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Main story
At the beginning of the series
Kenzō Tenma is a promising young neurosurgeon at Eisler Memorial Hospital in Düsseldorf, Germany. The hospital's director, Udo Heinemann, saw Tenma's skills as a surgeon and took him under his wing. Through this partnership, Tenma was soon introduced to and became engaged to the director's daughter, Eva Heinemann — an arrangement promising a bright and lucrative future ahead of him.
Tenma is accosted by the Turkish woman.
One night, Tenma is called into the hospital for emergency surgery on a Turkish construction worker. Just as he is about to begin, he is ordered to operate on a famous opera singer instead. The surgery is successful, but the same cannot be said for the Turkish man, who dies during the operation. The next day, Tenma is confronted by the Turkish man's wife. She reprimands him for not operating on her husband, who arrived before the singer, causing him to have a moral crisis.
Later that evening, while having dinner with Eva, Tenma, unable to get the situation off his mind, attempts to discuss it with her. She initially brushes him off, and Tenma concludes that he isn't to blame for the man's death and that he was simply following orders. Eva agrees, remarking that not all lives are equal, which only serves to disturb Tenma further.
After dinner, Tenma drops Eva off at her father's house and is invited in for tea. They discuss Tenma's family and upcoming marriage. Then, the topic turns to a research paper Tenma had been working on, which Heinemann promptly states is canceled. He tasks Tenma with writing a different paper for him and mentions a protest regarding the hospital prioritizing high-status individuals. Heinemann and Eva believe the protest to be ridiculous and pressure Tenma to agree, which he hesitantly does.
Turning point
Dr. Oppenheim giving Tenma the phone with Udo Heinemann on the line.
That same night, Tenma is called into the hospital to perform an operation on a young boy with a gunshot wound to the head. The boy's twin sister has also been brought in, and is physically unharmed, but in a severe state of shock. While Tenma is prepping for surgery, he is once again called away by the director and ordered to perform surgery on a higher-priority patient - the town's mayor. He acquiesces, but finds himself haunted by the moral dilemma he has been experiencing, and finally opts to return to the boy's surgery. Tenma is able to save the boy's life, but the mayor ends up dying. Tenma is heavily criticized by his colleagues and superiors for not assisting with the operation, going so far as to blame him for the mayor's death.
After returning home, Tenma learns from the news that the twin siblings are Johan and Anna Liebert, children of trade advisor Michael Liebert, who was murdered along with his wife.
Two days later, Tenma attends a business banquet for the hospital. After attempting to apologize to Heinemann, he is denied promotion and told that he should consider his career over. Tenma leaves the banquet and runs into Eva, who insults him and breaks off their engagement. He then returns to the hospital to check on Johan, who is comatose, and takes the opportunity to vent his frustrations to the boy. His agitation culminates with him expressing that the director should die.
Tenma continues working at the hospital, but is not treated with the same respect that he was before. Despite being overworked, he doesn't mind his new position, being able to focus on saving lives without worrying about hospital politics.
While doing his rounds, Tenma hears a scream from nearby. Upon investigation, he sees his colleagues dragging an unconscious Anna out of Johan's room and demands to know why they were allowed to see each other, as he did not authorize this. He is then informed by another doctor, Boyer, that the director has removed him from being in charge of Johan's care, and that they plan to use the children to repair the hospital's reputation. Tenma is outraged, but upon seeing Johan's emotional reaction to his sister, he relents. He later sees Eva at the hospital, but when he tries to approach her, he is ignored in favor of the new man she is with.
Death of the three doctors
Tenma goes out drinking to drown his sorrows. After returning home, he is woken up at an early hour by the police, who inform him that Director Heinemann, Chief of Surgery Dr. Oppenheim, and Dr. Boyer have been murdered. When Tenma arrives at the hospital, he discovers that Johan and Anna have vanished.
At the director's funeral, Tenma is met by an officer of the BKA (the federal criminal police office of Germany), Heinrich Runge, whom is investigating the case. He tells Tenma that the victims were all poisoned by candy laced with a muscle relaxant, and that the children are still unaccounted for.
Tenma contemplates returning to Japan, but his patients and colleagues beg him to stay. Tenma is called into a meeting with the board to discuss succession of personnel, and, much to his surprise, learns that he is being promoted to head of the surgical department. Later on, Eva invites Tenma to a café to meet up. She expresses the desire to get back together, but he turns her down and promptly leaves.
