Long ago----

{sound f/x pata: plopping blood}

Boy: [holding a knife] Wh... Azura. Why are you protecting this guy? In the end, he wasn't our friend at all! He gave us up just like that!

Young Noir: A... Azura... Azura!

Young Azura: Don't come any closer, Rei!

::page::

{sound f/x biku: Young Noir jumping in shock}

Young Azura: Do you want to spend the rest of your life in this place---- in these poor slums? You've been given a chance. Get away from here! If you let this opportunity pass you by, what're you gonna do!

Noir: Piercing strong pale blue light... We were tied by the strongest of bonds... my sworn brother------ Now just a fragment of my lost heart.

::page::

In the present time, Noir continues his journey on his cousin's ship.

Noir: M...CC...LXX... M is 1000, so this is obviously a date. Azura was attached to this, too. The code for the treasure. The star of the Queen's new capital, when working on the ruins of the sanctuary, acquaintance of the deceased holy King, MMCLXX---- The year 1270---- The holy king's...death... The holy king's...crusaders. ----It's about the 8th time? I wonder what kind of treasures the Knights of Templar have. Originally I did it for my own aesthetics. It's probably a pile of jewels, and I've got no interest in that. ------But...

Voice: Noir! Noir!

{sound f/x dan: banging on that door}

::page::

Noir: What is it. Don't be so noisy!

Laila: Florian's acting really strange. But there shouldn't be any opium remaining in him by now.

Noir: What!?

Noir bursts into Florian's room.

Noir: Florian!

::page::

{sound f/x gata: shaking, trembling}

Florian: Uh... Uhhh... It feels like my head's splitting in two. Ahhh... Unspeakable terror... Blood... Blood is... splashing.

Noir: Hey, are you okay?

{sound f/x ga: Noir patting Florian's shoulder}

{sound f/x bikun: Florian's heart racing in shock}

::page::

Florian: WAAAAAH~

Noir: .........! It's me. It's Noir. Don't you recognize me!

Florian: N... no. Don't touch me~

Noir: Florian

Laila: He's completely confused. You should approach him very gently.

Florian starts running.

::page::

Laila: Wait, Florian, where are you----

Florian: I have to get away---- I have to get away... But... where...? Whe...ere......

{sound f/x zazan: noise of the ocean}

{sound f/x kan: footsteps}

Laila: Ahh~!?

::page::

Laila: Florian...!

Passanger: Ah~ Look! Over there, someone~

Passanger: What?

Florian flings himself over the railing of the ship.

Noir: Ku~

::page::

Noir: [grabbing Florian] WHAT'RE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOT~!

Florian: Uh... Waaah, no~...

{sound f/x gyu: tight grip}

Noir: Ow~ Don't fight me~ Florian!

{sound f/x dosa: large thud to the floor}

Noir: Dammit~

::page::

Noir: Geez, what're you thinking about!

Florian: ...... ---- Cold. I'm cold. So very.

::page::

Noir: Hey, stand up. We'll go back to your room, and if you drink some brandy or something, you'll warm right up.

Laila: ---- ! ----Those... eyes... Noir... I wonder if he realizes. How sad his own eyes are. Although I'm... just watching... aren't I.

{sound f/x kyu: Laila's heart clenching}

{sound f/x kui: Laila's sniffle}

Michel: ------

Back in Florian's room...

::page::

{sound f/x suu: Florian sleeping softly}

{sound f/x kusha: soft ruffle of Noir's hand through his hair}

Noir: ----!

::page::

Morocco, the distant past.

Young Azura: Rei, look. That's the old city. And this is the new city that the French built. If you have the neccessary "power" in the world, you can control everything. In order to take back the right to our own land, we have to think about how the other world powers look at our country. There are many things holding us back. So we have to get our own "power". Power so that no one can hold us back. What that is, I still don't know. But I've got a hunch.

Young Noir: A hunch?

::page::

Young Azura: We'll definitely get a hold of it. If I'm with you, Rei.

Young Noir: Azura.

Young Azura: Let's do this together!

Young Noir: Together!

Back in the present...

{sound f/x pon: popping of a cork}

{sound f/x gui: Noir gulping back booze}

::page::

Noir: It's enough to make you laugh...isn't it. Ha...ha~ ----Now just a fragment...of my lost heart------

Back in Fez

::page::

Fatima: [sobbing] Uh~ uh~... hiccoup. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.

Solomon: Fatima? Did something happen? What---

Fatima: Solomon...-san.

Solomon: What about your grandfather!? What happened here...!

Fatima: Ah...!

::page::

Solomon: Jiisa...

Voice: GUKE~

Solomon: [standing on Isaac's foot] Haa~~~~~ Don't scare me like that. You're alive.

Isaac: That's fine and all, but you're standing on my foot...

Solomon: (Can you stand?) What happened to cause all of this?

Isaac: (Owowow) It was Azura. Azura's alive.

Solomon: Azura? But he---

::page::

Isaac: ---- He didn't die. He came to me asking where Rei is.

Solomon: Where Rei is----? Jiisan, don't tell me that you talked.

Isaac: ---- Fatima!

Fatima: It wasn't Ojiichan. I---- I...! But if I didn't, Ojiichan would have been killed. [sob sob] He was strangling Ojiichan!

Solomon: I understand, I really understand. Don't cry, you didn't do anything wrong.

Isaac: Azura is planning on following Rei to Tunisia...... If we can tell Rei that...!

::page::

Isaac: If...

{sound f/x chirori: Isaac's sideways glare}

Solomon: M...me? Wait, right now I'm in the middle of an investigation...

