It's Yukimi, whispers Yoite. What for?--whispers back Miharu. --Yukimi says he has important business to discuss with the teacher, but it seems he's not back yet--and oh yeah, those brats from my place are here too, aren't they?
Yoite, Miharu, I know you're here! --Yoite wonders if he's looking for Engetsu-rin; Miharu worries that they've dragged Hanabusa-san into a Nabari matter; and Yoite says that Yukimi is doing the thing he hates most.
So you must be a person from that world as well? she asks. --"That world", huh?--he makes as if to slap her, slams his hand into the door instead, says that playing dumb won't get him to leave. Miharu and Yoite slip out the back way.
Seeing she's serious, Yukimi is genuinely baffled: you really are a person of the real world? even though you live with him? She says she is, and adds that even if he takes her hostage Thobari isn't likely to give in to any demands.
Though of course he won't abandon her either... she smiles, asks if Yukimi is hungry, and hurries off. A person of the real world, he sighs, is this for real? --She picks up the tray of sweet bean paste that the kids didn't finish
and brings it back to offer to him, but he's nowhere in sight.
At Miharu's family's house, Shiratama the cat suddenly wakes and trots off down the hillside stairs, as if she'd heard something...
Raimei comes to Kouichi's house to tell him Thobari never made it home last night. But where would he go?--he wonders. She confesses that she promised to steal the kinjutsu scroll for Miharu.
He says he'd thought so; she's been acting suspicious lately, and sensei probably noticed as well. Miharu probably came back because he doesn't trust me either, she sighs.--What? Miharu is back in Banten?--he startles.
Yeah, he told me yesterday, she says [this was the phone call we saw her taking during Thobari and Kouichi's talk on the ferry.] He told her that there was a chance the shinrabanshou might be put to uses besides saving Yoite,
uses that may affect others... would she still be his ally if that happened? She hesitated, and he asked her very earnestly: should the time come that I do something bad, would you kill me in the name of the Shimizu?
--she sighs. I understand how you and Thobari-sensei feel, she tells Kouichi, but if you listen to what Yoite and the Kairoushuu say, it might make sense. --He looks at her expressionlessly, and she slumps forlornly against the wall.
I'm no longer a member of my clan, I've been acting solely for Miharu's sake, she says, and lately things have become so complicated...my surroundings get blurred, I can't keep secrets, and I don't feel in the mood to do anything.
I've been so shallow and stupid...What's wrong with being unable to keep secrets? he asks. --She glances up.-- He says it's sad that this world is made up of people tricking each other to survive,
and that there's nothing at all stupid about being straightforward, hard-working and honest. People in Nabari give up those things too easily. --Kouichi, she says, surprised and touched by his defense, and he says, just stay the way you are.
He smiles. I know I'm not a normal human being, but you've always treated me like one--he takes her lightly by the shoulders--and that's the Raimei I like. She flusters, asks if he's confessing something; he flusters even more,
lets go of her in confusion, and they hurry off. He blushes a little as she thanks him. =) She says she'll talk to Thobari when she sees him; there must be something they can do for Miharu's happiness--
He notices that someone's following them, alerts her and they break into a run, cutting through the crowd. We soon see their pursuer is Yukimi. They square off in a cul-de-sac; Yukimi says it's not his style to fight kids, but the century-old-teenager
says Yukimi looks more like a kid to him. =) Battle ensues, and Raimei blurts out that only Thobari knows where Engetsu-rin is, then cringes at her blunder. Yukimi says that he knows Kumohira came back to Banten, but he hasn't gone home: where is he?
As if we'd tell you even if we knew, says Kouichi. Raimei suddenly beams, says she'll tell him and cracks Kouichi on the knee with the broom she grabbed up to fight with. Sorry to betray you, but it's for Miharu's sake, she says. He stands there looking baffled as they walk away:
but she doesn't know where he is, he says...Shiratama walks up beside Kouichi and watches with him as they go.
Yoite and Miharu in their train car; Miharu, closing his phone, tells Yoite that Thobari is missing and Hanabusa is worried. We need to find him before Yukimi does, or we can't guarantee his safety, says Yoite. Just now I couldn't get through to Raimei,
says Miharu anxiously; something may have happened...
Miharu and Kouichi walk outside; I've asked her for so many favors, worries Miharu, and Kouichi says she may be trying to keep him away from Engetsu-rin. --Yoite, sitting alone in the train, comes to a decision and walks out and past them. Kouichi grabs his arm: where are you going?