Adolf Junkers
Nine years pass. One evening, Tenma is called to perform an operation on a man who received a head injury from being hit by a car. When he arrives, he runs into Runge, who is investigating the man - Adolf Junkers - for his suspected involvement in a series of killings that have been occurring throughout Germany. While Junkers is recovering, Tenma attempts to speak with him, but he is incoherent and speaks only of a "monster" that he believes is coming to get him.
Junkers is reluctant to speak with the police, and when asked who hired him, he becomes greatly distressed. Tenma declares the questioning over, and orders Runge to leave. Runge obliges, but implies that he is suspicious of Tenma, which irritates the latter. Tenma then takes Junkers outside to get some fresh air, and the two discuss life and how people can change for the better. Tenma suggests that Junkers confess to the police, but Junkers recalls how his partners were killed and reacts with fear.
Later that evening, while Tenma is on the way to a date arranged for him by a colleague, he is sidetracked by a clock in a shop window similar to one Junkers mentioned during their conversation. When he finds his date has already left, he returns to the hospital to present the gift to Junkers, only to find Junkers missing and the guard posted outside his room dead with a candy wrapper next to his body. Tenma begins chasing after Junkers and follows him to a parking garage.
Junkers warns Tenma that his "employer" is after him, and is afraid he will kill Tenma as well. When Tenma eventually finds Junkers, he finds another man present, who quickly reveals himself to be Johan. Junkers explains that Johan is the "employer" who killed his partners. Johan then reveals to Tenma that he was the one behind the killings of the director and the surgeons, and that he did so to fulfill what he believed to be Tenma's wish. Tenma, frozen with shock, can only watch as Johan shoots Junkers to death and leaves the building.
Tenma later gives his testimony to Runge. Though Runge still seems suspicious of Tenma, he lets him go.
Investigating Johan and finding Nina
Tenma begins looking into the twins and the serial killings, and discovers that, strangely, Anna was not present with Johan when he was staying with different foster families. Tenma eventually meets a blind man who claims to have known Johan when he was younger. Tenma learns from him that Johan was planning to reunite with his sister on their 20th birthday, and that she is currently residing in Heidelberg.
Tenma starts trying to track down Anna's current family and turns to the Heidelberg Post for help, with the reasoning that when Johan left his sister behind, there would have been a newspaper article reporting his disappearance. He shares his story with journalist Jacob Maurer, and though Maurer doubts the validity of what Tenma has told him, he allows him to look through their archives nonetheless. With Maurer's help, Tenma is able to find the article and information on the family - now known to be the Fortners. They further discover that the current day is the twins' birthday, much to Tenma's alarm.
With this revelation, the men hurry to the Fortners' home, but find that Anna - now going by Nina - has already left. Her parents inform them that she has gone to meet a "friend" at Heidelberg castle. Tenma takes off to catch up with her, leaving Maurer behind with the Fortners to call the police.
Tenma finds Nina at the castle, but when he tries to leave with her, they are stopped by a gardener who has been hired by Johan to make sure that Nina doesn't get away. The man attacks Tenma, but Nina is able to subdue him with martial arts, and they bind his wrists with Tenma's tie. They question the man, but all he can tell them is that his employer had something else to take care of before picking up Nina. Tenma realizes that Maurer and the Fortners are in danger, and he and Nina leave to return to her home.
Upon arriving at the house, they find that the police have not arrived, despite Maurer's promise. Inside, they discover the bodies of Maurer and the Fortners. Tenma attempts to resuscitate them, but is unsuccessful, and left devastated by Maurer's death, while Nina goes into a state of shock. When Tenma tries to call the police, he discovers that the phone line has been cut. As they are about to leave, two police officers, Detectives Müller and Messener, arrive and offer to drive them to the police station. During the ride, Tenma gradually becomes more suspicious of the officers until he finally notices blood on Messener's coat.
They eventually stop at a police checkpoint on a bridge, and Tenma takes the opportunity to step out of the car under the guise of getting Nina some fresh air. The tension comes to a head when one of the detectives refers to Tenma as "doctor", despite Tenma not having introduced himself as one. In an effort to escape, Tenma jumps off the bridge with Nina into the river below.
The next morning, the two are hiding out in a shack in the forest. Nina explains what happened the night the Lieberts were murdered, revealing that Johan was the one who killed them, and that he made her shoot him. Tenma attempts to go to the police to tell their story, and while he's there, learns that the gardener at the castle was killed. He is then forced to flee when the detectives from the previous night show up. When he returns to the shack, he finds that Nina has gone missing and spends some time searching for her to no avail, but eventually discovers a note she left behind encouraging him to move on.
