God's in His Heaven...

God's in His Heaven...
神は天にいまし... Kami wa Ten ni Imashi...
Information
Air date	September 13, 2007
Season	Darker than Black: The Black Contractor
Episodes	23
Opening Theme	Kakusei Heroism ~The Hero Without A Name~
Closing Theme	Dreams
Story Guide
Previous The City of Regulations Is Moistened by Tears...	Next Meteor Shower

Today's Quote
When you're lost, you should just act on your own instinct.

Synopsis

Eric Nishijima is using a particle accelerator to wipe out the Contractors. Amber gathers numerous contractors to destroy the accelerator, and dolls to be used for some other unknown reason. Nijishima, revealed to work with the Syndicate, places a phone call to eliminate Hei and his team. Amber sends a message to Hei via Wei Zhijun, telling him to meet her in the Hell's Gate. Hei agrees and thus Huang, Mao, and Yin assist Hei to infiltrate Hell's Gate with Wei's guidance.

Details

Five years ago in South America, Hei battled a Contractor who had an energy wave ability, and Hei managed to kill him by tying a cable around the guy’s neck and hanging him from a tree branch. Hei had then found his sister Bai standing in a pool of water surrounded by dead people. Back in present times, Gai Kurusawa is visited by a woman who wants his help with her son’s homework which involves asking people if they remember the starry sky from a long time ago. It reminds Kiko Kayanuma that tonight - from midnight until morning - will be when a rumored star from the past is to be seen. In any case, the woman wants Gai to get 100 people to answer the question and offers 100,000 yen for his services. Gai starts to say that it would be better for her son to do his homework on his own, but, having heard the sum of money, Kiko spills tea on him and accepts the job. Over at police headquarters, Yoshimitsu Horai is telling Misaki about how Decade had feared that November 11 was a member of EPR. This causes Misaki to question if EPR had a reason to kill Decade, but Horai says that they got jurisdiction of the investigation taken away from them, and he tells her not to poke her nose into this any more.

When Misaki then starts talking about how forceful Pandora’s way of doing things was the other day and about how she doesn’t think they are a simple research institute, Horai cuts her off and reiterates that this is not something that they’re pursing - they are only talking about the death of one contractor. In response to this, Misaki says that November 11 was a man who lived with pride, regardless of whether he was a Contractor or not, and his final words to her were for her to do what she believed in. Horai realizes that this means Misaki had heard from him, but she claims that it’s a joke and walks out. Meanwhile, Huang tells Mao and Yin about how no one could enter the South American region after the disappearance of Heaven's Gate. What he knows is that there was a dispute over it at where a lot of Contractors were sent as weapons, including Hei and Amber who were in the same organization. Hei was feared as the black Shinigami even though he wasn’t a Contractor yet or anything, but there was another who was truly feared as a Contractor: Hei’s little sister Bai.

Around this time, Hei is walking through the streets remembering what happened five years ago. Back then, he had been lying against a tree stump with a sleeping Bai in his arms when Amber had come by and commented on how Bai was still paying her price. Amber had also noted that Hei and his sister spent a lot of time together, to the point where they were like lovers. Since Hei was watching at the stars again, Amber had said that no matter how long he looked, he wouldn’t be able to see the stars from the past. Back in the present, Eric Nishijima is on the phone talking with someone about how Dr. Robert Schroeder had said that the light from the masked Contractor appeared identical to the light that was observed when the South American Gate disappeared. At that very moment, Mao is telling Huang and Yin about the same light and how he thinks she needs Hei’s power to do the same thing here as she did in South America. This connection between Hei and the disappearance of the South American Gate causes Huang to suddenly realize something. Eric Nishijima meanwhile finishes his phone conversation by confirming that the Contractor is BK-201 and that they are already on the job of eliminating Hei and his unit.

Over at Hei’s apartment building, Gai and Kiko have come by to ask the landlady about the stars of the past. She doesn’t seem to know the difference between those of the past and those of the present, so Gai turns to her husband. To the landlady’s surprise, her usually silent husband says that he has fond memories of the night he saw the Giacobinids meteor shower. This was over 30 years ago, and the old man remembers how they had taken their son to see it. Gai and Kiko’s next stop is the ramen shop where Hei likes to eat, but the shop owner doesn’t initially remember anything. It’s not until his daughter and Kiko start talking about how the weather forecast of rain tonight might prevent them from seeing the rumored stars of the past that the owner remembers how his daughter had gotten lost at the amusement park once, and they had found her later that night looking at the stars. Elsewhere in the city, Misaki catches Yuusuke Saitou and Yutaka Kouno tailing her, but when she confronts them, they don’t tell her who gave them the order. Misaki then pays a visit to the site where November 11 died, and as she’s walking down some nearby stairs, she catches sight of Hei (who she still recognizes as Li). To his surprise, she stops him and asks him if he’s hungry.

