| After watching Ushio's replay of events on the beach (complete with the disturbing real-time intervention by Mother), Shadow Ushio, Shin and Sou try to make sense of things. "Ya took damage to your memories after fighting with Shiori's Shadow" Shin concludes, "It was turnin' ya into some kinda black mud". "But it couldn't completely erase me in time" Shadow Ushio (SU) replies. "I somehow restored my body from the leftover data and made it back here. Thanks to that, I could tell ya the truth". It starts raining and Sou understands why Shin insisted on bringing umbrellas. Shin is determined to go to the old Hishigata clinic ASAP; SU and Sou agree. Meanwhile, Tokiko is suspicious of a strange man who claims to be officer Miura of the Wakayama district's north station. Sou recalls how he once came to the old clinic as a lark but for some reason his father was at the run-down, 100 year old building. Inside, Sou finds a weird statue which Shin uses his I-phone to identify as Hiruko, the deity that the island's shrine is dedicated to. They find a key to a locked room. Ushio senses Shadows down there. They procede into what seems to be WWII era tunnels dug to defend the island. Shin vows to keep his childhood promise to protect Ushio. They find the telltale mark of a human who has been erased; Ushio says it happened long ago. She warns that a Shadow is just around the corner. Since he can afford to die, Shin takes the lead. They encounter a hideous thing that seems to have the top of its head cut off. With a mix of a nail gun handled by Shin, Ushio's skills, and Sou's baseball bat they kill it. Ushio senses this wasn't the first Shadow she detected. For some reason the arm wound Ushio suffered while fighting Shadow Mio begins to hurt and bleed again (she copied herself a new arm). Sou asks if she can copy a second nail gun for him to use. But when she copies machines they don't work as long as the original has not been erased. The team procedes to a cave where there is the smell of salt, perhaps from the sea. Suddenly Ushio senses countless Shadows--the same sort as the one they killed--all around them. |
| So, Shiori's Shadow tried to erase Shadow Ushio during the fight at the beach, but failed. It did manage to screw up her memory, at least temporarily. Where did Ushio copy herself a new arm from? Original Ushio had already been cremated by the time Shadow Ushio was injured, hadn't she? Maybe she still had the original data stored in her brain somewhere. The disgusting Shadows that the three encounter seem to cry like infants, which makes me wonder if this is some sort of secret breeding ground for new Shadows. |
