We start in a dark, candle-lit room with loud grunting sounds. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is. Aaaaannnddd... it is. Eh. Not much to be said here. While these guys try to put the sensual back in non-consensual, let's move on, shall we?
Hey, it's Mikiya! Hi Mikiya! How's the stab wound rehab coming? Hey, it's the rape victim! Hi rape victim! How's the psych rehab coming? Oh, not so great eh? Turns out she's doubled over in pain on the ground. Mikiya asks her where she hurts, but she insists she doesn't. After a little prodding, she finally gives. She asks him if she can cry.
What, do your tear ducts need outside authorization?
He brings her back to the safety of his home. She showers and changes before promptly falling asleep. Mikiya covers her up and decides to do the same. Turns out sleep is the second most important thing here though.
"The scene of the crime is an underground bar that has been abandoned for half a year. The victims were seen going in and out of here frequently." Yeah! Give those bastards what they deserve!
"The limbs of the corpses were torn off by someone and the police are investigating the method of murder along with the whereabouts of the killer." Oh. Uhhhh... they will be missed? Okay, I've got nothing. And in the meantime, the girl has disappeared. I wonder where she could be?
But enough of this semi-tragic event, what's more important is that Mikiya's not getting his pay this month! Oh teh noes! Why? Because Touko saw fit to spend all her money on a Victorian-era Ouija board. BOOOO!
She then asks Mikiya if she can borrow some money. HISSSSSS! He leaves to scrounge for food in the italian restaurant's dumpsters and Touko briefs Shiki on her new assignment. Bring in the person who murdered the bar-slime. Dead or alive. Shiki refuses any more detail than this. After all, there's no need. They'll definitely try to kill each other the moment they meet. Someone's tapping into the Dark Side of the Force today.
Meanwhile, at the italian restaurant cafeteria, Mikiya tracks down the judo-club.. dude from last episode to ask for some cash. He offers it to him, but on one condition. Mikiya helps him look for an old classmate that's just gone missing. Keita Minato.
Meanwhile, the girl dials a number on her mobile. The number of a certain Keit Minato. The phone on the other ends chimes endlessly, to no avail. But no matter. A convenient meetup with another one of the bar rapists provides a possible solution. But sadly, he provides no answers. Oh well, I guess we just got to leave... him... Oh hell.
Well, off to find another source of information. Namely, Azaka, who is both Mikiya's sister and the classmate of this girl, Fujino Asagami. She promises her that her brother can find this Keita Minato she desires. Normally after seeing something like that, I'd be worrying about the strong possibility of brutal death and dismemberment. But remember, this is the dude who stalked Shiki Ryougi, a.k.a Killy Death Mc Stabsalot. I'm sure he'll be fine.
And suddenly Shiki. She tells Azaka that her bro stood her up (a disturbing choice of words if there ever was any) and that she's here to bring her back. But Azaka ain't having none of that shit. Fortunately for Shiki (or probably Azaka), the restaurant ain't having none of it either, and Shiki leaves without incident. But not before giving Fujino a quick rundown. "No, it's not you."
Ya sure about that, Shiki old girl?
Exit, stage left. Azaka apologizes to Fujino. Her only reply is that Shiki was beautiful. "But... I hate her." Meanwhile, Mikiya asks around, hoping to get the lowdown on Keita. He's surprisingly successful for interviewing random strangers. Apparently Keita's friends, the bar-slime, were all murdered in front of him and he has presumably gone into hiding to avoid the same fate. And a few reported meeting a young girl looking for him.
Speaking of Fujino, it's time for The Wheel! Of! Torture! Today's contestant must spin the wheel and hope he can avoid! His gruesome! Death! And heeere we go! *spin* Ohhh, so sorry. You've landed on Death By Bodily Dismemberment! Thanks for playing *cue screams* Join us net week, as we throw someone into a live volcano!
Fujino continues to twist the poor rapist's limbs into pretzels with her mind. "Bend." *snap* Ouch. After she runs out of appendages to turn into bendy straws, she goes for the finishing blow, twisting his pelvis until he snaps at the waist. "Only by doing this can I finally be like everyone else. In truth, I don't wish to kill people." "That's not true." And it's Shiki. Two bucks says she was watching up top with some popcorn.
"Since the time you lured that pathetic piece of meat out here, I've been here." Come on. Fork it over.
Fujino insists that she shouldn't call him a piece of meat, to treat him like a human. Shiki insists otherwise. "Hey now, humans don't die like that. A person who didn't end his life like a human isn't human anymore."
