Mai-HiME #24
- Tate makes it to the church (how did he know she was there!?) and snaps Mai out of her dream.
- Ishigami tells Mai and Tate that Reito is the Black Prince. Yukariko, who knocked over some candles earlier and set the whole place on fire, puts Ishigami under Vrus' hypnosis and embraces him in the fire. Vrus opens up and encases both of them, which...kills them. Pillar #7 goes up.
- At Kokuyougu, Reito whispers something into Mikoto's ear that shocks her. Nagi is watching Shizuru whip First District ass on the monitors. Those old wiseladies running away from a Jason Voorhees-esque Shizuru was quite funny.
- Nao tells Natsuki about her past. Her family was robbed and assaulted at home while Nao was out. When Nao came back, only her mom was still alive; barely. Looks like a coma. Nao was put in an abandoned children-type center, while the robbers got to live a carefree life in prison. The way Nao explains all this is kind of vague. She doesn't mention if there are other members in her family besides her mom. But the way she said "when I came back, only my mom was..." makes me think the robbers offed whoever else was in her family.
- Shiho has been doing all the bridal gown illusion stuff unconsciously. Nagi tells her about Yatagarasu (a Child that haunts the darkness of one's heart), and convinces her to reveal her power. Shiho does so.
- Shizuru finds Nao and Natsuki and proceeds to destroy Julia right quick like. Pillar #8 goes up. Shizuru won't let that be the end of it however, and decides to kill Nao as well. Natsuki stops her. Natsuki says Nao reminds her of herself. But the reason she didn't become as bad as Nao was because of Shizuru, and everyone else being there for her. She says she should've realized it sooner, who her MIP was. She gets her HiME powers back. So if Dhuran bites it, how many people will poof?
- Shizuru is happy that Natsuki got her powers back. She tells her how she was tearing a new one in First District earlier, but there's still a lot left scattered around. "So could you wait just a little longer? Because you're mine." Then she flies away on Kiyohime. Shizuru turned into Michael Jackson in this episode.
- Shiho finds Mai and Tate and summons Yatagarasu (the HiME mark was on top of her noggin'! wacky). Yatagarasu attacks Mai with laser breath. Mai materializes her rings and dodges, then suddenly thinks back to when Gennai got struck in the air. This time they show Gennai clearly getting hit by Yatagarasu. What!? Mai must have saw more in episode 20 than what we were shown she saw, or else this sudden revelation of hers is pretty damn stupid. And of course Shiho spills the beans right afterwards.
- Yatagarasu charges in for the kill. Mai summons Kagutsuchi to block it. Mikoto has been peeping from the sidelines. She heard what Shiho said about killing Gennai, and becomes happy for a moment, but goes back to sad when she thinks back to killing Child-form Mashiro and Gakutenou.
- Tate tries to stop the battle between Mai and Shiho to no avail. Mai tries to explain to Shiho that Tate will poof no matter who beats who, but Shiho won't hear it. Shiho attacks with some feather darts. Mai blocks a few with her shield, but the others circle around and try to get her from behind. Natsuki shows up and shoots them down with her guns (good shootin' Tex!).
- Kagutsuchi blasts Shiho's area and knocks her down. Tate goes running to her. Shiho gives him the scarf she knitted (where was she keeping it!?), and talks about how today was the day they first met. While this is going on, Yatagarasu is still trying to get rid of Mai (Shiho so sneaky). Tate begins to blame himself for everything, and yells to Mai to beat Yatagarasu. Mai doesn't want to.
- As Mai is talking to Tate, Yatagarasu swoops in for the kill. Mai notices it quite early and has plenty of time to move out of the way, but...I digress. Anyway, Mikoto sees the predicament and thinks back to what Reito whispered to her earlier: "Mai's strongest enemy will appear. You will defeat it in a time of emergency." Miroku and her pendant start pulsing and she jumps in and slices Yatagarasu in two. Shiho pulls an Alyssa.
- Tate thanks Mikoto, then begins to vaporize. Mai runs to him and tries to say how she really feels about him. He loses his hearing before she says anything important. Poor guy. Right before he completely poofs, Mai gives him a kiss. The music they used here was the same one used for Haruka's death, only one freakin' episode ago. It kind of cheapened the scene in my opinion.
- Natsuki tries to console Mai, but Mai pushes her away. Natsuki eventually just runs up and grabs her, and Mai starts crying. Mikoto covers her ears and runs away. Pillar #9 goes up.
- At Kokuyougu, Nagi says things went as planned. Reito wanted to get rid of Mai's MIP, and also wanted to make it so Mikoto would never go back to Mai. Reito says all the preparations are in order now. The time of destiny is finally at hand.