Episode 7

original air date: 5.15.02

Reason

In the real world at a train station, there are lots of people going about their everyday business, the camera focuses on a little girl, and then the scene changes.

In Mac Anu, Mimiru stands before a warp gate.  She sighs and slaps her face a bit as if to wake up.  She then warps out of the city. 

In a forest Mimiru is walking through alone, until BT surprised her. She asks why she is there and BT tells her Bear called her there.  She asks where Bear is, to which BT simply stats "not hear yet."  "I heard you had a fight," comments BT. Mimiru plays dumb saying she does not know what she is talking about.  BT tells her she had a fight with Tsukasa and that's what's on her mind.  Mimiru tells her not to talk as if she knows everything, BT tells her she does understand though. Mimiru tells her she's mean, but BT asks her why she is so worried about Tsukasa.  Mimiru tells her she's not worried anymore, which BT finds odd, because Bear still is.  Bear comes from behind a tree asking what they said about him.  BT tells Bear that Mimiru is no longer interested in Tsukasa, and he asks her if that is why she called him there.  Mimiru tells him no for she had something else she wanted to talk to him about.  BT comments that Bear seems tired, and that his job must be exhausting, to which Bear gives no response.  Bear tells Mimiru that it's her choice to go after Tsukasa and does not need to ask him for his opinion. Bear goes on to tell her that he is going to do some searching outside of the game, commenting that when you're in the game you can't get a third person perspective.  BT asks why he's going to go so far.  He tells them it's not like he as any leads, and tells Mimiru that if he does find anything he will let her know, and then they can worry about Tsukasa. Mimiru tells him all right, and then runs off into the forest.  Bear asks if he did something wrong, BT reassures him telling he she's just a child at heart. 

Mimiru appears back in the main area, turns around and literally runs into another character. A small girl, A20.  "You should move, you're in the way," Mimiru tells her.  She moves out of the way, but just stares at Mimiru, till Mimiru finally asks, "what is it?"  She tells her nothing, so Mimiru shrugs it off and warps away again, leaving A20 alone. 

Mimiru reappears in the cave where she first met Tsukasa.  She sits down in front of the same treasure chest where it all began and recalls her first encounter with him through a series of flashbacks.  "Why did we meet?"  Mimiru stands up and looks in the chest, "Crappy."

Mimiru once again appears back in the main area.  She yawns after passing through and as she walks away A20 is still there and asks her if she is bored.  She tells Mimiru she is looking for someone to go with her.  Mimiru start to tell her she can't, but A20 bust in saying, "...come with me! To the Dungeon of Karuminagaderika." Mimiru is surprised that she is going alone, and comment that that dungeon is hard.  A20 tells her if she comes that will make two.  Mimiru beings to lay into her asking her if she read the instruction booklet and system notes and whatnot.  "Not at all," is A20's reply.  Mimiru asks her what level she is at, A20 is not too sure, "How long has it been since you started?"  A20 tells her two weeks. Mimiru is stunned, saying it's impossible, and she'd die no matter what.  A20 is confused and asks that if you go in a party then you'd be able to get by.  Mimiru comments that there are players who don't worry about dieing and go to high level places trying to gain experience, but tells her she is not one of those luck-based players and to try asking someone else.  Mimiru starts to walk away when A20 says, "You wimp."  Mimiru stops and turns around as A20 says she's just quit then, and that this game is boring after all. She goes on to say that the people who access her are all just trying to kill sometimes, and there are a bunch of characters who just wander about aimlessly.  Mimiru tells her she is one of those characters, A20 corrects her saying there are some things she wants to do.  A20 tells her she was supposed to go with two other players, but they backed out.  Mimiru now somewhat interested asks why Karuminagaderika after only two weeks.  "It has to be there," Mimiru meant to ask why. A20 tells her because she wants to try.  Mimiru finally agrees to go with her saying she is irritated right now anyway and can go along to clear that dungeon.  Mimiru introduces herself, as does A20. 

Now in the dungeon Mimiru and A20 stand before a giant door. Mimiru tells her that up to this point they were able to run away from the battles but from here on out it won't be so easy.  As they walk through the dungeon A20 asks what makes this so fun.  Mimiru tells her it is different for every person.  A20 tells her what she meant was that it is so time consuming what with human relations and all.  As they are having this conversation a monster begins to appear before them.  Mimiru tells her to get ready.  As Mimiru runs after the monster and starts attacking it, while A20 stays behind and does nothing.  Mimiru jumps back and asks her why she is just standing there, and tells her if you stop at something like this you're not going to be able to clear the dungeon.  As they talk the monster makes another attack. "Stop hiding behind me all the time," yells Mimiru.  She tells her she'll occupy him so that she can sneak behind him, enabling them to attack from both sides.  A20 sneaks behind the monster, but he sees her and makes an attack on her, as she just stands there.  As the smoke clears A20 glows a bit, and Mimiru says, "Who the hell uses a cure item after one hit?" (one of the greatest lines ever!)  A20 gets hit again, and again uses another cure item.  Mimiru tells her to stop fooling around. "Well it's only been a week," is A20 reply.  Mimiru asks her what she said and then slices the monster down the middle effectively killing it.  A20 tells her what does it matter, your strong so don't worry.  Mimiru tells her she was not talking about the level, but that fact that she lied to her.  A20 denies it, and Mimiru tells her that she told her she had two weeks of experience, not one.  "Don’t you call that a lie?"  "Well if you think that like, I guess yes," is A20's answer.  Mimiru asks her what exactly she wants to do here.  She doesn't understand, and Mimiru tells her if she's not thinking about anything then she should just quit.  "Why do you have to say that?" A20 tells her, saying she's so bossy.  Mimiru says fine, then she's quitting.  She walks away from A20, "You're running away?"  Mimiru turns around and says "Bye bye," and warps out, leaving A20 all alone in the dungeon. 

