Darker Than Black - Shikkoku no Hana - 4

Conjoined bubbles are separated by a line break.
The stuff in [these] are notes, they're not meant to go on any scanlation. Lines with an asterisk after them mean I'm kinda guessing argh. I didn't translate any of the side-buffs or sound-effects... since they're useless HAHA! But let me know if you want them for some godforsaken reason.

Feel free to use for scanlating, just gimme credit if you put in credits.
I also puts this one up on livejournal, just in case anyone is confused.

--


P1

As long as the two of us are together...
We can keep on living.

P2

Box: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department - Temporary Headquarters, Hatsudai

Sign: Foreign Affairs, Section 4

Kirihara: I was just looking for that schoolgirl...

Kirihara: To think that I'd run into the second case...

Kirihara: Sakurazaka in Udagawachou, Shibuya...
A hole in the building, a pile of sand underneath... And a dissolved, unidentified body...

Kouno: It matches that KRC-Company case in Ikebukuro pretty much exactly, huh.

P3

Kouno: The only difference is that we didn't find a withered dandelion this time...

Saitou: It's a good thing it stopped raining

Saitou: The body might have been washed away otherwise.

Kirihara: Right...

Saitou: Weren't you right nearby, Section Chief?

Saitou: And... did you find that girl?

Kirihara: No...

Kirihara: There were many young people around that area who might look like students, after all.
The girl sighted at the bookstore turned out to be someone else.

Kouno: There are eyewitness reports of what might have been a schoolgirl, sighted at the end of that hole in the building, but...

Kouno: The testimonies are fuzzy on the details
Unless she herself comes forth as a witness, we might have a hard time identifying her.

Saitou: Could it have been that girl Section Chief was looking for?

Kirihara: I don't know

P4

Kirihara: ...but we know at least that the girl I saw wasn't a Contractor.

Kirihara: The KRC-case came first
She couldn't have become a Contractor later and then made that hole in the building. *

Kirihara: ... I was planning on taking that bag to the school tomorrow, anyway.

Saitou: ...why not take it straight to her house?

Kirihara: If I could, I would have done so already.
There was nothing inside to identify her by.

Kirihara: The school has been asked to contact us if they find out anything.

Ootsuka: Section chief Kirihara

Ootsuka: Come take a look.

Kirihara: Did you find something, Ootsuka?

Ootsuka: Yes, chief

P5

Ootsuka: The results for the withered dandelion came back from the Special Analysis Unit.
So Matsumoto-san and I tried comparing them with the materials found within the Gate so far

Ootsuka: First...

Ootsuka: These are the results of the analysis.

Computer: Analysis Incomplete

Kirihara: Analysis Incomplete ...!

Matsumoto: ... in other words, it's definitely Gate-related material
Nothing found in normal space would give out this kind of reading.

Kouno: What about the comparison?

Matsumoto: Unfortunately, that wasn't any good either.

P6

Matsumoto: ...many of the materials found within the Gate are classified in the first place

Matsumoto: We found nothing matching in neither the police database, nor on the internet.

Kirihara: ...

Kirihara: What about Contractor abilities?

Ootsuka: ... Here.

Computer:
[Under Bill Art]
Disassembly of matter, Transformation (Breath) ------ Deceased
Danger Level: S ------ (South America)

[Under No Name]
Erasing moisture, Pulverization of Matter (Contact) ------ Deceased
Danger Level: S ------ (South America)

[Under Pink Panther]
Disassembly of matter (Strike) ------ Deceased
Danger Level: A ------ (Fren[ch])

[Under Matthew Edner]
Disassembly of matter (Contact) ------ Deceased
Danger Level: C ------ (South America)

[Under Cocktail]
Liquefaction of organic matter (Saliva)* ------ Deceased
Danger Level: C ------ (Japan)


Ootsuka: The ability to break things apart...
Or, the ability to liquify matter

Ootsuka: The Contractors who have this kind of ability are these five...
However...

P7

[Computer: Close-up of computer text found on previous page]

Kirihara: They're all dead!

Ootsuka: Three of them died in the South American war,
The other two lost their lives on missions

Ootsuka: I double-checked the data with the Astronomy Bureau, so there's no mistake.

Kouno: So their stars have already fallen...

Someone: Can't be any doubt about it then.

Kirihara: Hmm...

Text: The sky that now covers the world is a fake one.
Each one of the stars twinkling up there is paired with the life of a Contractor.
When a Contractor dies, the star tied to them falls from the sky.

P8

Matsumoto: So we might assume that it could be an unknown star that not even the Astronomy Bureau knows ......
Or maybe a newborn one ......

Saitou: A Contractor who's just awakened!

Kouno: That could be it!

Kouno: They say the Astronomy Bureau has been a mess ever since the Tokyo Explosion case

Kouno: Also, in this bad weather
They might have overlooked novas as just incidences of Contractor activity.

Kirihara: ...so we've got nothing, either way.

Kirihara: ...as I thought, there's no choice but go over there...

Saitou: There?
Where do you mean?

Kirihara: PANDORA.

P9

Ootsuka: Pa-Pa...

Ootsuka: PANDORA!?

P10

Saitou: But, chief ......
Sure, they manage Hell's Gate and the wall surrounding it, and do research over there...

Saitou: But it's an independently administrated section run by the United Nations!
It's protected by its own laws!

Kouno: He's right, chief!
Even if we could break in there without anyone noticing, even if we knew exactly what we were looking for--
How the hell would we...

