The Memory of Betrayal is an Amber-Colored Smile...

The Memory of Betrayal is an Amber-Colored Smile...
裏切りの記憶は琥珀色の微笑み... Uragiri no Kioku wa Kohakuiro no Hohoemi...
Information
Air date	July 12, 2007
Air date (Part 2)	July 19, 2007
Season	Darker than Black: The Black Contractor
Episodes	15, 16
Opening Theme	Kakusei Heroism ~The Hero Without A Name~
Closing Theme	Dreams
Story Guide
Previous On a Silver Night, the Heart Does Not Sway on the Water's Surface...	Next I'll Sing a Love Song at the Garbage Dump...

Today's Quote
Protect Your Smile

Synopsis

Part 1

April spots Amber and Maki, two operatives of the Evening Primrose, and ends up in a non-fatal explosion. Meanwhile, a chain of bombings occur, the culprit being Maki, that allows the Evening Primrose to steal the Meteor Fragment. November 11, wanting revenge, chases down Amber. Hei, also wanting revenge, chases after her as well.

Part 2

The Stargazer of the Astronomical Observatory finally speaks, giving vague information on the Evening Primrose. November 11 kills Maki in a final showdown as Hei finally reaches Amber, who has taken Yin. Misaki also arrives at their location, but, with the help of Amber's contract, everyone escapes.

Details

On her way out of a host club, April is shocked to see a familiar looking girl and young boy across the street from her. As she starts running towards them, she takes out her cell phone and calls November 11, but since he’s in the shower at the moment, she gets his voice mail instead. The girl and the boy soon board a black car that drives away, so April flags down a taxi and leaves a message for November 11 about confirming a top priority target: February. Just as she’s telling the driver what to do, an explosion rips through the taxi. At the hospital later, November 11 learns from his superior that although April’s life was saved, she still hasn’t regained consciousness yet. More importantly, the superior is concerned about a certain girl having shown up in Tokyo, so November 11 allows him to listen to the message that April left. Aside from what she had earlier, April had also noted that there was a boy with February whose eyes were mismatched in color. After November 11 takes a look at a heavily bandaged April, he heads to the rooftop of the hospital where his superior notes that they haven’t heard about February in 5 years. The superior recalls that there is a Japanese proverb about how there’s no use crying over spilt milk, so they can’t do anything about how Amber was a double agent who took information about the Gate back to her organization. It is because of this that the UK lost its advantage of research on Contractors. In any case, the superior is concerned about the timing of February’s appearance in connection with the Great Dark Spot cycle, and he tells November 11 to put everything else on hold and prioritize securing February.

At the Astronomical Observatory, Kanami explains to her subordinate that the Great Dark Spot is something that appears once every several years and is the largest class of sunspot. It appears concentrated at one place on the sun’s surface, making the sun look like a giant eyeball, and it wasn’t able to be observed before the Hell's Gate appeared. They thus aren’t sure what’s going to happen, but they’re worried about one thing: during the last Great Dark Spot cycle five years ago, the South America Gate disappeared. Meanwhile, on the streets of Tokyo, the mismatched-eye-color boy is attempting to get a necklace charm that got stuck in a tree. By chance, Hei shows up to pull down the charm for the boy, and he offers it back, hoping that the boy’s smile will always be protected. The boy at first questions why Hei says this, but he then thanks Hei and introduces himself as Maki. When Hei asks if that necklace is a present from someone, Maki reveals that a person precious to him gave it. Hei then questions why it was in the tree, but the boy doesn’t answer; he just thanks Hei and runs off. Heading in the other direction, Hei approaches the spot where there’s been an explosion and learns from Mao that a certain place was targeted for the meteor fragment. Giving Hei a file on April, Huang explains that tracks were left leading to MI-6 and suggests that PANDORA had something to do with it.

Having returned to an abandoned bar, Maki is asked by a red-headed man named Amagiri what he was thinking going back to the site. Maki explains that something important to him was dropped and flew into a tree during the ensuing explosion. He then reveals that he met an interesting man who was kind and gave off a mysterious feeling. After confirming that Maki wasn’t followed, Amagiri says that with the meteor fragment obtained, next is the town filling with chaos and hatred. When Maki asks where Amber is, Amagiri reveals that she went out to look for the last key, so Maki realizes that Amber might have gone to meet someone. In fact, Amber is at that moment buying an umbrella from a street vendor and smiling at the sky. Back at the Astronomical Observatory, Kanami is telling her subordinate that the same phenomenon that happened in South America won’t necessarily happen here, and that the omen comprises one of the indicators they have to think about. She starts to talk about another indicator involving something with the Stargazer and the Great Dark Spot cycle five years ago, but Kanami never finishes her what she’s saying because someone calls her back to the observation room. It seems that the Stargazer has started speaking about hearing the stars whispering with delight and with sadness. Elsewhere in the city, the side of a high-rise building that houses the Tokyo branch of the MI-6 explodes in a fireball.

