Episode Five - Cupid Strikes Twice/Naresome de hohosome? (Love Starts with a Blush?)
Picking up with the last scene of the previous episode, Mito tells Aoi about how she made a forced landing on Earth (mainly because humans are an endangered species, so the Galactic Patrol wouldn't be able to go after her directly) twenty years ago. There she met a young man (Kagerou) who had fallen off a cliff and took him home in exchange for all his electronics, which she turned into a primitive transmitter that immediately broke. Fortunately, Kagerou had some old vacuum tubes, and those did the trick. Now, all she had to do was wait for her ship to pick her up.
Which took months. As summer turned to fall and fall to winter, Mito finally lost it and went off on Kagerou about his "friend to the Earth" nature that went directly against her pirate nature. Now, in all the time she'd been there, he never asked her to explain herself, and even after her outburst he continued to let her live in his house, no questions asked. With Kagerou, Mito felt safe for the first time in ages, and so as winter turned to spring and the flowers blossomed, so did their love. On the night of the Firefly Festival, Kagerou took Mito to a secret place to watch the fireflies, but before the sunset, her servo system malfunctioned, and he had to take her home. The strain was too much for his already-weak system, and he came down with a disease. Mito took off her mail-suit so she could use what was left of its power to operate on him, revealing her true self in front of him. But being Kagerou, he didn't mind.
Finally, one day, Mito's ship arrived to get her. At first, Mito hesitated to leave, but Kagerou gave her a plant to remember him by and sent her on her way. But the plant worked too well, and she came back to his secret spot, where they watched the fireflies together.
Inspired by her own story, Mito sends Aoi to go after Mutsuki, but she's already left the first aid tent. But she hasn't gone far, and Aoi invites her back to the festival. Mito can't resist following, of course, and Masatsuki tries to contact his sister, unaware that she lost her headset/headband. So he goes after Mito himself, using a clock-inspired mecha this time around. It even manages to deflect Sabu's missiles, but Shin transforms into a leopard, and Masatsuki's catphobia causes him to accidently defeat himself.
Aoi takes Mutsuki to his father's secret spot, and they share a tender moment, as the night comes to an end.
Episode Six - Love Gone Astray?/Hagureru Koigokoro?
Masatsuki's crunched the numbers, and the most likely reason their plans have failed is that Mito's son is the brains behind his mother's operation. But Mutsuki just can't believe that Aoi is a spy. Despite Masatsuki's conviction that Aoi is just trying to fool her, she can't get him out of her mind, so much so that she doesn't even notice the new crop of mushrooms sprouting from her hair (why doesn't Masatsuki ever have this problem?).
A new day dawns with Mito and Aoi saying their respects at the household shrine for Kagerou before rushing off to school without their lunches. Masatsuki helps Mutsuki get ready for school, as they reaffirm their familial bonds ("All we have is each other," Mutsuki says). Still, he can't help teasing her a little about her feelings for Aoi, although he does it to remind her not to forget about her duty.
Aoi and Mito seem to be hitting it off all right, as they banter on their way to school, now with Sobo (who brought their lunches) in tow. But Mito notices a disturbance, a teleportation ripple, and sends Aoi off while she stays behind to investigate. Hiding in the bushes, she sees Mutsuki in her school disguise, followed by Masatsuki, who gives her a pep talk to keep her resolve up. Mutsuki and Aoi walk to school, but her thoughts are still in a muddle. It's obvious to the other girls at school what she's thinking about, and they push her to just admit it already. Mutsuki is thrown for a loop when she realizes that she does indeed like Aoi, but she just can't admit it, even to herself. Meanwhile, Mito alerts her mother to what she saw and has her keep Mutsuki under constant surveillance. Sobo, though, is convinced that Mutsuki's feelings for Aoi are real and not a trick, as Mito thinks.
Resident rich girl Kafuko, having heard that Mutsuki like Aoi, questions her on what it is that attracts Aoi to her, and lists off a litany of Aoi's faults. Mutsuki calls Kafuko out on her own attraction to Aoi, but Kafuko rebuts her by saying that she cannot possibly like him, due to her station. Realizing that she and Kafuko are alike, Mutsuki feels a little better. Little does she know that Mito was able to find the Nengas' cloaked ship, and is about to blow it out of the sky while no one is at home. Masatsuki, out shopping, is alerted to Mito's plan thanks to a sensor disguised as a hercules beetle, but in his haste to get back, he whams into a pole, and thus sends a train car mecha on autopilot to defend the ship.
The mecha attacks Mito from a distance, making her retaliation shots mostly miss the mark, although a direct hit is not enough to slow this mecha down. While Mito's distracted, Masatsuki sneaks onto the ship and gets out of there, but Mito just follows him in her smaller ship, the Shonagon. He calls his sister for help, and as she's currently trying to avoid getting splashed by her classmates in the pool, she eagerly gets out of there. Again, her mind is muddled: is Aoi really a spy, like her brother said?
