Vanitas no Carte finally stepped off the gas a little this week.  It even slipped in a little backstory for a secondary character, and one which doesn’t seem strictly plot-essential at that.  Again, I find Mochizuki to be pretty good with the quieter moments (though in this case that term is relative) so for me this is a pretty decent tradeoff.  But we still managed to add to the seemingly endless pile of terminology to support the mythology, something she seems absolutely addicted to.

The basic theme here is “saving Chloe”, and you have to give Vanitas credit – he may be a troll of the highest order but he’s dedicated to his chosen vocation.  The first step is convincing Jeanne not to kill her (if she even could), and I’m not sure if that conversation played out exactly as it was depicted, or whether part of it was Jeanne’s fantasy.  That “I love you” seemed a bit direct, though perhaps it was Vanitas doing his best to be persuasive.

As it turns out Chloe was more than prepared to save Jeanne the trouble.  Her plan was to have her automatons kill her after her revenge against Naenia was complete, to “set Jean-Jacques free” (in her own words) at least in part.  Of course J-J wants nothing of the sort, but that’s why what Chloe was attempting to do is inherently a selfish and vain act.  The larger issue is that the closed world her malnomen has created is going to swallow everyone up forever if Vanitas doesn’t do something to stop it post-haste.

As for that backstory, it belongs to Astolfo.  We learn why he hates vampires so much – which tells us something about his character but as I said doesn’t seem like vital information in any obvious way.  As for the young vampire that used Astolfo as a product for his revenge I have no idea if he’s someone we’ve seen (or will see) as an adult, or a one-off.  And while I suppose one can’t blame Astolfo for being changed by that experience in the way he was, it does make him a rather transparent character as compared to most of the cast.

And then the inevitable name-dropping.  This time it’s “tearstone” – or divine tearstone to be exact.  That’s the essential ingredient for powering the WFAD, and it’s directly connected to Vanitas’ hand, as he’s able to use it to power the device after removing his glove.  Mochizuki series are always filled with innumerable named MacGuffins, and while some are more important than others she usually finds a way to recall them into the story at least a few times, so tearstone is a term I expect to be hearing again before this arc (and series) is over.