What is a man? Nothing but a miserable pile of secrets! But enough of this! Have at you!
They both activate their Geass. ROUND 1! FIGHT!
And then Fujino's deactivates. Shiki refuses to fight her, complaining that the sudden malfunction is such a turn-off. She flees the scene, advising that Fujino go home so that they won't ever have to see each other again.
That's it? I swear to god, if I don't get one hell of a fight scene later, I am going to punch this baby panda!
◊ DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THAT?!
Setting that and the baby panda aside for the moment, a convenient flashback tells us that Fujino has never been able to feel pain. Recently though, that's changed. She tells Keita and Mikiya over the phone that now that she can feel pain, she finally feels alive. But she can't have anyone find out that she's a murderer. So, the only solution? Keita's got to go!
He screams at her over the line and flings the phone into the wall. Mikiya asks him to explain just what happened and what he meant when he said she was "weird from the start."
"We first did Fujino about half a year ago..." Oh boy, here we go. Get out your barf bags and voodoo dolls! "It was weird. It was like she was acting. All of her reactions were slow. She didn't make a face when we threatened her. She didn't change even when we drugged her. She acted like nothing happened even when she got punched. She looked great, but it wasn't fun doing her. It felt like she was a doll. But... Well, it was different that one time. It happened recently. One of my friends hit her in the back with a baseball bat. She was blown away and her face was twisted in pain. I was actually relieved to see that. I found out she also felt pain. I remember it because she acted like a human that night."
... Where'd I put that panda?
So, after hearing that sickening proclamation of depravity, what does Mikiya do? Punch him? Hand him over to Fujino? Take him home and protect him from the fate he so truly deserves? Wait, what do you mean you're going with the last one? Goddammit man. Touko reluctantly orders him to stay with Keita while they track down Fujino. Now, to summarize: Yadda yadda yadda Fujino's stomach hurts yadda yadda yadda she got stabbed yadda yadda yadda no wounds when Shiki met her yadda yadda yadda trauma induced psychosomatic symptoms yadda yadda yadda lingering sense of pain yadda yadda yadda pain brought back by shitwits with a baseball bat. And now she murders so she can feel pain. Brilliant.
Hilariously enough, Shiki is the first to protest her behavior. Mikiya decides to take a trip, to try and investigate Fujino's past. Touko lets him off, and he warns Shiki not to be reckless. "I'll try." Right.
The gang goes their separate ways. Touko investigates something about prescriptions, Mikiy finds the collapsed ruins of the Asagmi house and Shiki... roams the streets aimlessly. Way to be productive. All the while, a white light rushes towards Fujino... Oh wait, that's just a truck-*BAM*
Touko dials up the loacal police force to question them on a recent auto accident. A minor collision which somehow twisted the driver's head off. The driver? Unrelated to Keita. It's a random murder. Shiki refuses to wait any longer, hoisting her red jacket. Touko throws her some client cards made for her, emblazoned with the name Arya Souren. She orders Shiki to finish it off before Mikiya gets back.
Later that night, Fujino huddles in the bowels of an abandoned suspension bridge. The pain has grown worse. She flashes back to her junior high (I think) field day. She walks away with her friends but suddenly decides to tell them to go on without her. They agree, and she looks down solemnly at a large bruise on her foot. And then, Mikiya! Seriously, how old is this guy? He asks her if it hurts. She of course denies it. Being the creep chivalrous gentleman he is, he insists he give her a hand. Hoisting her upwards, he carries her off to get some help. That she doesn't need.
Awww, look! She's blushing! QUICK GET THE CAMERA! THIS IS SO A KODAK MOMENT!
She struggles outwards, calling out for him. For Mikiya. Speaking of struggling and Mikiya, guess who's back a day early? Well. This is awkward, isn't it Touko? Ignoring the Shiki situation for a moment, Mikya's learned something important. Fujino's CIP is artificial. Drug-induced, specifically by the medicine her father used to suppress her bending abilities. Too bad that only served to strengthen them upon the inevitable return of her ability to feel pain. Bummer.
Speaking of abilities, Mikiya finally seems to grasp the apparent fact that Shiki's missing. They roar out of the shop in... Touko's hot rod? Okay, minor question, how can she afford a hot rod when she's flat broke? No answer? Fine. Touko Did It. Whatever. And we're fed more plot twists, as we learn Fujino was never even stabbed. What.