Isaac: Then you should ask Azura directly. He's connected with the "Black Hand"... isn't he. There's a rumor that he's actually the leader of that organization------

Solomon: ! The leader of the Black Hand------ it's him...!?

::page::

Isaac: He was a gentle child, but they came for him from America... and everything changed...

{sound f/x do: Solomon's thudding heartbeats}

Solomon: America...!?

Isaac: Yes. I don't know what they said, but they were very rich. I'm sure it was... Yes, Romwell----

::page::

Solomon: Romwell...? Hah... Jiisan, are you sure that isn't some sort of mistake?

Fatima: Ojiichan's memory is amazing. He remembers everything to the day about people in this area!

Solomon: If... that's true... This would be amazing. That... if he's Romwell... It wouldn't just be that he's connected to the "Black Hand"...!

Solomon: Julia, Carl---- The first clue to the truth behind you "deaths"...I've just seen it.

Back with Noir and Florian...

{sound f/x goro: liquor bottle rolling on the floor}

{sound f/x bafu: soft thud of hitting the mattress}

Noir: My---- mother. I admired her because she was so smart... She hated the placid lifestyle being a noble woman----

::page::

Noir: And so she left to travel Egypt by herself------ There she fell in love with the son of a chief of an Arab clan, and had me. (Ha-ha-hah...) It seems like a lie, doesn't it, but it's a true story. The folks from back home apparently told her that if she got married, they'd cut her off. [hiccoup] But my mother wasn't scared of that---- For a little while after I was born, everything was peaceful---- everything was happy, wasn't it, more than any other time......

::page::

Noir: But------ my father's death. After my grandfather's death, there was a fight for the seat of chief, and he was killed. The assassin came after me and my mother. There wasn't a moment to lose... so we fled. At that time, I knew that we had no authority or power. Even if you cling onto those things, they'll crumble out from under you like a sand castle. We were all that we had left, so my mother and I fled to Fez... ----but shortly after my mother fell ill from anxiety.

::page::

Noir: My mother grew weaker by the day... as her only child, there had to be something that I could do.

Young Noir flees from angry men, bread under one arm.

{sound f/x doka: kicking noises}

::page::

A man holds a coin out to the young Noir and removes his clothes.

Noir: I did anything to survive. At the age of 10, I was doing all sorts of things and had fallen as far as you could go.

::page::

Noir: At that time, I met Azura. He brought me in with his friends and taught me the way to live. It was the first time that a warm hand reached out to me------ Soon after my mother died---- and I started living with Azura. We curled up together in the corner of a crumbling hut like kittens......

::page::

Noir: In the darkness, the light from outside was dazzling. ----I thought that I was a maggot or something. But Azura said to me. "Things that seem bad in the light become beautiful in the dark. The dark is our friend. The thing controlling the world isn't the light, but the dark." And so I called myself, "Noir". Was...

::page::

Noir: the only... person... who believed in... "noir"... him...~... My... weakness... my fault... and... Florian...

{sound f/x pota: falling tears}

Noir: Even you...

::page::

Noir: ---- Dammit...~ !?

{sound f/x fuwa: Florian sitting up}

::page::

Noir: F...lorian.

Florian wraps his arms around Noir.

::page::

Noir: ----!

Florian: My mother used to often hold me like this. And then, my sad feelings would go away just a little bit...

::page::

Noir: ! Y...ou. You're conscious...?

Florian: ---- Where am I?

::page::

Noir: You know who I am? ---Since...when?

Florian: I was vaguely conscious but... I only really awakened, just now I think. Even you've cried before others, haven't you.

{sound f/x ka: Noir blushing furiously}

Florian: Wah~

Noir: F......Forget it right now! Everything that you saw and heard right now! It was all 'cause of the booze...!

::page::

Florian: Don't be so stupid. When my head has finally cleared up...!

Noir: ~~~~~~~

Florian: Noir.

Noir: [big sigh] ----- But...well. I was worried.

::page::

Noir: I thought you might never come back from where you were. Really...

Florian: I would have been easy to lay down and give up. But... I didn't want to do that. For myself.

Noir: How prudent.

::page::

Noir: I wan't about to let you skip out on your immense debt. With interest, it's really become something huge. (Wanna see?)

Florian: ! You corrupt loan shark! ----Besides. That time... they even poured into my closed off heart. For your sadness------

::page::

Noir's study...

Laila: (Geez, how many books does he have scattered around here.) (There's no place to stand.)

Florian: Laila. Can I help out with something?

Laila: Florian. It's okay, you're still getting better. Right now, you need to take it easy.

Florian: But it's unfair for you to have to do something like this all by yourself.

Laila: I like doing it, so it's okay. More than that, where's Noir?

Florian: He said he was going to collect his thoughts, so he's wandering around here somewhere. This treasure of the Templar Knights that he's going after----

Laila: Ah~ Shhh---~

::page::

Laila: Your voice is too loud, Florian. If someone hears us, then what'll we do?

Florian: Sorry.

Laila: ----Mm... But y'know, he really is doing something really amazing. We didn't just become merchants or something like all those others. He says that the prestige in that isn't worth much. And then, what Azura was after was a bit different. A symbol of "power" unlike anything else in this world. Something about miracles apparently. Well... I don't know about that at all.

::page::

Michel: The treasure of the Templar Knights------!? Does that mean, they're treasure hunters as well? Now it's getting interesting.

Noir: The holy king that died in 1270. Called the holy king by the 8th Crusaders, Louis IX---- but suddenly died of an illness. Tunisia...!

::page::

Noir: I get it... Everything is falling into place...!

Part 3i | Part 3j | Part 3k