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Introduction
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Serment — Promise (Part Two) is the twenty-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[]
Vanitas and Jeanne, hand in hand, go on their date. Vanitas seems to shine with his suaveness in Jeanne’s eyes, as does herself from her own budding infatuation. She ponders this, because she knows that she hates him deeply, but at that time as she follows him through the streets of Paris, her heart won’t stop racing. The two of them are drawn to deliberately invoke the atmosphere and style of classic shōjo manga.
Dante drops the candy he’d been just eating, face pale—because across the street he sees none other than Vanitas and Jeanne going out together. Dante rubs his eyes disbelievingly. The sight doesn’t change. Excitedly, he rushes forward and begins taking out his notebook, eager to find out what’s going on and record the gossip. As a result he inadvertently bumps into someone who’d been hiding behind a nearby pole. It’s Dominique, dressed in an outfit clear put together for both disguise and spying purposes. Dante is shocked to find her, and Dominique identifies Dante as a Dhampir. Dante stiffens defensively on instinct, but Dominique just brushes him away and crouches down behind the pole and looks through a small pair of binoculars. When prompted by Dante, she outright admits to tailing Vanitas and Jeanne. Dominique never imagined that Jeanne would actually follow through with her advice, and the fact that Dominique herself put the idea in her head means she has to see it through as well. Dominique explodes with anger and declares that she’ll make Vanitas pay if he does anything untoward to “her Jeanne.” Dante, hearing this, takes out his pen and notebook and asks for details.
The two of them jump in alarm. Jeanne has suddenly stopped right in the middle of the street, distracted by something, with oncoming traffic about to run her over. Dominique yells for her to look out. Vanitas swoops in and pulls Jeanne into his arms and out of the way of the car. Dominique and Dante stare stunned. Vanitas, faces inches away from hers, asks if Jeanne is alright. The car drives away and Jeanne blanches in horror. She apologizes, and Vanitas identifies that she’d been staring transfixed at an airship flying above. Meekly, Jeanne says she doesn’t have many chances to see such things in Altus, so she couldn’t help but be curious. Vanitas smiles and pats Jeanne’s head affectionately. He kindly brushes off her apology and advises her to stay safe and not get hurt. Vanitas begins walking away, and Jeanne is left totally flustered, grasping at her head in wonder.
Dante comedically throws up. Dominique is exasperated, and confirms that her suspicions are correct: Jeanne is a complete pushover. This fact makes perfect sense in context, as she is a Bourreau which means an ancestor of hers had to have committed some terrible crime. Thus, to atone for that, Bourreaus are commanded to hunt down their own kind, making them the target of hatred in all and every era. Which means that Jeanne the Hellfire Witch has one great weakness: kindness of any sort directed towards her.
Jeanne is still grasping at her head in surprise and embarrassment. She starts gaping at the sights around her in wonder, leaving Vanitas exasperated while waiting for her. He offers that they hold hands and Jeanne declines vehemently. Despite this, Vanitas grabs her hand anyways and marches onward. The two of them skip away, hands entwined, Vanitas grinning brightly and Jeanne red in the face from embarrassment.
Dominique puts her face in her hands. Dante, watching the couple with a pale face, asks her what even happened to cause this. Dominique got tired of holding it in and explains everything that had happened to lead to this. Dante straight on asks what’s wrong with them and if they’re stupid. Dominique groans to leave her alone.
With Vanitas and Jeanne, the latter shyly asks that the former let go of her hand. Vanitas notes that she’ll get distracted instantly, and Jeanne panics and manages to give the excuse of wanting to use her parasol. Jeanne opens her parasol and takes a step back to calm her nerves and racing heart, while Vanitas continues on and hides his snickering from the Vampire. Jeanne’s head spins. In every interaction she’d had with the man previously, he’d been unbearable to deal with, but now things are suddenly different. And, her face warming up even further, she finds herself going crazy from it all. Vanitas asks if Jeanne had any particular place she wanted to go to, and Jeanne answers that she didn’t have anywhere specific in mind. But as for her actual desires, she wants to look around Paris. Vanitas is confused, as Jeanne has been to Paris before, but every time beforehand Jeanne had been with Luca, meaning she had to stay vigilant of any and every danger as opposed to enjoying the scenery. Vanitas absorbs this and smiles, declaring that she can now enjoy it as much as she wants to.
