Chapter Summaries

Michael faced Anhas and Merlin Solomon in a Holy Breath Barrier, where they planned to hunt him as the Dead Apostle 20th Progenitor. Michael’s Machina Maiden suddenly shot Anhas in the back, leaving him gravely wounded and confused about Merlin’s betrayal.

• Michael arrived in a wilderness beneath a Holy Breath Barrier and recognized Anhas, the Dead Apostle 18th Progenitor who hunted Dead Apostles.
• Anhas revealed Merlin Solomon as his collaborator, and Merlin emerged from the shadows.
• Michael taunted the pair and said he might claim two Principle Blood Rings.
• Anhas drew the Demon Sword Avenger and activated the Holy Burial Canon while Merlin aimed the Machina Maiden at Michael.
• Michael snapped his fingers, and the Machina Maiden shot Anhas, shattering his spine and blasting his body apart.
• Anhas survived with half his body missing and questioned why Merlin had attacked him.

Michael revealed that he had lured Anhas into a trap with Merlin’s help, then took control of Anhas and decided to make him the Burial Agency’s Ninth Seat. Merlin questioned Michael’s elaborate scheme, while Michael hinted that his true target and that target’s ally would soon cause something interesting to happen.

• Michael explained that Anhas had been the fish in his trap, then tapped Anhas’s forehead and took control of him.
• King of Rats revealed that it had impersonated Merlin during the scheme, and Merlin asked what Michael planned to do with Anhas.
• Michael considered using Anhas to assassinate the White-winged Lord, then instead decided to make him the Burial Agency’s Ninth Seat.
• Merlin asked why Michael had gone to such lengths to manipulate Anhas and the magus who had sent him.
• Michael looked toward Kanbōzi City and said the magus’s ally was more foolish than expected, while Merlin revealed he had joined the scheme hoping Michael would help him stop Roa’s reincarnation.

Shiki and Enjou Tomo went to Ogawa Apartments, where Enjou Tomo’s murdered parents were supposedly waiting inside his family home. They reached the door of room 405, but Enjou Tomo froze before opening it.

• Shiki and Enjou Tomo arrived at Ogawa Apartments, and Shiki gave Enjou Tomo a dagger.
• Shiki said Michael could not come because he had something to take care of.
• Enjou Tomo explained the layout of the east and west buildings as they entered the lobby.
• Shiki sensed that Ogawa Apartments was alive and called the building twisted while riding the elevator.
• Enjou Tomo led Shiki to room 405, then froze as he reached for the doorknob.

Enjou Tomo and Ryougi Shiki entered his home and watched a version of his life unfold, unseen by his parents. At nine o’clock, his other self came home, and Enjou witnessed his mother murder him before killing herself, confirming the nightmare was real.

• Shiki used Enjou Tomo’s key to enter his home, where his parents carried on as if the pair were not there.
• Shiki explained that they existed outside the program and waited with Enjou until his usual arrival time.
• Another Enjou Tomo came home, ignored his parents, and went to lie on his bed without noticing them.
• Enjou’s parents argued in the living room, then his mother entered his room and stabbed the other Enjou Tomo repeatedly.
• Enjou’s mother cut her own throat, and Enjou confirmed the scene was real by pinching himself.

Shiki led Enjou Tomo from the imitation apartment room to his real home, where he learned that his parents had been dead for half a year. As Enjou headed toward his own room, footsteps at the doorway prompted Shiki to draw her blade.

• Enjou discovered that the stabbed version of himself and the bodies of his parents in Room 405 were artificial, and Shiki suggested a bored magus had made them.
• Shiki led Enjou through the west wing and explained that the apartment’s symmetrical layout had confused him into thinking his home was Room 405 instead of Room 410.
• Shiki opened Room 410, where Enjou recognized his parents’ skeletons and learned they had been dead for half a year.
• Enjou remembered fragments of his nightmare, went pale, and staggered toward his room as Shiki watched without stopping him.
• When footsteps sounded at the doorway, Shiki drew her short blade and walked toward the entrance.

