A 5TH PILLAR HAS APPEARED
The military police are investigating
both arson and accident as possible causes
for the incident.
What's going on?
Why the hell would I be
strapped to the bed like this?
[NEWSCASTER] And today we've received confirmation
that a fifth has appeared.
Did he say five?
He must have meant the first, right?
None of this makes sense.
OK, right now, I'm--
where even am I?
Think.
What I saw in that Adolla Link, was it just a dream?
Where in the hell am I?
Where did I go?
[shinra grunts]
The White-Clad must have grabbed me.
They've got me tied down.
Come on, get these stupid chains--
[OBI] You hear that?
I guess he must be awake.
[SHINRA] Huh?
Who's that?
Who's got me locked up in here?
Settle down, please.
We've had quite enough.
Captain Obi?
Lieutenant.
Hey, you see this?
I just woke up.
And did you guys do this?
Please, untie me.
Shinra, I don't understand what's going on with you.
Ever since that First Pillar thing popped up
three months ago, it's like you've been
a completely different person.
Say what?
I have?
Oh, he's back.
Yo, Shinra, where you been all this time?
[SHINRA] Where?
I-- I don't know.
EPISODE 13 "UNAWARE"
ASAKUSA, SPECIAL FIRE FORCE COMPANY 8
TEMPORARY SECRET BASE
[HINAWA] He's calmed down, but he doesn't remember anything.
It's because the original one is back.
OK, do you want to explain what you mean by that?
That's easy.
The guy who's been around lately wasn't the real Shinra.
Like what went down back at the Fourth?
Was he possessed by Amaterasu?
Nope, that's not it.
Just listen to me.
Till just now, he was Shinra, but he also wasn't Shinra.
[shinra gasps]
Huh?
No, no, no, no, no, no!
The hell happened to my hair?
Wait, there's no way!
My ears are pierced?
My cool black hair came from my mother,
and there's no way I'd ever get rid of it.
Who did this?
Who gave me this douchey makeover without me knowing it?
I look like the poster boy for stupid life decisions
or something right now.
This was all your idea.
Calm down.
It's not really that bad.
I don't remember doing this.
This is exactly the kind of thing I hate.
I mean, who wants to look back and
see how stupid you used to be?
That's why I'd never change the way
I look because of some dumb fad that'll be over in just a year.
You do this stuff because you think it's cool.
And next thing you know, you look like a moron.
The kind of people that do it are always like I used to be,
so lame back then, without even realizing they still are.
I don't know.
I think it's more of if you like it,
I love it kind of thing.
Well, Captain Obi, have you ever bleached your hair?
Have you ever gotten your ears pierced?
Of course, I haven't.
You know how stupid that'd look on me?
See?
You may be on to something with
this different Shinra theory.
Even though he's throwing a tantrum,
he does seem a lot more like himself.
So what was I like before?
What was so different about me?
It's like you were going through
a delayed, rebellious phase.
A pretty bad one, too.
I need to try and get my head right.
I don't remember anything.
It was like some other personality walking around
in my skin or something.
[VULCAN] What's the deal, man?
I had your hair looking cool as hell, and you changed it back?
You know you can't erase the tattoos, right?
You can't just wash away all those tattoos I gave you.
[SHINRA] Man, you gotta be kidding me!
What the hell happened?
I thought we were friends, Vulcan.
TATTOOS!
Why did you do this to me?
This sucks!
I did it because you wouldn't stop asking me to.
You wouldn't take no for an answer.
This body was a precious gift from my mother.
Latom.
You do seem like your old self again.
Of course, Arthur here knew something
was up from the get-go.
He kept saying it wasn't the real you.
So you could tell?
Yeah.
Nothing better than a true friend.
But we're not friends.
[chuckles]
[explosion]
You had another incredible experience,
didn't you, Shinra, my boy?
So spill the beans.
I got nothing to spill.
I need somebody to tell me.
I blacked out and saw the past.
When I woke up, three months had gone by.
That entire time is totally blank.
Your memory runs out around when you were
going to take down the Pillar?
Just like I said, I saw the past and then boom, no memory
till I woke up here.
Bleaching my hair, piercing my ears, getting tattoos,
I'd never do that stuff.
It's not like me at all.
You're right.
That wasn't you.
It's the other Shinra.
I can't say that having a different kind of fashion sense
means you weren't your true self.
But there were things you did that were extremely
out of character, like violating orders
and antisocial behavior.
That sounds serious.
What do you mean?
What did I do?
Well, I'm thinking of one unspeakable act in particular.