Fugitive
Tenma returns to Düsseldorf and continues his work at the hospital. One day, he is approached by Eva, still wishing to get back together with him. When he again turns her down, she threatens to talk to the police, revealing that his tie is evidence in the gardener's murder case. Her threats fail to provoke him, and he ignores her, only furthering her ire. Tenma then turns in his letter of resignation. The police, having been tipped off by Eva, soon arrive at the hospital to apprehend Tenma, but are stopped by his former patients, giving him time to escape.
Tenma begins formulating a plan to kill Johan. As he has never used a gun before, he decides to undergo marksmanship training under Hugo Bernhardt, a former soldier. Over a period of five months, Bernhardt puts him through physical training and teaches him how to aim and shoot a gun, along with teaching him the responsibility that comes with using a gun.
During this time period, Tenma becomes acquainted with a young girl who has been living with Bernhardt. Bernhardt had killed her mother in self-defense some years ago, and took the girl in as penance for his actions. Since living with him, she had not smiled or spoken to him once. Tenma is able to indirectly improve their relationship after making the girl laugh for the first time in years.
After he became proficient in using firearms, Tenma travels to Verden to investigate the recent murder of the Springer couple, which he believes Johan may have been involved in. When he arrives at the Springers' residence, he runs into Otto Heckel, an opportunistic thief who was looking for valuables in the home. The two are forced to flee when the police arrive after having been alerted to Tenma's presence in the area.
After their escape, Heckel suggests Tenma work as an underworld doctor. Tenma initially refuses, but Heckel convinces him by claiming to have seen the murderer. Heckel, on Tenma's request, leads him to where the suspect lives. When Tenma insists on speaking with him, Heckel reluctantly follows. The man begins telling them about how he met a beautiful blond man named "Erich", who lived with the Springers, and introduced the man to them. Once "Erich" eventually tired of living with the Springers, he requested the man kill them. When the man finishes telling his story, he informs Tenma that "Erich" has left a message for him in the Springers' house. The man then promptly shoots himself in the head.
Tenma and Heckel return to the house, where they eventually discover Johan's message, which mentions a "monster" inside of him.
After they leave, Heckel forces Tenma to take on his first job. Tenma is brought to a secluded cottage, where he is tasked with treating a man with a gunshot wound. He quickly figures out the men in the cottage are terrorists who had carried out an attack just that morning, and refuses to treat the man. Tenma is repeatedly threatened by the man's associate, but only chooses to treat the man after he expresses a fear of death. After treating the man, Tenma prepares to take him to the hospital, but the police arrive, having been tipped off by Heckel for a police reward, and the terrorist insists Tenma leave him behind.
Dieter
Tenma and Heckel part ways. Tenma then travels to Berlin and begins looking into the Lieberts. He learns of a connection to an orphanage known as 511 Kinderheim, and follows that lead to a long-abandoned building, where a passerby directs him to talk to Hartmann, a former health minister. On the way to Hartmann's apartment, he runs into a young boy with an injured arm. He treats the boy and continues on his way.
Tenma arrives at Hartmann's apartment, and the two discuss Hartmann's work and knowledge of 511 Kinderheim. Hartmann mentions an "incident" that occurred at the orphanage, but is unable to elaborate when interrupted by the boy from earlier, now revealed to be his foster son, Dieter. Hartmann invites Tenma to stay for dinner, and while talking over dinner, Tenma learns that Dieter wishes to have a soccer ball. After the visit, Tenma heads to a shop to buy a soccer ball for Dieter, and returns to the apartment with it.
Just as he arrives, he hears Dieter crying out from inside, and rushes in to see Dieter lying injured on the floor. Hartmann claims Dieter injured himself playing, but when Tenma examines him, he finds numerous scars, bruises, and broken bones more in line with physical abuse than play. Hartmann informs Tenma that he has recognized him and called the police, and Tenma flees with Dieter to take him to the hospital.
Dieter expresses a fear of going to the hospital, but Tenma comforts and reassures him, and presents him with the soccer ball. They arrive at the hospital, and Tenma requests that the nurse not let Dieter leave with anyone but him. Recalling what Hartmann mentioned regarding the orphanage Nina had been taken to, he heads there, planning to have Dieter placed there after his treatment. While there, he meets with social worker Erna Tietze and inquires about Nina and Johan. He also learns more about 511 Kinderheim and the government experiments that had taken place there, including Hartmann's direct involvement. Tietze also mentions the "incident", explaining that a massacre had taken place wherein the instructors and children all went mad with rage and murdered one another.
