Elfen Lied: Second Stanza
Episode 1: The Mutant Who Would be King
We are shown the final battle between Lucy and Kakuzawa's forces from episode 13. Lucy is injured and loses a horn, but emerges victorious. Lucy thinks about heading to the island that contains the Diclonius Research Facility. Her goal is to kill Director Kakuzawa and settle things once and for all. She can't allow his plan to succeed and knows that if he is left alive, he won't stop hunting her to complete his ultimate weapon. It is more clearly explained, as in the manga, that Kakuzawa wants Lucy's brain to complete a mutagen . This mutagen could be used as a biological weapon and released over Tokyo. This would cause all children born in Tokyo to be Diclonius. Kakuzawa plans on mass producing these weapons and using them to create an all Diclonius led world with himself as it's God and eternal leader. Lucy waits a few days to recover from her bullet wounds. Her mutant healing factor is strong, but she will need to be at full strength to take on Kakuzawa's remaining forces.
Episode 2: Downfall
Lucy finally prepares to assault Kakuzawa's island stronghold, but is shocked to discover Diclonius Research personnel being led out in handcuffs. Arakawa, the lead researcher, managed to blow the whistle on Kakuzawa and reveal his genocidal ambitions to the rest of the Japanese government. A flashback of EL episode 13, where Arakawa refused to show Kakuzawa Sr. the picture of Kouta is shown . Lucy hides and is able to overhear that Kakuzawa Sr. committed suicide rather than allow himself to be taken in. Lucy follows Arakawa home, since it is apparent that Arakawa is now in charge of the Diclonius Research Institute or whatever is left of it. The timid Arakawa is shocked to see Lucy, but Lucy is not here to fight. She offers a truce to Arakawa. She will allow herself to be monitored and studied if she can live in peace with Kouta. She tells Arakawa that she can never fully redeem her past deeds, but now all she wants is to try atone for them. Arakawa realizes that Lucy was instrumental in the defeat of Kakuzawa's forces, delayed the development of the mutagen, and killed her former evil employer Kakuzawa Jr. Since her desire for repentance seems sincere, Arakawa reluctantly agrees to the truce. Nana is to be left alone since she is so purely innocent.
Episode 3: Reunion and Rebirth
Having reached a deal with Arakawa and the new research institute, Lucy finally heads home to Maple Inn. Now that Kakuzawa has finally been dealt with, she allows her consciousness to slip away. The music box stops playing while the clock begins. Lucy's rebirth as Nyuu is complete. This Nyuu finally possesses Lucy's full memories, vocabulary, and knowledge, but is free from the hatred and anger that had spread through Lucy like a cancer. A joyful reunion takes place. We get to see a montage of life at the Maple Inn and how Nyuu has developed.
Episode 4: A Disastrous First Date (Note: this is the only pure comedy episode)
Two months have passed since Nyuu returned and it is now early winter. Arakawa arrives for her weekly visit to study Human/Diclonius relations. She asks Kouta prying questions about his relationship with Nyuu, which mildly annoys him. When she asks about dating, Kouta realizes he has yet to take Nyuu on a proper first date. Kouta offers to take her anywhere she wants, but she wants to revisit the zoo they went to as children. Arakawa is pushy and demands that she get to follow on this date and document the proceedings. Arakawa follows them with a camcorder and speaks to herself in documentary fashion as Kouta gets increasingly annoyed. "Man and Diclonius. We have always assumed them natural enemies, and yet a forbidden romance has bloomed! Is it interracial? Interspecies even? This is a question for taxonomists, but it doesn't deter the young lovers. This is just like one of my Japanese anime! (fangirl squeal)" Kouta has finally had enough at this point. "Professor Arakawa, can you please give us some privacy! I don't do this during your dates!" Arakawa retorts matter of factly, "I'll have you know I've never had any dates! My old boss wouldn't even allow me enough time to shower!" (This is a callback to a running gag in the anime and manga). Kouta felt bad for the bookworm researcher. "I'm sorry professor, I didn't realize. Please feel free to continue". Arakawa continues until even the uncommonly good-natured Nyuu is somewhat annoyed. Kouta and Nyuu arrive back to a surprise. Yuka has decided to be a good sport and leaves them a large container of homemade sake she got from a friend. Yuka also took Mayu and Nana to stay at her apartment in order to give Kouta and Nyuu the place alone. Arakawa does not pick up on this hint and continues her documentary. Kouta and Nyuu split the sake, but Kouta has a weak alcohol tolerance and quickly gets sauced. Nyuu displays and extraordinarily