The Butler, Shaken (その執事、動揺, Sono Shitsuji, Dōyō) is Chapter 60 of the Kuroshitsuji manga.
Summary
Ciel Phantomhive is shocked when he hears from Sebastian Michaelis that the Undertaker has executed his incognito. But due to Undertaker keeping his eyes hidden, he had never noticed his true identity. Grelle Sutcliff agrees that they did not realize it either but there is no mistaking the yellowish-green glimmer in Undertaker's eyes, calling him a Grim Reaper. Undertaker casually notes that hearing himself being called that makes it nostalgic as it has been half a century since he was branded as a Grim Reaper.
Rian Stoker runs to Undertaker, demanding an explanation since Undertaker was the one who told him that he could control the corpses as long as he has the device. The latter takes it lightheartedly which exacerbates Rian further. He asks if it was all a deception, including going to America to spread the complete salvation. Undertaker remains indifferent, telling him that he thought it was amusing since Rian was seriously determined to try to revive the dead and was convinced that it was possible. Therefore, Rian was the ideal person for Undertaker's purpose.
Aleister Chamber is shown collapsed on the floor as they continue their conversation. Rian, however, states that it was their mutual goal to make the entire world healthy, but Undertaker corrects him, saying that it was Rian's goal. In addition, Rian cannot perform resurrection of human beings with the kind of medicine he currently possesses. From Undertaker's perspective, from the moment Rian relied on his skills, that cannot be called medicine anymore. The kind of a guy who would use a treatment he does not even apprehend the concepts of on his patients is no longer a doctor. Rian is crestfallen and sinks to his knees despondently. Undertaker pats Rian's head, telling him that he was a good boy who honestly believed in his story.
Ciel intervenes, saying that in other words, the mastermind behind the Aurora Society's human resurrection experiments is Undertaker. The latter remarks that he would have preferred to say it is a secret, but since Ciel has already performed the Phoenix pose, it compensated for a considerable amount of information, so he will tell him. Undertaker then admits that it was he who has made the moving corpses.
Ciel questions his reason for doing so, in which he replies that the preliminary reason was his curiosity towards humans. He describes humans as "a flesh body" and "a soul". If you combine these two together, one can exist amongst the living and keep on documenting their life memories in the Cinematic Record. And when the flesh body withers and the Grim Reapers collect their souls, the record ends there and the living become the dead. Consequently, the Grim Reapers take the soul from the body according to the list, causing an end of the ever-changing kaleidoscope. The same process would happen day by day, "peacefully" and "indifferently."
He had lived the life of a Grim Reaper for a long time, until one day, he was enlightened by the idea of what would happen if the end had a continuation, surprising Grelle and Ronald. Undertaker says that he was intrigued by the concept of what would happen to the flesh body if you were to connect a continuation to the memories that had come to an end without the soul. After all, the Grim Reapers only hunt the souls, when the body and the brain are that which retains the memories left in this world. Grelle asks if he edited the Cinematic Records and Undertaker suggests that he inspect the moving corpses' records with his own abilities.
Grelle does so, slicing one with their Death Scythe, to see two split Cinematic Records of when they were living and when they continued moving once dead. Right after the mark of the "end" at the end of the Cinematic Record, Undertaker appears in it with an apparent mustache and a cane. For the rest of the record, it is just Undertaker making random, goofy poses. Sebastian and Grelle are appalled by the contents with the latter showing more exasperation. Ciel, who cannot see the records, asks what is going on.
Undertaker informs that the end mark of the Cinematic Record arrives along with every death, but by adding fake records to them, he made it so that the end would never come. Somehow, the body mistakenly believes that life is still continuing and starts moving again without a soul, which interests Sebastian. All living beings instinctively try to fill up whatever they lack, for instance, if your body gets wounded, it will eventually close and heal, and if the spirit feels forlorn and lonely, one will seek others in order to fill the emptiness.