Tenma returns to the hospital to find Dieter gone. A nurse explains Hartmann returned and took Dieter away. Tenma goes to Hartmann's apartment, but finds it empty. He uses the opportunity to look for clues, and discovers photographs of Hartmann with different children at 511 Kinderheim. Included amongst the pictures is a photograph of Johan with an unknown man.
Tenma goes back to the abandoned 511 Kinderheim, where he finds Dieter severely beaten in a chair, with Hartmann standing beside him. Hartmann begins speaking to Tenma about Johan and reveals that Johan was the orchestrator of the massacre. When Tenma implies that Johan's behaviors are a result of the experiments, Hartmann corrects him, stating that Johan was set in his ways prior to his arrival at the orphanage. It is revealed that Hartmann has been attempting to mold all of his previous foster children, including Dieter, into being more like Johan, but has been unsuccessful. Tenma and Hartmann get into a standoff, culminating in Tenma forcing Dieter to make a choice between going with him or staying with Hartmann. Dieter ultimately chooses to go with Tenma, leaving Hartmann in utter despair.
The following day, Tenma has given Dieter a registration form for Tietze's orphanage, and attempts to leave him at a bus stop. Dieter, however, is not interested in going to the orphanage, opting instead to follow Tenma, despite Tenma's protests.
Petra and Schumann
While traveling along the highway, Tenma and Dieter come across an injured man and carry him into a clinic in a nearby town. Tenma examines and treats the man, and as the man had no money, Tenma leaves behind compensation for the treatment. Tenma and Dieter then head to a local restaurant for lunch, where they are approached by the town's doctor, Schumann, who is irritated with Tenma for his charity. Tenma notices a police officer walk into the restaurant and prepares to leave, but is stopped by Schumann, who covers for him as thanks for his help. Schumann then requests Tenma to help him examine his other patients, and Tenma obliges.
The final patient, Petra, is particularly stubborn and does not wish to be treated, but Tenma is able to get through to her. As he examines her, he notices a number of concerning symptoms before she suddenly collapses. Knowing there is no time to call for outside help, Tenma and Schumann make the decision to operate at the clinic. During the operation, they are interrupted by the police officer from earlier, who had arrived at the clinic because he is Petra's son. Now knowing Tenma's real identity, he attempts to arrest him, but is eventually talked down by Schumann and thrown out of the room. The operation is successful, and Schumann is able to convince the officer to let Tenma go.
Tenma and Dieter prepare to leave town, but are again stopped by Schumann. Schumann tries to convince them to stay, and Tenma attempts to leave Dieter in the town. As Tenma walks away, Schumann decides to let Dieter go, believing him to be a good influence on Tenma.
Thwarting a neo-Nazi plot
Tenma, having left Dieter in the care of Heckel, meets up with Messener in Frankfurt to learn who hired him to kill the Fortners. Messener tells Tenma about his involvement with "the Baby", a far-right extremist and prominent figure in the neo-Nazi community, and where to find him. Messener also reveals that Nina approached him previously, and that he directed her to the Baby, as his group wishes to use her as bait to lure Johan to them.
Tenma makes his way to a bar used as the Baby's base of operations, but is stopped outside by a prostitute searching for a friend of hers who had been kidnapped by the Baby's men. When Tenma inquires about Nina, she tells him that she had seen Nina taken away in a car. Tenma heads out to follow her trail, but is hit by a car with the Baby inside, and is taken away.
Tenma awakens in a basement, where the Baby interrogates him and reveals his plan to burn down the Turkish quarter. During the interrogation, two men arrive to take Tenma to Helmut Wolf, the man pictured with Johan at 511 Kinderheim. At the same time, Dieter is brought in by one of the Baby's men, having been captured while searching for Tenma. The Baby orders Dieter to be executed, but before the henchman can do so, he is shot dead by one of Wolf's men.
The men take Tenma and Dieter in a car to Wolf's residence, where Nina is also being held. During the ride, Dieter demands to be let out so he can warn the Turkish quarter of the impending arson. The men initially refuse, but are forced to oblige when Tenma threatens them with a gun. They arrive at Wolf's residence, where Tenma is intended to meet with Wolf and his associate Günther Göderitz, but they discover that Göderitz and his men have all been killed by Johan, and Nina is nowhere to be found.
