Hell's Hot Paradise Episode 5 Part 1

Someone once said that life begins with nothing and ends with nothing. In Tokyo, there are many kinds of people there. You have angels, demons, oni, mermaids, and cyborgs. You have people with wings, scales, or mechanical body parts, and you have people given all sorts of roles and powers. But no matter who you refer to, everyone was pure, untinted light before they were born. That light gets poured into a vessel known as a body, then begins living a life. Then those people meet various kinds of people who were given different things than they were in life. For example, someone who can't fly may admire wings. The inelegant may admire those with grace. 

The things you may not like about yourself is something other people envy. The things people wish for and are sought for leads them to know affection, sadness, longing, and jealousy. They gain various shaded emotions until they become something else completely. A pure innocence that held nothing to begin with becomes painted with many other colors. If you refer to this as becoming sullied, then you could say living is about becoming impure. But say that something unsullied was given a certain something. Say that pure thing like light was given a role by the world. What would they start wanting? What would they look for? That thing would start wanting the things it wasn't given. It would admire the varied colors that it wasn't, mindlessly gathering the things and never once thinking that this would be tantamount to taking life.

Title card pops up, and this episode is called Zhurong's Secret.

Back to your side of things, you talk about how you guys never managed to find Krampus and the others anywhere, but for a lack of any better idea you suggest heading back to the inn. Zhurong excitedly says he wants to take some pictures before you guys head back. Daikoku comments that Zhurong always has such clear, bright eyes for looking at photo subjects, which Zhurong is confused by. Daikoku says that Hell/Ne no Kuni is a place that's pretty much a deposit of filth and impurity, so he'd rather not look at it more than he has to. And yet Zhurong seems happy to look at anything around with the same innocent look in his eyes he always has, which Daikoku notes was also the case when he came to the police station for an interview.

Zhurong doesn't have a comment to that, so Daikoku continues by saying that Zhurong is without a doubt too much of an innocent child and asks how he sees the world. Zhurong says he's not sure what Daikoku means, but he answers that everything looks bright and shiny to him. It's enough to make him cry in envy and to snap a picture of the moment without a second thought. Daikoku laughs after a moment and asks if Zhurong is including him in that statement. It's more something a world-weary person like himself (re: people from older times) would say when they're jealous of how full of potential the young are.

Zhurong denies the idea, saying he could never Be Like Daikoku. Daikoku doesn't give a response to that, and Zhurong says he's not clear about it himself, but it's because of that feeling that he's jealous of him. He wants to be like Daikoku, yet he also knows that he can't, so he at least wants to save a picture to keep the idea in his head. Zhurong then pulls his camera up and is about to ask Daikoku for a picture when he stops himself for some reason in confusion. Daikoku declines and asks Zhurong if he knows that people used to believe that having your picture taken takes your soul away. Zhurong is surprised by this, and Daikoku talks about how everyone in Ne no Kuni is just a soul, so if Zhurong took his picture he might disappear. Zhurong gets concerned at this and asks if it'd be the same as what happened with Krampus, so Daikoku solemnly confirms as much.

You notice that Zhurong looks upset and ask him what's wrong, or you scold Daikoku over what he said. Daikoku laughs and says he was just doing an old person joke as he apologizes to Zhurong. Zhurong doesn't look any better, but he claims to be okay and suggests that the party goes back to the hot springs town, still perturbed.

When the party gets back there's a crowd of mobs at the inn, leading Xolotl to wonder if you guys are at the right place and Kamui to ask what happened while you guys were gone. The crowd parts ways a bit to let Sarutahiko and Onamuji through, and Sarutahiko welcomes you guys back and figures things must've gone well. Onamuji is glad everyone is okay and invites you all in, and you either express your shock at this sudden boom in business, ask what the hell happened, or compliment the other team for their good work.

Onamuji modestly says that it's all thanks to Mineaki and Sarutahiko, but Mineaki says it's actually due to Onamuji's straightforward determination. There's also how quick Onamuji is to learn things, and while Mineaki was only planning on teaching him some first aid for common hot springs area accidents he ended up teaching him a whole bunch of medical stuff he'd never need.