high alcohol tolerance, which fascinates Arakawa. Within 2 hours, Nyuu drinks over 2 liters of sake to Kouta's 1/4th liter. Nyuu is now a bit tipsy, but with lowered inhibition has worked up the courage to ask Kouta something. "Um….Kouta…would you mind if I…slept in your bed tonight?" Kouta is quite pleased with this proposition and the young couple walk drunkenly towards the bedroom. Arakawa tries to follow with her camera but Kouta comedically smashes it. "NO! Absolutely not! Go home professor!" Arakawa sadly slinks away. Flash forward to morning. Kouta and Nyuu awaken around noon. Both are nude under the covers and clearly had sex the previous night. Kouta rubs his aching temples. "God my head hurts! Stupid Arakawa ruined our first date the whole day! At least the ending was nice though." Nyuu smiled radiantly and cuddled up to Kouta. "Something still feels odd though. When and WHY did we hose down the entire bed with warm water?! I thought I would have remembered a detail like that!" Nyuu blushed. "Um…I don't think that's water. I think what you're feeling is 2 liters of my recycled sake…please don't be mad honey!" Kouta sighed in exasperation at this bad callback joke. "God. Damn it! I guess some things never change, do they Nyuu? At Least Yuka is still gone, and nobody will ever learn about this". Pan out to show Arakawa had previously bugged the whole bedroom with small cameras.
Episode 5: Kanai
Kouta narrates as we see the passage of time. Kouta continues to attend his community college and gets a degree in social work. He decides he wants to convert Maple Inn into a much-needed orphanage along with Nyuu and prevent tragedies like hers from happening again. Yuka has moved to America to pursue a business degree and Mayu is living in her own apartment along with Nana. Those two seem to be developing a romantic relationship of their own. 5 years now have passed since Nyuu's return. Arakawa visits Kouta and a clearly pregnant Nyuu. Arakawa is now an old friend. "So…I know you are expecting a little girl soon. Have you decided on a name?" Kouta smiled as he put his arm around Nyuu. "We're naming her Kanai, after my sister. We visit her grave often and decided that naming our daughter after her would be the best way of honoring her memory." Arakawa was well-aware how Kanai had died, but decided NOT to broach this sensitive subject. Elsewhere we see the comic relief villain Bando. He has clearly fallen on hard times and become a street preacher, railing against the horned monsters among us! A young boy of around 11 passes by Bando. The boy is wearing a cap and bears a strong resemblance to Kakuzawa Sr. with silver hair and red eyes. Suddenly Bando clutches his chest and falls over from an apparent heart attack. The boy smiles chillingly.
Episode 6: Mother and Daughter Time
Flashforward another 13 years, so now 18 years after the end of the original Elfen Lied. (Note: Elfen Lied took place in 2004 so it is now 2022) Kanai is now 13 and bears a strong resemblance to her mother as a young girl. Her horns are smaller though and hair is dark like her father's. (sidenote: Nyuu's horns have fully grown back by this point.) We see the orphanage is a very warm and loving environment. The complete opposite of the one Nyuu had been raised in. Nyuu enters the scene. She is now 36 and still looks stunningly beautiful. "Kanai, it's time for our special mother/daughter time." Kanai reluctantly hands her game controller over to one of her foster siblings. "Oh, ok mom! We were almost at the last boss though!" Nyuu and Kanai walk to an old storage room on the opposite side of the Maple Inn. Ever since she was 8 years old and started developing them, Nyuu had been training Kanai to control her vectors. Nyuu explained the vectors as "A psychic gift granted by the Gods to the pure of heart." They were never to be used in front of others unless to save a life. Nyuu had also taught that any psychic who used their powers for evil would be immediately struck down by the Gods. This was one of many white lies that Kanai had been told. She had also been told her mother was a foreigner and raised in a small village in Germany, and that her namesake aunt and grandfather had died in a car accident. Her maternal grandparents had died in a plane crash, but had been very kind towards Nyuu when they were alive and would surely have loved Kanai just as dearly. The truth was simply too terrible for a child to understand. She didn't need to understand. Nyuu had taught Kanai how to use her vectors to lift, cut, or throw objects, and even to knock out an attacker. Of course, that was only if her life or someone else's was threatened. Vectors were a strictly defensive technique and incapable of killing…as far as Kanai knew. Suddenly, a doorbell interrupts the training session. Arakawa, whom Kanai believed was an orphanage supervisor, had come with bad news.