Tenma and Wolf discuss Wolf's relationship to Johan. Wolf explains how he found the twins starving and half dead on the Czech border and saved their lives, then sending Johan to 511 Kinderheim. In the years that followed, Johan began killing off everyone close to Wolf, leaving him isolated. Wolf takes Tenma to see a message left by Johan in another room of the house, asking Tenma to meet him in a certain location. Wolf, aged and weakened by the stress and isolation, requests that Tenma kill Johan on his behalf.
While leaving, Tenma inquires about the prostitute's friend, but is told she was found dead, having been killed by one of Göderitz's men. The men begin to drive Tenma to the location Johan indicated, but Tenma demands to be taken back to Frankfurt to help Dieter in the Turkish quarter. Following directions given to him by Dieter, Tenma finds where the prostitute lives and finds out that Dieter never showed up. He also delivers the news of her friend's death. Tenma and the prostitute go to convince the town's representatives to start preparing for the attack. They are initially brushed off, but Tenma is eventually able to convince them with the help of an elder.
When the fires begin, Tenma does his best to assist with putting out the flames and organizing aid. He and the residents initially succeed, and Tenma begins treating the injured. Tenma comes across Heckel and inquires about Dieter's whereabouts, and Heckel informs him that Dieter and Nina have gone to an abandoned factory to prevent it from being set ablaze. Tenma demands to be led to the factory. When they arrive, Tenma finds Nina about to shoot a neo-Nazi wielding a lighter. Tenma tackles the man, knocking the lighter into a trail of gasoline that had been poured on the ground. The gasoline ignites, and Dieter grabs a rug Heckel was holding, using it to put out the flames. The police soon arrive, and they flee, with Tenma, Dieter, and Heckel escaping on a boat. Nina chases after them, telling Tenma there are "two Johans".
Tenma, Dieter, and Heckel arrive at the location Johan had mentioned in his message, where they find another message left by Johan saying that the "monster" inside of him is about to explode.
Multiple personalities
Tenma meets with former classmate Rudi Gielen, now a criminal psychologist, believing his input could be valuable in understanding Johan's motives. Tenma and Gielen later meet up at a carnival, where he shows Tenma a note revealing that the police are watching them, and they disappear into the crowd. Gielen admits his initial doubts about Tenma's story and explains what he discovered through his investigation, concluding that Tenma is innocent. Gielen then promises to prove Johan's existence and Tenma's innocence, and hands him a bus ticket to make his escape.
On the way to Munich, Tenma and Dieter hitch a ride with an English couple. While making small talk with the couple, Tenma learns that the husband is a former police officer. The car later runs out of gas, and they are left stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the countryside. A truck driver eventually passes by and offers to help but only has room for two in his truck. Tenma and Dieter go with the truck driver, promising to send help for the couple. They are unable to find a gas station to send help, but a local farmer gives them some gasoline, which they take with them and return to the couple.
That evening, they stop at a hotel, where the couple treats them to dinner. The next day, while continuing their journey, the couple suddenly pull into a police station. Tenma is alarmed, fearing the man has recognized him and plans to turn him in. The couple soon return, however, and they continue driving, but then the couple take another detour to visit a castle. Tenma learns the couple were on their way to see their son, and the husband reveals their son is in prison for murder. The couple drop Tenma and Dieter off in town, and they part ways.
Unbeknownst to Tenma, the man had indeed recognized him, but ultimately decided he was innocent after interacting with him personally.
Runge's trap
Tenma reads about a murder in Hamburg that seemingly matches Johan's M.O. and heads there to investigate. However, he finds that some details of the crime would not make sense if Johan were the killer, and he determines that it is the work of a copycat. As he is about to leave the crime scene, he is stopped by Runge, who had been informed of Tenma's presence. Tenma manages to escape, but Runge catches up to him. Runge suddenly collapses, and Tenma sees that he has been stabbed and is bleeding heavily. Tenma opts to take Runge to a hospital, but on the way there, Runge regains consciousness and handcuffs Tenma, leaving him unable to drive and causing the car to swerve off the road. Tenma drags Runge into a warehouse, where he demands Runge give him the handcuff key. Runge refuses and pulls his gun on Tenma, trying to coerce him into confessing to the murders, but again loses consciousness. Tenma is then able to find the key, remove his handcuffs, and treat Runge's wound before taking him to a hospital.