Off to the side, Zhurong is hanging his head while Sarutahiko starts talking to him. He talks about how hard Zhurong must've worked and how brave he is despite his age. It's not something he can say to anyone else, and he points out it'd be natural to start crying if you find yourself in the world of the dead. Zhurong awkwardly thanks him and says he didn't really do much. Sarutahiko can tell something is wrong and asks if he's depressed about not contributing much, then adds if he went himself he'd have totally dragged the team down. He couldn't even be there since he couldn't use a power to fight.

Sarutahiko sadly laughs as he says he's always been like that. Something important was going on, and he wasn't there. He's a half-asser worrying from the back about whether he could have done something, and in the end he does jack shit and gets talked about behind his back. Just remembering that incident that happened before he went to Tokyo embarrasses him, and the regrets he has always feel like they're sticking onto him like slimy crap. Daikoku can hear this but doesn't join the conversation.

Zhurong is surprised at the mention of things that happened before coming to Tokyo. Sarutahiko doesn't give his reaction much thought, but he does notice Zhurong going quiet and preoccupied so he tries to ask what's wrong. Since Zhurong doesn't answer Sarutahiko asks you if he said something wrong, and you tell him you don't know since he's been like that for a while. Daikoku however says he has some things to talk about related to that and asks Mineaki to join you guys and give his opinion.

Time passes as you, Daikoku, Mineaki, and Sarutahiko move to a nearby hallway to discuss things. Daikoku can't help but point out that this is the same hallway from back then and asks Mineaki if he's done suspecting him yet. Mineaki is dismayed at him bringing it up and apologizes for that particular instance. Daikoku laughs and claims it was a joke to lighten the mood before getting into darker topics.

Mineaki glares at Daikoku before the conversation starts up. Daikoku goes over what happened with Krampus and the others at Enma's office, along with Xolotl being able to use an artifact and power that he borrowed from someone else. Mineaki picks up that Daikoku is suggesting there's something suspicious about Zhurong being able to use His Own flame power. Sarutahiko looks back and forth at the two of them before turning to you, hoping that you don't get it either. You either bug the two to spell out their thoughts, exclaim that you see it too, or look shocked and stay quiet.

Mineaki talks about how here in Hell, everyone has their own role and power sealed off, citing you and himself as examples. He then brings up that you guys discovered a loophole around that by using somebody else's power instead. Daikoku supports that by citing how Kamui was able to use fire magic from Zhurong, and you think about how Harlot was also using a power that wasn't originally hers. Mineaki however brings up that it's not as simple as him just picking up your sword and swinging its power around. He suspects that the conditions for this loophole is to either Be Entrusted with Everything in a Dying Wish or Being Detached as if Resigned Over Something That was Never Yours. Mineaki then stops thinking on this saying it's not that important, but what is important is that this would mean Zhurong's fire power belonged to someone else. Daikoku says he sees what Mineaki is getting at, but Sarutahiko says he doesn't and asks what's up with Zhurong.

Mineaki says nothing as he stares back at Sarutahiko. Sarutahiko is slightly taken aback at this and complains Mineaki may as well not have said anything to begin with if he won't speak now. Mineaki steels himself for what he's about to say, opening up with a request that Sarutahiko stay calm and listen. He admits it's all theoretical, but he's feeling confident enough to say that it isn't just some random possibility. Sarutahiko gulps down as he braces himself, and Mineaki jumps straight to suggesting Zhurong is the cause of this incident. Sarutahiko is shocked at this, and he can see that Mineaki clearly isn't joking about it. Mineaki has some hard to describe expression on his face at how upset Sarutahiko is, then mentions that everyone who fought against you guys used a power borrowed from someone else. He reasons that whoever gave them that power is the culprit of the incident and asks if he agrees with that logic.

You say Mineaki is correct regarding Tadatomo and the others, and Mineaki explains that class roles and power concepts are a package deal. If given away, nobody would be able to live since they pretty much define living, especially for people contracted with the app. This would mean that the culprit's role and power was something Taken From Someone Else. And based on that, the power of the one who caused this incident is the ability to take the role and power from others and transfer them. Daikoku brings up it's also possible it's less transferring and more giving a near-perfect copy, but in this case it's not that important a distinction. You guys have already seen this happen in front of you, and Sarutahiko angrily asks if he's talking about how Zhurong gave Kamui the fire wheels.