Hey, are you just messing with me or what?
You were physically violent towards Sister Iris.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
[SHINRA] Why?
Why did I hurt her?
You see that up there?
A griffin's nest, I'm sure.
You're just the same as always, huh?
He's still an idiot, and nothing
really seems to have changed.
This is reality.
But was the world I saw reality?
The world before the Great Cataclysm,
I thought it would have been normal people just
like us, living their lives.
But no.
Nothing was like what I expected.
Shinra, where were you all that time?
Where?
That's a good question.
Was it Adolla?
Right after I passed out, it felt like a dream.
But what actually was it?
What did you see there?
Why is it so confusing to you?
I know that this is the real you.
But you're still acting pretty strange.
[SHINRA] The past. [shinra gasps]
It was like something I'd never even considered.
I saw the past.
The past?
Can you tell me what it's like?
Was it weird?
It was insane!
Weird doesn't even come close to it!
Hold on, I'm still trying to get my head around it.
Will you hand me that stick?
When you look at this, what does it make you think about?
Let's see.
I think it's a bad drawing.
[SHINRA] Come on.
So what else?
Does it look like a human to you?
What kind of stupid question is that?
I mean, it's got eyes and a nose, a couple of hands,
standing on two legs.
So generally speaking, it does look like a person.
Yeah.
The people I saw in the past,
they were like that, too.
[stick falls] They had eyes, stood on two legs.
It was kind of like this, like this drawing.
When you look at this, where it's someone from the past.
it's like they fit the basic parameters of a human,
but something's different.
The Great Cataclysm was 250 years ago.
It even changed human language.
So then maybe we've been thinking about it all wrong.
Think about what happened the last three months.
I got all these tattoos, and I was like a different person.
So who was I?
You knew, didn't you, Arthur?
Who do you think I was.
Tell me.
Do you remember our time at the Academy?
Yeah.
So what's your point?
The Devil, Kusakabe, the Family Killer.
That's what the other trainees used to call you.
[VOICE] I heard he killed his baby brother.
[VOICE] Straight from hell.
[VOICE] He's got that creepy smile.
Of course.
I remember.
You trying to piss me off?
Well, for the last three months,
you've done nothing but fight.
We're used to you being an infuriating loser,
but it was 100 times worse than normal.
As a Knight, I could not tolerate
such a person, just cold-hearted,
vulgar, and violent.
You were an unredeemable scumbag.
It reminded me of someone who fit that description.
Recently till today, that's exactly who you were.
What people said about you, family killer,
psycho, the devil with the creepy smile.
So what are you trying to say?
I don't know if you heard this one,
but back then, there was a certain rumor about you.
Shinra Kusakabe's body is totally covered in tattoos.
And to commemorate killing his family,
he got tattoos on his legs.
I don't know anything about Adolla.
But if I had to guess, you were the Adolla version of yourself.
A doppelganger.
If it's actually true, and I was that, a being from Adolla,
and he, if he was the guy from those old rumors,
then that means doppelgangers--
[MAKI] Sure you don't need me to stay?
[IRIS] Yes, I'll be fine.
Thank you so much.
[footsteps approaching]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
Hi, Shinra.
I hope you're feeling better today.
Uh.
FIRE FORCE CHAPTER 3
It looks like you're back to your old self again.
That's wonderful.
Sister, I'm so sorry for what I did.
I know you are.
Let's go have a chat.
I'm sorry!
I hope you can forgive me!
It's OK.
Please lift up your head.
You have done so much for me over all these years.
I know you can't remember everything,
but I will not hold this against you.
It's peaceful, don't you think.
Makes it harder to believe, doesn't it,
that the Pillars came and started the Great Cataclysm?
I was gone for a while.
Has the world changed all that much since then?
It has, yeah.
A lot, really.
Hey, sister.
Why did I raise my hand against you?
You don't need to worry about all that.
But I know you will.
That's how you are.
You've always been kind.
You know, I just had a thought.
Do you remember when we went to the baptism church together?
Yeah, I do.
I made a promise to you that if anything
was weighing on my mind, I'd discuss it with you.
Please tell me.
What's going on with you?
Well, first, I should let you know about how
the world has changed.
Since that first mysterious Pillar appeared,
more have popped up.
And the number of spontaneous human combustion cases
have increased as well.
It's really terrible.
And on top of that, the pyrokinetic powers
of the Second and Third Generations
have grown stronger.
Sister Hibana and Licht have a theory.
When that First Pillar emerged, they
think it brought our world and Adolla closer together.
Then yesterday I noticed a surprising change
in myself too.