Getting a lead on Johan
Tenma accepts another job offer from Heckel to treat a mobster at his country home. While having lunch outside, the mobster tells Tenma, Heckel, and Dieter a story about an underground bank and how it fell apart after the person in charge disappeared. He reveals that the person in charge had been only 15 years old, raising Tenma's suspicions that Johan may be involved. When Tenma asks for more details regarding where the boy may have gone, the man admits that he doesn't know for certain, but that Munich may be a likely location.
When Dieter suggests inviting the mobster's bodyguard for lunch, Tenma encourages him to go retrieve him. While Dieter is gone, the mobster receives an alert on his pager indicating that something has happened to the bodyguard. Tenma chases after Dieter and finds Eva shot and bleeding when he arrives. Eva warns him that somebody is trying to kill him, but Tenma takes the risk to save her. After taking her back to the house and treating her, he and Dieter leave for Munich.
Assassination plot
Tenma arrives in Munich and reads a newspaper article regarding Richard Braun, a former police officer known for having shot a juvenile serial killer some years ago, who recently died under suspicious circumstances. Dieter recognizes the serial killer as being one of the children from 511 Kinderheim, leading to Tenma's interest in the case. He begins observing a former professor of his, Julius Reichwein, as he was also Richard's therapist. Tenma arrives at Reichwein's office just as Roberto, Johan's most devoted follower, is attempting to kill him. Tenma intervenes, causing Roberto to flee and saving Reichwein's life.
Reichwein takes Tenma and Dieter to a restaurant, where Reichwein is able to arrange lodging for them. Tenma explains why he is in Munich, and they discuss Richard's case. Reichwein reveals that Richard was investigating Johan, and Tenma proposes they attempt to see Johan in person to confirm that he is the same person Tenma knows. They head to the office of Hans Georg Schubart, expecting to find Johan there as he has been working as Schubart's secretary. Eventually, Johan does appear, and Tenma confirms his identity. Later, Tenma resolves to kill Johan and sends Dieter to stay with Reichwein.
Tenma illegally obtains a sniper rifle and spends the next several weeks preparing to kill Johan. He repeatedly follows Johan, Schubart, and Schubart's son Karl to their regular outings in the forest. However, Tenma struggles to cope with the reality of what he is planning to do, and neglects his health.
During one particular outing, Tenma finds an old man who had approached him previously lying on the ground injured, having hurt his ankle. Tenma helps him, and the old man begins recounting a story of his past. He tells Tenma he was a former soldier who had enjoyed coming to the forest to birdwatch, but that the birds disappeared from the forest after he shot a man there, and that he has been trying to make amends ever since. At the end of the old man's story, a bird lands on Tenma's arm, and the old man promises that blood will never be shed in the forest again. This statement appeals to Tenma's compassion, leading to him abandoning his plan to shoot Johan in the forest.
Book donation ceremony
After Tenma read in the newspaper about the killing of "Margot Langer" also known as Blue Sophie, his intuition told him Johan was involved, so he decided to talk to the first witness on the scene. The girl was an underworld doctor, and only seventeen years old. He helped her out with some of the patients then they had a conversation afterwards which confirmed his suspicions about whether or not Johan was involved. Following that he snuck into the University of Munich library with hopes of killing Johan at Schuwald's book donation ceremony the following day. Overnight, he had recollections of his own childhood.
Unfortunately for Tenma, his scheme to execute Johan did not follow through exactly as planned. Throughout the speeches, he assumed his position on top of the bookcase, waiting for the perfect opportunity to fire his gun. Instead firing a gun like he intended however, a real fire broke out and the civilians were all trapped within the library's locked doors. If it's any consolation, Tenma ended up shooting someone for the first time; he was faced with a "kill or be killed" situation between himself and Roberto, and shot the unlucky hit man off the library's balcony onto the floor, seemingly killing him. After, he shot off the doors' hinges, freeing all of the flames' captives. Instead of filing out with the others though, Tenma re-entered the burning landscape in yet another attempt to end the young man's life. As always, he met some sort of road block -- this time it was Nina, who insisted that he mustn't shoot. He too made the same proclamation when she tried to kill her brother. In the end, Nina became trapped under a burning curtain and Johan escaped while Tenma saved his sister. A few days later, Schuwald, through his son Karl, sent Tenma a message that the mother of the twins might very well be alive in Prague.