With this developing situation, Misaki gets informed that the British Intelligence floor had been targeted and that there seems to be a CIA agent involved. She and Hourai then enter a meeting expecting to see a foreign affairs section chief and are surprised when they find Eric Nishijima waiting for them instead. Speaking off the record, Nishijima mentions what happened three weeks ago with a certain material being taken out of the Gate, and although a CIA agent was involved in the beginning, a different organization took out the material. Misaki thinks of MI-6 first, so Nishijima explains how Britain lost its advantage concerning Contractor information with one leak, and in recent years, that impatience has become visible. This causes Misaki to conjecture that the CIA attacked the MI-6 branch to get back that material, but before the discussion can progress much further, they hear another explosion nearby. On the ground below, Mao is shocked that the CIA building has now been bombed and wonders if it’s British retaliation, but Huang thinks that another intelligence agency got involved and questions if they’re trying to start a war. At that time, November 11 is on the phone with his superior asking about who is responsible. He learns that MI-6 is still waiting on information from their mole inside the CIA and that his superior is heading to the American embassy, but November 11’s own mission of securing February remains unchanged.

November 11 then tries to drive off in his car, but he comes face to face with Hei in the parking garage. Hei wants the meteor fragment returned, and although November 11 doesn’t know what he’s talking about, he welcomes the chance to go up against Hei again. He then asks Hei where February is since they know she’s in Tokyo, and to make it clear who he’s talking about, he notes that February’s code name in Hei’s organization was Amber. November 11 goes on to reveal that the building explosion earlier was confirmed to be her doing, and this causes Hei to start demanding to know where she is. That is, of course, what November 11 wants to know too, and he realizes that Amber might have also done something bad to Hei’s organization. An agitated Hei then warns November 11 to stay out of this because he wants to personally deal with her, and he leaps over the MI-6 agent’s car as it races towards him. As Hei jumps off the side of the parking garage and escapes, November 11 drives down towards street level and calls MI-6 to find out anything new about the CIA building blast. When he’s informed that there are traces that indicate the Chinese Ministry of National Security has now gotten involved, he suspects that the Chinese embassy will be the next target.

Having gotten out of the parking garage, November 11 drives towards the embassy and sees an explosion occur inside, just as he had predicted. He then races towards the outside wall of the embassy closest to this explosion, and he stops his car just in time to not get hit by another blast that blows up a section of the wall. On the other side of the smoke is Mika, and his profile matches April’s description from the message she left. Heading off to confront the boy, November 11 first writes down a person for July to contact if something happens to him. He finds Mika waiting for him near a large puddle of water created by a busted water main, so he demands to know where Amber is. When Mika refuses to tell him, November 11 activates his contractor powers and freezes Mika to the ground. Mika responds by using his own Contractor powers to create several explosions on the ground around November 11. Meanwhile, back at the Astronomical Observatory, Kanami is giving out orders and telling her subordinate that this is the second time she’s heard the Stargazer speak - the first time was during the Great Dark Spot cycle five years ago when part of South America disappeared from the map. The Stargazer has now talking about hearing the singing of the stars and how this is like that time - the beginning of the end is coming soon.

As he runs through the streets in his normal clothing, Hei recalls a scene from his past where Amber had asked to borrow his knife to cut some bread. Amber had said that she liked the smell of freshly baked bread and spreading marmalade and whipped cream on it, and she had also suggested that she, Hei, and Bai run away together. When Hei asked where they’d go, Amber answered that it’d be a place where they can see the stars. Instead of giving Hei back his knife, she had then passed him the necklace charm to protect his smile. Back in the present, Amber has arrived at the tobacco shop that is manned by Yin, and although she greets Yin as if this is the first time they’ve met, she also says that it’s been a long time. Right at that moment, it starts raining. With the Stargazer still speaking cryptically about the stars, one of the girls in the Astronomy Department wonders if the Stargazer is reading the stars’ Garching wavelengths, and Kanami feels that the Stargazer even speaking is a message in itself. Meanwhile, an announcement is made throughout metropolitan Tokyo of a curfew because of the terrorism threat, and no one on the rainy streets notices or cares about July walking along getting soaked without an umbrella. At the same time, Yin wakes up in Amber’s lap at a shrine with Amber complimenting her on how cute she looks while sleeping. Hei and Mao discover Yin gone from the cigarette shop, and in her place is a pink envelope with Amber’s name on it. Hei runs out after seeing the note, though he gets cut off by Huang who offers him a ride. Back at the Observatory, Kanami violates an order to keep silent and phones Misaki to tell her about the Stargazer. She offers to send Misaki a list later of the stars that sparkled during the building explosions, but Kanami is curious about the Contractor involvement because she had thought that those explosions were retribution attacks by the various intelligence agencies. Misaki doubts this because of how public the incidents were compared to how shadowy those agencies usually move.

