Books of Vanitas. Vanitas is wary about them and Moreau explains the Books are the creation of the Vampire of the Blue Moon. At first he doubted their validity, but came to realize that they were very much real. The Books work by way of being powered by a unique kind of Astermite, with magic, alchemy, and many different kinds of technology concentrated into small machines within the Books. They can be used to interfere with the World Formula without fail, “apparently.” Mikhail catches onto this last word, making Moreau freeze and start trembling in place. He explodes in rage, ranting that he can’t get the Books to open or work no matter what he does, as only the Kin of the Vampire of the Blue Moon can do so. Mikhail trembles in fear and cowers into his brother’s arms as Moreau stomps his way through a tantrum. Once Moreau tires himself out, he perks up and brightly tells the children the solution he came up with: making the two of them into “pseudo-Kin” of the Vampire of the Blue Moon.
Vanitas is in total and absolute shock at this. Mikhail, not understanding anything, is confused by his brother’s reaction. Moreau continues that he’s failed in trying to turn humans into Vampires, but all he needs to do now is create “switches” for opening up the Books. Moreau calls back to all the injections they’d performed on the children and reveals what that blue liquid had been—the Vampire of the Blue Moon’s blood. Vanitas is horrified and tightly clenches Mikhail’s hand in his own, earning the latter’s concern. All the children beforehand who had been injected similarly had their bodies reject the blood and thus died painfully, so Moreau injected small amounts bit by bit into Vanitas and Mikhail’s bodies along with medicine to make sure they accepted it. Vanitas is made sick at this revelation and doubles over, collapsing on the ground, Mikhail kneeling down next to him in concern.
Moreau triumphantly congratulates them on stepping past humanity and achieving beyond those heights. Vanitas grits his teeth in anger at the man. Moreau claps his hands and researchers grab the children and pull them apart. Moreau had planned to experiment with many things on Mikhail before moving onto the next child, but changed his mind after seeing Vanitas volunteer so readily. A researcher puts the two Books of Vanitas into place while Moreau muses on how perfect it is. Mikhail struggles against his restraints and cries out desperate protests and pleas to stop.
Vanitas explodes in rage and screams out that he’ll kill all of them. Devastated tears of anger in his eyes, he says how dare they put that Vampire’s blood in him. Moreau hears this, then suddenly perks up and says the device linking them to the Books will most likely destroy their minds. Vanitas stares up at the man in quiet horror. Moreau thanks the two children and says he’ll never forget them for as long as he lives. Moreau moves to power the device on and Vanitas starts screaming at the top of his lungs.
A flash of white hair appears before his eyes. Blue energy strikes the device dead in the center like a bolt of lightning, destroying it in one blow, causing chaos about the laboratory. Moreau flounders about in a panic and as a result is squashed by a cabinet falling atop him. After the chaos subsides, Mikhail awakens on the ground, freed from the device, and finds all the researchers sprawled and injured around him in the wake of the explosion. Mikhail, teary-eyed, sits up and tries to call out for his brother, when a noise catches his attention.
A figure stands in the center of the room. Covered by a robe, with dark blue skin and long white hair while carrying a staff. In their hand they hold up the Books of Vanitas, while muttering under their breath about how human have such worthless ideas sometimes. Mikhail, and on the other side of the room Vanitas, stare at the figure in quiet awe, unable to see their face beyond their robe. The figure makes to leave before the Chasseurs can arrive, but Mikhail suddenly surges forward and begs them to take him and Vanitas with them. Vanitas looks to his brother in surprise. The figure turns around to look at Mikhail, who bursts into tears while begging to be taken along. The figure sheepishly rubs the back of their neck before pondering to themselves and figuring they were the root cause of all this. They pick up Mikhail in their arms while noting the inhuman deeds performed on the two children. Vanitas calls to Mikhail in worry, when a loud sound from behind catches his attention. The figure calls to him too.
Vanitas looks up at them, and the figure asks if he will come along too. Vanitas stares in utter surprise. Mikhail sniffles from within the figure’s hold and calls out to his brother. Vanitas, kneeling on the ground looks up at the figure who’d saved him from utter demise and his eyes start shaking. He thinks of his past—losing his parents, being taken in by the Catholic Church, being experimented on by Moreau. He grits his teeth with tears in his eyes and, for the first time in his life, makes this defining choice. He takes the step forward.
Characters[]
- Mikhail*
- Vanitas*
- Moreau*
- No. 70*
- Vanitas of the Blue Moon*
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- Rencontre is literally translated as "meeting" from French.
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 |