Grimmer
Tenma set out on a journey to Prague, while coincidentally Johan, Runge, Nina, and Dieter were also heading in that direction (though none of the parties would come into contact). While he was on a train, he met a "freelance journalist" known as Wolfgang Grimmer. The two talked a bit, and Grimmer noticed Tenma's discomfort when the police were checking his passport (which was fake) so he created a diversion which made it easy for the former doctor to secretly jump off the train. Grimmer joined him not long after and gave him tips on how to secretly cross the Czech-German border without being seen by the patrol officers. The two then parted ways, not knowing how closely related their separate reasons for coming to Prague really were.
Tenma successfully crossed the border and began digging up as much information about the twins' mother and her history as he could. At the same time, Grimmer and Jan Suk were struggling with the secret police and Suk ended up in a position which mirrored the situation Tenma dealt with in '86: three superiors poisoned and only one man to blame. Internally, the reason for so much conflict was merely that there were many groups of people who wanted a tape containing a drugged interrogation with a certain little boy who sent Kinderheim 511 into ruin. Tenma knew that the whole situation was somehow related to Johan, and decided it would be best to find Suk as soon as possible. He paid a visit to the detective's mother, a woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease, in the hospital. She mistook the middle-aged Japanese man for her son as a child, and started teasing him about how she knew where his secret hideout was. When he learned of Suk's little hiding spot, he figured that was at least a starting point to search for the detective. Upon arrival, he was faced with many injured and deceased members of the secret police, a screaming Suk, and a smiling Grimmer with blood dripping from his hands.
Grimmer explained to Tenma the situation and everything that had been happening to him and Suk the last couple of weeks. At a hotel, he revealed to the doctor that he was once an inmate of Kinderheim 511 and had consequently developed an alternate personality, "The Magnificent Steiner", who shows up in stressful situations and fights with a superhuman, beast-like power. Later, the two men met with Karel Ranke, the former head of the Czech Secret Police who offered to them the safe return of Suk (currently in one of his organization's hospitals) in exchange for the tape. They agreed with the condition that the three of them listen to it first. The group collected the tape from its secure location in the hands of Suk's mother, but when they got to a certain point a voice had taped over the material, leaving a message for Tenma instead. Johan had gotten there first.
After the young detective's release, Tenma and Grimmer part ways. From there, Tenma stopped by the home of Tomas Zobak who was the former editor of picture book author Franz Bonaparta, a man Tenma's investigations revealed to be a very important figure in the twins' lives. Right after Tenma left, Zobak called the police, and he was arrested within minutes.
Arrest and escape from prison
Tenma's arrest generated a lot of havoc amongst the characters in the Monster universe. Everyone, from Schuwald to his former patients at Eisler Memorial Hospital, was trying to make sure he could get the best representation possible in court. The time of Tenma's arrest also occurred right when Runge learned that Franz Bonaparta existed, and therefore Johan did too. When he crossed paths with Tenma in the police station, he whispered that the hardest people to interrogate are the ones who say nothing at all. Tenma took his advice and it proved to be successful. Ultimately, Fritz Verdemann and Alfred Baul were hired to represent him in court. Verdemann was a top-notch lawyer known throughout Germany, and Baul was supposedly another legal expert. However, upon meeting with Tenma during a prison consultation, Baul turned out to be Roberto, who had actually survived the events at the library. "Baul" told Tenma that he was planning to kill Eva Heinemann, so he knew then and there that it was time to start formulating a prison escape plan.
In the cells, Tenma met Gunther Milch, another inmate who could practically be dubbed an escape artist considering how many times he had broken out of prison. The two planned to confess guilty, which would mean they'd be transferred to another building by vehicle. At that time, Guther's younger brother, Gustav, would jump in front of the car pretending to have been hit, and when the officers got out to see what happened, they would make their escape. Everything would have been fine had it not been for one small problem: Gustav actually did get hit by the car. When that happened, Tenma used the fact that he was once a doctor to their advantage and the two men were able to escape regardless of the slight setback.
The Red Rose Mansion
Shortly after, Tenma paid a visit to Verdemann and learned that the lawyer's father had affiliations with Franz Bonparta when he was alive, which was why Baul targeted him in the first place. Verdemann gave him his father's valuable notebook, which contained information on how to get to the Red Rose Mansion among other material. The mansion had already been burned when Tenma got there, and he ended up being confronted by some of Wolf's men. He was then taken to meet Wolf on his deathbed, and the man told him his story of how he met and saved the twins before passing on. Following that slight interruption, Tenma went back to his main priority: to find Eva and make sure she was safe, which lead him to Martin Reest. Martin had connections with The Baby and Petr Čapek (two of the Neo-Nazis from the group he ran into in Frankfurt earlier), and was acting as Eva's bodyguard for an unprecedented amount of time, having apparently retrieved her from her hotel room before Roberto as "Baul" could get to her. After he tried to run away with her, he was mortally shot and in his dying moments told Tenma about Čapek's plan in addition to the fact that Eva could be found at Frankfurt Central Station. Tenma visited the woman, told her Martin was dead, then waited alongside her until the train came.
