02x08 - Ichininmae ni Naru Basho wa Eraberunya

[bunniefuu]

Can you reach the other two?

It's no use.

My calls won't go through.

Something powerful is blocking us out.

Oh, no...
- With stuff like this, just ram it down!

Ms. Koshigaya!

I knew it.
This won't be easy to penetrate...

It's overtaking the talismans.

Sakae!

These are Tonomori's sacred grounds.

No funny business allowed here.

Is that an Earth-Type Kaii?
Where'd it come from?!

Don't worry 'bout me, Hibiki-chan.

I'll shoo it away
like one of our pesky crows.

What's going on here?

Someone's overwriting the barrier
with a language I've never seen?

What's this?

They got two more Magical Girls in there.

Now my calculation's all janky.

Gosh.

Ah, judging from that design,
they must be Shigemoto's girls.

Strange twist of fate.

Sasa-poyo!

It's you...

Igni.

Did it force that seal open?

Do you copy? Please answer!

I hear you! This is Yamimori!

I'm glad you're okay.

I'm manually hacking as we speak,
but I only have five minutes.

Manually? You mean...

You did all this by yourself?

Sure did.

No way...

I overwrote some of the barrier
and broke in!

Please ready your computer now!

We can only talk for a limited time!

Briefly tell me what's going on!

Nikoyama's skills are alarming.

He's hacking the barrier externally.

So, does that mean
he can break down this barrier?

No, I think that would be difficult.

The barrier Yamimori built
was already rock-solid.

And it's been taken over
by an unknown hacking program.

External action isn't enough.
We need help from the inside, too.

Basically, you're saying
Niko can't get it done out here alone, eh?

We gotta rely on that other guy
to fix the problem from inside?

Huh? Someone's overwriting the barrier?

Whoa, that's hilarious.

On top of that,
Tonomori's Kaii has been summoned again.

That's wild.

Shigemoto? Nope, it's not him.

This isn't his coding style.

Must be Shigemoto's engineer, then.

What a waste. I can't imagine
why he'd work for a company like that.

He should've joined us instead.

Okay, I got the gist.
So, you can't use any magic?

Nothin' but errors. Zero response.

If we jam the old Language MQ

into the server, maybe we can
break through this weird barrier.

No.

You can use Igni.

Huh?

He's a modified Kaii.
Pretty much a gold mine of magic power.

Even by herself,
Sakae can take his magic and break--

She can't!

Are you okay, Sakae?
- The Kaii attacked her.

She's unconscious right now.

She detransformed, too.

Let's just rebuild with old MQ
or open a backup file--

There's no time for that!

And I can't talk much longer!

Then...
- Here's an idea!

Try it with our company's Magical Girls!

Nah, that's too dangerous!

Sakae's worked with Igni forever,
so she might've had a shot.

But passing the reins to unaccustomed
Magical Girls is risky for both--

Yamimori.

You're an incredible engineer.

That doesn't matter--

You altered a Kaii
for conversion to a USB.

That's unthinkable.

Even with an idea like that,
nobody has the skill or passion to do it.

But you hatched a plan and saw it through.

With an incredible engineer like you,
I'm confident that you'll do a good job.

And it's not just me.

I'm sure our Magical Girls
feel the same way.

That's why I trust--

It cut off...

Oh no, Nikoyama!
- Are you okay?

Don't sweat it, Niko.

If worst comes to worst,
I'll smash that barrier and save 'em.

Um, that didn't work before...

Thank you.

But I'm sure they'll be fine.

What'd you say to that kiddo, anyway?

I spoke to him as a fellow engineer.

Makino, how's your magic power supply?

My transformation's coming apart a little.

Gotta recharge somehow...

Uh...

Please, let me handle it.

This barrier's been overwritten
to absorb power from Magical Girls.

You both only have ten minutes left.

It'll only get worse from here.

But it might be possible
to replenish your magic from this guy.

From a Kaii?
- Is that even possible?

I'll do my best
to reduce your burden as much as possible.

So please, let's work together!

Why should you be the only one bowing?

There's no need to lower your head
among colleagues.

Don't let us down, okay?

Just to be sure, I must ask.

Supplying magic from a Kaii
isn't exactly normal, right?

Right.

Anyone with a technical background
likely wouldn't approve.

On the contrary,
there's a possibility that

the Kaii could get stronger and injure
those people under Makino's magic shield.

Yes.

But you claim there's a path to victory?

When Igni was sealed in the hokora shrine,
I provided a physical form.

It was nasty back then.
Everyone was against the idea.

Huh? But why?

Year after year,
following the ritual to summon our deity,

the miko winds up
bedridden for a week or two.

Sakae is still
perfectly capable to continue,

but we may never find
another miko with similar potential again.

Therefore, we ought to end this ritual
and contain the Kaii for good.

No...

Ain't no way that's happening.

Sasa-poyo...

Hibiki-chan,
I know how incredible you are.

You'll make sure
this gets resolved, won'tcha?

Heck yeah, don't worry!

But I pulled it off
because someone trusted me.

And again, today...

