Synopsis: Youko receives a kidnapping threat on Kanako.

I am trying to embark on something ambitious. Due to problems with the subs (the accurate one being slow, and the fast one being inaccurate), I have decided to blog from the raws while aiming to provide the same level of detail as my previous episode summaries. Now if I were blogging Mahou no Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora from the raws, it wouldn’t be difficult but I am blogging Mouryou no Hako, the words they use aren’t the kind that usually appear in modern casual conversations. Furthermore, Mouryou no Hako has Buddhist concepts here and there. Oh well, it would be an opportunity to brush up on my Nihongo and besides, since I am dying to watch Mouryou no Hako, I’d be driven to translate as accurately as I can.

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Kanako awakens and finds herself in a strange place. She sees two men in surgical garb. Kanako thinks they are demons dissecting her. She recalls the train incident and then her mother who wanted to kill her. She also remembers Yoriko. Kanako wants to meet with her and talk about their next lives.

It is the 30th of August and Kiba reminisces the events that transpired after Kanako’s initial operation. Her sister Youko has made arrangements for her to be transferred to another hospital. A nurse informs her that the ambulance has arrived and that a member of the family can accompany Kanako in the ambulance. Noritada volunteers. Youko objects but Noritada says it’s his responsibility. He feels that if he only guarded Kanako carefully, the incident would not have occurred. Youko tells him that as Kanako’s sister, she should be the one to go. Fukomoto then arrives and offers to drive Youko to the hospital.

It’s already late when they depart for the other hospital which is located in a secluded area. Everything is dark and Fukomoto nearly crashes his jeep into a parked truck. Kiba reprimands him for not being careful, especially since the ambulance is following them.

The hospital turns out to be the box-like building that Sekiguchi and the others chanced upon in the previous episode. Yuzuki is then carried inside as a grey-haired middle-aged man, who seems to be the hospital’s chief physician, watches. According to Kiba, Kanako’s life was miraculously saved that night.

In the present, Kiba returns to the box-like hospital. Rumor has it that patients who are admitted there never come out again. Several policemen are now stationed around the building. Kiba glances at it and comments that it was an empty box before.

Since Kanako has been brought to the strange hospital which is actually a research facility, Kiba has made it a point to come and visit, becoming acquaintances of sorts with some of the staff, Kouda, an engineer, and Suzaki, the chief physician’s assistant.

A few days before August 25, Kiba finds Youko in a state of shock. She drops a letter from her hand. Kiba picks it up then reads it. It was a threat announcing that Kanako will be abducted and that the concerned party should prepare a ransom. Because of this, prefectural police, under the command of Inspector Ishii, are stationed around the facility to strengthen its security.

Ishii questions Kiba why he continues to visit the facility despite it being outside of his jurisdiction. Kiba, however, seems to have taken the resolve to protect what needs to be protected and to fight the enemies that need to be fought.

Meanwhile, Yoriko wishes for her mother’s death. After those words, Yoriko’s mother starts to act strangely. She has come to believe that Yoriko is indeed a mouryou. So on the 18th of August, Kimie and Sasagawa invites Terada Hyoue, founder of the Holy Box of Sealing (a religious sect which Toriguchi mentioned in the previous episode), to perform an exorcism on Yoriko. Yoriko, however, leaves the house thinking that everyone is becoming insane. Yoriko then realizes she is being followed by a strange man. The man tells her that observing foolish things is interesting.

Yoriko returns to the cafe where she and Kanako usually hang out. She remembers that on the night of the 15th of August, when they were supposed to visit a lake, Kanako was crying. Yoriko remembers the pimple and believes that it was one of the five decays of a heavenly being. Yoriko wants to meet Kanako so they can discuss about their next lives.

Kiba is at the top of the facility’s incinerator pondering about the course of events. He notices Noritada but is interrupted by Ishii who informs him that he was a guest. When Kiba glances at where Noritada was, Noritada is no longer there.

Kiba’s guest turns out to be Yoriko. She tells Kiba, Youko and Fukumoto that Kanako was pushed by someone. Kiba asks her why she didn’t say so before. Yoriko replies that she only remembered it recently. Kiba then asks her to describe the perpetrator. Yoriko says she didn’t see his face but he was wearing a black suit and white gloves.

Yoriko then asks to see Kanako. Kiba tells her that Kanako can’t speak yet. He asks Youko about her and Youko replies that Noritada is watching Kanako.

Later, Noritada leads them to where Kanako is, a room filled with strange machines. Kanako is sleeping inside a tent. Kiba asks Noritada if he wanted something from him at the incinerator. Noritada tells Kiba it was nothing.

As Yoriko enters the tent, Kanako rouses. Yoriko approaches her but is stopped by Ishii who leads them outside the tent. Ishii notices that Kanako is trying to say something but he ignores it. Youko asks him if Kanako did say something but Ishii replies that he didn’t catch anything.

Mimasaka, the facility’s head, and Suzaki, his assistant arrives. Mimasaka tells everyone that it’s time for Kanako’s examination. Suzaki enters the tent carrying some equipment. Suddenly, there is a sound of something breaking. Suzaki screams. Kanako is gone.

Yoriko is glad, believing that Kanako has ascended to the heavens.

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Kanako’s kidnapping is this episode’s central event. Youko receives a threat regarding the kidnapping and so, the security around the facility is strengthened (though in vain). When Sekiguchi and the others came across the facility in the previous episode, the threat has already been issued.

I wonder how Youko got the letter. Perhaps the culprit is someone in the facility, someone who could have known about Kanako. Or could the letter be Youko’s doing? She was an actress, after all. It could be her ruse. But what would she gain from it?

What could Noritada be doing at the incinerator? Kiba asks him if he had some business with him but Noritada replied it was nothing. Could Noritada be involved in Kanako’s disappaerance?

As for Masaoka, he seems to be a lawyer. He is investigating whether what happened to Kanako has something to do with inheritance. In the previous episode, Masaoka mentioned of a negotation. I wonder if it involves the Yuzuki inheritance.

Yoriko, in this episode, is becoming mentally imbalanced (not that she wasn’t in the first place). Her words even pushed her mother to sanity’s edge. Yoriko has been contemplating about Kanako. She wanted to meet with her so they can discuss about their next lives. Kanako also wanted to meet with Yoriko for the same reason. I wonder if the man Yoriko met earlier actually pushed Kanako. Perhaps it was just Yoriko’s fabrication so she can meet with Kanako. I found the final scene somehow funny, with Yoriko thinking that Kanako, after disappearing, has ascended to heaven (thus the title “A sense of release”).

The man who Yoriko met is the same man whom Sekiguchi met in the train, the man who had a box with a living head inside. Could this man be involved in the murder case that Sekiguchi and the others are investigating?

Lastly, I wonder what relationship Kiba has with Sekiguchi. They seem to have fought in a war together (as shown in Kiba’s dream in the first episode).

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