Volume 4

I Want to Live (きたい) is the fourth volume of The Promised Neverland series.

Synopsis
Just as the plan to escape the orphanage is coming together, Mom viciously breaks Emma's leg and reveals that Norman's days are numbered. Emma and Ray will do anything to save their friend from being eaten by the demons, but can they outsmart their devious foe?

Plot
Volume four of The Promised Neverland sees their plan shattered before their eyes. Norman’s ship date is scheduled to be the following evening so a new plan was concocted that would allow only Norman to escape. Ray was either going to injure himself or catch a cold to prevent himself from becoming Norman’s replacement. Norman succeeds in climbing the wall but things took a grim turn when he realized the true layout of Grace Field House. There are multiple walls forming a hexagon with the surrounding plants all adjacent to each other. There is only one route of escape: a bridge on the north side which is connected to headquarters. Surrounding the entirety of the hexagon is a giant cliff, meaning that escape over the wall is impossible. Norman reports back and feels that the only objective is to sacrifice himself and become food so that everyone can escape. Ray mentions that he still has his trump card up his sleeve. Obviously, Emma is against Norman’s thinking but Norman cannot be swayed.

We take a two-month time skip and arrive the night before Ray’s 12th birthday. It is revealed that Ray was the special feast being prepared for the demons but his trump card is to burn himself alive, causing a distraction to allow everyone to escape; however, before Norman got shipped out, he had other plans to put into motion. Thanks to getting information out of Sister Krone, Norman found out how to disable the tracking devices and how to get everyone out of the house. He discovered Ray’s plan to start a fire and left very specific instructions for Emma to carry out.

The night of Ray’s 12th birthday, everything was revealed. Norman had secretly informed all of the children of the plan through various methods all while not alerting Isabella. The escape went off without a hitch… except for one little problem. Phil stayed behind.

Cover and Volume Illustration
The cover has the logo of the series in a blue color at the top. Norman, Emma and Ray lies on their back in a puddle, with a reflection of the Grace Field House. Their face displays a concerning look.

Chapters

 * 026. I Want to Live (きたい)
 * 027. Won't Let You Die (なせない)
 * 028. Concealment, Part 1 (①)
 * 029. Concealment, Part 2 (②)
 * 030. Resistance
 * 031. Emptiness
 * 032. Action, Part 1 (①)
 * 033. Action, Part 2 (②)
 * 034. Action, Part 3 (③)

Author Notes
Even if you know how things are going to go, it's tough to draw the facial expressions of a character making dificult decisions or feeling despair.

But obviously that's a good thing.

The next volume is going to be even more exciting.

See you again soon.

Writer Shirai's personal hihglights for The Promised Neverland fanatics, part 3:

1. A hint about the secret to the system(?) of the neck numbers is hidden somewhere in this volume.

2. Ray had decided at a young age to read all of the books in the house before he turned 12 years old. So the book he's holding in chapter 32 is the final one that he just finished reading.

Okay, please enjoy the volume!

Trivia

 * The inside cover of the volume is one of the many fisheye illustrations done by Posuka Demizu. Other fisheye illustrations done by the latter include:


 * In volume 4's cliffhanger, Phil drawn by Posuka wasn't just cute but had an indescribable, disturbing air around him. Sugita says Phil was like a mysterious character whose scenes wouldn't be brought up (by the author or the artist) in the meeting conversations, but he would eventually appear in the chapters.