Episode 7: A New Monster
Arakawa arrives with urgent news for Nyuu . Nyuu tells Kanai she has boring adult business to deal with and urges her to go back to her videogame. Arakawa warns there has been a massive spike in unexplained strokes and heart attacks in the prefecture, which she believes is the work of another diclonius. Arakawa has worked to convince others in her institute that it couldn't be Nyuu or Nana, but some are skeptical. Since diclonius can sense each other, Arakawa asks Nyuu if she would assist in the arrest of this dangerous mutant. Already an estimated 500 people had fallen victim to this monster over the course of 18 or so years. Even Lucy had only killed around 20 civilians and 60 of Kakuzawa's men. This killer was FAR more prolific and far subtler. Nyuu agrees to try help, but says she hasn't sensed a diclonius other than Nana since the death of Mariko. Nana was the last of the Silpelits (sterile diclonius born from vector infected humans) and natural born "Queen" diclonius like Nyuu were extremely rare. Arakawa had found that only those exposed to extreme radiation tended to give birth to mutants like Nyuu. (Note: Based on DNA analysis, Arakawa was fairly confident Nyuu's parents had been East Slavic, Soviet immigrants, but many records had been destroyed by Kakuzawa in his last hours.) Nyuu sends Arakawa home and says she will discuss things further with Kouta. Kanai hadn't caught all of what had been said, but seemed to pick up that a killer was on the loose and Ms. Arakawa was asking her mother for help for some reason. Kanai decided to eavesdrop on her parents that evening. Nyuu discussed the threat and her desire to help, but Kouta was adamant that Nyuu stay safe. Kanai had never heard the word "Diclonius" before, but apparently her mother, aunt Nana, and this killer were all diclonius. Kanai thought of something dreadful. "Could it mean psychic? Could vectors actually be used to kill?" Kanai had always been more than a tad skeptical that the "gods" would strike down evil psychics. They sure didn't strike down other evil people in the world. She didn't want to believe though that someone like her could do something so horrible as commit murder. Kanai decides to help her mother find this killer and immediately starts searching for "murders in the Kamakura area" on her computer. She then saw a ton of articles about the "Monster of Kamakura" who had committed a series of brutal and unsolved murders in the area 26 years ago. Kanai had of course heard ghost stories about this legendary killer at school, but was never interested and always assumed they were just stories. As Kanai begins reading articles, she sees something that catches her attention. "Young boy age 10 survives festival massacre". The picture was clearly of her father! The only known survivor of the Monster was a young boy, identified as Kouta X since he was a minor. Young Kouta's doctors had told the press he was not to be interviewed. The boy had apparently been so scarred by the experience that he had repressed the memory in a rare case of dissociative amnesia. Among the list of victims, she found the name of her aunt and grandfather. Her parents had been lying about the car crash her entire life. No wonder they both looked so profoundly sad whenever Kouta's family was brought up. Why hadn't they told her?! That night Kanai kept having nightmares about the Monster of Kamakura. No matter how fast she ran, the shadowy figure kept slowly gaining on her. Kanai woke up drenched in sweat and barely suppressed a scream. Unable to sleep and not wanting to wake the other children, Kanai went to her parents' room. "Can I sleep in here tonight? I've been having bad dreams. Kouta was bemused by this. "Have you been watching those trashy horror movies before bed again? You haven't done this since you were 9. Aren't you a bit old for this?" Nyuu was more sympathetic. "I used to have horrible night terrors when I was your age, so I understand. I'll scoot over, just relax and get some sleep." Kanai felt so safe and warm lying next to her mother. No monster could get near her as long as her mother was there. Kanai finally closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Episode 8: Sins of the Mother