Speaking of Aoi, she catches him rinsing off and gets doused by the water, causing her aqua coating to start smoking. Although it was an accident, Mutsuki thinks Aoi sprayed her intentionally, knowing that water is toxic to her, and slaps him in front of their classmates and runs off. Berating herself for her stupidity, she lands in the train car mecha and takes out her frustration on Mito and the others (as they say, Hell knows no fury like a woman scorned), all while yelling out how much she hates Aoi. Mito is bewildered by this, but Sobo knows what's going on.
Back at the school, Aoi's classmates urge him to follow after Mutsuki (not aware that she took to the air), and even Kafuko and his teacher step up to the plate to get him off school grounds and back in Mutsuki's arms. He follows the direction of the explosions that the whole town is talking about and tries to get the two factions to stop fighting by shouting at their ships. Mito merely tells him not to be an idiot, since the girl he likes is the enemy. While he tries to convince his mom to let him talk to Mutsuki, Masatsuki fires a shot at Aoi, and Mutsuki takes the brunt of it in the train car mecha, ejecting away and into the ship. No one is happy with this turn of events, least of all Mutsuki, as she orders her brother to finally report Mito's presence on Earth to headquarters, telling herself that it's the right thing to do.
Episode Seven - Courting Disaster!/Manekareta Saiyaku! (Invited Disaster!)
With the location of Mito's whereabouts confirmed, the Galactic Patrol wastes no time showing up, nor do they bother cloaking their ships. Ranban personally congratulates the Nengas, and Masatsuki pitches his 'take Aoi hostage to get Mito' plan. In private, Mutsuki is still smarting from Aoi's apparent betrayal, and Masatsuki leaves her, in disgust, in their quarters.
Seeing the Galactic Patrol's arrival, Mito tries to go out and find Aoi, who hasn't come home since the previous day, but Sabu once again (on Sobo's recommendation) exploits the mail suit's glitch, and goes out to find Aoi herself. Before the glitch wears off, Shin and Sobo transport themselves and Mito back to her main ship, the Chunagon. Awake again, Mito takes charge and orders the crew to prepare to take on the Galactic Patrol, and after getting a talking to from her mother, takes her place at the helm. They reach Earth and open fire on Ranban's ship, the Dainagon, but nothing changes. Mito realizes that the Galactic Patrol plans to hold the town hostage until they get Aoi and the seal, and laughs out loud, finally feeling like her old, pirate, self again.
While Sabu is searching for Aoi, Aoi is trying to get back home, only to run into...Mutsuki? She holds him tight and tells him that nothing will stand in the way of their love, only for them to be blown apart by the force of an explosion behind them. The gig is nearly up when a cat shows up, chasing Mutsuki. Tired of the game, she sprays Aoi and the cat, who both fall over unconscious. She flies Aoi to her ship, but not before Sabu sees them. She latches onto the ship, but Mutsuki fires at her, and a full blast is too much even for a cyborg such as Sabu, who falls to ground.
When Aoi wakes up, he is surrounded by Galactic Patrol officers and faced by Mutsuki, who reveals herself to actually be Masatsuki, claiming revenge on Aoi for breaking his sister's heart.
Meanwhile, Mito gets fed up with attacking GP ships, and decides to go for the Dainagon itself, despite warnings from Shin and her mother that that's exactly what Ranban wants. They set up a decoy Chunagon, then head straight into the Dainagon's line of fire. Shots end up hitting the town below, including a direct hit on the school's courtyard.
Ranban faces the captive Aoi, greeting him with "Hisashiburi ne?" ("It's been a while, hasn't it?") Aoi doesn't remember, so Ranban fills in the blanks: apparently Mito took him into space when he was very young once, like two or three. Suddenly Aoi remembers his mother and the fire that he remembered back in episode three, only this time he also remembers a dark figure that doesn't look much like Ranban. Ranban insists that this time Mito will lose everything, and contacts her just as the crew finds Sabu, still too hurt from the fall to do much. Ranban refuses to show Aoi to Mito, but promises that he hasn't been hurt, but he will be charged for her crimes if she doesn't give herself up, and gives her some time to think about it. Mito, of course, can't just give in, nor can she give her son up. Sobo reminds her of Aoi's psychic powers, but they haven't been seen since episode three, so Mito doesn't believe he can make it out on his own. Neither does Mutsuki, who has been locked in her quarters by her own brother.
Mito is bound and determined to face Ranban, but her crew, even Sabu and Shin, refuse to let her go, not even when she pulls her light saber on them. Only by appealing to their softer side does she get them to go along with her. Meanwhile, Mutsuki manages to crack the lock and heads for the bridge, where Aoi is being held by Ranban. Aoi remembers that his dad told him the bracelet would give him the courage to protect himself and his mom, and makes a break for it. He doesn't get too far before Ranban stops him with a slap, but Aoi knocks off his helmet in the process, revealing a smirking face that looks just like his mail-suited mother!
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