He brushes off the arm: I'm going to look for Yukimi. And what will you do if you find him? demands Aizawa. Yoite will be fine, reassures Miharu, and Kouichi sputters, what do you mean by 'fine'? --Wait, Yoite, should I come with you? asks Miharu, but he says he'll be fine alone, and keeps going. Miharu grimly says that they need to find
Kumohira-sensei as soon as possible.
Raimei has led Yukimi a wild goose chase that finally ends up at Banten Middle School.
She corners Yukimi in a stairwell, yelling that she'd never lead him to Engetsu-rin. However, Thobari is there,
feeding papers into a shredder. (hmmm..) He frowns when he hears glass shatter...
Yukimi gets the drop on her, decks her with a fire extinguisher and pins her to the floor. Game's over, little miss, he says, finding her cell phone in her pocket and dialing a number. He holds it out to her: here, call for help.
We hear Miharu's voice: "Raimei? Where are you?" --Dammit, she snarls. Yukimi tells Miharu they should all gather at the school and tosses the phone aside just as Thobari-sensei arrives. Raimei protests that she'd been sure Thobari wouldn't
be here since it's not a school day. (Brat, mutters Yukimi.) Thobari strides toward them, asking what Yukimi intends with his student. I'm not some guy with a Lolita fetish, idiot, he retorts, and lets her go with a shove: sorry for having to use you, he says, get out of here.
[OK, there's just no more doubt of it: Yukimi gripes and blusters a lot, but he's a teddy bear. =)]--Thobari likewise tells her to go, and she protests that it's too dangerous for him alone--she'll get Kouichi. (Oh, that's got to make him feel great.. ) Don't come back here!--he calls as she dashes out.
Alone, Yukimi grins and draws his gun. Now, he says, will you tell me where Engetsu-rin is?
Raimei, heading down the stairs, runs straight into Yoite, heading up at a measured pace. She freezes, glares at him angrily, but he takes no notice of her. This isn't good, she says...
You have nothing to do with this, Yukimi, Yoite tells him; go back. What do you mean, nothing to do with me? As if!--rails Yukimi. It was you guys who left on your own--but Yoite attacks him, landing a couple of long kicks and open-palm blows before Yukimi gets his arm wrenched behind his back and pins him to the wall.
What are you thinking, Yoite?--he asks. Thobari is still trying to understand why Yoite would protect him, suddenly remembers the conversation he had with Miharu in which he announced his attention to save Yoite with the shinrabanshou.
He gasps: Rokujou couldn't have--
Miharu and Kouichi run up to the school just as Raimei comes pelting out to the gate and tells them's what's going on. Yukimi still has Yoite pinned to the wall. I won't say anything about having met you here, he says, come back with me to see the leader. Understand? --Yoite coughs, spitting blood; Yukimi,
startled and worried, bless him, lets go--and Yoite seizes the advantage and turns on him, taking him to the floor. This has nothing to do with Yukimi, nothing at all! --rasps the assassin, and there is a fierce determination in his eyes that we've never seen before. So leave this place! Go back!--Yukimi
gets a grip on him, throws Yoite over his head into the wall and recovers his gun.
Stop screwing with me, you ungrateful brat, he growls, leveling the gun.
But Yoite fixes him with an ice-blue glare I can hardly describe--so inhumanly relentless that he really does look like a Death God--and the older ninja takes a pace back, staring at him. Yoite advances toward him,
step by step, his breathing harsh and painful, and forces Yukimi back.
Miharu, Kouichi and Raimei rush in and ascertain that Thobari is OK; Miharu's first question is "where's Yoite?" and you can see it go into Thobari like a blade.
He saved me, he admits. Miharu starts to go on but Thobari catches hold of him: didn't Yoite threaten you and force you to join the Kairoushuu? he asks. What are you two trying to do?
Yoite has backed Yukimi all the way upstairs to the roof. You were the one who said, he says, that you hate it when people of the real world get involved. You said it was a rule of Nabari...he stumbles, falls to his knees. You're so dishonest, he says. Poor Yukimi is so torn between defending himself and
concern for Yoite that he doesn't know what to do. Please come back with me and let Kazuho look after you, he says.--Team Banten runs onto the roof, Miharu in the lead calling Yoite's name, and Yukimi says this is just too complicated, and vaults over the rail. Miharu catches hold of Yoite just in time for him to slump onto Miharu's shoulder.
Hana puts him to bed, Miharu kneeling by his side as she sponges his face. His temperature is so high, poor thing, she worries. Yoite, delirious, sees her silhouette over him; it morphs into a skull-jawed creature that says "it would've been better if you'd died", and goes for his throat with black hands, grinning.