That is why the Bizarre Dolls also instinctively seek what they lack. In order to find a "soul", they will try to open up the bodies of the living in order to settle the balance of the never-ending Cinematic Record. Ciel concludes that that is the reason as to why the Bizarre Dolls pursued after their souls even though they have no hearing or sight. Undertaker comments that it is impossible for them to claim another's soul as theirs, though. He can tamper with the records, but it is beyond him to create a soul. He has done numerous experiments, but most of them never ameliorated from flesh dolls without a self. That is why he calls them not living and not dead, but rather "Bizarre Dolls".
Ciel grimaces, saying that Undertaker is perverse to willfully be determined to revive what belonged to the dead. Undertaker simply replies that, if the Earl cannot understand the beauty of it, then he is just too young. He holds one Bizarre Doll fondly, describing how the adroitly knitted skin as white as wax commensurates to when they were alive, and their mouths cannot clamor noisily nor tell lies anymore. Hence, they are far more beautiful in comparison to when they were still alive, and Ciel mutters that it makes him sick. Undertaker says that that is just Ciel's opinion since there are humans who wish for these Bizarre Dolls as well, astounding Sebastian and Ciel. These dolls do not feel pain or fear and they eat the living, craving for their souls. Undertaker muses that it is practically the best animal weapon there is, which shocks the rest of them.
The eccentric bunch of humans that wish for these Bizarre Dolls also wanted to see the extent of their abilities. As a result, they experimented by throwing the same amount of humans and Bizarre Dolls together on a luxury cruise ship in order to allow them to kill each other and see how many survive on each end, which Sebastian says is quite deranged. Undertaker admits that it was an unforeseen development to have crashed into an iceberg, though, since he has quit being a Grim Reaper so he no longer has the list in his custody. However, it did save him the trouble of making it sink himself, it is similar to catching two birds with one stone. Sebastian concludes that if that is so, the ship was never meant to head to America then. Undertaker tells him that, because of them, a lot more humans survived than anticipated, so he ponders whether or not he should be angry.
Grelle muses that the more Undertaker talks, the more they are ascertained that they cannot permit this to pass without interfering. Ronald agrees that a Grim Reaper distorting the way of "Death" is totally impossible. He envisages Undertaker and comments that he does not wear glasses, so he may be one of those "deserters" they occasionally see. The prior Grim Reaper says that he can be anything for all he cares, but it is against the rules to come to the human world and meddle with life and death matters. The quickest way to force him to spill some information on how to make the corpses move is to tie him up and hand him over to the bosses. Even more than against the rules is the crime of hurting Grelle's face, which is unforgivable.
Grelle attacks Undertaker with Ronald doing the same from behind, but he is kicked aside by Sebastian. Grelle demands to know the meaning of his action and the demon calmly replies that he will be in trouble if he allows them to haul Undertaker off. Ciel explains that they both also have a duty to present the truth before the Queen, so they cannot let him get away. Sebastian clarifies that he and Ciel would be the ones who take Undertaker into custody. Grelle counters that this is a problem between Grim Reapers, so the outsiders should stay away, in which Sebastian retorts that this is his job as a butler, so they are the outsiders who should stay away.
Grelle compliments that Sebastian is as "fascinatingly stoic" as always but, if he is intransigent on that matter, then they will not hold back either. In response, Sebastian remarks that the fact that something like "hold back" exists in Grelle's dictionary surprises him more than anything today. Ronald declares that they keep the contest simple and have the fastest be the winner, angrily claiming that he does not intend to lose to some old geezer.
Undertaker giggles, saying that it is like a rabbit hunt, but he wonders which rabbit is truly the one being hunted. Sebastian, Grelle, and Ronald then lunge from their positions towards Undertaker.
Characters in Order of Appearance
- Undertaker
- Ciel Phantomhive
- Sebastian Michaelis
- Grelle Sutcliff
- Ronald Knox
- Rian Stoker
- Aleister Chamber
- Margaret Connor
- Francis Midford
- Alexis Leon Midford
- Sophie Smith