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Episode 4: Shred-Shred Crumble-Crumble There Are Many Ways to Win |
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As the show opens, news helicopters are flitting around the giant,
monolithic Gate, and a reporter's frantic voice can be heard trying
to describe its impact to viewers. Futilely, he tries to speculate
on the origin of the Gate, but is abruptly cut off when a flying
Remnant gets too close and destroys the helicopter. On the ground,
people stare in awe, overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness. Exhausted, Hazumi struggles to climb up the side of the Gate. "Wait for me, Takumi! Don't die!" she screams. Blue and yellow streaks meet and separate, resolving themselves into Chiryuu and Kijima. "Why?" Chiryuu wants to know, but Kijima just tells him the world isn't worth it. Driven by his anger, he easily defeats Chiryuu. "Hate! I HATE everything!" he tells the other, his scar flashing red. Chiryuu suddenly realizes that it's not the desire to return home that is driving his enemy, it's pure hate. Kijima stomps on Chiryuu over and over as he declares his intentions to destroy the entire world, finally punching him straight through the ground. "I get stepped on. I get punched. What a dirty job," Chiryuu complains, then adds that Kijima is just being too serious. Unfortunately, he doesn't buy it. But just as the Remnant is about to deliver the killing blow, Chiryuu recovers and blocks. He strikes a pose and tells the other, "It's just like last time." The two prepare leap into the air and come together in a terrifying flash. Inside the school, Tenkuu asks if Takumi is ready. He replies he is. On her way up, Hazumi finds herself blocked by Aoi and Murakami, who launch their Evil Trio: Sexy Dynamite attack. To their surprise, this has no effect on Hazumi, who is extremely angry by now. She swears to protect Takumi, from his enemies and from his destiny, even if she has to remain his sister her whole life. With a yell, she launches a giant blast that knocks out the other two, then continues on her way. A blast from above stops her. Tenkuu checks with Takumi again to make sure he is truly prepared. He is. Hazumi finds Kijima blocking her. The Remnant reaches into the ground and pulls out the top half of Chiryuu's body, throwing it at Hazumi. She is horrified, unable to believe Chiryuu could be beaten. "It's the same thing, just like 30,000 years ago," Kijima laughs at her. She takes her stance, ready to do whatever needs to be done. A trembling in the earth presages the opening of the Gate, and reactions vary. The Remnants are ecstatic, while the Guardians can only feel that they are running out of time. As Hazumi faces Kijima, Chiryuu recovers enough to tell her to be careful. He warns her that the leader of the Remnants is no longer thinking sanely, but is driven by pure hate. However, his words and action do not match, and Hazumi feels a familiar anger building as she looks to find Chiryuu trying to peek up her skirt. "Come on," he laughs it off, "Just one last peek before I take that final journey." She sticks her foot in his face and grinds it in, yelling, "Then take your little journey by yourself!" As the two combatants prepare to fight in earnest, Jinno Hazumi tells the other that he's a pitiful man. She explains that the important things in life are having friends and having fun, but all he thinks about is killing and hatred. They come together in their attacks and are momentarily tied. Kijima can't understand how she can be so strong now, and she tells him it's because she refuses to lose to someone like him. Suddenly, she looks down and cries out, "Oh no! You've stepped in some dog poop!" Startled, Kijima Touta relaxes his grip and looks, trying to figure out which boot to clean off. When he looks up, it's to find Hazumi running away. In Tenkuu's office, he and Takumi have begun the Sealing Ceremony. He starts the incantation as Takumi sits cross-legged in front of him, a serene expression covering his face. Running for the school, Hazumi is caught by Kijima and unable to get loose. For a short while, she pounds on him and kicks him, but to no avail. Murakami catches up with the two and reminds her leader to forget Hazumi, since the Gate is about to be closed. He shoves her away, asking "What do I care about that?" All he cares about is getting his revenge on the people who defeated him before and stripped his memory from him for 30,000 years. "Die, Jinno Hazumi!" he screams. "Suffer!" Tears drip from the corners of Hazumi's eyes, surprising Kijima. Through a throat barely able to speak, she tells him, "Poor Kijima. I've never met anyone as insecure