Monster Volume 3 : Kinderheim 511 Chapter the Seventeenth An Erased Past - Page 5 - Bartender: Here you go, one Manhattan. Man: Hey, what about the cherry? Bartender: Huh? Man: Ya can't call it a Manhattan without a cherry!! Bartender: Oh... sorry. Man: Sheesh, be careful. Hold this in your mouth, and business will go well. Bartender: Heh? Chapter 17 : An Erased Past - Page 6 - Man: Otherwise, you'll be jinxed! Chapter 17 : An Erased Past - Page 7 - [Verden, Germany] Man: The home of City Assemblyman Springer... I been waitin' so long to hit this one up. Please God, let there be some rich stuff left in there! Hup! - Page 8 - Man: Okay, okay!! Just like I thought. The goods and furniture are all here. Damn, they are rollin' in the green. Now, let's see if there's anything worthy of the great Otto Heckel... Heh! Life is fleeting. They say you're in your prime, you'll be a candidate for state governor. And what does it get you? Shot dead with your wife. I don't wanna die in any way that gives me a chalk outline. Uh-oh, better get to business before the cherry gets crushed!! - Page 9 - Heckel: I remember the safe being around this room... W... what's that chill?! I've never felt anything so horrible before in my life... Is someone inside the room...? He... hehehe... n... no way! W... why am I getting scared? It's not like me. Knob: Click - Page 10 - Tenma: Don't move!! Put your hands over your head!! Heckel: Aaah shit. You were behind me... dammit. It's cause that bartender forgot the damn cherry. And now the cherry's crushed in my mouth. This house was a bad idea from the start. Tenma: Put your hands up!! Heckel: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please, gimme a break, copper. I haven't even stole anything yet. Tenma: I'm not a police officer. Heckel: Huh? What... you mean we're in the same trade?! Then let's be peaceful, and put that thing away. I'm unarmed. And you'd be surprised how easy it is to miss at that range. - Page 11 - Tenma: No, I'll hit you. Heckel: {Jesus, what's up with him...? He's WORSE than the cops.} Siren: Piiipoooo Piiipooo Heckel: It... it's the cops!! You screwed up!! Siren: Piiipooo Piiipooo Heckel: I don't have time to stick around and chat! I'm OUTTA HERE!! - Page 12 - Heckel: Don't follow me!! I don't want you hanging onto me like a ball and chain!! Screw this!! AH!! Stop following me!! Get out of here, go!! I told you to stop following me!! DAMN!! Today is DEFINITELY not my lucky day!! - Page 13 - Officer: They seem to have fled!! Requesting emergency backup for the entire area!! Woman: Yes, that's the man, the one in the newspaper. He came to ask me about what happened in this house! That's definitely him!! Heckel: Hah, hah Zehh, zehh That's it. I thought I recognized you from somewhere... hah. Hah. You're that guy in the paper, the doctor who's an important reference in the Springer murders!! Tenma: Hah, hah - Page 14 - Heckel: Are you nuts, walking around like this in public? Tenma: And you're a sneak thief? Heckel: Yep, that's right! Unlike you, I don't do anything ridiculous like murder. I live smart. Tenma: I'm searching for the real killer. Do you know anything about what happened in that house? Heckel: Nah. Get outta my sight. Hanging around with someone like you will only get me killed. Later. Hey, Doctor!! You're a real first-class surgeon, right? A brilliant idea has just run through my brilliant mind! - Page 15 - Heckel: You know, I've been gettin' tired of this skinflint business. And I know I'm not going to stop with just doing this... I gotta hit it off with someone. For my dream!! Do you think personal encounters are all at random, Doctor? Nope, all chance meetings are determined in advance. Tenma: Huh? Heckel: You and I are fated to work together. Tenma: What? Heckel: In the underworld, there are thousands of guys who could use an important person like you. The guys who want to call for a doctor, but end up dying because it's too dangerous to call one! - Page 16 - Tenma: What are you trying to say...? Heckel: Leave all the management up to the great Heckel! I'll turn you into the world's finest underground doctor. I'm sure you get a lot in the normal world, but the underworld pays much more!! You could be a multi-millionaire before you know it... H... hey! Where you goin', Doctor?! Tenma: There are things I must do. Heckel: Wait a second. You want to know about that mansion murder, don't you? Heh heh heh. Well, I saw the killer. - Page 17 - Tenma: What was that...?! What do you mean?! Heckel: You wanna know? Tenma: He wasn't a blond, roughly 20-year old man, was he?! Heckel: What's that? Tenma: Tell me about this