Mimiru is now alone in the main field, BT shows up Mimiru asks her why she is there. BT tells her Bear asked her to listen to her for him.  Mimiru asks her how long she's known Bear, BT tells her "here and there." She goes on to ask if she knows what he does.  Her answer is simply "sort of."  Mimiru asks her what's that; "no comment" is BT's answer.  She tells her she doesn't' think Bear would want her to tell Mimiru, and she should ask him herself if she is curious.  BT tells her if she has nothing else to talk about then she is going to leave.  Mimiru asks her if she thinks youngsters are spoiled these days.  "How about you, then?" asks BT back.  Mimiru asks herself why she started playing this game.

Mimiru is now in Makuam, she meets up with Subaru in a boat.  Subaru asks her if this is about Tsukasa and she tells her no, that's she's not interested in that anymore. Subaru asks her if she found him, Mimiru tells her no.  Subaru tells her she is also worried about him, and if she finds anything out to please let her know.  Mimiru asks if they don't capture him will it hurt the Knights' pride. Subaru tells her it is not a matter of pride, but rather the exact opposite. She goes on to say that she wants to find Tsukasa but ignoring him is the policy of the Knights at the moment.  Mimiru finds that odd, as they were after him so desperately but as soon as another problem arises they don't' care anymore.  Subaru tells her that is not what she meant. Mimiru asks why she doesn't look for him, not as a Knight, but just as a normal player. Mimiru goes on to say "it's something we started. It wouldn't be good if we didn't finish....” As she says this her reaction changes a bit, and she is silent for a bit, thinking.  Subaru breaks the silence asking if something is wrong.  Mimiru tells her she has to go, but tells her shy wanted to ask her why she started playing this game.  Subaru tells her that is private.  Mimiru thought as much, and jumps out of the boat as it passes by an embankment.  She tells Subaru she'll keep in touch. She tells her Tsukasa is a meanie, but leaving it like this is even worse. She takes off.

Mimiru goes back to the dungeon she was in earlier with A20.  "I guess she's not hear," comments Mimiru.  She then sees her lying lifeless on the ground.  "This is not good, are you about to die?"  A20 rolls over and make a small gesture with her fingers saying, "I have this much left." She asks if she has any potions, A20 tells her she used them all.  Mimiru tells her she'll heal her, A20 says she will not be able to repay her.  Mimiru proceeds anyway.  Mimiru tells her she thought she had left, and ask why she is still there.  She tells her with her level she doesn't' know when she'll be able to get this far again and she didn't' want to quit in he middle. Also she wanted to prove herself to her classmates who have been playing this game long before her.  She goes on to say that's what her name means, and he classmates are A03 and A13, and that's why she can't get anyone to play with here.  "I don't know what this 'something' is, but I want to accomplish it."  They continue where they left off. A20 asks her why she came back, Mimiru tells her she guesses she doesn't like to leave things unfinished either.  A20 laughs and tells her that sometimes she sticks her head into useless things and gets in trouble. Another monster appears before them and Mimiru tells her she believes the last floor is after this.  A20 asks if the monsters are strong, Mimiru tells her of course, and asks if she wants to stop. She asks if it's impossible, Mimiru tells her she's crazy, and A20 says she wants to go.  "Then let's give it a try!"  As the monster lunges toward them Mimiru tells A20 her character is supposed to be fast, so she should lure him toward her.  As they fight the monster Mimiru tells A20 about her problems with Tsukasa, "I don't know about that, but shouldn't we be battling instead of talking?" Mimiru just goes on about Tsukasa.  Mimiru, getting all heated about the situation with Tsukasa, gets knocked into a wall; A20 runs over to her and uses a healing item on her. "I thought you told me you used all your potions." "Did I?" replies A20.  They both giggle, and the monster makes another attack, Mimiru pushes A20 out of the way and makes a finishing blow.  They now both stand in front of the door to the final level. Mimiru asks her if she has anymore healing items, and A20 tells her she is out for real this time.  Mimiru tells her she's out as well.  Mimiru tells her if there is another monster they will die. Maybe we should quit; after all we did get this far comments Mimiru.  As they open the door before them is a single treasure chest. They walk up to it and open it up. Mimiru is surprised to see that inside is a golden Puchiguso, and that's she's never seen this before.  A20 asks her if it is a rare item, and she tells her it is very rare.  She is not sure, but thinks it boosts some parameter.  Mimiru all excited again says it's very rare.  "But... it's ugly," replies A20. 

Outside the dungeon A20 hands over the golden Puchiguso to Mimiru and tells her since she defeated the monsters she should have it.  Mimiru declines and tells her she can brag to her classmates. They fight back and forth about it, "Stop it, we look like two old ladies arguing outside a supermarket," comments Mimiru.  Mimiru walks away from her leaving the golden Puchiguso with her. As she leaves she tells her she should try playing a little more. Mimiru makes herself more clear saying this game, The World.  "There are a lot of things, but these things are what keep the game interesting.  I think."  A20 tells her she hopes Mimiru is able to meet that mean person. [Tsukasa]  Mimiru tells her maybe she will be able to soon. As A20 stands there alone, she looks at her new treasure and says, "It really is ugly..."

Mimiru is now alone in the main area laying on her back in a field; she recites an e-mail she has just sent:

Bear-sama, BT-sama, this is Mimiru.

Let's see... I just saw a golden puchiguso a while ago.

Besides that, about Tsukasa...

I want to talk to him a little more.  What do you think?

Please write back.