Synduality: Noir – 09 – Not So Black and White

While driving through the rain on his way to Traders Nest with a sleeping Noir, Kanata witnesses gunfire outside: a lone Drifter taking out a Coffin that seems to be infected with a parasitic Ender. The pilot than hops out and walks through the rain without a protective suit, which is definitely abnormal.

Kanata continues on his way, and when he arrives at Traders Nest he immediately geeks out at all the stuff that’s for sale, particularly cheap second-hand Coffin components. Noir, borrowing Maria’s words, says that no matter how old they are, men can still turn into boys at the drop of a hat.

While Kanata does look like a boy in a metal candy shop, the pilot who walked through the rain strides in like a full-grown man, his very Noir-y looking Magus in tow. The shopkeeper says word is the guy is watertight and has been piloting a Coffin since the collapse of Amasia and is responsible for Amasia’s collapse.

Rumors also indicate the man knows his way around Magus memory, something Kanata is very interested in. But he’s so excited, he asks the man to talk to him without so much as introducing himself. The man walks off with his Magus without responding, leaving Kanata only with the knowledge that Noir is good at shoplifting.

That would have been that, except they run into the man’s Magus in the food market while she’s buying a ludicrous amount of soy sauce (and Kanata and Noir are admiring real organic bananas). The Magus, named Ada, is a lot friendlier than her master, Alba.

When Kanata describes Noir’s issues, Ada (voiced by Ishikawa Yui) says it’s normal for a Magus to reformat their memory after their previous contract is terminated. Unless Noir is from a lab during the “Amasia period”, Alba may be able to dig deeper into Noir’s primary memory. Noir wants to do this, because she believes there’s more to her than she currently is.

After Ada serves Kanata and Noir real coffee, Alba returns from an errand and grudgingly agrees to lend his know-how to potentially help Noir. The process will take some time, though not a full day, and Noir will be in Sleep Mode for the duration. Kanata need only stay by her side during the reboot.

The parasitic Enders pick this time to attack Traders Nest, and a trio of Magus-less Drifters are too weak to handle it, with one of them losing their life without much fanfare. Alba sorties with Ada and tells the remaining two Drifters to buzz off so he can do his job.

Ada unleashes “Ignition”, her Magus Skill, and incinerates all of the parasitic Enders in one fell swoop. Among the derelict Coffins is one from Amasia, so Alba checks it out, but insists on doing it alone while Ada stays in their Coffin.

When Noir comes to, Alba and Ada learn that Noir has no abnormalities, and that no further memory data exists within her system. However, they also learn that she’s essentially been operating in a constant state of overdrive. While it explains why she sleeps so much, it’s a little anticlimactic that that’s all we learn about her.

Noir apologizes for still being a “dud”, but of course Kanata doesn’t feel that way about her. If she doesn’t have any old memories, they’ll just have to keep making new ones, and snapping more photos along the way. In private, Ada makes mention to Alba of a “black box” within Noir that they could not open or decipher, so some mysteries yet remain within her.