Nanao's decoys and escape from Tangerine

Nanao's decoys and escape from Tangerine form a resourceful, improvised counterattack aboard the Shinkansen: unable to make the pursuit disappear, Nanao manipulates what Tangerine sees and where he looks, buying himself a chance to move through the train. The episode’s ingenuity lies in its modest materials—a pair of watches, a bottle, an umbrella, a length of packing string, and a wig—and in the narrow margins of time and space in which each can work.

A pursuit with no safe direction

After taking Lemon's gun and phone, Nanao considers whether to move toward the front or the rear of the train. Remembering where Tangerine is coming from makes one route untenable; moving the other way offers no real safety either, since Tangerine can follow. The problem is therefore not simply to choose an exit, but to create an opening in a confined space where both directions seem to lead back to his pursuer.

Nanao is also dealing with the consequences of his fight with Lemon. His arm hurts from a cut and from the blows he blocked, and movement brings more pain. He treats the cut with first-aid cream from his waist pack, then keeps planning rather than waiting for the injury to settle. The scene presents his improvisation as practical and pressured: he cannot make himself unharmed, but he can use the limited time to prepare.

Small devices, uncertain effects

Nanao sets the alarm on a digital watch to its maximum volume and chooses a time for it to sound. Because he cannot know exactly how long he needs, he sets a second alarm on another watch for ten minutes later. He places one beneath Lemon's seat and the other on the luggage rack above it. The two alarms are not a guaranteed solution; they are timed disturbances planted in different positions, intended to give Nanao another chance to influence what happens after he leaves.

Before going, he notices that the passenger seated near Lemon and Tangerine has not moved. Nanao touches the man’s shoulder, then checks for a pulse and finds none. The discovery adds an unexplained body to an already unstable situation, but Nanao does not stay to investigate. He notices a half-empty water bottle in the seat-back pocket, mixes in water-soluble sleeping medicine, shakes it, and puts it back. He does not know whether Lemon will drink it or whether it will work. The gesture is another contingency rather than a dependable plan: Nanao plants possibilities and moves on.

He then hurries toward car two. By this point, escape depends on more than speed. Tangerine is actively searching, and Nanao must make the train’s passengers, objects, and divided carriages work as obstacles to the pursuit rather than as a clear route to him.

Decoys in car one

Tangerine searches car one after a cross-dresser tells him that a young man with black glasses ran off with his wig. He checks the bathrooms and nearby luggage, including a sticker-covered suitcase and an open cardboard box containing a clear plastic container. The container is empty; for a moment, Tangerine wonders whether it might hold poison gas, but he closes it and continues his search. These distractions briefly occupy his attention without revealing Nanao’s location.

An open umbrella on an otherwise empty row catches Tangerine’s eye. At first it resembles a dark mass of hair; then he recognizes it as a compact umbrella arranged on the seats. A length of slightly frayed vinyl packing string runs across the aisle, tied to armrests and threaded low beneath the seats. Tangerine understands the arrangement as a paired misdirection: the umbrella draws his gaze, while the string could trip him if he advances carelessly. He recognizes that Nanao is trying whatever becomes available under pressure, not relying on a single elaborate device.

The decoy does not fool Tangerine for long. He steps carefully over the string and searches the car. A person wearing the wig ducks down at the back, but when Tangerine closes in, the wig-wearer raises his hands and pleads not to be hurt. Tangerine sees that this is not Nanao. The man explains that Nanao tried to take the wig, then gave him ten thousand yen. A nearby passenger begins to stand at the disturbance, so Tangerine releases the man and leaves him behind. The episode reveals that Nanao has enlisted a stranger—and cash—to make the false lead more convincing, but the disguise has not concealed Nanao himself.

The trail turns back

Tangerine keeps looking for the person who paid the wig-wearer. He asks a couple whether they saw who left the umbrella. The man is frightened, while the woman answers that a man wearing black glasses placed it there moments earlier. She believes he went back toward the front of the train, in the direction of car two. Her account gives Tangerine a fresh lead, but it also leaves him with a question: he has not seen Nanao pass between the cars he has searched.

The decoys therefore achieve a limited but meaningful result. They do not overpower Tangerine or guarantee Nanao’s escape; instead, they make the search less direct. The umbrella and tripwire consume attention, the paid wig-wearer creates a second false target, and the passengers’ observations redirect the pursuit toward car two. Tangerine recognizes the devices and keeps searching, but each explanation arrives only after he has spent time on the wrong possibility. Nanao’s advantage is temporary, assembled from small delays while he remains on the move.