When Tenma and Eva went their separate ways, he started trying to learn more about Peter Čapek whilst avoiding the German police. When attempting to escape from some officers, he got hit by a car and fortunately was rescued by a local -- Milan Kolasch -- instead of the police. Tenma spent a few days living with the man's unofficial family, and during this time learned that Milan was
Čapek's former best friend and was now was out to kill him because of the pain he'd made him and his "family" go through. Tenma tried to convince Milan otherwise, but he resisted and in his endeavored assassination got killed himself.
Tenma's investigations led him to Christof Sievernich, a Neo-Nazi who had associations with Čapek, was a politician, and was the only other person who survived the Kinderheim Massacre besides Johan. Eva too had hunted down Christoph and was blaming him for the death of her beloved Martin. Tenma's arrival couldn't have been better -- Christof was about to shoot the poor woman after her attempt at killing him had failed. Tenma ended up shooting off the politician's ear and then the three of them got into a car and drove away. When Tenma had Eva go call for an ambulance at a public payphone, Christof told Tenma where he could find "Him" because He had been waiting.
"Welcome Home"
Tenma arrived at the abandoned building where Johan and Nina had just exchanged conversation for the first time in ten years, and saw the young woman sitting alone with a gun to her head. After Tenma convinced her not to kill herself, they were met by Čapek in the doorway, who told them that Johan was probably going to try to find and execute Bonaparta next, and that although he didn't know where Bonaparta was, his son was somewhere in Prague.
Ruhenheim
He managed to track down Jaromír Lipský, Bonaparta's son, and after many attempts was finally able to talk to him. With the help of the man's clues, Tenma discovered that Bonaparta's current location was a small town in southern Germany called Ruhenheim. He arrived in the midst of the massacre, and first tried to help out by evacuating as many schoolchildren and their teachers as he could. Right after, he ran into Runge, who apologized for everything that happened between them those past twelve years. Runge had other business to settle, so Tenma next found Grimmer, bleeding to death but finding happiness in the fact that he'd been able to regain his humanity. Grimmer introduced Tenma to Bonaparta before passing on. The two had a short discussion which didn't last very long because they soon were met face-to-face with Johan.
Scenery for a doomsday.
Roberto showed up at the scene and shot Bonaparta dead just before he had the chance to make an attempt on Johan's life, then Roberto also collapsed for a final time as a result of the injuries Runge gave him. Out there in the pouring rain, there stood only Johan, Tenma, and a terrified little boy named Wim Knaup. Johan told Tenma he could now see the "Scenery for a Doomsday," a barren wasteland where nothing is and nothing isn't. To further illustrate the scene, the backdrop changed to the landscape at the Czech-German border where Wolf rescued the twins all those years ago. Right after, Nina and Gillen showed up and told Tenma not to shoot Johan, even though he was now taunting the doctor by threatening to shoot the by-standing boy if Tenma wouldn't kill him. It was the moment of truth for Tenma, but in the end he never did get to choose whether or not to shoot Johan -- the boy's father, Herbert Knaup, stepped in and took fire at the young man instead. With slight urging from Nina and Runge, Tenma operated on Johan and saved his life once again.
The End
With the help of Runge, Verdemann, and others, Tenma's innocence was finally proven. He then decided to join the organization Doctors Without Borders, set on helping as many people as he could. In the series' finale, he meets with Viera Cerna in France, who tells him what the twins' real names are. Right after, he visits Johan in a police hospital. Although Johan is supposed to be a in a comatose state, he sits right up and starts telling Tenma about the choice his mother made between himself and his sister back in 1981. Whether or not Johan was actually talking or if the whole visit was just a hallucination is probably something not even Tenma can answer. After, he leaves and plans to pay a visit to Dieter, Nina, and Reichwein before heading off somewhere overseas.
Another Monster
Werner Weber attempted to interview Tenma for his book, but was turned down and had to resort to interviewing those who knew him to get an understanding of his background and personality.