You ask how he intends to explain away what happened at Enma's office. Daikoku admits that he doesn't have a definite answer, but he says it did look like Zhurong's camera had sucked in everyone there when it went off. Daikoku reasons that the camera must be Zhurong's artifact, which probably has the power to control the roles and powers of people it has absorbed. When it took away their powers and roles, they disappeared. Sarutahiko is noted to look upset as Daikoku's reasoning is laid out.

Mineaki speaks up to tell you guys he had investigated his students after Awakage-sama had attacked them. They seem to be literally empty shells now, totally scooped out. Normal dead people don't turn out like that as they always leave some sort of trace behind. Sarutahiko meanwhile starts covering his ears and begs you guys to stop talking. Daikoku meanwhile brings up that people used to believe cameras could steal souls, and the idea still stuck around in part in superstitions and ghost stories.

You are dismayed and try to suggest that maybe they got something wrong. Sarutahiko doesn't try to deny Daikoku and Mineaki's suspicions about Zhurong's power for now and argues that it doesn't actually implicate Zhurong as the cause. He brings up how young Zhurong is and threatens to fight if they treat him like a criminal. He then attempts to support his argument further by mentioning that Zhurong himself has no idea what his actual power is, but he trails off in despair when he realizes what that'd mean.

Mineaki clarifies that he isn't saying Zhurong intentionally caused this incident, and setting aside how large scale this is, there's plenty of cases where Transients have unconsciously used their powers or rampaged. You suggest turning off the app to reset things if Zhurong's power is causing all of this, but Daikoku tells you there are cases of powers not reverting even when the app's Enclosed Areas are taken down like the teleportation abilities of people from a certain world or artificially made Enclosed Areas. Since you guys don't know how to make it stop, there's no guarantee it'll work.

Sarutahiko starts crying as he thinks about Zhurong. He pleads and asks if it's possible for everyone to feign ignorance and go back to Tokyo on a happy note. He worries that Zhurong's heart would break if he found out about this. Mineaki looks sympathetic as he passes a handkerchief to him. He says he'd like to do that if possible, and that it'd be a good idea to break it to Zhurong gently so that Zhurong won't get overwhelmed by the shock.

Before he can say any more, you guys hear something getting dropped, and the party turns to see a wooden bucket and bath products spilled on the floor as a small familiar figure runs away. You are alarmed about Zhurong overhearing you guys and think he was crying. Mineaki is horrified and worried at how Zhurong found out about the situation, so he says everyone should run after him.

It doesn't take long for the party to catch up to Zhurong after he runs out of the inn. No one, not even Sarutahiko, is able to bring themselves to say anything, so you all just look at Zhurong as his shoulders quiver. Zhurong starts asking whether if everyone would be better off if he just died, and big tears of grief fall from his eyes. Sarutahiko tries to comfort him saying he'd be sad if Zhurong were gone, and he pleads for him to stop saying stuff like that.

You attempt to talk Zhurong into coming back with you guys to the inn since everyone else is waiting for him. He snaps and yells for you to stay away, causing bursts of fire, ice, and lightning to explode around him. Zhurong says he can't go back because he's not actually Zhurong, he just took his name from the original Zhurong. Everyone is stunned silent at this, and Zhurong goes on by saying he remembered everything when he unconsciously used his power back at Enma's office. When he first came to Tokyo, he didn't have a will of his own as he was just a Color. When he saw Zhurong soon after that point, he ended up absorbing and becoming Zhurong. The spikes in Zhurong's emotional state causes more magical bursts, and you attempt to tell him to calm down and/or say you can't get close.

Oni start walking over hearing a kid crying on the road but somehow not elemental explosions, and they obliviously ask if anyone brought candy to calm the crying. The ones that get close to Zhurong disappear as if sucked away, and only then do the remaining randos realizes something is wrong, calling Zhurong a monster and saying to stay away from him. Zhurong cries loudly, and what look like blue fireballs from the people approaching him fly out from them and get absorbed by him. His sanity takes a hit every time this happens. Mineaki says this is terrible, and if Zhurong keeps absorbing power like this his body won't be able to take it. You call out to Mineaki and ask if he's okay, ask what you guys should do, or say you guys need to save Zhurong quickly, and the party looks serious in the face of the situation.

Back at the inn, Kamui and Xolotl are washing each other's backs in the springs. Xolotl apologizes for asking Kamui to do this, saying he hasn't done stuff like this much so his heart is pounding. Kamui says it's fine and calls him the MVP this time around. Xolotl smiles at this and says it's actually because of everyone's help. Him being really determined to protect everyone helped him overcome his trauma. If he were alone he'd probably shaking and crying somewhere and got nothing done. Kamui laughs and says it reminds him of a child who left and said the same thing.