With an incredible engineer like you,
I'm confident that you'll do a good job.

Nikoyama trusted me to get this job done.

So I'm gonna do it.

I can do this!

Very well, then.

Tell us what to do.

Same procedure as Igni's materialization.

I'll convert embodied energy
into a formula for output.

Extract magic from Igni directly.

Directly?

Just touch Igni.

Although primitive,
it's the most secure method.

From this Kaii?

Here we go. One minute on the clock!

That other Kaii revived?

It's even larger than before!

Our transformation!

Oh, crap! It's soaking up all your magic!

Iroha!

Ugh, not enough magic power...

Stop! Get back here and regroup!

Makino...

One minute, huh?
I'll make it work somehow!

She's acting as a decoy...

sh**t! It's not working?!

I'm fine!

While Makino lures the Kaii away,
I'll recharge my magic power here!

Not yet. Just a little more...

Makino, over here!

Come on, make it!

Magic power replenished!
Procedure approved! Start attacking now!

Roger!
- Roger that!

SHO MANAO

It's still absorbing magic!

Take it down quick!

Can it grow even bigger?

Our magic can't keep up!

What now?

Yamimori.

You've done a perfect job.

Now, we'll work out the rest.

Trust us and sit back.

Iroha, are you feeling any recoil
after that forced detransformation?

Negative. And Makino, how's that foot?

Never better.

Then let's perform
final checks for magic to deploy.

Estimating magic power reduction speed.
Change output settings?

Indeed.

Synchronization complete.

Initiating countdown.

They're quick...

I barely even had time
to explain the plan,

yet they fully understand
their roles in the midst of action!

Magic Circle...

Ready to deploy!

This is...

a job built on trust.

Insane...

Hundred Flower Blitz!

Access granted!

But...

Igni?

So, 45 minutes after generation...

Guess that's it, then.

The sky!
- It's clearing up...

The barrier!

Everyone okay?

Not so fast! Stay down for a while...

But...

Rest easy, Niko Boy.

You trusted them to do this, right?

Sorry to worry you!

Zero civilians injured.
First, let's take a reprieve...

Here's some water.

Is your leg okay, Ms. Makino?

Wanna see a doctor?
- I'm fine! It's nothing major.

That's a face I like to see.

She's been exposed
to abrupt magic power fluctuation.

Her body's just resting. Nothin' serious.

Alright. Thank you.

It appears that
Sakae is going to be just fine.

Oh, thank goodness!

That Kaii situation was baffling, though.

Definitely.

Yamimori's initial barrier was flawless.

A Kaii capable of breaking even that...

A new Kaii species, maybe?

Dang, these mutations are too fast.
Our magic's getting left in the dust.

No, actually!

I don't think that's the case.

That barrier's alteration,
subsequent auto-repair,

and initial generation
were all too unnatural.

I don't know what they're after, but...

that Kaii didn't spawn naturally.

Clearly, humans are behind this.

C'mon, you're telling me
they spawned a Kaii just for kicks?

Nasty creatures, for real.

Igni is a Kaii too, you know.

Uh, oh yeah!

Still, regarding Nikoyama's claim.

If human intervention caused this,
who was it? And what's their motive?

I'll take it upon myself to explain that.

You okay, Sakae?!

Hibiki-chan.

Were you crying?

I was worried, dummy.

How 'bout you, Hibiki-chan? You okay?

I walked away without a scratch.

But...

about Igni...

We kinda squeezed out all of Igni's magic,
and I dunno how to recover that.

I get it.

So little Igni fought hard too, huh?

Listen, I think I'm gonna
turn down all my job offers.

I'm worried about Igni,
and I ought to rebuild that barrier, too.

Huh? But...

Besides, I realized somethin'.

I'm not as grown-up as I thought.

Hibiki-chan...

I couldn't protect Igni.

I couldn't protect you either, Sakae.

An amateur like me
couldn't work at a real company.

For the time being, you'd better rest up--

Hibiki-chan!

Is that how ya really feel?

Are you content with that?

Content? What'cha mean?

I mean, you had fun
working with that company, didn't ya?

Anybody with eyes could see that.

Their engineer's a genius,
that's for sure.

There's a ton I wanna ask.

Their Magical Girls were strict with me,
but they were right.

And their chops are legit.

Then...
- But still!

I don't wanna cause any trouble.

If those guys hired an amateur like me,
I would only drag them down.

Hibiki-chan.

Nobody can become a grown-up
right off the bat, ya know.

Not even me.

Aw, Hibiki-chan.
That's a face I've never seen before.

You found a place
where you won't be alone, right?

Why don'tcha jump right in?

You can choose where to grow up.

Sakae...

Get out there,
become a good-lookin' grown-up,

and then come right back here!

What's that supposed to mean?
I'm already good-lookin'!

He's so easy to read, it's adorable.

Excuse me.

Come on in, folks.

Do you have a moment, Yamimori?

Our president
would like to address today's incident.

NEXT TIME: EPISODE 9
ARE YOU EXPECTING US TO SUGARCOAT THIS?