Ryougi Shiki cut through Souren Araya’s puppets and confronted him at the entrance to the lobby. After examining the strange lines of death on him and hearing about his experiment, she declared that she would kill him.

• A puppet attacked Shiki, and she killed it with a single slash before finding a horde waiting outside.
• Shiki fought through the puppets, crossed the western wing, and reached Souren Araya, who blocked the passage to the lobby.
• Shiki recognized Souren Araya as her target and dismissed the Suggestion Magecraft in his voice.
• Shiki activated the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and focused until she could see the unstable lines of death encircling a hole in Souren Araya’s chest.
• Souren Araya described his experiment repeating life and death, but Shiki rejected his explanation and pointed her blade at him.

Shiki and Souren Araya fought in a narrow corridor, where his barriers and spear failed to keep her at bay. After conjuring Hi Kou, Shiki cut through his barriers and drove the blade through his chest, leaving Souren Araya pierced by the weapon.

• Souren Araya drew a Jumonji Spear and prepared to fight Shiki in the corridor.
• Shiki charged, but Souren Araya used magecraft and three barriers to weigh her down and force her to abandon her short knife.
• Shiki summoned Hi Kou, a blade that severed everything it touched, and told Souren Araya she only needed it to kill him.
• Shiki charged again, cut through Souren Araya's barriers, and pierced his chest with Hi Kou.

Ryougi Shiki broke Souren Araya’s Six Paths Boundary, but her Mystic Eyes left her in severe pain and weakened her. After Enjou Tomo stabbed her, she escaped by jumping from the fourth floor, while Araya disappeared with Enjou.

• Souren Araya survived Shiki’s severing of his Death Line Vortex and trapped her in the Six Paths Boundary.
• Shiki broke the barrier with her Mystic Eyes, cut off Araya’s left arm, and retreated while suffering intense eye and head pain.
• Enjou Tomo emerged and stabbed Shiki in the abdomen under Araya’s control.
• Shiki pulled out the blade and leaped over the corridor railing to escape.
• Araya revealed that his current body was already dead, then vanished into the ground with Enjou Tomo.

Souren Araya revealed that his true body was Ogawa Apartments and released Enjou Tomo from his control. As Araya tried to kill him, Tomo’s dropped key brought back memories of his loving parents and the home he had forgotten.

• Souren Araya emerged in a new body after Ryougi Shiki destroyed one of his moving bodies, then waited in his laboratory.
• Enjou Tomo regained control of himself and realized that Araya had made him stab Ryougi Shiki.
• Tomo saw the jars containing the residents’ brains and found one bearing his own name.
• Souren Araya grabbed Tomo by the head, and Tomo’s key fell from his pocket.
• The key reminded Tomo of his parents teaching him that it could protect their home, and he remembered his happy childhood before he turned eight.

Enjou Tomo regretted how he had treated his parents before Souren Araya killed his replica and stored its brain. Cornelius returned with Tōko Aozaki’s head and Lord Animusphere trapped in a crystal, while Souren Araya silently foretold Cornelius’s fate.

• Enjou Tomo mourned his family and regretted ignoring his parents’ suffering before realizing he would soon die too.
• Souren Araya explained that Enjou Tomo’s replica had served his experiment, then broke its neck, removed its brain, and placed it in a jar.
• Cornelius arrived and told Souren Araya that Ryougi Shiki had escaped, while showing him Tōko Aozaki’s head in a jar.
• Cornelius mocked Tōko Aozaki and revealed Lord Animusphere imprisoned in a crystal, which he left with Souren Araya.
• Souren Araya watched Cornelius leave and said Cornelius’s fate had been sealed by his words.

Ryougi Shiki escaped Souren Araya, treated her injuries, and found the Garan no Dō office burned to rubble before returning home to rest. Enjou Tomo recovered his memories of dying and set out to find Ryougi Shiki, knowing Michael was in the basement.