As she drives along, Misaki then notices July talking to an officer on the street. When she talks with him, July reveals how November 11 wanted the boy to find her if something happened to him. Since Misaki wants to know where November 11 had been headed, July explains that he tracks his comrades, so Misaki gets him to take her there. November 11 is actually being held in the old bar that Maki and Amagiri are using as a hideout, and at the moment, Maki is practicing his Japanese greetings when Amagiri brings him milk to drink. Maki burns his tongue trying to down the hot milk, and when Amagiri tells him to drink it slowly, Maki points out that cold milk wouldn’t fulfill his price. Their conversation gets interrupted when November 11 suddenly sits up and asks to be allowed a smoke. November 11 claims that he has some in the left pocket of his suit, but Amagiri refuses to touch him because he knows that November 11 is an excellent Contractor by how November 11 had protected himself from Maki’s explosions earlier with a shield of ice. Amagiri then starts lecturing November 11 about the dangers of smoking, though of course November 11 knew all of that already. Realizing that this is November 11’s price, Amagiri wonders what happens to Contractors who don’t pay and jokes that they melt like butter.

After Amagiri heads out, November 11 calls Maki praiseworthy for studying between blowing up buildings. Maki responds by saying that Amber taught him the meaning of words and that she wanted him to practice. He is willing to do anything for her, including destroy the city. Meanwhile, inside Huang’s car as it races down a road, Mao questions why Amber took Yin and what happened in South America all those years ago between her and Hei. Instead of answering the cat, Hei orders Huang to stop since he’s just realized that they’re going the wrong way. Huang then turns into a warehouse and explains that the higher-ups in the Organizations have ordered him not to let Hei and Amber meet. Hei runs out of the car when he hears this, but Huang shoots him in the leg to stop him. In pain, Hei threatens to kill Huang for getting in his way, however Huang feels that it’ll be Hei who gets killed for defying the Organization. When Huang then momentarily gets distracted by Mao telling him to stop this, Hei uses the chance to limp and roll to safety behind a crate. A combination of Hei’s cables and a roof crane crashing down causes Huang to trip onto the ground, giving Hei the opportunity to electrocute him.

Back at the old bar, Maki questions why Contractors are being used by man. Maki feels that they as Contractors are the chosen ones and cites how people who can’t make contracts fear them. He believes that they are the more suitable beings to lead the world of the future. Maki eventually reveals that they’re trying to cause the same tragedy as the one that happened in South America, and although he doesn’t know why, he thinks that because Amber said so, it must be necessary. Amagiri then joins the conversation by saying that November 11 should understand the meaning of their creation and actions. He claims that their group, Evening Primrose, welcomes November 11 and tries to get him to join them, so the MI-6 agent asks what privileges he’d get. Amagiri’s simple answer is the future, and he feels that November 11 doesn’t have many other choices in such a situation, so he should decide rationally. Hearing this causes November 11 to laugh because he remembers saying the same thing to a certain Contractor not long ago who he didn’t think had a chance to win. That Contractor had still attacked him, and November 11 had questioned what that person was thinking. In any case, November 11 rejects the offer to join, and at the same moment, a heavily armed SWAT team bursts through the door with Misaki.

After November 11 jokes that Misaki is like a princess riding a white horse, she reveals that his companion - July - informed them of this place. Although he’s being held under gunpoint, Maki uses his powers to blow up parts of the room and create a distraction long enough for himself and Amagiri to escape via a secret passageway. When they reach the street, Maki wants to know where Amber is, but Amagiri still only reveals that she’s waiting for the final key. This causes Maki to question who is so important that Amber would leave him, and he gets angry when Amagiri says that there’s no need to tell him. Amagiri then sends Maki towards the second rendezvous point and gets the boy to comply by claiming that it’s Amber’s order. However, as soon as Amagiri goes out of sight, Maki turns and runs the other direction. Amber is at that time telling Yin about how a certain guy has only truly smiled once. She admits to feeling that she can do anything for this person if she can see just see his smile again, and she thinks that Yin feels this way too. The person she was talking about - Hei - is currently limping in their direction, but he runs into Maki along the way.