killer!! Heckel: Sure, as long as you team up with me. He's on the third floor of these cheap apartments. Tenma: How do you know that? Heckel: I have intelligence sources. I dislike hunt-and-find searches for the most part. - Page 18 - Heckel: When I saw that mansion, I researched into it for over a month. Right when I was about to make my move, the guy shows up. He went in the mansion, then came out about 15 minutes later... When I peered in the window, the husband and wife were dead. I figured I might make some money off it, so I followed the guy. Tenma: What was he like? Heckel: He was a real dull-looking guy. So I let him go. Tenma: Huh? Heckel: Well, that's good enough. You're proven innocent. You wanna go in that phone box and call the police, be my guest. Then we'll settle down somewhere and discuss our dreams of the future over a drink, and... Ah... hey!! - Page 19 - Heckel: Give it up!! What are you gonna do with him?! He's a murderer!! He'll kill you, too!! Shit, what is he THINKING?! I can't stand this anymore!! But I can't just let him out of my sight... I'll never find a money-maker like him again. My rule is never to cross a bridge that gets burned, but... - Page 20 - Man: Well... Tenma: Hello. Man: It's a hot one today. Tenma: I'll be honest... I'm searching for someone... Heckel: Shit!! Hey Doctor, you still alive? Doc... - Page 21 - Heckel: You idiot!! He's holding a gun!! Man: I went on walks... with my mother... Heckel: Eh? Man: Through sunflower fields... on summer days like this one... My mother died a long time ago, though... Tenma: Did you use that gun at the request of someone else? Like a certain man... Man: Man...? Ah... ah yes, he talked to me at a bar. He just kept smiling... - Page 22 - Temna: A blond man about 20 years old...? Heckel: Huh? Man: Yes... He had a beautiful face, Erich did... Tenma: So now he's Erich... Man: I met him so many times that we became friends... He introduced me to his family. To the Springers... Tenma: What...?! You mean he was living there up until now...?! Man: Yes. They had already been treating him as their son for over a year. Heckel: Hey, what's he talking about? I staked out the place for a month and I never saw that guy. Man: They were a wonderful family. This is a picture of me with the Springers... - Page 23 - Man: But... I just couldn't forgive him. He had a bed of sunflowers in the yard... But he destroyed them for more parking room... When I said it was an awful thing to do, Erich agreed. Heckel: W-wait... Did you kill them just for that?! Man: Also, Erich told me that Mr. Springer had a lover... He told me he was giving up on being part of the Springer family... - Page 24 - Man: "I'm not a member of this family", he said... Then he asked me, "eliminate this family for me"... Having an affair is such a horrible thing... My mother, too, was some other man's mistress... Heckel: Um... anyways... Listen... Do you know where their safe is? Man: Why, it's in the study on the second floor. Heckel: Oh... okay!! Doctor, you better hurry up, too!! - Page 25 - Man: Did you know? That you can erase the past? If you don't like it, you can wipe it all clean... Humans can reset themselves. Tenma: I don't believe that. Even if you can try to forget about the past, you can never erase it! Man: I suppose you're right... Why did I think that way...? Why did I think I could erase the past when I pulled the trigger...? Why did I listen to his request...? - Page 26 - Man: That's all. Please leave now. Oh... that's right. You're Dr. Tenma, aren't you? Please look at his message. He left you a message... It's in the mansion study. Tenma: Wha... Man: He knew that you would come here. Erich told me, "Your fate has already been decided." Goodbye... - Page 27 - Heckel: Hmph, all that worrying for nothing. I better go open that safe... Sfx: BANG! Heckel: Doctor!! I told you!! What a waste of a good money tree... Ah... D... don't tell me you... Oh... wait, it's a suicide. Damn... - Page 28 - Heckel: So what does dying get you? Nothing. Just THE END. (flip, flip) You just gotta stay alive, Doctor!! Tenma: Yeah... Sometimes you actually sound sensible. Heckel: Whaddaya mean, "sometimes"?! So? Listen to you, you're tracking down this absurd serial killer named Erich, or Johan, or whatever. You should give up all that hogwash and work with me. Ah... oh yeah, this afternoon, when I tried to open this door, I got the chills. - Page 29 - Heckel: What's that? What're you tremblin' for, Doctor? - Page 30 - Tenma: "Look at me! Look at me! The monster inside me has already grown this large, Dr. Tenma!" Johan... He's enjoying this... - Chapter 17 Owari -