Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion (マルドゥック・スクランブル 燃焼)

I don't want to die.

I don't want to die!

I'm sorry, Œufcoque!

I'm so sorry!

Is that how you prove your usefulness, Œufcoque?

Œufcoque, Balot!

Doctor...

Here I am!

Hurry to the Doctor!

Why, Œufcoque?

How is that girl any different from me?

Why did Œufcoque leave me?

It was you who left him!

We developed this place: Flying House Humpty.

I've been granted permission to use it for a limited time.

You're safe now.

Please!

Let me see Œufcoque!

I want to apologize!

I don't want to be here!

Let me go to where he is!

I want... to live.

Hello there, Rune Balot.

They say your Snark abilities have 80% passed the liminality threshold.

That's amazing.

I talk up here.

I've forgotten how to talk with my mouth, see.

It's tiring to breathe.

My name is Tweedledee.

This is Paradise.

It used to be a military research facility.

Welcome to the land where forbidden technology was given birth...

This makes you and I brother and sister!

Let me see Œufcoque and the Doctor.

Do you need something?

Please, let me see them!

I wonder if the other professors would get angry if someone outside their group went in the lab...

But, you and I are siblings, right?

Oh, I see!

Okay!

Are all the people from outside like you?

What do you mean?

Like Eve, who knows about everything.

I wonder if Adam felt this way when Eve handed him the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge?

I just can't resist!

Why are you here?

Because of my disability.

I would have died if I was raised normally, so I became a resident of Paradise.

The Doctor worked here?

Right. But he volunteered for Scramble 09, that one of the Three Professors created.

Three Professors?

The top members of Paradise.

Two have left, and only one remains.

Hey there, Dee. Who's the girl?

I'm showing her around.

This is Dr. Easter's client, Rune Balot.

Easter did? That codename hasn't been registered.

The metabolic-metallic fibrous state is quite good.

I'd like to have tea with someone of such high compatibility.

We're sort of in a hurry...

You have to get the biorhythm stabilized.

And we'll be collating that data, thank you very much.

I'd definitely like you to have some tea with us, young lady.

Their "tea parties" last a long time.

They put a bunch of meds in there for their testing.

Is that you, Twee?

That's right, Dr. Easter.

What's wrong?

Balot's here to see you.

I told you to call me when she regained consciousness, Twee!

Where is Œufcoque?

Don't worry...

It's just that I don't think he'd want you to see him the way he is now.

I want to apologize.

Please!

Hey!

She's just going to say hi.

Are they talking?

I'm sorry... It was my failure that caused this to happen...

I love you.

Did Œufcoque say that?

No, she did.

Hey, can I take her to the pool?

You planned for that, right?

After you explain to Balot.

I know, I know.

Eve didn't taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge until she was tempted, after all.

What do you think?

Wow...

What about those people?

They've forgotten how to move.

The same way I've forgotten how to breathe.

Come here!

I'll introduce you to my lover.

Lover?

I get such a kind feeling when we're together...

What?

Who's that?

It's someone I don't know!

Rune Balot. She's Œufcoque's lover.

Nice to meet you, Miss.

I'm Tweedledum.

Gonna ride on my back?

I'll make you scream like a little baby!

Is she a girl?

Nope.

You're a human. You shouldn't be trapped by such narrow preconceptions.

I'm male, and his brother, and his lover.

We're homosexual partners!

We do what we can.

Do you know what you're saying?

What's that eye?

Nice, don't you think?

It's an Access Organ.

Access?

You'll understand if you go for a swim.

Take a dip.

It should be good for your muscular rehabilitation.

Understood.

You're going to swim with your clothes on?

I'll take them off if I feel like it.

Hold on tight!

Welcome to a totally different ocean!

What's that?

Those are communication nuclei.

They're connected to terminals around the world.

Can I use this pool, too?

Yup.

If you have something you're looking for, let's search for it together.

There is something Œufcoque and the Doctor are searching for.

I want to find it for them.

You do? What are you searching for?

The past of a certain person, named Shell.

You're going to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge on your own accord?

What'll you do?

Wait a bit.

I'll introduce you to God.

God?

One of the Three Professors.

He's quick to anger, just like God.

Are you friends with Œufcoque?

Yeah.

He's a good guy.

He's convenient to have around, so I think he makes a pretty decent lover!

I don't think he feels that way.

One-sided love, is it?

Well, he is an indecisive fellow.

Give him time. Patience will persevere.

I tried to use him recklessly.

But, he protected me.

So that's why he's here for maintenance.

It's my fault.

He's half-immortal, don't worry.

Immortal? He can't die?

His body is multidimensionally constructed.

Even if he's injured he can regenerate from another dimension.

But he can only live for so long, since he's an organic unit.

For so long? What do you mean?

Hypertrophy.

As long as a mouse lives, it gains weight.

One day, for certain, it will be crushed by its own weight and die.

He's ill?

It's a necessity of life.

As he would put it,

knowing about his own death is what gave rise to the reason he left Paradise.

What's that supposed to mean?

Who knows?

I've never been outside of here, after all.

Don't you ever want to?

And how would I survive?

I have this ocean, and my brother.

Why don't you live here, too?

It's dangerous outside, right?

I've made my decision.

I wonder what the real ocean is like?

Thanks for waiting.

Good day, Rune Balot.

I am the top manager here.

Everyone calls me Professor Faceman.

Manipulate the cage so we can talk.

Okay.

I've taken a look at your data.

My data?

The condition for using this place was for Œufcoque to offer the data he recorded.

Um...

For me, I think of myself as a test subject.

Well, be it research or not, it's just a matter of prolonging my life.

Prolonging your life?

I cut off my body which was being eaten away by cancer.

Actually, I think this form is more suited to me.

Isn't it inconvenient?

It's delightful!

All the functions I need are built into this cage.

I'd even recommend it for you, as well.

Um...

Looking at you, I really get a sense for Dr. Easter's amazing talent.

But that time he, and everything was rejected.

What happened?

Limitations were put on this facility by the government.

Each of we Three Professors who were the top managers thought up our own countermeasures.