He screams as he falls into a red-and-black abyss; a hand grabs his, and he sees Hattori and Ichiki--he sits up and looks wildly around, asking, Where is she? Hana's gone to get more water, Miharu says, and Yoite buries his face in his hands, begging to be erased at once. Miharu tries to calm him, reminding him that there's only one scroll left to find, but Yoite
grabs him, saying desperately "we'll never make it in time!" Miharu looks wide-eyed at his hands, ungloved for the first time: they're a dark, smudged shade of charcoal grey, darker at the fingers than the wrists, as though spreading inward. He marshals himself and says: can I ask you something? You said at Alya Academy that you didn't want to die...
how is disappearing different from dying? --Yoite lets him go. --I don't know anything about you, says Miharu, but if you don't want to die, why do you want me to erase you?--You don't need to know, says Yoite. I want to know, replies Miharu intensely. You seem so lonely...and it hurts you to be treated kindly...it may be foolish to say so,
but you're exactly like me. Yoite, closing his eyes, says that he wants to leave no trace of his ever having existed; the shinrabanshou, he says bitterly, will erase all traces of this annoying shinigami from the world.
Thobari lies in bed, thinking. Yoite's desire...and Rokujou, who's always been indifferent to everything, beginning to show his true feelings...when the Kairoushuu have collected all five scrolls, will they take the hijutsu from him?
Or let him use it? He's in danger either way...at least, we can feel sure that the Kairoushuu would have no reason to harm the holder of the shinrabanshou.==Hana, reading by his bed, playfully complains that her eyesight is starting to go.
He offers to read it for her, she says 'but you hate reading kanji'. He smiles and says "even with bad eyesight I'd still love you" and she laughs and teases that one day it'll happen to him, too.
When the day comes that you can get on moving vehicles, she says, I'd like to travel to your home with you.
In the morning, we see Hana and Miharu looking at the mantel; a photo of Hana and Thobari together has been taken from its frame; there's a toothbrush in the wastebasket. Miharu looks uneasy, Hana thoughtful.
We see Hattori and Ichiki in his limo; it seems the burden of Kira was too much for him, says Hattori. She says that she was apparently wrong to believe he had no interest in the world, but Hattori says he's being dragged by his past..no man can escape that. Hattori-han, do you miss the good old days? she asks oddly.
Rokujou Miharu and Yoite will retaliate, he says; we need to move to the next step. She says it's already prepared.
And we see the DKA leaving Thobari and Hana's house; she gives them a bag of something (food?) and Miharu asks to be called when Thobari comes back. I think, she says, that this time he might be gone longer than usual...
...go on to next episode.
Someone steps into the car; to their surprise it's Kouichi. Yoite levels his forefinger; how did you find this place? he demands. Miharu raises a hand to stop him and tells Kouichi this is their secret hideout. [The Dangerous Kids Alliance Secret Clubhouse. =)]
I don't know, shrugs Kouichi with a smile, maybe ESP? (--outside, Shiratama walks away from the train.) So why are you here? asks Miharu, and he tells them that Raimei went off with Yukimi.
Yukimi, holding Thobari at gunpoint. Thobari tells him to leave Banten; Yukimi asks if he wants to die and he replies that if he dies here, the kinjutsu will be sealed forever. (Again a closeup of his earcuff.) You aren't listening! yells Yukimi, firing a few shots, sensei charges him and they have a quick scuffle
that ends with Thobari on the floor. I won't show any mercy to a fellow ninja, the gunman says--but suddenly a blast of power races down the hall and rips the gun from his hand. Thobari looks up amazed to see Yoite walking down the hall, half-leaning on the wall but coming on inexorably.
Hurry and get out of here, the assassin tells sensei as he walks past to face Yukimi. Yoite, what are you doing? demands the Ash Wolf. Thobari stares: Why would Yoite...?
Miharu looks up at him coldly: have you decided to give us Engetsu-rin? he asks. Sensei looks aside.
Then I have no reason to speak to you, says Miharu, and he runs down the hall. All give chase.
--'annoying shinigami'?... says Miharu.
--This is a contract, says Yoite; I defended Thobari from Yukimi, so therefore you--
You're not an annoying shinigami at all, says Miharu fiercely. You're my other self.
Hana, standing in the hall with a water pitcher and glass, listens.
--it looks as if there's only one thing I can do, he thinks...
Yoite reacts with shock: what?! he's gone? What are we going to do about Engetsu-rin? Miharu swears he'll keep his promise, but Yoite buries his face in his grey hands and sobs in despair.
..go back to Episode Guide mainpage.