What is it you can never catch up to? Again, “death” seems an appropriate answer, since to catch up with something means outrunning it, and there’s no outrunning death…unless you have Highlander Syndrome, which is like Dorian Gray’s condition without the picture.
This week’s assassin, Shutou Suzu, has it, so she’s always ahead of death. But immortality has a cost: she’s “stuck” at such a young age, the man she loved grew old and left her behind, and died. At this point, his grandchildren may have died of old age too. She’s forgotten exactly how old she is.
This gives Suzu the most fascinating background so far. Her reward if she kills Haru is also unique: to be allowed to age normally and die. Mind you, she’s not suicidal; she merely wants the ability to grow old at the same speed as everyone else, which means she still has her whole life ahead of her.
Her manner of “assassinating” Haru is also novel: rather than slug it out with Tokaku (and, if we’re honest, Haru herself, who’s no slouch) in a physical fight, she challenges them to a battle of wits instead. The bomb collar on a timer is very apropos; when the clock runs out on Haru, it will finally start back up again for Suzu.
This being Akuma no Riddle, riddles provide clues as to the whereabouts of the four playing cards containing the numbers of the code that will disarm the bomb. The cards are scattered about the school’s…er…water park, making this ostensibly a pool episode, but it doesn’t make a big deal of it.
Strangely enough, Haru’s life is really saved thanks to Mizorogi-sensei, who crashes the party to wish Suzu a happy birthday (having read her DOB on her dossier). That, combined with Suzu mentioning her true love was only a day younger than her originally, gives Tokaku the fourth an final number. That’s after the card was lost when Haru used it to save Tokaku from a watery grave, during which they share their first kiss.
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