cereal and choccy milk!?

Source Text

Black Jack by Tezuka Osamu - Chapter 28: “Finger” (sealed chapter)
手塚治虫作「ブラック・ジャック」　28話『指』（封印回）

Links

Notion mirror / Complete Mangadex scanlation / meme

Info

Unlike many other of the sealed chapters, this chapter was sealed not because of direct controversy but because Tezuka was not happy with how it turned out (however, the depiction of people with polydactyly may also have been a factor). It got remade into 『刻印』“Imprint,” which was included in later collections and Vertical’s volume 5.

Chapter 28: “Finger”

Page 1

Subtitle: [Chapter 28] Finger
Text (right): A reunion with an old friend leads to a great catastrophe!!
Text (left): Critically acclaimed serial!!
Text (bottom): Tezuka Osamu

Page 2

3 Letter:
Dear Black Jack,
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
I’d like to meet and talk to you.
Let’s meet up on the 22nd at 2PM sharp
at Ueno Station Platform 12.
Please come [not visible].
- Makube Rokuro
4 Character A: Are ‘ya Dr. Black Jack? Let me show ‘ya the way.
5 B.J.: Where’s Makube? He said he wanted to meet me....
6 Character B: I’ll take ‘ya there.
7 B.J.: What a strange place to meet....
7 Character A: Heh heh... Don’t worry about it.

Page 3

3 B.J.: Makube!
3 Makube: Yep, Black Jack, it’s me! How many years has it been?

Page 4

1 B.J.: Seven years, since you left for America.
1 Makube: I see, seven years.... The day we parted ways feels like yesterday.
2 B.J.: When did you come back from the States?
2 Makube: Fufu, just two days ago. ...Here, let’s relax upstairs and have a chat.
3 Makube: This is just a hideout. After all, I’m being chased by the ICPO (International Criminal Police Organisation).
4 B.J.: ...You’ve changed so much, Makube! Come on, take off those shades.
5R Makube: Don’t mind these. More importantly...
5L Makube: Do you remember these hands?
7 B.J.: Of course.... It was back in middle school....
8 (B.J.): We were miserable, you and I. I was disabled, and you had a deformity.

Page 5

1 (B.J.): Your hands and feet each had six fingers and toes!!
2R Makube: Apparently it’s a deformity called “polydactyly.” I looked into it afterwards, and found out that it’s not so uncommon among deformities.
2L Makube: I even got my name, Rokurō, from that “sixth” finger. [T/N: The number six in Japanese is pronounced roku.]
3 B.J.: Yes, polydactyly isn’t all that rare. Some even speculate that in ancient times, all humans had six fingers.
4R (B.J.): When counting, we usually use base-10... but in England, they use base-12. In their currency, 12 pence is one shilling, and they measure weight and length in base-12, too.
4L (B.J.): That is why some say that long ago, the English may have had 12 fingers.

Page 6

1T (Makube): That’s right.... Because of my condition, everyone in class treated me like a monster; I was an outcast.
1R (Makube): Everyone would make fun of my hands when they saw them, so I always kept them in my pockets!!
1B (Makube): I tried so hard not to cry.
2R (Makube): But then I met you, a wheelchair user.
2T (Makube): There exists a saying: “misery loves company!!”
2B (Makube): You and I sympathized with each other and we became friends.... I remember we played together every day and comforted each other....

Page 7

1 (Makube): The two of us were by far the best students in our class.... That’s right; we perservered. We worked just as hard as we got bullied, enduring the pain....
2T (Makube): We wanted to put them to shame for what they did to us. We studied desperately, didn’t we.
2M (Makube): In time, you received surgery and became able to walk,
2B (Makube): And I assume that inspired you to become a doctor.
3T (Makube): After that, I recieved a scholarship and had a chance to enroll in an American college.... Our futures were brimming with hope.
3B (Makube): Then came the time for us to part our ways.

Page 8

1R Makube: Black Jack, I want you to cut my fingers off.
1L Makube: I want them to be amputated by your hands.
2 Makube: You got into med school, right? I’m sure you can cut off my fingers easily.
3 Makube: I want to lead a new life in America as a decent, five-fingered human being!!
4R (Makube): The surgery was a great success...
4L (Makube): And I departed, five-fingered.
5 Makube: A great success, I thought! Fufufu... Hahahahaha!
6 Makube: It sure was.
7 Makube: But I was expelled from college, and well... I ended up leading this way of life.

Page 9

1 (Makube): And now, people say that anyone in the underworld who doesn’t know my name is a poser.... Fufu... I’ve completely changed, if I say so myself.
2 B.J.: Guess you shouldn’t have amputated your fingers, Makube.
2 Makube: Maybe you’re right. ↵
If I had worked like mad with my six fingers, maybe I would’ve become a great scholar by now.
3 Makube: Those fingers changed my fate.
4R B.J.: So... Why did you bring me here?
4L B.J.: Don’t tell me you just wanted to reminisce about our childhood.
5R Makube: That’s right. I have a big favor to ask of you...
5L Makube: ...Dr. Black Jack, the great surgical genius.
6 Makube: Please, change my fingerprints!
7 B.J.: Fingerprints?
8 Makube: I’m a wanted criminal. I want to eliminate any evidence in case I get arrested.

