TSKR Episode 7
Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan - Episode 7: Monday, Sunshower (岸辺露伴は動かない ～エピソード7 月曜日-天気雨～, Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai ~Episōdo 7: Getsuyōbi - Tenkiame~) is a "one-shot" manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki as part of the series Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan; starring Rohan Kishibe of Diamond Is Unbreakable. On his way to an appointment, Rohan discovers a mysterious, yet familiar phenomenon that puts his life in danger.
Summary
Rohan sits in a restaurant, using Heaven's Door on a chicken drumstick to examine how safe the chicken is to eat. He decides that it's safe, and begins talking, presumably to the audience, about the increased precipitation and flooding in Morioh. He changes the subject to discussing the global climate change and environmental destruction "from a more personal point of view." He reveals that when he was a child, he played on a rocky shore, where he once fell and broke his ribs. Now, whenever there's strong low pressure, the part of his body where he was once injured now aches. Rohan slams his smartphone onto the piece of chicken, and lifts it up, with the chicken now displayed on the screen, but he also shows how it's a perspective trick with another camera nearby. He then begins telling the story.
The scene shifts to Rohan in a train station, on the phone with an unnamed character, changing his meeting place with the person on the other line to S-City. As he leaves, a small man trips and falls as he walks by, accidentally getting Rohan wet with his umbrella. He walks off, muttering apologies. A larger man bumps into Rohan, telling him to "watch where he's going", and that Rohan "owes him an apology", but suddenly recognizes him as the famous manga artist. He then apologizes to Rohan himself, commenting that traveling by train "doesn't suit him", and proceeds to take a selfie with Rohan and his girlfriend, before walking off. Rohan calls after him to "wait", but notices he'd already gone, and wonders to himself what just happened. Soon after, he walks by an old lady on her phone, who trips and falls on the ground. Bystanders came in to assist her, and throw accusing looks at Rohan, thinking he'd tripped her. As he begins to defend himself, they noticed that she's clutching her chest, as if suffering from a heart attack. Someone else on their phone pushes by Rohan, stating that "he has to record the old lady struggling to get up". Someone else on their phone trips falls on Rohan, and quickly apologizes. Rohan scans the station, uneasy from the bizarre occurrences. Someone else on their phone bumps into Rohan. He then notices another man on their phone about to bump into him, and demands them to stop. The man on his phone suddenly takes notice of Rohan, and apologizes profusely. Rohan asks the man if he's walking carelessly because his phone was distracting him, but is hit by a woman with a stroller - also on her phone - into the railway, causing the woman to scream with horror; trains are arriving from both sides of the station.
Rohan thinks he's being attacked by an "enemy", as the man from before - now in a panic - yells at Rohan to grab his hand before he gets hit. Rohan decides that he can't trust him, but the man suddenly falls on the track on top of Rohan, who uses Heaven's Door on the man to give both of them a push, managing to bring them in between the tracks. Rohan reads the man's story, learning that he is not the enemy, but a normal office office worker with two kids - and a chronic disease - on his way home, and was someone who really did want to help. Rohan thinks an enemy is still out there, and that some force had pushed him onto the track, and wanted him to stay there. The man realizes what is happening to Rohan, as the same thing had been happening to him all afternoon: people on their smartphones keep bumping into him, and apologize immediately afterwards. Rohan asks if "someone" keeps hitting him, but he says that it's not "someone", but "everyone".
The police arrive, yelling for someone to hit the emergency stop button, while one tries to help Rohan and the man off the tracks. However, the man tells Rohan not to trust him, because he's holding a phone. Rohan turns the policeman into a book and realizes he isn't dangerous, but as he grabs his hand, he falls onto the tracks with them, as well as the woman's baby. The policeman tries to get to the emergency stop button, and asks someone to contact the train drivers, but everybody on the platform starts tripping and falling on the tracks. Rohan yells at everyone to run to the opposite platform, but when they can't climb up, they all go in the space under the platform.
Rohan then realizes the problem: everyone with their phones are moving towards the man who fell on the tracks with Rohan. As he realizes this, insectoid creatures crawl out of everyone's smartphones, and onto the man. The present Rohan narrates that these creatures are a new species of insects that were largely unknown, but their existence would be announced by scientists a few years later as Coire electricus lawrencinia (コーイレ・エリクトリカス・ロレンチーニャ, Kōire Erikutorikasu Rorenchīnya). First appearing in East Asia, lawrencinia make their homes in the circuits of electronics, feeding on electromagnetic waves. These insects are able to detect organisms with a weak heart, and will attempt to approach them. Phone users are susceptible to manipulation, because of the bioelectricity generated by the heart, brain, and muscles. When Rohan turned the man into a book, he was unable to read about his heart conditions due to the situation they were in, and laments that he was a good person who tried to help him, and that there's nothing he could do for him at that point. The insects kill the man, harvesting his bioelectricity - the only casualty out of everyone who fell. Rohan reveals that he had stopped the train by ordering a passing truck to block the way, writing the command on one of the staff members. As the story closes, Rohan is seen helping people back onto the platform, and handing the baby in the stroller back to its mother. The narrating Rohan then closes by noting how rainy it's been, and that the population of some insects seems to be multiplying as well. He passes by the old woman from before, and she is swarming with Lawrencinia. The traffic had gotten even worse, prompting Rohan to cancel his next meeting. It ends with him stating that he has an idea for his next manga.
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