Bloody Monday Episode 4: Revenge

In the world concerning Bloody-X, everyone has a specific agenda in mind. “Partnership” is but a stepping stone that can be broken or formed easily — as long as it contributes to the completion of a task at hand. The table is often turned within a blink of an eye, yesterday’s friend may be today’s enemy, and no one should be trusted.

One second Kano Ikuma is standing there holding a gun, the next, he’s shot and bleeding to death. When the clock ticks the third second, Fujimaru’s gun has been taken by Maya, and he is threatened to call THIRD-i to denounce Ikuma as the real traitor. Then events occur one after another very rapidly: Maya shoots Sayuri and gets away; Sayuri shoots Fujimaru and returns to THIRD-i.

Things get a little out of hand.

So is Haruka’s health.

Agent Hosho (Sayuri) returns to the THIRD-i unit to set up a bomb. Once the bomb detonates, the airborne virus Bloody-X will disperse through the AC to spread and infect the entire headquarter. Sayuri had connected the bomb to the air conditioning system with two elephant sized tubes in order to allow the virus circulate the entire building at the fastest rate possible. Her engineering had caused a glitch in the AC room and the central monitoring unit receives a warning of malfunction. Consequently, agent Nakagawa Saori is sent down to the air control room to investigate the problem.

Look at her, incandescent from the upcoming wedding.

When Saori discovered the bomb, she immediately phoned the THIRD-i unit (out of all the other units in the headquarter). Kirishima Goro, the man in charge answers the call and instructs Saori to turn off the main power and evacuate the room as soon as possible. After fumbling around the control panel in a frenzy, she finally cuts the power off to prevent a disaster from taking place — but a bit too late. The clock on the bomb ticked to zero before Saori could run out.

Surely enough, the third victim finds herself trapped in an enclosed room as the bomb sizzles away ominously in front of her, saturating her system with the particles of Death. But instead of seeking escape, she hits the emergency button on the wall to seal ground zero. (Altruism better pay off or there will be keyboard smashing!)

Thanks to technology, the THIRD-i unit has a complete grasp of the situation in the AC room through the monitor on the wall. The members watched helplessly as Saori searched frantically for the main power switch and stood as the virus containing bomb set off in her face. Anger, pity, and fear stunned the agents watching. But most of all, it’s the astonishment at Saori’s martyrdom that shook them from head to toe, slapped them hard on the cheeks, and branded them with the iron determination to snatch the terrorists, by the ear, from their comfortable niche.

"I guess we will have to cancel our wedding, Kirishima-san."

Suppressing the rage slowly imploding inside of him, Kirishima Goro consoles his fiancée at the best of his ability. Yet the frustration at being helpless as his beloved suffer the consequences of a group of insane visionaries’ delusional goal of purging humanity is emotionally overwhelming. A seed of compulsivity is on its way to germination.

Shortly after, a group of mega-equipped men enter the room to put a “professional” touch to ground zero. They put Saori in a body bag as if she is already dead and ship her to the lab.

What has the power to lead a young agent with a promising future astray? To become this morbid walking zombie with no regard for human lives? Love, hatred, and vengeance.

Years ago when Sayuri was still in the academy, her brother was charged for embezzlement and discharged from duty. Soon after the incident, he was found dead in the bathroom, presumed to have committed suicide.

Suicide huh? Is that why his forefinger isn't wrapped around the trigger?

Sayuri believed in her brother’s innocence and continued to look into the events surrounding his death. Eventually, her effort paid off. The ugly truth revealed itself in the form of a position in the terrorist group. Her love for her framed brother, her hatred towards the bureaucracy that lead to her brother’s death, and her only remaining mission in life — revenge — pushed her off the fence of morality. She became one of them.

Now that she has executed her vendetta and saw to its damage, there is no more purpose left for her. But before that, she has one more visit she must pay, one last farewell she needs to bid.

And so, Sayuri risks captivity to see Haruka at the hospital. She hands Haruka the flash drive she had confiscated from Fujimaru in an earlier exchange involving Maya. As she’s leaving, her identity is revealed, which forces her to grab Asada Aoi, Fujimaru’s fellow classmate and friend, as her hostage.

She retreats to the rooftop with the hostage in front of her and her ex-THIRD-i comrades behind her. In exchange of Aoi’s safety, Sayuri wants a helicopter. Her wish is granted in consideration for the hostage. But to Sayuri’s surprise, when the helicopter landed, Ikuma and Fujimaru stepped down from it.

Ikuma attempts to persuade Sayuri to give herself up to the law, reasoning that despite what her position is now, there is kindness buried deep inside of her because when she shot him, she had used his gun with the knowledge that he uses plastic encapsulated bullets to knock culprits unconscious rather than harming their lives. She resists, asserting that corruption must come to end. Even if it meant death and anarchy and genocide. Because she has been abandoned by justice once, she no longer trusts it. “IS there no one in this world for you? No one worthy for you to stay alive and protect? No friends? No family?” Fujimaru screams passionately. Sayuri’s eyes redden as she holds back the tears invoked by the painful memory of her dead brother. “No?” Fujimaru questions again exasperated. Sayuri lets Aoi go then and watches as Aoi run to Fujimaru’s arms.

“Put down the gun now. There is still a chance to start all over.” Ikuma encourages earnestly. “No… There is no future for me.” Sayuri puts down the gun and gasps in despair. Then pointing the gun at her own head, she pulls the trigger.

and falls backward into the sunset.

The content of the flash drive that was given to Fujimaru’s sister, as later revealed in Haruka’s hospital room, is a computer game Fujimaru had programmed for Haruka.

Nakagawa Saori is confirmed to be infected with Bloody-X. The old news only solidifies Kirishima Goro’s resolve to bring the terrorist group down at all cost (as a way to avenge his fiancée), even if it means he will start making choices against his better judgment.

The first risky Goro decides to take is to withdraw all protection from Fujimaru and his family. If the terrorist group is so enamored with Falcon, then let Falcon be the bait for this big, slippery fish.

As soon as Fujimaru is alone, Maya approaches him, shuts off all trace devices and brings him, blind folded, to see their leader —

J.

—

The world is not just a black hole of madness. In the face of tragedy, what often arises is solidarity and that, is what gives life color.

Speaking of colors and contrasts, this episode tackles human nature from a different light. Like the last few episodes, this episode continues to explore the choices people make in desperate situations. But it presents an alternative to the constant darkness looming overhead. Recall when Yasuda Yukiko, the first victim was infected, she had a sense of the severity of her situation and resorted to stabbing a nurse with the virus-infected needle to bestow her misfortune on others only because she deemed it unfair that she should be the only one suffering. In juxtaposition, Saori’s decision to pull the emergency lever to prevent the virus from harming others at the cost of her own chance of happiness brings the prettier side of human nature into focus.

Yet, our nature makes us error prone and fragile. One mishap can make a perfectly capable and intelligent human falter so severely that she (Sayuri) causes irreversible damage and couldn’t live with herself for what she had done. From allowing her inner compassion be harvested and letting Aoi go to letting herself give in to despair and committing suicide, a second contrast is made between the inner fragility of a person and the outer strength of her image.