Chapter 74

A Special Child (特別な子) is the seventy-fourth chapter of The Promised Neverland.

Synopsis
Insight as to what happened to Norman is revealed.

Plot
Emma goes over the information she's been taught about the children who are not from Grand Valley; from what she knows, three out of all children are not from the farm, Emma being a Grace Field escapee, Lucas being a Glory Bell escapee, and Adam who no one knows about. Someone, most likely Violet, says that no one knows where he even came from. The symbol on his chest indicates he could be from a mass-production farm, but the symbol wasn't shown in the books about them. Emma then recollects information about the new farm in the west, and concludes that he could be from the farm there. The next panel cuts back to Adam, chanting 22194 again.

Meanwhile, as the Goldy Pond children go over their plan, a familiar face is shown elsewhere. Norman is woken up by his "doctor" over a screen, and does what seems to be a daily ritual: he checks his vitals, then is served breakfast once things prove to be in check. It seems as if he's always being watched by people, as when Norman drops his fork, someone is quick to replace it and send a new clean one through the same slot his food came through. From there, Norman is required to take a test much like the ones in Grace Field. Like always, he answers all questions correctly and carries on with his day, solving a Rubix Cube, reading a book, solving a puzzle, and completing a round of chess, growing sadder as he does so.

Norman admits that he misses his friends from Grace Field, mainly Emma and Ray. He expresses his worry for them as well, wondering if they were able to escape Grace Field safely, as well as the other children they took with them. A backstory is given of how Norman ended up where he is as of now, flashing back to his "shipment" day:

As Norman goes behind the gates with Isabella, she tells him to wait in a room off to the side rather than get killed by the demons upfront. As they enter, a tall human male waits for him in a clean and pristine room full of books. As it's revealed to Norman, the new man will now be his foster father. He introduces himself as Peter Ratri, and asks if he'll help him with his research. Despite agreeing to accept him as his father, Norman still knows deep down that this is a shipment, and that the man is working for the demons. Isabella's last words to him is to live a good life, as well as how much she loves him.

Norman now resides in Lambda ^ 7214 and views the facility as another cage. He asks many questions, like where are the other children? or ''where are the demons? ''He also gets conclusions to his room: there are six cameras watching and monitoring him at all times. Weapons or utensils are all plastic, so even if he wanted to use one against the researchers it wouldn't do much. Lastly, there is a tracking device right on his arm disguised as a bracelet; if he wanted to take it off, he couldn't. He comes to the realization that escape would be near impossible with all the before mentioned roadblocks.

However, this doesn't stop Norman from his goal: he plans on escaping and seeing the children again, knowing they're alive.

Trivia

 * This chapter marks the comeback of Norman being absent after 44 chapters
 * This chapter is the first we see of demons interacting with humans without eating them or hurting them in any way.