Page 10

1R B.J.: Changing fingerprints is not as easy as you think.
1L B.J.: Even if you did, you can’t fool anyone with just that.
2R Makube: Of course, I will change my face and voice. That’s easy.
2L Makube: But changing my fingerprints is just something that only you can do!
3 B.J.: And if I say no?
3 Makube: I’m sorry, but that’s not an option anymore.
8R Makube: Either you perform the surgery for me, or you lose your life...
8L Makube: Although I’d rather not play these tricks with you.
10 (B.J.): Fine. We’ll do it at my house.
10 Makube: No! We’ll do it here. We’ve prepared all the equipment.

Page 11

1 (B.J.): You will exchange fingerprints with this man.
1 Character C: B- but Boss....
1 Makube: Follow the doctor’s orders!
2 B.J.: You can’t change fingerprints with a simple skin graft. However, it’s possible if you replace the entire finger.
2 Makube: That’ll do. Now come on, get to it.
4 B.J.: Feel anything...?
4 Makube: N- no, not a thing.... Hurry up and cut them off.im so tempted to make him say chop chop but he kinda wont say that
5 Makube: Let me have a smoke.
6 B.J.: Idiot! Who smokes cigarettes during their own surgery?
7 Makube: Light it....

Page 12

4 B.J.: The bandages can come off after a month. Most likely, everything will turn out well.
4 Makube: I appreciate it.... Let’s meet again.
5 Makube: Go see the doctor off!
6 Character B: From the Boss....
7T (B.J.): Is this money safe?
7B (B.J.): I’m asking if it’s “clean.”

Page 13

1 SFX: KER-BLAM!!or any explosion sound of your choice. this is a weird one. ka-blooey perhaps lol

Page 14

1 Character B: The deed is done....
1 Makube: Good.
2R Makube: It’s nothing personal; it’s all for the sake of erasing evidence.
2L Makube: Black Jack too was an unfortunate man, wasn’t he.

Page 15

1R Makube: We have no use for this hideout anymore.
1L Makube: Is the van ready? We’re moving out.
2 Character C: We haven’t healed yet, Boss. You’re bein’ reckless.
2 Makube: You can lie here until you feel better, then.
3 Character C: You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!! Please, take me with ‘ya!!
4 Makube: Of course. We’ll be back with the stretcher in a second.
5 Makube: Alright! Set it on fire.
6 Character B: But he’s still...
6 Makube: He has my fingerprints. I can’t let him go alive.
7 Makube: What a pity. If he weren’t fresh off the operating table, he could have run. Fufufu...

Page 16

1 Text: Paris Police
2 Text: Paris Police Department
3 News: It’s been a month since the arrest of Japanese international crime syndicate leader, Rokuro Makube, along with his subordinates, but he still denies any involvement in the crimes.
4 SFX: Fwip!
5 Makube: How about you let me go home soon, Mr. Inspector?

Page 17

1 Inspector: So you don’t admit to any of these charges: murder, smuggling, drug dealing, gambling, fraud, battery, bribery, human trafficking, pimping, or public urination?TvTropes - Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
1 Makube: Well, I’ve probably pissed in the streets once or twice.
2 Makube: Do you have any evidence that I’ve done any of that?
3 Makube: How about the fingerprints?
4R (Makube): None of them match mine.
4L (Makube): See, anyone can tell!
5 Inspector: That’s what I want to know! Why don’t they match!?
6 Inspector: These prints are the one piece of evidence that could send you to the guillotine; why don’t they match!?
7 Character D: Inspector! We got documents from Tokyo!
8 Inspector: Hm?

Page 18

1 Inspector: This photo is of you!!
2 Makube: Nice try, but no.
3 Inspector: Don’t play dumb! ↵
This is from when you were a student! ↵
And look at this...
4 Inspector: You were six-fingered back then! I take it that you amputated the extras before moving to America.
5 Makube: I’m sorry, but that’s a complete stranger.
6 Inspector: I even have fingerprints from your student days.
7 Inspector: These match the prints of the criminal!
8R Makube: I see you’ve collected a bunch of materials, Inspector, ↵
But that’s not gonna get you anywhere!
8L Makube: Of course, if you could find clear evidence that I used to be six-fingered...

Page 19

1R (Makube): Only then, things might change.
1L Makube: I’ll be going now.
3 Character E: Inspector, we got a parcel from Japan!
4 (Inspector): It looks like some kind of alcohol-perserved specimen.
5 Inspector: Makube! Are these yours?
6 Text:
Makube Rokuro’s
Sixth fingers
Doctor Black Jack
7 Makube: No.... No way...!

Page 20

1R News: X-rays confirmed that Makube’s hand and the set of sixth fingers match perfectly, and Makube finally admitted that the fingerprints from his student days were in fact his own.
1L News: It is only a matter of time before Makube confesses to the rest of his crimes.
2 B.J.: A friend, huh....
5 Text (same as p2.3, cut off a bit):
[...] Black Jack,
[...] een a while, hasn’t it?
[...] ke to meet and talk to you.
[...] meet up on the 22nd at 2PM sharp
[...] eno Station Platform 12.
[...] e come [not visible].
[...] kube Rokuro