Recognizing who Hei really is, Maki reveals that their previous encounter was the first time he had said thank you without thinking about it, and that made him very happy. However, Maki now feels jealousy and throws several exploding rocks at Hei. After dodging behind a car, Hei electrocutes the water puddle that Maki is standing in, but Maki manages to get out of it in time. Maki then throws another rock that blows up the car, and after it explodes, Maki says that Amber had always spoken of Hei and that’s why she didn’t take Maki with her. Hei’s body isn’t beside the car though, so Maki tries to chase him, but the boy doesn’t get very far because his legs get frozen to the ground by November 11. When Maki escapes by using his power to melt the ice, November 11 tells Misaki to go after Hei while he and July go after Maki. November 11 then sees Maki blow his way into a nearby building, and the boy challenges the MI-6 agent to come after him because he’s used his handprint as a trap on everything so that November 11 can’t attack him. Feeling that the appropriate Contractor for Amber is himself, Maki wants November 11 to show him something stronger than himself.

Rushing up the stairs to the room that Maki is in, November 11 almost opens a door, but July stops him from touching it shortly before it explodes; July feels that they can do it together. In a semi-delusional state now, Maki wants Amber to tell him that he’s the best, but when he stumbles to the door and opens it, he finds rain pouring through a hole in the ceiling. Standing in the rain is November 11 holding a spear of ice. By now, Amagiri has reached the shrine and Hei eventually limps his way there too. As soon as Amber sees that Hei is hurt, she runs to him in concern, but he slaps away her hand. He isn’t going to forgive the person he thinks is a traitor, though before he kills her, he wants to know what happened back then to his sister Bai. Amber thinks that he should say something else before talking about that, like how it’s been a long time since they’ve seen each other or how she’s still beautiful, but when Hei insists on her answering him, she questions if he wants to meet his sister. She offers to let him meet Bai, though when Hei asks where she is, Amber playfully replies that Bai is very far and very close as she points to his heart. This earns her a slap across the face from Hei, but Amber remains calm and tells Hei that he can meet his sister if he comes with her. However, she questions what Hei would do if the town had to disappear into darkness for the sake of that meeting. This only gets Hei angrier at her, and he starts to activate his Contractor power right as Misaki bursts onto the scene with her gun drawn.

Seeing what Hei is about to do, Yin yells for him to stop and Amagiri activates his power as he yells for Amber to get out of the way. Amber, however, chooses to use her own Contractor power and freezes everything. Though Hei can’t hear her, she tells him that she’s traveled a lot and that she’s wanted to see him for a long, long time. With tears in her eyes, she then kisses him. Afterwards, she flicks Amagiri’s forehead to unfreeze him, and when he realizes what’s going on, he warns her about how there’s a limit to which she can pay her price, so she should think about when to use it. As she passes by Misaki on her way out of the shrine, Amber asserts that this was one of those times. Back at the Observatory, the Stargazer is the only one unfazed by the time stop, and she tells the stars not to be impatient because the full moon is yet to come. When the world returns to normal, the Stargazer has fallen silent once again. Misaki emerges from the time stop to find her glasses on the top of her head instead of on her face, and by the time she puts them back on, there’s no one left at the shrine - only an umbrella.

In the aftermath, Amber and Amagiri head to the rendezvous point and meet with two other women and a man. They are willing to wait for now and feel that a certain man is necessary to make the flower of their Evening Primrose bloom. Amagiri then notes that Maki should have already come here, but Amber knows that the boy isn’t coming. In fact, Maki had been stabbed by November 11 who had been helped out by a bandaged up, but otherwise cheerful April. Huang meanwhile wakes up in the warehouse and realizes that Hei had gone easy on him. As the sun rises, Hei returns to his apartment and checks the inside of a drawer where he keeps the charm Amber gave him.

Characters in Order of Appearance

Episode 15

April Amber Maki July Decade November 11 Ōtsuka Mayu Kanami Ishizaki Hoshimi Hei Mao Huang Amagiri Yūsuke Saitō Yutaka Kōno Misaki Kirihara Yoshimitsu Horai Eric Nishijima Rika Rika's Father Kiko Kayanuma Gai Kurusawa Yin

Episode 16

Hoshimi Ōtsuka Mayu Kanami Ishizaki Yoshimitsu Horai Eric Nishijima July Amber Yin Mao Yin Huang Misaki Kirihara Maki November 11 Amagiri 3 EPR Members April

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