It has been a week and Kanai has read every article she could find online about the Monster of Kamakura. She even went to the library to check out old newspaper slides. Four children at an orphanage, two families of 4, and a dozen people at a carnival were all brutally massacred during 1 summer in 1996. Police were baffled by the murders. The victims were completely random. Why had these murders started and why did they stop? Most importantly, HOW were these inhuman slaughters even committed? Police suspected a blade weapon since the wounds appeared to be clean cuts, but what human possessed the sheer strength to do what the Monster had done with an ordinary sword? Police searched for noted athletes and strongmen, but could never find a likely suspect. Estimated sketches of the monster depicted a burly man with giant muscles. Kanai was increasingly certain those cuts had been made with vectors. She herself could effortlessly cut through concrete and her vectors were only 1/10th as strong as her mother's. When Kanai had finally researched all she could, she decided to confront her mother. "Mom, I really need to talk to you. It's about those murders you're trying to solve!" Nyuu looked shocked. "Kanai, that was between me and Ms. Arakawa! She just wanted to know if I had seen anything. You don't need to concern yourself with murders!" Kanai looked at her mother defiantly. "Mom I'm not a stupid little kid anymore! I know that the murderer is a psychic like us! I know that vectors can be used to kill. I also know about dad and what really happened to his family!" Nyuu's heart leapt into her throat. "What do you mean? They died in a car crash! Kanai was angry now. "STOP LYING TO ME! I know they were killed by the monster of Kamakura! I know dad repressed the memory and can't even bear to think of it. The killer now is clearly the same guy as 26 years ago! That bastard who slaughtered dad's family and ruined his life was never caught! He's still out there and I won't stop until I've sent him to Hell!" Now it was Nyuu's turn to be angry. Kanai had never seen her mother NEARLY this angry before. "Stop it! Just stop it! I won't hear my little child talk about revenge! You think that will solve anything? You think that will bring them back? The monster of Kamakura is DEAD! She died a long time ago!" Kanai's face turned pale. "She? The monster of Kamakura was a man. He was a man!" Nyuu began trembling and tears welled up in her eyes to quickly flow down her cheeks. Kanai backed away in absolute terror. "No…no you can't be!" Nyuu desperately tried to explain. "Kanai! Wait! You don't understand!" Then Kanai said something that cut Nyuu deeper than any weapon could. "Get AWAY from me you MONSTER!"
Episode 9: The Horrible Truth
Kanai fled for the door as Nyuu began to weep inconsolably. Suddenly Kouta burst into the room. "What on earth is going on?! What have you done to your mother?! Kanai answered in a hurried panic. "Papa! Mom's the monster of Kamakura! We need to get everyone out now before she snaps out of it and kills us all!" Kouta's face now showed a profound sadness. "I was always worried this day would come. That you would someday find out." Kanai was now as shocked as afraid. "You…you KNEW?! You knew what she was this entire time!?" Kouta nodded sadly. "Of course I knew, but Nyuu and I agreed such terrible knowledge shouldn't be yours to bear." Kanai was now so furious with her father she forgot her fear. "So you just lied?! You lied about your family. You lied about mom's childhood, the vectors, everything!" Kouta tried to remain calm. "Sometimes the truth is too terrible for a child to understand." Kanai continued her tirade. "Oh I understand! I understand that you married the worst monster in our prefecture's and maybe our nation's history! Why?! Is that why she spared you back then, when she butchered your family?! Did you agree to help her hide and be her slave?! Kouta finally lost his patience. He nearly slapped his daughter for the first time, but restrained himself. "Does THAT look like a monster to you?" Kouta pointed towards the still pitifully weeping Nyuu. "The truth is that there was never a "monster" of Kamakura. There was only an angry, abused, 10-year-old girl. A girl who had never received a shred of love or empathy from anyone, but had been granted terrible powers she never asked for. Your mother has made truly terrible mistakes, but she atones for them every day she's alive! She is one of the kindest people I've ever known." Kanai was taken aback by her father's words, but her anger was still too fierce. "How can you defend her like that!? She left crime scene after crime scene that even the most hardened officers couldn't witness without vomiting. I was 10 myself just a few years ago, and I knew that the slaughter of innocent people was wrong!" Kouta sighed. "You are right Kanai. You knew at 10 that murder was wrong. You have a strong sense of justice and morality. Why? Because you were raised by HER!" Nyuu at this point had recovered enough to try hug Kanai and calm her down. Kanai shocked her parents by quickly using her vectors to knock both of them out. This was a technique Nyuu had taught her many times, but she never imagined she would first use it against her own parents. Not knowing what to do, Kanai fled out of the house and deep into the forested mountains nearby.