But I wanted you to be the first one I told.
So I've kept it a secret until now.
What's up?
Just look at this.
[fire crackling] It's not very strong.
That's all I can do.
So you're a Third Generation?
That's incredible news.
I guess.
The only survivors of the convent fire when I was little
were Sister Hibana and me.
She believed it was nothing short of a miracle
that I was able to live through that.
Seems I've always been a Third Gen,
but my powers were so weak that nobody could ever tell.
After I'd noticed it, I got uneasy.
So I went to talk to you about it.
Except that wasn't me.
I've been worried about a lot of things recently,
about my ignition powers and just a feeling
that something's off with me.
Like, I don't know if I'm actually who I think I am.
Maybe-- maybe I'm not even a real person.
[SHINRA] A doppelganger.
[somber music]
Sister, I--
And that's when you got upset.
WHY ARE YOU HERE, TOO?
STAY AWAY FROM ME
[SHINRA] That other me is dangerous.
He lives up to the family killing devil reputation.
Sister Iris, she's so gentle and warm
and guides others to the light, just like a sunflower
and not too different than a crucial part of the empire.
It reminds me of Amaterasu.
[crackling]
From what Shinra tells us, he has no memories of anything
from the three months right after the First
Pillar appeared.
That entire time, he exhibited a very different personality.
In this alter ego, some sort of connection to Adolla.
This was all triggered by that First Pillar.
Adolla became closer to our world
and caused Shinra's personality to shift.
Doppelgangers fusing with people
is believed to cause spontaneous human combustion,
but during the last three months,
Shinra's doppelganger has been controlling him.
Other versions of us living in this alternate world, Adolla,
I have to wonder what kind of a place it is.
You got a good answer to that?
That's why you're here, you weirdo.
I mean, what exactly are we paying you for?
Continental rift is said to be
a scar from the previous Great Cataclysm.
If all of the strange things happening there
are because of the influence of Adolla,
the odd transformation of the land
and the talking animals like Scop and the others,
all those seemingly illogical phenomena may give
hints to understanding Adolla.
I had heard Arthur's take on Shinra's personality shift.
He claims he was acting exactly the way that the nasty rumors
at the Academy said he did.
So then the fabricated image they all had of him
became true.
[rumbling]
What happens once all Eight Pillars are in place?
Take a load off.
Right.
So what do you think of our secret base?
It's actually pretty cool, huh?
Vulcan remodeled one of Asakusa's storehouses,
and we moved in.
OK, that makes sense.
Shinra, you feeling any better?
Well, I think I understand what happened to me.
But still, it doesn't actually seem real.
A lot of mistakes you could have learned from.
So not remembering it is kind of a waste.
[laughs]
Wow!
There's no faking that smile.
That's our Shinra.
Do you really have to laugh at me, Captain Obi?
Sorry, my bad.
For these last three months, you've been an absolute terror.
But I could never bring myself to hate you, Shinra.
I'm happy to hear that, Captain Obi.
[OBI] Seeing that smile puts my mind at ease.
I'm glad to have you on the team.
Now, are you ready to get back in the fight with us?
We need you.
Of course I am.
He's never pushed me away, even after turning into the worst
version of myself.
The captain still has my back.
He believes in me.
He's the only person around so understanding.
I need to be here for him.
Thank you so much!
It's an honor to work for you again!
I'll do my best!
[footsteps]
[tinkling]
Oh, yeah.
The sister mentioned something strange today.
Since the Pillars appeared, people's powers
have been getting stronger.
Maki, Hinawa, and the others mentioned their abilities
have been amped up.
But Unpowereds, like Sister Iris and me,
haven't really changed.
[SHINRA] She really hasn't told anyone yet.
Didn't you say that when you were unconscious,
you saw into the past?
Yeah, is there some kind of connection?
Captain Shinmon said the same thing, about his dreams
seeming all too real.
Conked out, drinking, and moon gazing?
Hey, Waka, brush your teeth and go to bed.
I had that same dream again.
Oh, yeah?
It came back?
It was me and you and our old captain, too.
No matter what I did, I couldn't get
praise from the old battleaxe.
I should drink some more.
Well, you look drunk to me.
That smile gives it away.
[buzzing]
[growling]
[explosions]
TO BE CONTINUED
[theme music]
♪ ♪
[VOICE] Is this some kind of kitsune trick?
[HIBACHI] I, Hibachi, have returned to show you what
a real Nichiren looks like.
[IRIS] Next time, with the sun at his back,
return to the Great Flame of Fire.
Latom.