Bleached White Maria

While soaking in the tub, Mafuyu recounts the day at the aquarium where she and Tomo observed a manatee nursing its young when Tomo decides to lighten the ambiance with some horseplay. Guided by another childhood memory of Yuudai Yamanobe showing her his secret base, Mafuyu sets off with Miyuri the next morning to the Tsujidou mansion in order to locate the »Tsar's Crowning« -- the journey thereof no picnic not only because of Miyuri's aristocratic antics but also a trio of helium-wielding Qwasers that accosts the two girls. Mafuyu loses her footing near the escarpment and falls into the medical care of Shin'ichiro Ootori and his tomboyish protege Elizabeth; while Mafuyu gathers the ingredients to prepare a stew for dinner, Miyuri wandering to the middle of the battle is the ironic deus ex machina soma recharge that enables Elizabeth to quickly finish off the two remaining helium-wielding Qwasers' bid to chase their losses prior to feasting on Mafuyu's home-cooked stew. While Mafuyu reconciles her prologue with Yuudai's intercession for her as a child, her journey has ultimately been a wild goose chase while Shin'ichiro has already been there and is leading Elizabeth to St. Mihailov's Academy after igniting an effulgent »Keep away from my student!!!« inferno as a warning to Friederich Tanner against taking revenge on behalf of the Adepts.

Aired: 2010-02-21