Episode 10: Reflection in the Forest
Kanai ran for 2 hours before slowing down. At this point she was lost, but didn't care. She needed to find a place to try process all that she had learned. Kouta and Nyuu regained consciousness and immediately realized Kanai had fled. Nyuu desperately wanted to search for her, but her telepathy was never as strong as Nana's or Kanai's. It seemed like vector strength and telepathy were inversely proportional. Kouta was confident Kanai would be back in a few hours. "She's a good girl Nyuu. She still loves you. She just needs a place to come to terms." Kanai reached a small stream and stared at her reflection. She had never associated her red eyes or horns with anything malevolent before. "How could I have missed it before? I'm a monster. My mother is the killer that school children tell ghost stories about and check under their beds for." Kanai felt a deep pain in her heart. "How could my mother be the ruthless killer from those reports? It doesn't make any sense! She has always been the kindest mom anyone could ask for!" Kanai simply couldn't bring herself to hate Nyuu, but she couldn't just easily forgive the terrible crimes she read about…or seen. She had seen a police photograph of her aunt and own namesake. The girl couldn't have been more than 6. Her young face was frozen in terror, while her body had been violently torn in 2. Blood, intestines, fragments of bone and organs were strewn all over that train car in a scene taken straight from Hell itself. "How could someone who isn't pure evil do something like that!?" Kanai had felt her mother's emotions before knocking her out. There wasn't any level of hate or evil intent. Only a bottomless sadness and an indescribable pain. "Would a monster be able to feel something like that? Is that the weight she carries inside her every day?" Kanai had always sensed in her mother a deep sadness below the surface, but she had never understood why. "She isn't the killer Ms. Arakawa was looking for. She's not a threat to anyone anymore. Papa witnessed her firsthand when she was at her worst…and he somehow forgave her. Maybe…maybe I should try too? At least I should listen to her side of the story." Kanai began to use her telepathy to search out her mother and find her way home, but she instead felt something else. THIS was exactly what she would have expected from the monster of Kamakura. This presence was pure, unrestrained hatred towards Humanity. Kanai thought about running, but decided she needed make up for her mother's crimes. She would at least spy on this killer and find out what he looked like before going back home! After walking a few miles, she found what looked like an abandoned cabin. A young man in his 20s with silver hair was sitting beside a campfire. Suddenly he turned and stared straight at her! Kanai screamed and tried to run, but his vectors just kept reaching. They were at least 5 times the length of her mother's or even Aunt Nana's. Kanai used her own vectors to try deflect the attack. This greatly amused the young man. He could have killed her, but was overjoyed at seeing another Diclonius. He instead knocked Kanai out and bound her tightly with manacles. He always had some around in case he felt like playing with his prey. When Kanai awoke, she was face to face with the young man. His eyes were red like her mother's but instead of her warm kindness they were cold and dead. "It's been many years since I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow member of our race. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Akuma Kakuzawa."
