Miyo comes to in a stress position, hanging from a length of rope in a storeroom. When the door opens and pours the light of the setting sun onto her face, Kaya and her mother enter, replete with ill intent. They only have one simple demand: that Miyo reject her engagement to Kudou Kiyoka so Kaya can marry him instead.
If Miyo doesn’t comply, well…Kaya and her mom don’t beat around the bush. First Miyo slashes Miyo’s new kimono with scissors. Then she holds the scissors to Miyo’s throat. But crucially, Miyo doesn’t revert to her old submissive self, even in the face of pure evil.
Even when her stepmother smacks her in the face with a fan, Miyo looks back up at her with a defiant look she has never made. I’m reminded of Kei in Classroom of the Elite going through a similar crucible and coming out firm in her resolve not to break or give in no matter what.
This defiance and strength was always there within Miyo, but meeting someone as good and kind as Kiyoka unlocked that power in her, the power that allowed her to value herself as he does, and to hope that he’ll come for her. And come he does: when the Saimori doors are shut, he blasts through with his lightning. When both Miyo’s father and an increasingly unhinged Minoru attack him, he blasts through them.
Even when a desperate Minoru creates a maelstrom of fire that begins to burn the Saimori house, Kudou Kiyoka, confirmed as the strongest gift-user of his time, takes off the kid gloves and knocks Minoru out with a giant bolt of lightning. As Kouji says, it’s like an adult fighting an angry kid. Minoru never had a chance, which begs the question: shouldn’t he have known that?
Kaya has resorted to trying to choke Miyo into agreeing to cancel her engagement to Kiyoka, but Miyo doesn’t waver, even for a second: she’ll be Kiyoka’s fiancée until she breathes her last. Thankfully, that’s not today, as Kiyoka arrives and catches Kaya and her mother in the act of brutally torturing Miyo. When she realizes he came for her after all, Miyo declares she’s glad she fought, before passing out.
After her mom looks outside to see their palatial home in flames (thanks entirely to Minoru), Kaya tries a feeble last-ditch attempt to convince Kiyoka that she is better suited to be his wife, saying Miyo isn’t even fit to be a proper servant. Kiyoka doesn’t lay a hand on her, but shuts her up with both his words and his icy gaze, assuring her he wouldn’t marry her even if the heavens commanded it.
While unconscious, Miyo meets her mother, who mentions a “power” she has within herself. Miyo isn’t sure what that is, but this confirms that she’s by no means ungifted. It’s just that her gift is either incredibly rare, or entirely unique.
We see a grizzled old man give a younger underling his approval to begin an “operation” to prevent the “accumulation of power”—i.e. a Kudou marrying an Usaba—so the threat to Miyo is far from over, but it’s over for now.
When she wakes up to find a relieved Kiyoka and Yurie by her side, Miyo is again glad she didn’t give up in the face of evil. The old her would have surrendered to the storm, but now she’s someone who can weather it, and come out the other end herself.
RABUJOI - An Anime Blog 