Baccano! Manga Chapter 012

The title of Chapter 012 is "Ennis."

Official Blurb
An encounter with Isaac and Miria has Ennis reflecting on exactly who—and what—she is...

Characters in order of Appearance

 * Ennis
 * Isaac & Miria
 * Dallas Genoard, James, Scott, and their fourth companion
 * Szilard Quates
 * Superintendent Veld

Synopsis
Ennis mulls over the existence of Paracelsus' alleged complete homunculus, a being that supposedly was confined to a flash in exchange for all knowledge. As someone who has only ever been given the bare minimum of knowledge, she wonders but cannot hope to understand what it would be like to have the entirety of it.

We return to the present of November 1930, where Ennis has just taken out Scott—Miria Harvent's captor—with one powerful kick. Now free, Miria rushes to where Isaac Dian is groaning and crouches by his side; Ennis, meanwhile, demands the location of the stolen Cure-All Elixir from Dallas Genoard and his friends. When they respond with physical violence, she does the same.

As she fights, she thinks back to when Szilard transferred combat knowledge to her. Though she had never fought before, she understood the knowledge he gave her perfectly. At the same time, she was forbidden to listen to the radio or read books, nor was she taught anything about ethics or law. She had not cared at the time; her entire world entailed her doing whatever Szilard told her to do in exchange for her continued existence. Ennis takes down Dallas—the last man standing—with a precise kick. As he falls, she reflects that even with her upbringing, she still feels sympathy for the men she just trounced—they are fated to become Szilard's pawns. Noting that she has never before thought this way, she decides to at least avoid the well-to-do couple who fled the scene.

Just then, the supposedly absconded couple rushes over to praise her skills. Isaac thanks her as he smoothes back his tousled hair, but she is more preoccupied with the thought that for some reason, the couple did not try to escape. Upon dubbing her a heroine, they ask how they can repay her kindness; since this is the first she has ever been thanked, she concludes that she has no other choice but to accept their help.

The couple eagerly carry out her request that they help carry the four men to her car, after which she thanks them in turn for their assistance. Isaac insists that they have not down nearly enough to repay her yet – and then remarks that her automobile looks an awful lot like the one that hit him and Miria earlier that day. With a jolt, she recognizes them as the couple she had indeed hit with her car.

Isaac asks Ennis what she going to do with the men, and she lies that she is going to take them to the police. Without hesitation, he and Miria wish her goodbye; having committed multiple 'bad deeds', neither of them are keen to risk encountering the police. Even so, they do believe they have done wrong; as such, they are currently undergoing a journey of atonement in which they do good deeds in order to make up for all the bad deeds they have committed.

Ennis clenches her fists at this revelation, murmuring that she is 'hopeless' when compared to the couple and their incredible strength. She confesses that she is terrified of facing her own sins, remembering with sharp clarity how she had once devoured an alchemist looking for Szilard. It was through devouring that man that she came to know humanity for the first time—and to understand the gravity of what she had done.

She is shaken from her thoughts when Isaac asks if she is all right. Though she affirms that she is, her still troubled countenance leads him and Miria to assure her that her actions just now make things 'even': no matter what bad deeds one does, in committing just one good deed they will find that people think they are a good person. Through this logic, Ennis must be a good person because she saved their lives. If she is not convinced, all she has to do is carry out even more good deeds.

Their kindness moves Ennis to thank them, her mouth curving into a small smile. Introductions are exchanged as Ennis climbs into the driver's seat of the automobile, and Isaac and Miria assure her that they will see her again someday before seeing her off with waves and smiles.

As Ennis drives away, she admits to herself that she would like to see them again too—but that the likelihood of it is not very high. It was with them that she was able to genuinely smile for the first time, after all; with tears filling her eyes, she supposes that it was also the first time she had ever cried.

Once she reaches Szilard's hideout, she brings the four men inside and injects them with the incomplete elixir. The men wake to find themselves bound and on the floor, with Ennis, Szilard, and Szilard's followers all watching them. Szilard curtly introduces himself, announces that he will kill them after he asks a question, and then devours Scott where he lies.

The three survivors are shocked into silence as he rifles through Scott's memories. When he is finished, he turns to Dallas and suggests that they make a deal. Looming over Dallas' prone form, he asks a single question: "How would you feel about fighting the mafia?"

Trivia

 * This chapter is the only time that Ennis' murder of the alchemist has ever been illustrated. As such it reveals that the alchemist she murdered was not Zank Rowan, who had previously been widely assumed by fans to be the alchemist in question.