and pitiful as you." He can't understand this and lets her go, trying to comprehend. She merely continues to cry, then turns and runs for Takumi. Staring after her, Kijima suddenly notices a bottle on the ground: Iris Eye Cleanser. As a bright yellow glow surrounds Takumi, a similarly mystic blue glow begins to spread outward from between the two doors of the Gate. Various people in town begin preparing for the end. Realizing he's been tricked again, Kijima becomes truly angry and calls upon his Super Kijima Power Buildup, draining all the energy from the Remnants around him. As a result, he grows to enormous proportions and is surrounded by thick, bony armor. He jumps into the sky and comes flying back down, aiming for the school. Hazumi has only enough time to look back before he lands behind her. Seeing the enormous, armored Kijima, she utters one comment: "God, you're ugly." "DIE!" he commands, launching attack after attack at her, even as she struggles to climb the last flight of stairs to the top of the Gate. Meanwhile, Takumi's thoughts begin to wander in the middle of the Sealing Ceremony. He thinks back to the many in the past he spent with Hazumi. "No matter when," he thinks to himself, "Hazumi was there for me. She always cried for me, got mad for me, laughed for me." His sister gets up again from Kijima's attack, hardly strong enough to stand. Kijima laughs at her and tells her the only thing that is real is hatred. "You're wrong!" she denies, and turns to swing her sword. Sword and fist meet, but the sword shatters, throwing Hazumi backward. As the Gate opens even more, despair sweep through the city's defenders. Meanwhile, with the last of her strength, Hazumi keeps climbing, but finally gives up. She apologizes silently to Takumi for her failure. Seeing her down, Kijima swings his tail at her, and the resulting explosion sends her flying straight into the temple at the top. The noise of the breaking ceiling alerts Takumi, who looks up just in time to see Hazumi falling toward him and catch her. Through the hole in the ceiling, they all look up to see Kijima, laughing at his imminent victory. Tenkuu desperately tries to hold him off with another spell. Frightened at the shape Hazumi is in, Takumi holds her, telling her to pull herself together. "It's too late for me," she tells him quietly. She is at least glad to die in his arms, and as she fades, she admits, "I am a little disappointed, though." She explains, "I mean, there's already a girl in your life. But me, I'm just your sister. That sucks." He shakes his head, though, telling her, "But you're not my sister!" He adds that he has always known it by the way she and their mother behaved toward him that he wasn't truly related. He concludes, "Hazumi, the girl I love is..." Not daring to believe what he might be able to say, Hazumi widens her eyes. At that moment, Kijima breaks through Tenkuu's defense. As the building shakes beneath the assault, Takumi is thrown forward, and his and Hazumi's lips happen to meet, turning into a kiss. When the kiss continues for some time, Hazumi suddenly experiences something different: she gets a nosebleed. Then, ecstatic, she leaps into the air while everyone stares in surprise. Mystic symbols form around her, going from "big" to "sky" to "beauty." Finally, Hazumi's hand closes around a new sword, Great Masamune, that is red and more powerful than her previous one. She repeats her litany from the first episode, "The sky, the earth, and the pager have called! Summoning the high school babe, the greatest warrior maiden, Jinno Hazumi!" She turns to her enemy, "You who have never found love. Between us, we have created a miracle of love!" She giggles, then turns serious again. She leaps, and comes down in her ultimate attack. Kijima jumps to meet her. The resulting explosion can be seen by everyone, and it continues until Kijima finds his armor crumbling away. "Is this... Is this love?" he questions, just before the blast goes all the way through the Gate, splitting it in two. Everyone stares in disbelief, Hazumi in sudden mortification. The Gate breaks apart and explodes, the pieces raining down throughout the city to destroy even more property. The next day, life is almost normal in the city, but a closer look reveals Remnants scattered around amongst the humans. Everyone seems to have survived, and Kijima has been turned into yet another admirer of Hazumi. Chiryuu, talking to Tenkuu, mentions that with the Gate's destruction, the two worlds are now joined. But the world didn't get destroyed. At the end, he turns to offer some ice cream to Tenkuu, who accepts, saying, "Thanks, bro." |
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