Kamui focuses on washing up a tougher piece of fur, rinsing off with a shower head and checking the temp with his hand before using it on Xolotl. Xolotl says he should be the one thanking everyone. He also mentions that he respected Kamui a bit more when he saw how hard he was fighting so hard for others. Kamui is taken aback by this since he doesn't feel he deserves anything like that, having raised many children to heroes and sent them off to their deaths. The mention of that causes Xolotl to remember his own journey to the netherworld with his brother.

Kamui says it'd have been better if even one of them ran away, and he feels responsible for their deaths. He feels the sin will stick with him for as long as he lives, but Xolotl points out they're technically dead and asks if he still feels that way. Kamui is taken aback, unable to respond to that point, and Xolotl starts talking about having a shameful past himself. He ran away during an important point in time so he feels he may not be the most appropriate person to be saying what he's saying, but if Kamui feels he can't be forgiven even after death, then the children he loves in his memories might never smile. Kamui is surprised at this, and Xolotl apologizes for sounding self-important despite feeling the same as he does. Before he can say anymore though, the two of them start hearing the explosions from outside and run to investigate.

Kamui and Xolotl don't really bother to get dressed on their way over. They meet up with Onamuji along the way who has also noticed that something is happening, and the three of them soon regroup with the rest of the party.  You take note of them showing up and ask for their help with Zhurong, who is currently floating in midair and sucking power in like a black hole. The absorption is steadily getting stronger, and Zhurong himself is now eerily quiet as opposed to weeping hard like before. His eyes stare blankly in the party's direction like his emotions have disappeared. Onamuji asks what's going on in concern and says the guests at the inn are disappearing. Xolotl attempts to ask Zhurong what happened to him, but Mineaki tells him the explanation will have to wait until after saving him. The pressure coming off him increases with every blue fireball he absorbs, and it's to the point it feels crushing. Sarutahiko begs the party for help in saving Zhurong, and Daikoku sighs about things coming to this point as he agrees to assist. You express surprise that Daikoku is volunteering to help without asking for payment of some kind, and you can suggest he's not doing this out of kindness. C gets an extra line of Daikoku complimenting you for understanding him so well.

Daikoku starts talking about how he once threw away something he had only one of. He worked in a bathhouse washing the hair of his ancestors and undergone many trials in Ne no Kuni. In the end he gained the name, role, and power of Master of the Land from Susanoo, but then he went and abandoned all that. Onamuji expresses surprise at hearing that, and Daikoku says the only thing of his he kept was his memories of disgraceful and humiliating defeat. Nothing else mattered to him anymore, and he laughs about them not belonging to him. But then Zhurong told him he actually envied his impure past because of how dirty it was. He saw it as proof of Daikoku's identity, so Daikoku says he'll lose his pride as himself if he doesn't lift a finger to help Zhurong now. You either express sympathy for Daikoku, ask what he meant by abandoning things besides his humiliation, or accuse him of being in it for himself. C has an extra line of Daikoku cheerfully admitting his main driving motivation is doing things for his own sake.

Daikoku turns to Sarutahiko, first calling him by name before deciding to formally call on him as servant of the leader of the Kunitsukami Okuninushi, Sarutahiko no Mikoto. Sarutahiko is shocked at being referred to this way, and Daikoku brings up that he showed himself after the Transfer of the Land had happened. Sarutahiko looks guilty, and Daikoku says everyone doubted him and called him a traitor. He then says that Okuninushi knew that Sarutahiko did a great job of cleansing away the end of the Kunitsukamis' defeat, to Sarutahiko's surprise. If he hadn't done that, it would have just prolonged the indignity, and he did well guiding the celestial deities to settle things after the incident. Daikoku says Sarutahiko knew full well who Okuninushi really hated, and he commends him for bringing the Transfer of the Land to a clean stop.

Sarutahiko starts calling Daikoku Okuninushi, but Daikoku refuses the term of address and says he's just a man who threw away his past name. But now, he intends on borrowing the old shining power of Okuninushi and use it to help Okuninushi's pride and prompts you to come with him. You agree and lead the party forward, and everyone says they'll help Zhurong as the episode battle begins.