Original subtitles

Wonderful, Sharyu.

Effortlessly bisecting such a large rock by changing one plane within it to sand...

You appear to have reached the point at which

you can easily transmute any substance between physical states.

We have raised many pupils in our time,

but your mastery of the skills is unprecedented.

I am honored by your words, Masters.

We have nothing left to teach you.

Leave this place, and do as you will.

It is up to you to decide how you will use that power.

We shall not interfere.

Yes, sirs.

I wish to use the power to transmute all things for the benefit of all things.

I want to dedicate my life to eliminating the folly of killing from this world.

You told her to do as she wished, but... Right, Unspeaking Rock?

I believe it was Unhearing Vapor who said that.

Hmm... I'm uncertain, though it sounds like something I might say.

No discord remains in the knowledge, personalities,

or emotional states of the three of us.

There is no reason why we three should not be one.

We never argue.

If the world became like us, there would likely be no more fighting, but...

The world is unfeeling, Sharyu.

I understand that the world is not kind.

Even so...

I won't know until I try, will I?

Juni Taisen

That scheming... Episode 4: The Enemy, a Noble Primate

rather, that timid girl.

She's probably dead by now.

What makes you think that, Nezumi-kun?

Is that one of your talents as a warrior?

Not a talent, exactly.

It's just, you know...

Rats always know when to escape a sinking ship.

Maybe we can read death on a person's face, too.

But if she does die, it'll be your fault, Miss Sharyu.

What makes you think that?

She may not have looked skilled, but she was still a warrior.

She must have had what it takes to survive the Juni Taisen.

But while she was talking to you, she grew weaker and weaker.

A warrior who was once merely timid became truly weak.

Your optimism reformed her.

To a trickster like her,

your non-toxic nature can be poison.

Hey, Nezumi-kun...

I can't help but feel like you're trying to pick a fight with me right now.

Sorry, but I'm slow on the uptake with things like that.

Oh? I'll drop the subject, then.

I can read death on a person's face, but I can't read their mind.

I won't be reformed by you, no matter what,

so you don't have to worry about that.

But how is this going to go?

Speaking realistically, if that girl is dead,

then that's four warriors dead, just that we're aware of.

That's one-third of us.

Can your plan to win still work?

It can.

It's a shame that there are fewer to save, that's all.

You seem to be under a misunderstanding, though, so let me say this.

I have more than one plan to win.

Really?

I'm not such a hopeless optimist as to think I could end the Juni Taisen

with only one plan.

Well, I never thought about how to end a war before,

so I'll leave that to you, I guess.

Hey, Nezumi-kun...

What?

You don't really want to stop the war, do you?

You also said you wouldn't be reformed.

In that case, why did you agree, even unenthusiastically,

to my peace agreement?

A peace agreement is one thing, but I hate the peace itself.

When I'm not on the battlefield, I go to high school.

It's full of trash people, numbed by peace.

When I think about risking my life to protect the lifestyle of trash like that,

I feel utterly disgusted.

Don't you ever get sick of it?

No one in the world has saved as many people as you have.

But the law of ratios means you've saved a lot of garbage, too.

One could also say that being saved is what turns them into garbage.

They start thinking that fighting and killing are jobs for someone else.

I don't like to say it, but really...

The more I protect them, the more I want to kill them.

Tell me, pacifist.

How do you make your peace with that?

His concerns suggest a childish sensitivity.

It's easy to tell he's a teenager.

But I think it would be too simplistic to dismiss it

with, "You'll understand when you grow up."

Look, how many times do I have to say it?

The problem doesn't exist.

That land has belonged to our country for centuries!

If the problem doesn't exist, then why are our countries still fighting?

Because your country can't accept facts.

It's your country that can't accept facts.

I'm telling you, because your country—

Let's stop this bickering.

May I?

I, too, believe that this fighting can't be ended.

My goal is not an end, but a ceasefire.

A ceasefire?

What drivel.