• Ryougi Shiki used a Magic Potion to heal her abdominal wound and ease the pain from her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
• Ryougi Shiki found the Garan no Dō office reduced to burned rubble and returned to her apartment to wait for the others.
• Ryougi Shiki fed Sadaharu and fell asleep on the sofa as the strain of using her Mystic Eyes caught up with her.
• Enjou Tomo found an old key, regained his memories, and realized Souren Araya had trapped him, his parents, and the other residents in a repeating day of death.
• Enjou Tomo embraced his numb mother and left to find Ryougi Shiki and tell her that Michael was in the basement.

Ryougi Shiki woke at the Garan no Dō office and learned that Michael had not returned, while Tōko Aozaki prepared to confront Souren Araya and Cornelius. Enjou Tomo arrived with news that Michael had been trapped in crystal and declared that he wanted to kill Souren Araya.

• Ryougi Shiki woke to find Tōko Aozaki and the others at the ruined Garan no Dō office, then asked where Michael was.
• Tōko Aozaki reassured Shiki that Michael was likely safe and refused Kiritou Kaguya's offer to involve the police.
• Tōko Aozaki told Senka Kiritsugu and Asagami Fujino to stay behind, while Shiki said she would kill Souren Araya.
• Enjou Tomo arrived and told the group that Michael was trapped in crystal in an apartment basement after a blond foreign young man delivered him to Souren Araya.
• Enjou Tomo said he wanted Souren Araya dead, and Tōko Aozaki checked him for hidden measures left by Souren Araya.

Tōko Aozaki confronted Cornelius at Ogawa Apartments and explained that she could exist as a genuine replacement despite her previous body being dead. She then turned to the reason she had come to kill him, including his use of a forbidden title.

• Tōko Aozaki entered Ogawa Apartments alone while Ryougi Shiki went to deal with Souren Araya.
• Cornelius saw Tōko Aozaki and panicked, insisting that he had killed her.
• Cornelius attacked Tōko Aozaki with flames, but they vanished before reaching her.
• Tōko Aozaki explained that her bodies were manufactured vessels and that both her previous self and her replacement truly existed as Tōko Aozaki.
• Tōko Aozaki said Cornelius had guaranteed his death by burning her Magecraft Workshop and speaking a title she had sworn to punish.

Tōko Aozaki’s backup Beo killed Cornelius, while Ryougi Shiki confronted Souren Araya in Ogawa Apartments and discovered how to wound his true body. Shiki struck back against Araya’s attack, but their fight continued with him pinned to a wall.

• Tōko Aozaki signaled Beo, who tore out Cornelius’s heart and killed him.
• Beo asked Tōko Aozaki where Michael was, and Tōko promised she would see him soon.
• Enjou Tomo and Ryougi Shiki reached Ogawa Apartments’ lowest level, where Souren Araya waited for them.
• Ryougi Shiki used Hi Kou to cut into the building, realizing that Ogawa Apartments was Araya’s true body and seeing Michael sealed inside a crystal.
• Souren Araya attacked Shiki, but she pierced his chest and pinned him to a wall; her defensive barrier shattered his leg when his kick struck her.

Enjou Tomo tried to destroy Souren Araya’s brain but was killed, after which Ryougi Shiki defeated Souren and rescued Michael from the collapsing Ogawa Apartments. Outside, Tōko Aozaki tricked Shiki into kissing Michael, who woke and embraced her, while Tōko took Beo away to wait by her ticketed car.

• Enjou Tomo reached the brain tank at the center of the room and tried to stab it with a dagger, but Souren Araya appeared and stopped him.
• Souren Araya restrained Enjou Tomo with barriers and destroyed him, then resumed fighting Ryougi Shiki.
• Ryougi Shiki used her Mystic Eyes to cut apart Souren Araya’s brain jar, causing him to collapse as Ogawa Apartments began to fall apart.
• Ryougi Shiki touched the crystal, freed Michael, and carried him out of the collapsing building.
• Tōko Aozaki told Shiki that Michael needed a kiss from the person he loved to awaken, and Michael revealed the claim was a trick by embracing Shiki after she kissed him.
• Tōko Aozaki dragged Beo away from the couple and found a parking ticket on her Aston Martin.

Senka Kiritsugu visited Tōko Aozaki at Garan no Dō, where Tōko told her about a strange incident at Reien Girls' Academy involving secret-revealing letters and a fairy. The chapter ended with Senka reacting in surprise to the revelation that the sender was a fairy.