Episode 11: Akuma Kakuzawa
Akuma smiled at the terrified young girl. "So what is your name little Diclonius?" Kanai was too scared to lie at that moment. "It's…it's Kanai" she managed to stammer out. "Such a pretty name! I want to know all about you and where you came from, but I don't wish to be rude. I should tell you a bit about myself. Do forgive me for being longwinded, but I've been waiting so long to tell my story to a worthy audience. My father was Director Kakuzawa of the Diclonius Research Institute. He was to be the God of all our kind. All he needed was a first generation or Queen Diclonius to work with. He found one fairly quickly, unfortunately before he knew the true value of a Queen. She was the one responsible for the great Silpelit outbreak around 1990. We simply called her #3. She died in 1994, when my idiot half brother took it upon himself to blow her head off with a shotgun. It was only later that he discovered the gravity of his mistake. All seemed lost, but then something wonderful happened during the summer of 1996. A massacre committed by another Queen. This Queen was given the codename Lucy by my father, for she would be key in the next step of human evolution. My father had every doctor and hospital in Japan put to intense questioning to find who had given birth to this Queen. By 1999 he found a candidate. She was a Russian nuclear physicist who had been exposed to intense radiation. As a devout Christian, she foolishly felt the horns meant the child was of the devil and abandoned her in the woods outside the hospital. By chance, a passerby must have heard her cries and placed her in an orphanage. My father came for this woman and offered her a great opportunity to lead a new Mankind. Her nebbish Russian husband refused of course, but my father "dealt" with him. This young and lovely scientist was taken back to the DRI, where my father impregnated her and kept her in a cell for all 9 months of her pregnancy. She was my mother. When she discovered she had given birth to another horned child, she decided to kill herself, but not before leaving a note that I was to be named "Akuma". (Note: Akuma means Devil.) My half-sister Lucy was finally captured in 2001, but our mother was of course dead by then. I was only 5 when Lucy broke free and ruined the destiny of our race. Had she agreed to stay put, my father could have completed the mutagen and Humankind would likely be an unpleasant memory by now. It's almost funny when you think about it. We Diclonius are said to have IQs 30 points higher than humans on average. Now personally. I think that alone would justify our subjugation of the humans, but when you factor in our psychic powers and healing factor, the superiority of our race is simply an objective fact. Yet thanks to a traitor within our own race and that cur Arakawa, our superior race has lost to the human vermin. We lost to a bunch of disgusting monkeys whose only talent is their endless copulation. I am aware I will never gain my rightful place as king. Instead, I simply wish to kill as many humans as possible. I plan on finding Arakawa and paying a visit to her little family as my 25th birthday present in a couple years. As for my traitorous half-sister, I heard she perished fighting my father's forces. Such a pity. There is NOTHING I wouldn't give to kill her myself. Anyways, I'm sure I've rambled on too long. So, who are your parents? Kanai felt certain this man was going to kill her soon. She began to feel rebellious. Might as well go out fighting. "My father is an ordinary human. I'm proud that he's human!" Kakuzawa frowned with disgust. "So, you are only a halfbreed? How disappointing! Who is your whore mother that would lay with a human?!" Kanai smiled. "My mother is the one responsible for the 96 festival killings. She is the one you call Lucy and I'm PROUD she's my mother!" Kakuzawa roared with rage and his whole body trembled! "You will tell me the location of that bitch NOW!" His vectors targeted her nervous system and suddenly her entire body throbbed with intense pain.
Episode 12: Duel under the Moonlight
Kanai resisted the torture for hours before eventually giving out. She revealed her home address and collapsed, utterly hopeless and in deep despair. Akuma smiled. "Going to my dear half-sister's house and killing her would be far too easy. Sadly, I will only get to kill her once and I REALLY want to savor this." Akuma pulled a small pad of paper and a pen from his jacket pocket. He would leave a little note for her to find. "Dear traitor, I have your daughter. She is safe for now…because I want you to personally see it when I slowly kill her. Bring your filthy human husband and come to the island where my father and the dreams of our race died. Sincerely, Akuma Kakuzawa." Hours later, Nyuu found the note and her heart froze. She remembered a young boy called Akuma that Kakuzawa claimed was her half-brother. She hadn't thought of him in over 18 years. She instantly knew that this must be the killer Arakawa was looking for, and now he had her daughter. Nyuu wanted to instantly go to the island, but Kouta convinced her to pay a visit to Arakawa first. Arakawa had been working on anti-vector technology for the last 18 years and had finally developed one prototype suit that could be worn under clothing. This suit emitted a frequency that cancelled out those of the vectors and made it untouchable to them. When they arrived on the island, it was beginning to get dark and the moon