Darker Than Black - Shikkoku no Hana - 5

I'm pretty confident about this one, but it's only been checked over by me myself.

May be freely used for scanlating, just don't take credit for someone else's work, dude.
Stuff in [these] are notes, not meant to go on the finished product. Conjoined bubbles are separated by line breaks, each separate bubble has its own new entry.

There may be some issues with name spellings (Schrader and Meena, for example), so if someone knows the official ones...?

--

P1

Chapter 5: PANDORA

Darker than Black: Shikkoku no Hana

Where there is a will, there is a way!!

P2

All the little bubbles: Hah/Haa [rapid breathing noises]

Wei: Where do you think you're going?
BK201.

Hei: !

Wei: Khuhahaha

Wei: Hah!

Hei: Kh...

P3

Wei's finger: *snap*

Hei: Ahh!

Wei: How is it?

Wei: How does my blood taste!?

Hei: Uhh...

Hei: Aaaah!!

Hei: Guh...!

Maki: Heehee
You can't run away

Hei: !

Maki: You should know that already,
Mister.

P4

Hei: !?

Hei: Gu...ah...

Hei: ...!

November: Right.

November: The future she foretold will come true

November: I guarantee it.

P5

Hei: November 11...!

Havoc: That's right, Hei

Hei: Carmine!

Havoc: This is the future you chose.

Huang: ...damn, still as troublesome as ever.

Mao: Don't say that
This is Hei we're talking about.

Hei: Huang...

Hei: And even Mao... Why?

Amber: Because it's your responsibility

Amber: Hei.

P6

Amber: This is your duty.

Hei: Amber ......

Amber: Unless he is stopped,
Humans and Contractors will have to face a crisis they never have before

Amber: If you don't stop him, that is
Hei.

Hei: Wait...

Hei: I know he's dangerous... But,
What are you really after?

P7

Amber: I'm counting on you
Hei......

Hei: !?
Wait, Amber!!

Someone: Good luck

Hei: !!?

Someone: Goodbye

Someone: Farewell

Hei: Wait

Hei: Don't go

Hei: I still have...

Hei: Don't go!

Harvest: Hyuuuuh

Harvest: Irrational things all disappear.
Hyuuuuh

Harvest: Dreams and irrationalities, all gone.

P8

Harvest: The only thing left is you,
BK201

Hei: AAAAAHHHHH

Hei: AHH...!

Little bubbles: hah/hah/haa

Text: haa/haa

Hei: A dream...

P9

Note: If you find this note, that means you've chosen this future.
He will definitely appear there...
The Contractor of the dark flowers.
Only you can stop him.
If you've chosen this future, you must stop him, Hei.
From Amber

Hei: Amber...

Yin: ...... Hei?

Hei: ...sorry for waking you,
Yin

Hei: It's nothing, I'm fine
Go ahead and rest a little more.

Hei: It's 23:40... [That's 11:40 PM for Americans]

Hei: I was asleep for two hours...

P10

Yin's stomach: *gruuuumble*

Yin: ......

Hei: Haha...

Hei: We haven't even had dinner yet...

Hei: How about I cook us something?

Hei: ...there's also the laundry...

Hei: And I should change, too.

Someone: --it's as you already know.

P11

Schrader: My research had to do with a particle accelerator, called the Saturn Ring, built into this wall surrounding the Gate
Using that, we would shoot anti-Gate particles, accelerated to 99.99 % of the speed of light, into the very core of the Gate

Schrader: It was supposed to annihilate the Gate itself!

Schrader: If the Gate were to disappear, Contractors would as well.

Ootsuka: Thi... This is hard to follow.

Schrader: "The Tokyo Explosion"

Schrader: That was the final plan of those Contractors, to stop us from going through with ours

Schrader: They were going to make the area 1500 kilometers around the Gate inaccessible

Schrader: To keep the Gate safely away from the hands of mankind!

P12

Kirihara: ...the Contractor group, Evening Primrose...

Kirihara: Their leader was a woman who used to go by the codename "February". She was also known as Amber...

Kirihara: ...however, the Tokyo Explosion plan ended as only an attempt.

Kirihara: Your Saturn Ring project as well,
Dr. Schrader.

Schrader: Yes!

Schrader: My Saturn Ring was completely destroyed by BK201...

Schrader: Because he chose a future
for both Contractors and humans.

Schrader: Really, I was very surprised...

Kirihara: ...even if it was just a stopgap measure
He must have had his reasons......

Kirihara: So, Doctor?

Schrader: Hm?

P13

Kirihara: What does this all have to do with the black flowers?