We've long passed the point where we can kick the problem down the road.

As a negotiator, you have a long history of getting results.

I hear you've ended over 300 international conflicts and 200 civil wars.

Regarding that point, we have no doubt.

Thank you.

But the reason we're fighting is complicated.

You should know that by now.

Look over there.

The region between your two countries.

The dispute surrounding that region has been raging for over seventy years.

This ongoing battle, which leaves no room for compromise,

has grown utterly unproductive.

Indeed. "Unproductive" is putting it lightly.

Isn't that because your people feign ignorance of the issues?

I'm telling you—

Please stop "telling me" things.

It's grown extremely tiresome.

Then let me say this!

My country is legally in the right here!

I'm saying that your negotiations have grown unproductive.

Under the treaty we agreed to a century ago,

your country acknowledged that the land belonged to us.

Am I right in saying that the reason you've continued

fighting so long is less for the sake of your people,

and more for national pride?

I'm telling you, they're the ones who attacked us.

We didn't want to fight.

Then why don't you lay down arms first?

We can't just drop our defenses when we're under attack!

Please stop.

This land wasn't part of either of your countries initially.

That was a long time ago.

The country it once was broke up and lost its autonomy,

so ours assumed governance.

You invaded it, you mean.

So I thought up an idea of my own.

An idea?

Come in.

I'm sorry to interrupt the conference.

The army has had a large number of deserters.

What?

They armed themselves and declared they were renouncing the war.

Countless others are following them.

And they're asking for a ceasefire.

What?

I'll want the details the minute these talks are over.

What?

Gather the men.

Sir.

That's impossible...

I'll be going, then.

Fine. Confirm the matter quickly.

What's going on?

Forgive me, but a matter has come

to my attention that I must see to at once.

The front-line soldiers are deserting

to request a ceasefire, right?

Can it be... Were you behind this?

They're the descendants of that former country's residents.

They're renouncing your war in the name of independence.

Will that method really work?

Both countries are already exhausted.

If you reduce their forces even further and get public opinion on your side,

a ceasefire will become inevitable.

It's true that the soldiers on the front lines are at wits' end.

But I'm not sure if we can come together after so much killing on both sides.

I'm sure there will be grudges.

But I think they're as sick of this war as you are.

Forcing a ceasefire under the pretense of restoring our motherland...

There isn't much that I can do, but I'll support you to the best of my ability.

But as in all things, you won't know until you try.

While you obsessed over these unproductive talks,

you knew nothing of how the soldiers on the front lines were suffering and dying.

It was your ignorant foolishness that led to this situation.

This is no longer a problem between your two countries alone.

I'm going to spread the message far and wide.

"If you don't want to fight, come to this land."

It's a ceasefire!

A ceasefire!

Indeed, peace did come.

But it wasn't the peace I had hoped for.

The allied forces have taken up arms

against the contested region to subjugate the rebel army.

The formation of a third force, the rebel army, was designated a massive threat

by the generals of the allied forces, who directed

a large-scale search-and-destroy operation.

Fighting has ended in most of the region,

It happens all the time. but some of the rebels appear to still be mounting resistance.

Yes, this kind of thing really does happen all the time.

We have a special report from a correspondent on-site.

My sentimentality doesn't help anyone.

Weak Flour Milk

All I can do is respond with openness and candor,

based on the things that I've seen and experienced.

I don't make peace with it. I carry it with me.

I see. A perfectly saintly response.

But it won't reach the masses.

You put a lot of time and effort into negotiating peace

and proposing ceasefires,

but if you used your power to end the fighting in an instant,

wouldn't that save more lives, even faster?

What do you mean?

I'm saying...

You may be an exception, but otherwise,

the kinds of people who take part in the Juni Taisen, myself included...

What reason could you have to put yourself through hell trying to save our lives?

The world would be better off if every one of us died as quickly as possible.

We warriors are the only ones who find meaning in this war,

for which an entire city was cleared out.

Almost nobody knows about the Juni Taisen.

