Ataru and Ten come across a strange vendor selling earmuffs for 150 yen a pop. Ataru plays hardball and manages to snag two sets for 200 yen, of which he expects Ten to pay back half. But when they put the earmuffs on, they swap bodies. Thus, the question is answered, “What would Ataru do if he had Ten’s body?” He seeks out cuties, of course, who are all to willing to give him a squeeze because he’s a cute-ass flying baby!
Ataru-as-Ten also ensures Ten-as-Ataru is kept at bay by Lum, who initially thinks Ataru hit his head so hard he thinks he’s Ten. When Ten encounters Sakura, her sixth sense doesn’t let her down, but her instinct to attack him causes Lum to castigate her for being so harsh to a child. Of course, Sakura’s instincts are accurate, as the Ten who wants to suckle her bosom is actually Ataru.
Cherry also buys a set of earmuffs, causing him and Ten to swap bodies while Ataru returns to his own. It’s a fun body-swap segment, though I wish it had gone farther. As it is, Kamiya Hiroshi and Yuuki Aoi do a great job imitating Ten and Ataru’s voice patterns.
The second half involves Ataru being on a late-for-school streak due to him trying not to rely on Lum to wake him up (often with electricity). She offers a shortcut using her alien technology to create a portal straight to school, which they travel through together. They arrive at school with five minutes to spare, but then we cut to his classroom as the morning bell rings, and neither he nor Lum are there.
That is because the portal didn’t just traverse space, but time as well. When Ataru enters his classroom, it’s on a Sunday afternoon ten years into the future, where his classmates are having a reunion. The future him happens to be out of the classroom when he arrives, but his older friends note that he looks just like Ataru, while his wife is also out looking for their son.
Ataru ends up unknowingly encountering his future son by chance, and he’s a little shit just like his old man. Lum is quick to embrace and comfort the child, but when he sees a very familiar lascivious look, she gets suspicious. When the little scamp finally says his name: Moroboshi Kokeru. Lum feels around on his head, doesn’t find any horns, and is immediately distraught.
And of course she’s distraught: if this was her son, he’d have horns, no matter how small. She concludes that in this future, she and Ataru don’t have a kid together. It begs the question of who exactly Ataru’s wife is in this future, but more than anything, Lum is devastated by the fact that it’s not her.
When Ataru prods Kokeru to go through the school gates, he calls the first woman he sees his mom, and it’s some unattractive old maid. This makes Ataru as depressed as Lum, and when she catches up to him, they both agree that it’s time to return to their time. But both Kokeru and Ataru are mistaken: the older lady isn’t his mother.
His real mother, and Ataru’s wife, is none other than his childhood friend Miyake Shinobu, lovely and resplendent in her striped suit. Ataru returns to his time with Lum not knowing that, while Lum refuses to accept that this future they experienced was the actual future, only a possible one.
Thus we end on an uncharacteristically somber note. I don’t doubt if Ataru stuck around long enough to discover Shinbou was his future wife, he’d be pretty happy. But Lum would probably feel even worse if she knew that. Will the fact they’re equally miserable at the end bring them closer together?
As for the Alice in Wonderland-style White Rabbit (previously teased in the OP) running through a galaxy of time doors … I assume that will be explained at some point, because it’s pretty random! It also hints that Lum is right: they only witnessed one future out of countless possible futures.
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