Schrader: Oh, that's right
We strayed a little bit off the topic

Schrader: What I meant to say is,

Schrader: My research and the Saturn Ring would allow us to completely annihilate the Gate from the face of the earth.
However,

Schrader: We weren't on too tight a schedule, so there were, of course, voices of opposition from those who profited from working with the Gate.
So there were several other projects underway simultaneously

Schrader: One of those was "The Black Flower"!

Schrader: They were researching a dandelion-like parasitic plant found inside the gate.

Ootsuka & Kirihara: Parasitic plant!?

P14

Schrader: Though it wasn't my project, so I don't know the details

Schrader: It began two years ago

Schrader: "It" suddenly attached itself to a man who had been investigating the inside of the Gate

Schrader: There was no visible change at first, and nobody realized anything had happened

Schrader: A few days later
something made that investigator change completely!

Schrader: With some unnatural power, he slaughtered everyone who had been in the laboratory room with him

P15

Schrader: By the time the guards rushed in,

Schrader: Only his corpse remained, collapsed in a sea of blood
with countless, blooming black flowers growing from his body.

Schrader: It caused quite a stir in PANDORA back then
I remember it pretty well.

Kirihara: ...an unnatural power...

Kirihara: You mean to say he became a Contractor?

Schrader: It does mean possessing a power extremely similar to that, but...

Schrader: I don't think that's quite it

Schrader: There are no stars born for those affected by the parasite.

Kirihara: !

P16

Schrader: ...that is all I know about the black flowers
It wasn't my research...

Schrader: And

Schrader: It's outside my area of expertise.

Kirihara: ...next,

Kirihara: The one with the ability to dissolve, who you said had died--had he gained his ability due to the parasite?

Schrader: No, no. He's a regular Contractor

Schrader: He...

Guy: Dr. Schrader.

Schrader: Hm?

Guy: It's time.

Schrader: Already?

Guy: Yes, it's midnight.

Kirihara: Wait, please, I still have important questions for...!

Guy: The appointment was until midnight.

Guy: Or are the Japanese police in a habit of breaking their promises?

P17

Kirihara: Kh...

Schrader: Why don't you just come back tomorrow?
I don't have much to do anyway

Schrader: ...I could introduce you to the one researching the black flowers, if you'd like.

Kirihara: Really?
Thank you so much!

Schrader: What was the name again...?

Schrader: Must've been... Meena-kun

Schrader: Oh, look
There she is

Bubble: !?

Schrader: Meena Kandaswami-kun.

Kirihara: Ah...

Guy: Now, please follow me

Guy: This way

Kirihara: ...

Meena: It's been a while, Dr. Schrader.

Schrader: Hello, Meena-kun. Hello to you too, Sergei-kun
We were just talking about your work......

Kirihara: ......

P19

Ootsuka: So we wound up being kicked out after all, chief.

Kirihara: We still gained a clue about the black flower and its significance!

Kirihara: One way or another, with that flower
It's possible to gain power close to a Contractor's!

Ootsuka: Are we coming back tomorrow?

Kirihara: Of course.

Kirihara: I still have things to ask Dr. Schrader
I must also meet with this Meena Kandaswami

Kirihara: If I can get an appointment, that is...

P20

Ootsuka: There are some delicious tea cakes I'd like bring along...

Ootsuka: But with that level of security, it's probably impossible...

Kirihara: The level of security was almost unbelievably, even though we only went in to talk to someone...

Kirihara: However, since it was PANDORA...

Kirihara: ?

Kirihara: ...

Ootsuka: ?
What is it?

Kirihara: ... this isn't the way we came in.

Ootsuka: Eh!?

Ootsuka: Bu... But isn't there only one way?

Kirihara: It's barely noticeable, but the road curves slightly to the right

Kirihara: It should be curving to the left on the way back!

Kirihara: ...the car was moved!

Ootsuka: Wh-Wh-Wh-What should we do, chief!?

P21

Kirihara: Check the weapons!

Ootsuka: Ye...
Yes!

Ootsuka's cell: *bip* *bip* *bip*

Ootsuka: !

Ootsuka: They're gone!

Ootsuka: Even the anti-Contractor wire gun--
Everything's gone!

Kirihara: Tch...

Kirihara: They're not letting us off easy...

Someone: !!!?

P22

P23

Ootsuka: Kyaaa!

Kirihara: Kh...

P24

Kirihara: Kuhah...

Cell: *bip* *bip*

Kid: It's done.

Voice: Good work, Parcel

Voice: The next target is BK201.

Kid: Got it.