• Senka Kiritsugu greeted Tōko Aozaki at Garan no Dō and tasted Michael's boiled dumplings.
• Tōko Aozaki asked Senka about her feelings for Mikiya, and Senka said she had not confessed because of Utou Kirie.
• Tōko Aozaki told Senka that two students in Class Four had stabbed each other after receiving letters that exposed secrets they had forgotten.
• Tōko Aozaki explained that the students had blamed each other, while the sender of the letters had been identified as a fairy.
• Senka Kiritsugu reacted with surprise when Tōko Aozaki revealed the sender was not human.

Tōko Aozaki explained that fairies were behind the memory loss at Reien Academy and tasked Senka Kiritsugu and Fujino with investigating the magus controlling them. Senka learned that her winter break would become practical training, while Tōko assured her that she had made arrangements for them to see fairies.

• Tōko Aozaki told Senka Kiritsugu that fairies collected memories and were likely responsible for the recent memory loss.
• Michael arrived and explained that true fairies were Phantasmal Species, while the fairies at Reien Academy were likely inferior imitations made by a magus.
• Beo excitedly hugged Michael, then bristled at Ryougi Shiki as a rival.
• Senka learned that Tōko Aozaki was a Reien Academy graduate investigating the case at the headmaster's request.
• Tōko assigned Senka and Fujino to investigate the magus at Reien Academy as practical magecraft training until winter break ended.
• Senka pointed out that she and Fujino could not see fairies, and Tōko said she had already made arrangements.

Ryougi Shiki, Senka Kiritsugu, and Asagami Fujino investigated the fairies at Reien Girls' Academy, where Shiki posed as a prospective transfer student. After deciding to seek information from Class Four's instructor rather than the students, they learned he was absent and encountered Kōro.

• Ryougi Shiki complained about Michael and Touko as she walked through Reien with Senka Kiritsugu and Asagami Fujino.
• Senka explained that some students remained at the residential academy during winter break, while she and Asagami Fujino were exceptions.
• Ryougi Shiki suggested asking people involved in the fairy investigation, but Senka rejected questioning Class Four's students because they had concealed what they knew.
• Senka led Asagami Fujino and Ryougi Shiki to Goyō Genmatsu's office, but he was absent.
• Kōro told Senka that Goyō Genmatsu was not at the academy and did not know when he would return, so Senka left with Asagami Fujino and Ryougi Shiki.

Ryougi Shiki and Asagami Fujino investigated an abandoned school building after Shiki sensed something in the forest. They found and crushed a fairy, but its disappearance left them without a trail to the magus controlling it.

• Shiki spotted the abandoned former elementary school building and went to investigate with Fujino, while Senka stayed behind after Kōro-senpai called to her.
• Shiki and Fujino searched the overgrown wooden building, where Shiki sensed an abnormal presence among the sounds of insects.
• Shiki caught a palm-sized humanoid creature and identified it as a possible fairy based on Touko's description.
• Shiki crushed the fairy, and the other fairies' presence vanished before she could learn more about them or their controller.

Ryougi Shiki, Asagami Fujino, and Senka Kiritsugu investigated the memory theft and the secrets surrounding Class Four, concluding that the unknown mage was connected to the students and their concealed past. Senka said she had worked out a way to lure the mage out.

• Ryougi Shiki realized a fairy had taken Senka Kiritsugu’s memories after Senka’s account of the time contradicted her phone.
• Shiki, Fujino, and Senka questioned Class Four students but found them evasive and discovered that each had white fairy liquid on her neck.
• Senka reasoned that the mage had erased an hour of her memories either to hide a clue or because she had encountered the mage.
• Senka connected the mage’s actions to the letters revealing Class Four students’ forgotten secrets, while Fujino suggested the mage meant to make the students suffer.
• Shiki argued that the students were being punished for a secret they had collectively concealed, possibly connected to their utility-knife incident.
• Senka agreed that uncovering the secret or drawing out the mage would resolve the case and said she had a plan to lure the mage out.