Kirihara: There is nothing useful in the police database, or in the Astronomy Bureau.
We have to go, even if we have to force our way.

Ootsuka: Even if we go, it's another thing whether or not they'll let us in...

Saitou: This'll turn into diplomatic issues if we go about it wrong... Section Chief...

Kirihara: We can't afford to hesitate over something like this!

Kirihara: Saitou!

P11

Kirihara: There have already been casualties!

Kirihara: It's our duty to protect this country... To protect its people!

Saitou: Yes...

Saitou: But...

Kirihara: The problem is how to get in contact with PANDORA, but...

Somebody: Well...

Kouno: Hourai might have managed something, back when he was Director......

Kouno: But the department manager who took over...

Kouno: ...is him, huh...

P12

Box: Department Manager
Issei Yanagi

Yanagi: What?

Yanagi: Don't try to dump any work on me.

Yanagi: I'll never do it.

Yanagi: Ootsuka-kun, tea.

Ootsuka: Ri... Right away.

P13

Kouno: What is a guy from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs doing in the Public Safety Division...?

Matsumoto: It's a post unique to Section 4.

Matsumoto: He's here to keep an eye on us, to make it short.

Kouno: Gotta love this country.

Matsumoto, Kirihara & Saitou: ...

Kirihara: Hmh...

Matsumoto: If only there were someone we knew within PANDORA,
Then we could try to make an appointment to see them face to face.

Kirihara: Hmm...

Kirihara: ...

Kirihara: ... I guess we've got nothing to lose ...

Saitou & Kouno: Huh?

P14

Somebody: You know someone in there, chief?

Kirihara: ...

Kirihara: Ootsuka, with me.

Ootsuka: Ah... right away!

Yanagi: Don't go causing any trouble now, Kirihara.

Kirihara: There's no need to worry, Deputy Manager.

Saitou: Uh... Chief!
If you're going, I'll...

Kirihara: No, you're no good.

Saitou: Gah!

Kouno: Oh, man.

Kouno: How about you just give up on her already,

Kouno: Sempai.

Saitou: What are yo...
Just you know, I...!

Yanagi: ...

P15

Kouno: It's looking pretty hopeless to me, you know?

Saitou: That's not it!

P16

Yin: Hei.

Hei: This is useless now.

Hei: The masks, the knives...
I'm running short on supplies...

Hei: ...if I don't beat him soon and get out of this city...

P17

Hei: ...Yin
Where is he now?

Yin: I don't know.
...but the one who was with him...

Yin: ...

P18

Azusa: ...ll

Azusa: ...ill

Azusa: Ki...ll...

Azusa: KILL

P19

Ootsuka: Whoa

Ootsuka: You don't even realize just how big it is until you get close.

Kirihara: So this is your first time in PANDORA.

Ootsuka: Ye... Yes...

Ootsuka: ...chief, I wonder...

Ootsuka: ...I've heard that things can just suddenly appear here. And that, here, you can see things you're never even supposed to see...

Kirihara: Seems like it.

Ootsuka: S-So it's true, then.

Kirihara: The Gate makes people's hearts waver ......

Kirihara: Just because it has been said
that something like that exists beyond this wall,

Kirihara: Many humans and Contractors have lost their lives in battle...

P20

Kirihara: I don't really understand it

Kirihara: But something definitely exists there--
That can to drive people insane.

Ootsuka: I feel sick.

Kirihara: We're here.

Kirihara: Not even hairpins are allowed...

Ootsuka: They took all of our stuff away...

P21

Kirihara: It's become much stricter than the last time I was here...

Guy: This way.

Kirihara: ......

Kirihara: This is to be expected after what happened... I guess......

Kirihara: Looks like we're being watched from every angle.

Guy: Enter.

Schrader: Ohh, so you came.

Kirihara: It's been a while.

P22

Kirihara: Dr. Robert Schrader.

Schrader: I don't really think it was that long ago, though
Kirihara-kun.

Text: It's the number one authority on the physics of high inner-Gate energies, Dr. Schrader!

Ootsuka: !

Ootsuka: I... I'm Mayu Ootsuka.

Ootsuka: I'm pleased to meet you.

Schrader: No need to be so formal, come on in
There's barely anything in here, though.

P23

Kirihara: ... I apologize for intruding on you so late at night.

Schrader: No trouble,
if it's two beautiful ladies coming over

Schrader: Even under house arrest, I would do at least this much.

Ootsuka: Oh... So that's why she brought me along instead of Saitou.

Kirihara: You're being confined here?

Schrader: Well, yes
My research came to an empty end because of BK201...
...no, I'm not blaming anyone for it.

Schrader: ...so.

Schrader: Just what kind of business did you come here on today, I wonder?

Kirihara: Thank you

Kirihara: It's actually about the case I'm currently pursuing ...

Kirihara: I wonder if you might know anything, Doctor?

Kirihara: About a Contractor with the ability to dissolve matter, and about the black dandelions.

P24

Schrader: A Contractor with the ability to dissolve matter, and black dandelions?

Kirihara: We think the black dandelions might have come from the Gate.

Schrader: ...... I know?

Kirihara: You know something!?

Schrader: Died a few months ago, he did.

Kirihara: Died?

Schrader: In front of everyone and all.

Kirihara: Please tell me, Doctor!

Kirihara: Tell me!

Kirihara: What exactly do you mean by that?