Ao no Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati-hen – 12 (Fin) – See No Evil

After all that battling and a tense meeting in Mephisto’s office, everyone’s head is spinning about Shima being a spy and a double agent. Rin thinks everyone still trusts Shima, but Bon only said that to save his ass from execution, while Konekomaru doesn’t have a clear answer. Shiemi thinks it would be nice if Shima could return to class with them like nothing ever happened, but even she has her doubts, and doesn’t like how that uncertainty feels.

As for Yukio, he’s setting up to be the next person to have split loyalties. Always the loyal soldier for Mephisto and True Cross (despite never really being able to trust him), Shima bringing up Lucifer calls to mind something we didn’t see back at the lab: Lucifer actually met with Yukio and asked him to join Illuminati. He told him he’s weak, but he can help him unlock his power. This weighs on Yukio throughout the episode.

During an early morning run, Shima and Bon happen to run into each other, and have something of a heart to heart. Shima isn’t lying about one thing: he’s pretty much true neutral, as he told Yukio. That means he can warn Yukio and not want Bon or Konekomaru or Izumo to get too badly hurt, but it also means he’s having a blast being a spy for both sides. Bon, who has always been like a brother to him, admits he still has “zero trust” in Shima, but still wishes him good luck, for at least he’s decided what he wants to do.

With Shura recovered, Mephisto sends everyone to a spa and waterpark for some much-needed R&R, and even Yukio can’t escape it. But he also pulls a prank on them, unleashing the Three Wise Monkeys to stir up some mischief. Yukio, Bon, and Konekomaru notice Shima acting strange and unusually serious and focuses, but it turns out he’s contemplating which girl to go down the water slide: Izumo, Shiemi, or Shura.

Rin, who also falls under the spell of the monkeys, declares that he wants to go down the slide with someone too, but that person can only be Shiemi, thus revealing who he has true feelings for once and for all. Unfortunately, Shiemi doesn’t hear it, as she and Izumo and Shura are already at the top of the slide stairs. Shima and Rin duke it out, collapsing the steps and nearly re-injuring the girls, but Bon uses a charm to cancel out the effect of the monkey and Rin and Shima return to normal so Shura can wreck their shit.

So, the spa trip wasn’t as relaxing as Mephisto had hoped it would be. Rin shows he’s not mentally still in elementary school by telling Yukio that he knows something must be on his mind, and that he can talk about it to him if he likes. But Yukio puts on a fake smile and just says he’s tired; it only exacerbates his inferiority complex to open up to his dumb little brother.

Yukio thinks he’s too weak and wants to get stronger, which means he could easily fall into the hands of Lucifer and the Illuminati. But that’s a story for another arc, which it seems will be coming far sooner than previous arcs. That must be why the series felt comfortable with these last two episodes serving as little more than an extended epilogue to Izumo’s story, and a sneak peak of what’s to come.

Author: magicalchurlsukui

Preston Yamazuka is a staff writer for RABUJOI.

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