If they did, they'd probably think, "I wish they would all die and end it already."

Ideas like "Every single life is precious"

and "No one is truly evil through and through"

are mere platitudes spoken by people who don't see reality.

If that's the conclusion you've arrived at, Nezumi-kun,

then you should quit being a warrior right now.

You're unqualified to be on a battlefield.

Nezumi-kun,

earlier, you said that no one has saved more people than I have.

Then it follows that no one has failed to save more people than I have.

There are so many people I've tried to save and failed.

More than I could ever count.

But more than I could ever forget.

I've seen country after country fall to ruin.

I've seen slaughter upon unjustified slaughter.

Crimes against humanity are burned into my brain.

The hunting of humans, institutionalized slavery,

civil war, immoral weaponry, human trafficking,

senicide, patricide, infanticide...

Cultural genocide, large-scale destruction of cultural heritages, exhaustion of resources,

discrimination and prejudice, revenge and retaliation,

subjection of women to men, starvation and epidemics...

I've seen them again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again,

and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again!

I've seen them all.

I've looked them in the eye.

I've seen the reality.

And despite seeing it, I still speak platitudes.

I choose to do what I do.

I choose to stop wars using the power of words.

I've been through many terrible things myself, as well,

but I still want to get along with everyone.

I want to find happiness with everyone.

Don't sell platitudes short, little boy.

Need some help?

No, thanks. It doesn't mean anything if I don't make it myself.

Okay. Sure thing.

Hey...

Oh, nothing.

What is it?

I was thinking, you're leaving again soon...

Misaki... To me, you're not a warrior.

You're Yuki Misaki.

The person here, making sweets, is the one that I love.

I want to protect this life we have together.

Isn't that enough for you?

I feel the same way.

I want to protect this life we have.

That's why I go out onto battlefields.

I'm sorry. I understand.

I do understand, but...

If you love me, I need you to be stronger.

Because I will be coming home to you.

This is a battle in itself.

This is a battle in itself.

Maybe I went a little too far...

What should I do now?

At least Boar and Dog, from what I know.

Added to Snake, who died early on,

that makes at least three out of the running already.

If Chicken is dead,

that makes a maximum of six, excluding Nezumi-kun and myself.

Some might say it's naïve of me, but...

It seems a little unusual

to have so many aggressive warriors in this sort of battle royale.

The prize is to have any wish granted,

but you'd think that any of them would be able to grant most wishes themselves.

The most dangerous one right now is the Warrior of the Rabbit.

His necromantistry lets him, um,

enslave others as walking corpses.

If he has a power like that, why bother with this fight?

Well, participation is mandatory, so I guess he couldn't say no.

I need to make up my mind.

Should I bide my time a little longer or get going to the surface?

I'm still not sure, but...

Nezumi-kun, wake up!

Ow...

I thought you were against violence.

What's that?

A dead bird?

Dead? The necromantist!

This isn't good, Sharyu.

There are too many of them.

In an unsanitary place like this, even a scratch is likely to lead to tetanus.

We're running!

H-Hey!

Let go! I can run on my own!

He's dead, too?

The Rabbit warrior?

But the weapon he's using—

Ow...

Usagi: Warrior of the Rabbit, killing psychotically.

I have no choice.

Nezumi-kun, can you handle Snake?

What, you're going to fight?

I may be a pacifist, but that doesn't mean I won't resist.

I'll restrain them peacefully, then talk it out.

Restrain them peacefully?

That's far more difficult than just killing them would be.

Damn it... You're always like this.

Always?

"Always," in the sense of "at all times."

Fine.

Sharyu: Warrior of the Monkey, killing peacefully.

Killing Peacefully Monkey

Nezumi: Warrior of the Rat, killing all.

Killing All Rat

Sharyu Nezumi

The old saying goes, "Advertise mutton, sell dog meat."

All goods are assigned their own value.

Next time: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

Episode Five: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Everybody, clap your hands!