The two of them stroll through Paris. Jeanne’s eyes are alight with wonder as she takes in all the wonders of the city around her; the architecture, the vehicles, the food, the special sights. Vanitas watches indulgently as she enjoys herself. As they go along, Jeanne asks Vanitas about the different things they see on their trip, such as—the opera house Palais Garnier, a local department store, the monument Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, even a couple of cats who cross their way. A shadow passes over Jeanne’s head, and Vanitas remarks on how the airship, “The Whale is swimming again today.” Jeanne is absolutely amazed, as despite both being Paris, the atmosphere of this city is completely different from that she knows of Altus. The two of them continue on their merry way, eating all sorts of pastries bought from the streets and skipping together through the city.
Jeanne remarks on how much fun she’s having—then collapses in despair because she’s not supposed to be having fun. Vanitas from behind Jeanne’s collapsed form hides his snickering once again. Dante remarks that this is just a normal date they’re watching and wants to just go home because he’s bored. Dominique nags that since he’s already gone this far he should stay alongside her until it ends. Dante groans but doesn’t make any move to leave. Jeanne, face pale, reminds herself of her goals in starting this at all in the first place: she must cut ties with Vanitas once and for all at any cost. Vanitas asks if Jeanne wants a crêpe. Jeanne instantly says yes.
Jeanne sits on a park bench, Vanitas behind her, munching on her crêpe with tearful eyes. The hill they’re on overlooks the landscape of the city, giving Jeanne a grand view of Paris, the centerpiece being a very tall tower that looms above all else. Vanitas, sitting on top of the back of the bench, remarks on the great view and how the hill they’re on, Montmartre, is the highest in Paris. Jeanne’s gaze is transfixed on the distance and she distractedly asks about the tower. Vanitas explains it as “The Tower of the Sun” which will be the largest exhibit to be held in the international exhibition of Paris. Vanitas remarks on how tasteless the building is. He thought they’d use that of Gustave Eiffel instead, but as it stands now… Vanitas stares at the Tower and its stain-glassed windows reaching towards the sky, and compares it to the Tower of Babel. His face is blank and his eyes are faraway, as if he’s looking at something else entirely. Jeanne stares up at him in surprise. Vanitas catches her look and smiles.
Vanitas gets up and makes to go to the bathroom, but before leaving declares to Jeanne that he wants to hear her “answer” properly. Jeanne remembers what she’d said at the start of all this, whether she can call these feelings “love.” Jeanne remembers Vanitas’s disgusted face and is eager to get a similar result if she can express her “affections” for him. Jeanne gathers her determination and gets ready to practice, quickly finishing the rest of her crêpe. A light breeze blows through the air and sends the leaves of a nearby tree fluttering down to where a group of children play with a ball and Jeanne sitting close by. She begins to practice; saying how much fun she had that day, the joy she felt at seeing such different sides of him. Jeanne thinks back to Vanitas’s blank expression and wonders what he’d been thinking about, as she stutters out how much more she wants to learn about him. Jeanne blushes. She tightly grips at the fabric of her dress and just barely squeaks out her admission: that she likes him.
After finishing, Jeanne is flustered and embarrassed beyond belief, but she has no idea why as the first time she did it at the start of their date she’d done so perfectly fine, and she doesn’t know what changed. Vanitas says he likes her too. Jeanne freaks out. Vanitas had immediately circled around behind her, and he remarks how happy he is to hear her true feelings. Jeanne panics and says Vanitas isn’t reacting correctly, that he’s supposed to glare at her with even more scorn than that he’d direct towards a bug at his feet. Vanitas just laughs and teases her further, even calling her “mon lapin” (my rabbit). Jeanne screams in frustration. Dominique watches and in her mind compares this scene to Jeanne rolling around in the palm of Vanitas’s hand. Dante offers her a bonbon. She takes it.
A thud resounds and one of the children who were playing nearby seems to have fallen and injured himself. Jeanne, concerned, rushes over to check him, and Vanitas is disappointed to have ended his torment of her. Jeanne suddenly stops, her eyes wide, and Vanitas calls to her in confusion. Jeanne’s fangs come out. The two children, one with his knee dripping blood, look up and pale in terror—Jeanne’s eyes have turned red. A man nearby, presumably their guardian, shouts there being a Vampire present. Dominique and Dante both surge forward to help. But Jeanne is already lunging forward, her fangs bared—
Blood spills, and Jeanne finds herself in Vanitas’s embrace, one hand covering her clawed one, and the other shoving his wrist into her mouth. Vanitas tells her to calm down. Smoke explodes and envelops the entire area. Chaos ensues, and Dante tells Vanitas to get out of there. The Dhampir comments that the human owes him, and Vanitas wraps his coat around Jeanne and runs out of the place as fast as he can.
