1x9 - Limelight

November 30, 2001

With the time and place of the final duel with Tou Ryuga now set, Mahoro really has nothing left to lose, and uses the opportunity to ask Suguru out on a "date" to Yokohama. The effect is predictable: both him and Saori are prompted to imagine all the romantic implications of such a situation, and of course, when Mahoro and Suguru finally depart, Saori is right there, pursuing them on her Vespa. It's an uneven match, but the woman certainly gets points for persistence... The "date" itself is absolutely idyllic, as per Mahoro's expectation of "fun, tea, fun, lunch...and then more fun!" - an amusement park trip, shopping, lunch, then the warm early fall evening at a park. And when she reveals Ryuga's true identity to Suguru, he is not particularly surprised. Later on still, as Sugur and Mahoro are gazing over the nighttime city, she tells him that since beginning to work at the house, she has been able to find happiness. But when in Suguru's reply, it is clear that he knows there is much more about her - and about her relationship to him - that she is not telling, Mahoro can't help but face the full weight of reality: her past, her loneliness, and the fact that she is very much living on borrowed time. Suguru then plays his hand and asks Mahoro to explain her past as a combat android when she feels she is able to do so. After they return home, Suguru, tired, goes off to bed, though despite being exhausted, he is unable to fall asleep and lies there, thinking. As soon as he heads out, though, Mahoro changes into her battle outfit and sets out for the duel with Ryuga, determined, however, to defeat him - and to come back alive...