The two then go out to a yakiniku restaurant, and Hei wonders if he had really looked that hungry. Misaki replies that he had reminded her of someone she knows, and she nearly chokes when Hei asks if that person was a criminal she was chasing. Hei suddenly gets serious and tells her not to move from where she, but Misaki starts laughing because, despite his serious attitude, he has a grain of rice on his mouth. Later during the meal, Misaki comments on how it’s strange that you develop a little attachment when you chase a star for a long time. Hei recognizes that she’s talking about being dedicated to work, but Misaki then notes that, before you know it, you can lose sight of yourself if you get too busy with the Syndicate. This prompts Hei to say that organizations are the same everywhere since they use people as convenient chess pieces under their control. By chance, the two run into Gai and Kiko on their way out of the restaurant, and Gai tells them about his job of finding out memories that people might have related to stars of the past. Gai personally feels that the memories are glorified and that after the Gate appeared, everyone became uneasy somehow. Citing how everyone seemed calm during the previous bombing incident, he thinks that they are uneasy now, so they want to immerse themselves in memories.

After parting ways with Gai and Kiko, Hei and Misaki Kirihara go to a batting cage, and, much to Misaki’s amusement, Hei ends up falling down while trying to hit a ball. The two then admire the view, and Misaki asks Hei if he likes this city. Since he doesn’t hate it, Hei talks about the moderate temperatures and how he feels that he belongs here right now even though this is just a point he’s passing through in his life. When Misaki points out that the city is becoming more dangerous, Hei claims that it’s still peaceful compared to the place he was with his sister. This causes her to wonder if he had been in a conflict-torn region, and he quietly nods yes. Upon learning that Hei lost his sister, Misaki thinks that it’s sad, but Hei isn’t sure and suggests that he might have felt relieved instead. After a moment of silence, Misaki changes the subject to the rumored stars tonight, but Hei thinks that it’s impossible and Misaki feels that no one really believes in the rumor. Nevertheless, everywhere across the city, everyone looks up at the sky as the clock approaches midnight. As they do so too, Hei asks Misaki if she wants to see the stars, she admits that she wants to show them. Still, she thinks that if the current stars don’t disappear, then they won’t be able to see the ones from the past. When Hei notes that these current stars are fake, Misaki points out that if all these currently shining false stars disappear, it would still be sad in its own way.

Misaki then gets an alert on her cell phone and realizes that she has to leave. Before she goes though, she admits that she’s glad to have been able to talk with him since she had been feeling doubtful. Hei catches her off guard by telling her that she should believe in and act through her instinct when she’s in doubt. Recovering from the surprise, Misaki shakes Hei’s hand and thanks him for the fun time they had together. Once Hei is by himself again, he remembers how he had caught Bai after she collapsed in the pool filled with dead bodies and how she had seen all the shooting stars. After Bai had closed her eyes, Hei had put his hand around her neck, but before he could do anything, Amber came over to tell him that it was over. She had suggested that they go home and was a bit startled to see Hei cry a single tear. Back in the present, the clock strikes midnight, and it starts to rain. Kiko and Gai have returned to their office by now, and Kiko isn’t happy with the rain preventing her from seeing the sky. Gai, however, feels that detectives have to be realists. No matter how their surrounding situation changes, whether it is with the stars or the Gate, peoples’ lives remain unchanged.

Hei meanwhile returns to his neighborhood, but he gets warned by Mao not to go home. Huang then comes racing around the corner in the van - which has suffered some bullet damage to the windshield - and tells Hei to get on. Apparently the Syndicate has discarded them, and Mao suspects that it has to do with something Hei might be hiding about what happened with the South American Gate's disappearance. Before they can escape though, all of them are suddenly pinned to the ground by a force resulting from a Contractor power. Soon after this Contractor shows his face though, the constant pressure ends, and Hei finds the Contractor in two pieces on the ground. Their savior is Wei who notes that this Contractor used the power of gravity but was too overconfident. Wei is here not only to pass along a message about Amber waiting for Hei at the Gate, but also to guide them there. Hei agrees to go and reveals to the others that he really doesn’t know what happened at the Heaven’s Gate, including why his sister disappeared there. The only person who knows is Amber, and Yin notes that Hei wants to see and talk with her. Mao is opposed to the idea, but Huang decides to take Hei as far as he can.

Over at police headquarters, Misaki learns from Kunio Matsumoto that things are happening above them and that there might have been some interventions in the top level of management. She then gets a phone call from her father who frantically tells her to evacuate and leave Tokyo immediately, and this leads to Misaki realizing that what happened in South America might happen here. The person behind these movements is Eric Nishijima, and opposing them is EPR. In a warehouse somewhere, Amber gives her Contractors two goals for their mission: lead the Dolls into the Gate and destroy the particle accelerator. Each of them is given a piece of the now-shattered meteor fragment, and Amber then starts the operation.

Characters in Order of Appearance

Hei (flashback) Bai (flashback) Yoshihiro Yoshihiro's Mother Gai Kurusawa Kiko Kayanuma Misaki Kirihara Yoshimitsu Horai Yin Huang Mao Hei Amber (flashback) Eric Nishijima Misuzu Ōyama Toshiro Ōyama Rika Rika's Father Yūsuke Saitō Yutaka Kōno Babo Huang Gravity Contractor Wei Zhijun Yin Kunio Matsumoto Naoya Kirihara (voice only) Amber Amagiri Brita Misc. EPR members

Gallery