was already visible in the night sky. "I'm so glad you came!" a booming voice rang out to greet them. "Do you remember me dear sister? Firstly, I want to humiliate you in vector to vector combat. Then I will make you watch as I kill your degenerate human family! Maybe then you will feel a fraction of the pain you deserve!" Kanai was still bound tightly by the manacles, the pain too great to use her vectors and help out. "I remember you brother. I'm sorry that you've grown into such wretched man. However, when you kidnapped and threatened my daughter you sealed your death tonight." Kouta hadn't seen Nyuu like this since her old personality. The personality Nyuu had at times referred to as "Lucy". The one that slaughtered over 20 soldiers in front of him when they had gone to rescue Nana from Mariko. The one who had killed his family. A furious battle breaks out as Nyuu lunges at Kakuzawa. She is shocked by the length and power of his vectors, but she is older and more experienced. The fight seems even for a time, but Kakuzawa gains the upper hand through sheer overwhelming force. Just as all seems lost, Kouta charges into battle. Kakuzawa casually tries to slice him to bits, but the vectors phase right through. Kouta runs right up to Kakuzawa and punches him as hard as he can. Kouta then grabs Kakuzawa's horns and headbutts him right in the nose. Kakuzawa's face is now a fountain of blood. "A human?! A fucking human has made me bleed?!" Kakuzawa howled with rage as he decided to target his own body if he couldn't target Kouta's. Kakuzawa used his vectors to vastly boost the strength and speed of his punches. A single punch sent Kouta flying and broke several of his ribs. "Now I will crush your skull with my bare hands human!" Kakuzawa was so furious and consumed with crushing Kouta that he momentarily had forgot his other opponent. Nyuu's vectors made 1 graceful slice that sent Kakuzawa's head flying. It was finally over. Nyuu freed Kanai from her chains and collapsed in exhaustion beside the injured Kouta. Kanai ran up and hugged her mother tighter than ever before. "Mom! I thought you and dad were going to die and it would be all my fault!" Now it was Kanai that wept deeply as Nyuu did her best to console her. "It's going to be ok Kanai! We'll get your papa to hospital right now." Nyuu embraced her daughter as the episode ends.
Episode 13: What Defines Us
It is a couple days later and Kouta is finally out of the hospital. 4 of his ribs were fractured, but with no internal organs damaged and no surgery needed, he was simply told to stay home and let them heal. Kouta and Nyuu decide to take Kanai to a park before going home. There is still so much to talk about, and this needs privacy. Kanai finally spoke up. "Mom…I still have so many questions about…back then." Nyuu smiled sadly. "I will tell you everything I can remember. There is no point in hiding anything from you now." "So, I know the orphanage incident was first. Why did you kill that dog found at the scene? I thought you loved dogs." Nyuu shook her head. "I wasn't the one who killed that dog. My classmates had found my puppy and beat him to death in front of me because they found my reaction amusing. Nyuu's sorrow was now mixed with a strong touch of anger even after all those years. "I hated my classmates so much. I longed for any means to get back at them. I ended up discovering my vectors that day. I killed all 4 of my classmates, but the feeling of satisfaction and accomplished revenge I expected never came. It was then I killed the 2 families. I felt all Mankind was my enemy, just like the man who abducted you. Then I met your father, and everything changed. I realized my mistakes and wished for him to kill me if I couldn't stop myself from killing again. I began to see things…and hear things." Kanai looked confused. "So why didn't you stop!? Why did you kill Papa's family? My family?" Nyuu looked down as she tried hard not to cry. "I saw your father at the festival with your aunt Yuka. I thought that he had betrayed me and had been mocking me the entire time. I felt SO angry and so hurt I completely lost control. When I snapped back it was too late and your father was shaking me and telling me over and over to stop. It was the worst moment of my entire life. I lived on after that solely to one day find your father and apologize. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that he could still love me the way I've always loved him. Kanai hugged her mother. "I was afraid when I first found out, that everything had been a lie. I was afraid that the Monster I had read about was my real mother and the mother I had known my entire life was a fake. Now I know that the mom I've always known was the real you all along! I did a lot of thinking after running away. I still have a hard time forgiving the crimes I saw in the papers, but I realized people can't be defined by their worst mistakes. What they do afterwards is far more important." Tears gently flowed down Nyuu's cheeks as she hugged her daughter. She was so much her father's child. The family embraces as the sun sets. Kanai now knew the truth about her parents. They weren't the perfect people she had always imagined growing up, but there are no perfect people. Kanai knew she could continue to love them just as strongly as before. Stronger than before. She would help her mother atone for the sins of the past. This burden was heavy, but she knew she had the strength to move on, just as her mother did.