The two of them have escaped unscathed, and Vanitas takes Jeanne into an empty building filled up messily with stuff, which he identifies as an atelier. Vanitas sets Jeanne down on a couch, his bloodied arm on her shoulder. He proposes they wait here until she’s calmed—he’s interrupted by the sensation of Jeanne licking the blood off his wrist. Her eyes are closed and her face is flushed, all of her utterly transfixed on the taste of Vanitas’s blood. Vanitas watches her do so, slightly flustered. He sits down on the couch next to her and asks once again: is Jeanne a curse-bearer, or is she simply addicted to blood? Jeanne is confused. Vanitas continues to ask if she’s seen Charlatan, or felt anything strange aside from the urge to drink blood. Jeanne gets further and further confused, unable to gasp out any words, and she grasps at her throat. Vanitas sees this, and recognizes this action as something she’s done before. He asks if she’s been forbidden by someone from speaking about it.
Jeanne goes still. A faint memory sparks in her mind. A figure speaks. “Swear, Jeanne. Swear.” Someone with a single glowing golden eye reaches his hand towards her. Jeanne chokes on her own words and gasps breathlessly, unable to breathe. Vanitas watches her and becomes contemplative. Jeanne, panting heavily, begs Vanitas for blood. She even kept her promise of never drinking another’s blood, and she surges upwards and shoves Vanitas down into the couch. Jeanne kneels on top of him, panting and flushed and desperate. Vanitas stares up at her in surprise. He smiles indulgently and goes on to give her a “reward”—and Jeanne bites his neck.
Jeanne drinks Vanitas’s blood. Her hunger overtakes her and she desperately consumes every little drop she can get too, insatiable, ravenous, desperate. Starving, almost. The sensation of the blood’s warmth and power fills her body with ecstasy, and she continues with more fervor than ever, leaving Vanitas flushed from the sensation. She thirsts for more, more, more, more, more, more—
Luca appears in her mind.
Jeanne stops. She stops drinking blood and lifts herself off Vanitas. Tears start to fall. In despair, she asks what she’s going to do. If she keeps getting stranger, if she loses herself… if she ends up one day hurting Luca, what is she going to do? The mere thought of this has her crying inconsolably, unable to even handle the thought of it. Vanitas looks at her, her teardrops falling onto his cheeks. He calls her name and sits up, saying that as he doesn’t know whether she’s a curse-bearer or not means he can’t just say he’ll heal her. Instead, he says this: he will kill her. Vanitas cradles Jeanne’s crying face in his hands. He smiles affectionately at her. If such a thing ever comes to pass, he promises he will kill her. He loves her, so he’s the one to make her wishes come true, it has to be him. So, as he brings her into an embrace, Vanitas tells Jeanne not to worry. Jeanne collapses into tears in Vanitas’s arms.
“Promise?” says the specter of Vanitas’s past. Even though Vanitas failed to keep his promise to him? Vanitas stares blankly forward. He bows his head down. Things go dark.
In the streets of Paris, Dominique and Dante are still walking together, though they’ve failed to find Vanitas and Jeanne. Another figure starts to approach them. Dante says that as the two made their getaway just fine, they can stop looking, though Dominique is worried about the way Jeanne was acting. Dante asks why Dominique cares about Jeanne so much in particular, and asks if it’s because it’d be convenient for her if Vanitas and Jeanne got together. The implication of his words makes Dominique flush angrily, but then someone bumps into her from behind, causing them to fall over. Dante admonishes Dominique while going on ahead by himself. Dominique glares at him, before worriedly looking down at the other person. She notices with surprise an artificial left hand, when the figure speaks: “So… your name is Dominique.”
Mikhail—this young boy says he’s named. White hair, boyish features, a playful smile, and, most strikingly of all, his eyes. Dominique stares in wonder. They’re the exact same as those of a certain human doctor’s, the exact same blue. Mikhail smiles like the devil, and tells her to call him “Misha.”
Characters[]
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- Serment is literally translated as "oath" from French.
- This continuation of Mémoire 20: Serment comes after a two month-long hiatus due to Mochizuki's illness.
- The chapter was mistakenly numbered as "Mémoire 20.5" in its serialized release. It was changed to "Mémoire 21" in the release of Volume 4.
- The “international exhibition” that will be soon held in Paris is most likely referring to the Exposition Universelle, a world’s fair held in Paris in 1889, which is most famous for the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower.
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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 |