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Introduction
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Tempest — A Silent Scream is the fifty-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[]
In the past. Vanitas was looking through ingredients while referencing a book, and Mikhail was doodling with crayons. Vanitas asked why Mikhail calls the Vampire of the Blue Moon “Father” and Mikhail answers that he always wanted a father. Vanitas clarified: that he thought the Vampire was a woman. A pause. Instantly the two siblings exploded into a heated fight, Mikhail insisting that the Vampire was a man and Vanitas insisting they were a woman. On cue, the Vampire swooped into their fight to give a definite answer. They were neither male nor female, and they were unlike any other living thing in the world. Vanitas stared at them in surprise and asked what they were. They looked off into the distance wistfully, saying they’d always wondered about that exact question. They tried to find out, but at this point they deeply regretted it.
Explosions erupt from the earth. The fairgrounds are steadily collapsing building by building. Debris flies all around. Vanitas and Noé are engaged in a violent battle. Mikhail watches them with a smile.
Once more, in the past. The moon shined down from above. “Luna”—the Vampire of the Blue Moon heard this and took this to be their name. Vanitas, the one who had said it, flinched and tried to deny the fact. The Vampire, now Luna, liked the name and decided to take it on after all. Vanitas snapped at them not to, but they simply pretended not to hear him. Mikhail for his part responded just as positively to his parent’s new name, frustrating Vanitas with their ignoring him. Luna happily pulled both children into an embrace. They looked up and said, every time someone looked to the moon or called its name, it will be as though they were there as well. They say, “It’s wonderful.”
Mikhail continues to smile. He watches his brother be battered by the ongoing fight and expresses how deeply and truly he loves him. The rain falls upon Mikhail and wets his face.
“And… I’ll never forgive you.”
Light fills the amusement park, automatons spring to life, the grandly decorated rides start to move. Vanitas and Noé viciously chase each other through the fairgrounds. Noé, eyes burning with animosity, delivers a powerful kick towards where Vanitas stands. Vanitas barely avoids the kick and bits of destroyed metal rain down around him. “Why?” Flashes of memory start to intersperse through their fight alongside each attack. Mikhail on the ground, crying that Vanitas promised to stay with him forever, to never leave him by himself. Blooding spilling and Mikhail in pain, and he tries to ask what’s happened to Luna only for Vanitas to say he killed them. A single reverberating thought: “I won’t forgive you.”
Vanitas lands smoothly on the ground amidst the falling debris. Noé kicks a large piece of metal into Vanitas’s side, and Vanitas cries out in pain, the sound of his scream lost in the chaos of the fight. He’s sent flying backwards and hitting the ground brutally. Noé tells himself: he knows these are not his feelings, they’re Mikhail’s memories from when Noé drank his blood, and Noé knows this fact fully. Despite that, he can’t seem to stop. Noé descends upon Vanitas with fangs bared. Two automatons attack Noé from behind. Noé whips around in shock and leaps out of the way just as they crash heavily to the ground. Noé, now a safe distance away, looks to Vanitas and understands. He has The Book of Vanitas open and activated. The amusement park is powered by Astermite, which means everything in the park is there at Vanitas’s disposal, free for him to interfere with as much as he likes. The automatons explode. The explosion sends Noé flying and rolling on the ground. He flinches, and hops up to his feet to brace himself with his arm against a huge cart trying to crush him underfoot. Several automatons surround him, their eyes glowing maliciously. They explode.
Vanitas, a distance away, kneels and watches the explosion. It subsists and debris and ash and smoke are left in its wake. Vanitas still kneeling on the ground breathes heavily, face injured and covered in blood. He looks to the pile of burned scrap made by him and inspects for signs of life within the broken mess. His knee wobbles. Vanitas whips out of the way as an automaton’s mechanical hands flies towards his face, missing by inches and striking the tree behind. The hand drops to the ground leaving a significant indent in the tree trunk. A figure rises from the remnants of the explosion, and Vanitas watches with disdain. His foot stomps on the ruined automatons, his one good hand sharpens into long and vicious claws. Noé stands menacingly amidst the destruction and smoke and rain. He and Vanitas glare at each other. “So what?”
Dominique continues to stand atop the ferris wheel. She watches Vanitas and Noé fight below. An image of herself from her childhood is imposed over her form. So softly it’s lost to the sounds of the storm and the rain, she calls Noé’s name.
Johann and Riche run through the streets, and find Dante collapsed with Amelia tending to him. They’re reasonably concerned; they had come at the behest of Dante’s bat and begin to scold him for getting into a bar fight. Dante denies this and claims this to be the work of Vanitas. Riche looks at Amelia in disbelief. Dante says Vanitas had stolen his gun. Amelia, flustered, quickly explains what had happened: Dominique is in danger causing Noé to run out to save her, and so Amelia thought to tell Vanitas of the situation. She trails off as she sees Johann and Amelia exchange apprehensive looks. Dante hopes Vanitas and Noé aren’t fighting, confusing Riche who had assumed Vanitas had gone to save Noé. Dante’s expression is tense as he says he most likely didn’t. Dante recalls Vanitas’s expression when the human had incapacitated the Dhampir. Those cold, dead eyes reflecting no light, just like that empty and hateful expression Vanitas had on when they first met. Riche nervously reasons that even if that’s the case and even if Noé only has one working arm, it’s a fight between a human and a Vampire. Their significant difference in strength would mean nothing too bad would happen. Johann disagrees. Dante, Amelia, and Riche look to him. Johann thoughtfully says: Noé has never killed anyone before.
The earth between Vanitas and Noé is destroyed. The shockwave ruptures upwards and devastates their surroundings, Noé at the starting point of the blast and Vanitas bracing himself against the worst of it on the other end. The bullet that Vanitas had shot at Noé earlier only grazed his eyelid, and Noé opens his right eye. Johann explains that because Noé is strong, he believes himself able to avoid getting blood on his hands, that though he dislikes violence he can use it to make others shut up. The force of his attacks on Vanitas makes the human fly backwards. Johann calls this “disgusting” with an absolutely revolted expression. Dante, Amelia, and Riche stare at him, unnerved. Noé flinches back as a cut sprouts on his cheek from Vanitas’s wire whipping out and striking him dead on. Noé wonders why, as though he’s stronger and faster he just can’t catch Vanitas. As if he’s predicting Noé’s every move. Vanitas glares darkly at Noé. Noé grits his teeth in frustration, remembering the direness of Dominique’s situation, and goes in for a single decision attack.
Vanitas charges directly into Noé’s attack. Noé stares with wide eyes. He watches Vanitas advancing carelessly, recklessly, and realizes the human is doing so on purpose. Noé starts panicking. If he hits him like this dead on like he’s about to, he’ll kill him, and that thought fills Noé with terror. He screams at himself: stop, stop, stop, stop—! Johann continues to conjecture: when it comes down to it, there’s a decisive difference between the strong who don’t want to kill anyone and the weak who will do whatever it takes to survive. And true to form, he proves to be exactly right as Vanitas takes perfect advantage of Noé’s hesitation and lands a direct blow on the Vampire.
Vanitas slashes Noé across the chest. Once again, blood spills between them into the night sky.
Characters[]
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- A tempest is defined as violent windy storm.
- In this chapter, Vanitas of the Blue Moon, also known as Luna's gender is officially revealed. They say themselves that they are neither male nor female, and "aren't like any other living thing in this world." Thus making Luna Jun Mochizuki's first canonically non-binary character.
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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 |