That's right, she only thought she was stabbed. Right before she ws actually about to be, her sense of pain returned and she subconsciously defended herself, twisting off the bar slime's head. Because of the blood, she'd thought she'd been stabbed, when in fact she's been in pain all along.
Mind explaining from what, Touko?
Never mind that, here comes our fight scene! Remember *picks up panda* Shiki strikes first, throwing the dice and hoping to close the gap. Fujino reacts, warping space around Shiki. She jumps, narrowly avoiding the bend. She spidermans up the side of a shed and runs across the bridge, straight to the edge. And jumps.
I really don't want to punch this baby panda. BUT I WILL IF YOU TWO DON'T MAKE WITH THE MORTAL KOMBAT!
Back to Touko, who explains for us just why Fujino still hurts. She has appendicitis, explaining the pain in her stomach. Touko affirms Shiki's opinion. Fujino is beyond help. After the fifth killing, it was no longer murder, but massacre. There's a difference? Apparently there is to Shiki, who frowns upon indiscriminate murder.
So remember, if you're going to kill someone, make it pre-meditated! The extra prison time puts hair on your chest!
Fujino follows Shiki downwards to the lower level where she crashed, calling out for Shiki. BEND! BEND! Shiki keeps dodging while Fujino keeps bending. Everything is exploding! Whoooo! More! More! Shiki tries to cloak herself in the dark, debris filed tunnel. What is Fujino to do? What's that Sandvich? Tear things up until she finds her? GOOD IDEA!
Shiki's already prepared for that, and while Fujino's too distracted chewing the scenery, Shiki lunges at her from the door, trying to grab at her. Fujino twits her arm, just what Shiki wanted. While her grabbing arm is bust, she lunges with her knife arm!
Amazingly, Fujino ducks and Shiki only cuts off a clump of her hair. Fujino tries to bend where she lands but Shiki is too quick, outrunning the blast of shrapnel. She retreats to put her arm in a sling, get it out of the way.
Touko again. Goddammit, LET ME ENJOY THE FIGHT! FUJINO. APPENDICITIS. HALF A DAY TO LIVE. COMPLETELY FATAL. WHATEVER.
But Mikiya wants to try and help her. Too bad the client for the job is Fujino's father, who wants her dead. Sorry, thanks for playing! Speaking of playing, Shiki finishes her patch job and does the solemn walk towards Fujino. "You're great, Fujino."
"Bend."
Space begins to fold. Shiki waits, the wind around her rippling. She pots a flash of red and green, and slashes. The BEND is gone. So yeah, Shiki can kill anything. Well that's not broken or anything.
Bend. A slice. Bend. Another slice. No matter how much Fujino bends, she can't hurt Shiki. Shiki tackles her to the ground, hovering inches from her face. "Are you going to kill me?"
I don't know, let's ask Captain Obvious and YES! Well the. On to business. "BEND!" You're still trying-Why are we zooming out to the bridge... Oh. That'll leave a mark. Or two. OR a thousand.
Even in the face of pretzelly death, Fujino still clings on to the will to live. She struggles to her feet and clambers around the ruins. But the appendicitis finally makes her succumb, and she falls to the floor, coughing up blood. She raises out a hand, trying desperately to keep living. To keep loving Mikiya.
Well, he may not be Shiki, but he still has the Tohno gland all right.
HERE'S SHIKI! Aww, what's the matter? You hurting? TOO BAD, KNIFE TIEM IZ NAO TIIEM! Touko and Mikiya pull up right under the bridge, where Shiki stands int he rain. Mikiya tries to tend to here, but her first concern is complaining to Touko about Fujino's sudden development of clairvoyance. Now she can BEND without having to see her target.
O_O
So she's that kind of cheater, huh. Shiki couldn't kill her in the end after her insensitivity to pain came back again, so she killed the appendicitis. Bullshit. She killed her left arm as well because it was useless. Bullshit. Touko pays her for the job with a new artificial arm, which can grab spirits. And bullshit.
Mikiya finishes calling the ambulance for Fujino, apparently unconcerned with the fact Shiki's arm now looks like a sausage pretzel. Touko leaves while Shiki and Mikiya stay behind. Mikiya asks her if she still can't forgive Fujino. "I'm not interested in someone whom I've already killed."
Shiki asks him if he really can afford to let her run free. She's one of the murderers he hates. Both of them are. He just shrugs, resolving to bear both their sins in their place. We get a little Ship Tease and the screen fades to black.
July, 1998
Sorry for being so late. Oh, here's your panda back. GO LONG!
